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You tried to win us over with your pizza and doughnuts, but we know better. The fact that you are ultimately responsible for the embarrassment of a ticket campout that took place April 12 cannot be hidden. In fact, this incident is the cherry on top of the melting sundae that is your administration.

For those who didn’t brave the rainfall and endure the line checks, I’ll review the circumstances that made this wait for tickets a travesty.

* For many, the ticket campout began nearly two days before tickets were even to go on sale. Unfortunately, these hardy souls were told that they couldn’t wait in the stadium parking lot. Local television crews captured these fans dragging their couches and grills to the sidewalk, the closest our Department of Pubic Safety would let them get to the ticket office.

* As outlined by SGA Special Project Director Elizabeth Vergamini, coordinator for the campout, the official lineup was not to have begun until 7:00 P.M. Friday. She didn’t have it in her heart to condone students skipping class to camp for tickets. Perhaps you’re the darling of your professors and a punctuality queen, Elizabeth, but historically students have missed classes for much less. Let’s have students checked the moment that they arrive. As I heard some suggest, block off all but one of the entrances to the parking lot and hand wristbands out as you enter.

* Ah, the first lineup! The model of efficiency, I watched my position in line go from about one-hundred to four-hundred and seventy-seven as every Greek and superfan arrived and joined their glaze-eyed buddies who actually did stay in line the entire time. It didn’t help that it took several hours to check each student’s ID against a computer printout of all twenty thousand students in the University. If Kroger can track the kind of deodorant that I’m using, than certainly we can use the new Cardinal Card to expedite the process of determining whether or not I go to U or L.

* In the “flip-flop” logic that defines DPS, students of all ages that previously had been allowed to freely drink on the stadium’s property suddenly were subject to the officer’s power trip that consisted of cooler searches and bottle emptying. Why weren’t the same rules that apply to tailgates applied to this event? And why did enforcement only begin once Assistant Vice President for Student Life Dr. Pregliasco arrived to take in the scene? Just because you’re too scared of the mean streets that define real police work doesn’t mean that you can hide in the tame community of intoxicated coeds and parking tickets. Do some real work, DPS.

* Over six hundred students were asked to make use of two Port-a-Potties and a handful of trash cans. Does a football team coming off a Liberty Bowl victory and fired-up basketball team fresh from the NIT not dictate more facilities for the predictably larger demand for tickets?

Some universities give tickets away to students for free. We should be so lucky. Many schools have courtside seating reserved solely for the students. We’re blessed to have one end of the court. Who has the power to make these decisions? The athletic office. Why haven’t alliances been made between SGA and athletics? I’ve been at the university long enough to know that the athletic department carries far greater weight than student life. Your SGA officers should have been there to make appeals as high up in the chain as it would take to get action to occur. Instead, they had their own agenda.

While I only touched upon the conditions that earned this year’s campout the term “cluster-f**k,” this event is merely a reflection of an entire administration that has been riddled with misguided efforts. Carlton and former Executive Vice-President Stacy Brooks punctuated their term by supporting their own black political causes rather than those of the majority of the student body. Students at this university work hard and play hard. The last thing that we want is for something to get in the way of what gives us pleasure – in this case, Louisville’s fine athletic tradition. Carlton and his administration jumped ship on those issues important to us. Student tickets. Competent academic advisors. Adequate parking. The list goes on.

One last note. While standing in line, I noticed our president-elect Chris Marlin milling about. Many have said that Chris lacks the experience and drive to lead an effective SGA. After all, student government isn’t just about free movies and promotions. I must say that I don’t know Chris well, but I was impressed when I asked him about his role in the fiasco. He said that he was there observing simply to make it “a learning experience.” Chris, I hope that you were taking notes. You have a momentous task ahead of you. The student body has no faith at this point in an effective student government. Carlton couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag. Any improvement at all would rise above the bar that Carlton and his administration have set.

Let them know what you think. Send your complaints to carlton.brown@louisville.edu and suggestions to cjmarl01@louisville.edu. You can find me in the nosebleed section.

Robby is a graduate engineering student in Speed Scientific School and a guest columnist for The Cardinal. He can be reached at robby.schweiss@louisville.edu.