Students line the hall of the crowded Broyhill Inn & Conference Center.
    The Board of Trustees (BOT) vote in favor of the athletic plan, but do so under the angry eyes of over a hundred students whose voices have been ignored.
    The next day local papers report the story accompanied by a photograph of the BOT members surrounded by the protesters.
    The photograph makes it perfectly clear to the public that the BOT’s actions in that room were done without respect to the students and their needs.
    The above scenario could have been the outcome of Friday’s BOT meeting.
    Instead, the outcome was sadder and represents a monumental failure of student leadership, especially by those elected to represent us.
    To give credit where credit is due, Student Body President Ryan Eller did his part as the only student member of the BOT. Eller spoke and lobbied the students’ interest and was the only member to vote against the proposal.
    To the eight Student Government Association senators and students who formed the small protest: you’re a credit to the student body. We’re glad to see some have not given in to apathy and are still willing to stand up for their beliefs.
    Out of a 77-member student senate, of which a majority spoke against the proposal, why did only eight protesters show up?
    Four of the protesters were from the Women’s Center, which drops the number of student senators even lower.
    Four out of 77 is a mere 5 percent.
    Five percent rarely makes a significant impact.
    Why so low?
    Perhaps senator Allison Laffin, one of the organizers of the protest, put it best.
    “A lot of senators are spineless,” she said. “They need to take a stand instead of just sitting there and watching a few people take one side of the other. I think that’s why a lot of them didn’t show up [to the protest].”
    SGA must ask itself some serious questions about the quality of its senators, how well they represent the students and how they are organized.
    If they cannot come together and represent students on such a clear student issue, something is wrong.
    SGA is only the beginning of the problem. There are other organizations on campus that opposed the athletic fee increase. Where were they?
    Do Laffin’s comments extend to the entire student body?
    The BOT meeting did take place on a Friday morning, when many have classes, and there was snow on the ground. But that is by no means a major deterrent.
    The roads were clean. The AppalCART was running. South Parking Lot is located directly behind the Broyhill Inn & Conference Center.
    A large protest would not have changed the outcome of the BOT’s vote. There would not have been a Grinch-esque change of heart in any of the board members.
    There would, however, be an obvious understanding that the BOT voted to use student fees for something students did not agree with.