Hey there, student body. We owe you an apology.

You probably didn’t realize we had messed up, but the fact is that some important people were on campus last week, and we dropped the ball in letting you know about it ahead of time.

Hillary Clinton (you may know her — she’s our U.S. senator) was here, Monday, Sept. 25, and both Donna Lupardo and Tom Libous (you may not know them, but they’re the region’s state assemblywoman and state senator, respectively) were here Tuesday (see Page 1).

And we messed up. We didn’t let you know ahead of time … but we weren’t the only ones.

Though both events were advertised on Dateline, the University’s staff listserv, they weren’t placed on B-Line, the announcement system the students actually look at. And they certainly weren’t advertised on campus. Now, maybe we’re jumping the gun a little, but does it sound at all to you like the University didn’t really want the students to attend?

In all fairness, Clinton was here for a specific event that required tickets, so students couldn’t really have attended. But still — when our U.S. senator comes to OUR campus, it would be nice for us to know about it. Even Michael Schiffman, the Student Association’s president (remember him? Head of our student government? You elected him last spring …) didn’t know Clinton was here until he was told by a police officer.

Libous and Lupardo, too, made an appearance here at the behest of United University Professions, the union that represents faculty and staff. But this event was open to anybody, students included. But nobody — from UUP officials to the BU communications people — thought that students should know. Had the student body known, those who care about state politics, or those interested in learning, could have come and become a part of the process.

The point we’re getting at here is that the people being thought of definitely weren’t the students. It’s our job to make up for that, and this time around we failed.

Sure, it’s great to get the University’s name out by hosting events with important political figures, but wouldn’t it be better if the school sponsored similar events we could actually benefit from? When other schools, such as our dear neighbor to the northwest, Cornell University, invite important figures to their campus, it’s usually for events in which the students can participate … even — gasp! — events planned specifically for student enrichment, not just to create a p.r. circus and get their name in a few papers.

Somewhere along the way, it seems BU lost a key concept — this University exists for the students first and foremost. In this business, we’re the customer; we have a right to know what’s going on, and quite frankly, what’s going on should, to a large degree, be targeted at us.

But it’s not. And that’s why we’re going to do a better job of keeping the student body informed about everything going on on this campus. It’s our job, and your entitlement.