In an effort to rebel after news that the men’s basketball team would not compete in this weekend’s conference tournament, students rallied on campus Monday — but the turnout proved to be a surprise.

Out of the 870 confirmed guests on the event’s Facebook event, which stated that students “must not let [Binghamton University’s President Lois] DeFleur decide the fate” of the team, about 50 people showed up to protest outside of Couper Administration Building Wednesday.

“The Facebook event said that approximately 800 people would be coming out to show their support,” Seth Grossman, a senior double majoring in anthropology and math, and the Facebook event’s creator, said. “We seem to be a very apathetic generation.”

On Monday night, students received an e-mailed statement from DeFleur, which announced that the school would be withdrawn from the competition.

Grossman decided to organize the rally after he saw how passionate students, including himself, felt about the basketball team’s right to play at the America East tournament.

“Students were clearly upset about what happened and we just want the best for our team and our players,” said Student Association President Adam Amit.

During the course of the rally, Grossman, Amit and SA Executive Vice President Jared Kirschenbaum, along with two other students, were called to speak with DeFleur and Vice President for Student Affairs Brian Rose.

According to Grossman, the major point of the meeting was understanding that DeFleur’s decision was not an easy one, but he declined to comment on specifics of what she said.

“If people thought she was doing it for selfish reasons, that is not the impression I had after walking away from the meeting,” he said.

Officials released a statement from DeFleur to the media, in which she thanked students for meeting with her and others who gathered to “show support” for the team.

“I understand that many feel this decision isn’t fair to our current players and coaches who have competed so hard this season but we must work with America East, the NCAA and SUNY to develop a plan to respond to the recommendations of Judge Kaye’s review,” the statement said. “This decision was part of the process.”

According to Amit, a few leaders of the BU Zoo and members of the athletic department are working to organize a pep rally for the team. He said they would start the initial planning next week.

“We want to show our team how much we want them back for next year so we can cheer them on to victory,” he said.