A few hours after last Friday’s editorial — which demanded our administrators take responsibility for their mistakes in the basketball fiasco — went to print, President Lois DeFleur and Provost Mary Ann Swain sent Binghamton University students a statement. Far from addressing our concerns, it was carefully worded to say nothing at all. You may not have seen it, as it was delivered at 1:34 p.m. Friday afternoon, a time when very few people are checking their e-mail, but don’t worry — you didn’t miss much (see Page 1).

If you read the statement looking for anything like an administrative apology, you would have been extremely disappointed. In fact, the review was barely mentioned. The only quote DeFleur included to sum up the 99-page report, which implicated her and key University administrators as playing main roles in the scandal, was Judge Judith Kaye’s comment that BU was “one of the nation’s premier public universities” — one of DeFleur’s favorite phrases, and hardly Kaye’s own words.

We’re pretty sure that’s not the message Kaye’s team of lawyers was trying to send.

This kind of evasion seemed to be the real, and only, purpose of the statement. Instead of accepting the blame that so obviously lies at their feet, DeFleur and Swain made a mockery of themselves and the University by throwing around hollow rhetoric of honesty and commitment to values; we’ve all seen that their actions indicate otherwise. Honor and integrity are nowhere to be seen in this mess.

Instead of offering a comprehensive plan of action, the statement discussed giving young people from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to succeed and BU’s school spirit — both important topics, but nowhere near the actual point. Plenty of people from diverse backgrounds come to BU without basketball scholarships, and it’s safe to say almost no one comes solely to watch the Bearcats play. And that’s OK.

Our new reputation as the butt of all basketball-related jokes is more than a “misstep,” as the statement so optimistically claims. It’s something that requires direct and honest action from the people responsible, not the empty words we’ve received so far. But, once again, our administrators have disappointed us. Instead of using the statement to take a step forward for the University, away from the embarrassment of the scandal, they took yet another step back.

The statement includes a plea for students to “help as we move forward.” And we’d love to, really. Just tell us how. Because at the moment it looks like the University would rather we forget the review ever existed than actually offer a constructive plan of action.

But the most glaring omission in the statement is its complete lack of an apology. Even Tiger Woods, a widely recognized jerk, felt compelled to apologize for his dishonesty.

And Tiger allegedly only slept with 14 women.

DeFleur fucked us all.