In her latest stroke of brilliance, President Lois DeFleur has voluntarily withdrawn Binghamton University from this weekend’s America East tournament. This isn’t what we had in mind when we asked the University to take action.

The statement officials released to reporters yesterday, which was credited to DeFleur, stated that the decision is “being done voluntarily as part of our commitment to move forward as we develop a comprehensive plan to address the recommendations of the recent review.”

What the statement effectively does, however, is again allow the University to use our basketball players as scapegoats for administrative mistakes.

The audit clearly indicated who is to blame in the basketball fiasco: DeFleur, former athletic director Joel Thirer and former coach Kevin Broadus, among other officials. Unless there’s something they’re not telling us, nowhere on that list is this year’s team, which is made up of players who had nothing to do with the problems. In fact, 13 of the players were added after the scandal broke. So why are they the ones getting punished, and by the very people who are to blame?

Preseason polls predicted that BU would finish ninth in the America East Conference. Despite all expectations, and with the loss of more than half the team — including our top three scorers — we finished fifth. Even more importantly, we did it the right way this time. Every player on the team has been working toward this tournament all season, and each success along the way has raised the school spirit so prized by University officials. We proved that we could follow the rules and win at the same time, and even if it’s to a lesser degree, it’s still a start.

For the chance to prove ourselves at America East to be taken away less than a week before tip-off, and for no logical reason, is disgusting. A lot of people were looking forward to this game.

There have been rumors that the decision came because of pressure from other America East officials, perhaps because of “the controversy currently surrounding the program” that DeFleur mentioned in her statement. But the audit proved these same officials have pressured DeFleur before, and the University has shown time and time again that it has no intention of listening to anyone regarding the basketball program. It’s what landed us in trouble in the first place.

So why, when the team actually began to move forward, did our administrators finally bow to pressure and pull them back?

It is good to see that the University is finally taking such strong and bold action instead of sending us the usual vague and pointless responses. However, its incorrect action is infinitely more damaging than inaction, and this one has, against all odds, managed to make things worse.

Hey, DeFleur, get this into your head — the problem isn’t this year’s basketball team, it’s you and the rest of the squad you call administrators.