A very wise man once told me that the spring semester this year would be the worst in recent history-an outrageous increase in tuition, a lack of student leadership and the impending doom of this publication were all cited as the reasons why, even in January, students should have been trembling in fear and expecting the worst.

At the time, I listened carefully to this wise man, and I took it with a large grain of kosher salt. Doomsayer scenarios have been presented to SLU’s newspaper staff and broader body politic before, after all. In August, I was warned that the proverbial shit was going to hit the proverbial fan. By February, I was sick of expecting the worst and had frequent heartburn combined with a debilitating case of pessimism.

When the wise man’s prophecies started to become reality, I told everyone I could think of to start battening down the hatches. Yet, no one believed the chick who cried wolf. The SLUmor mill started whirling, and the chick who cried wolf derided with whispers behind closed doors as “combative,” “uncooperative” and “not to be trusted.”

Is this a girl who writes for a student newspaper we’re talking about here, or the enemy of a communist regime?

Let’s just do a quick recap here: The perplexing student leader stipend chaos, the Vagina Monologues getting the boot, a professor verbally assaulting Rainbow Alliance members, Phil Lyons resigning, SLU claiming to be a secular institution, Linda Wardhammar resigning, the Pikes’ charter being suspended until 2012, Soderberg fired with no explanation .Wait, I feel like I’m forgetting something-oh, yeah. SLU is raising tuition almost nine percent next year. Extraordinary.

I’m not going to bore you, dear reader-or myself-with expostulating on the inadequate student response to this unfortunate series of events. After all, by September, 1,700 new lambs will be coming to the slaughter that is the student voice at SLU; and none of this will matter. So it goes.

What I learned this year, I learned in spite of the University. I learned that, at SLU, the library closes at midnight, but the bologna-slicer operates 24/7. Some of the administrators here are two-timing weasels, some of them are genuine human beings whose mommas taught them right from wrong-but they choose to do the latter-while still others legitimately work for, and care about, the students.

The decision that the wise man prophesized would come from above was handed down on Monday. The editorial board of this publication had no idea what to expect, except another one of President Biondi’s now-infamous “spring surprises.” Two options were presented to us: Take what we give you, or go elsewhere. That was it. No room for negotiation. The Provost indicated no “conceptual or ideological” alterations to this administrative decision would be accepted.

Can I personally fault the administration for this decision? Not really. But I’ve found that being proactive doesn’t work at this institution. We tried to be proactive. We begged for a sit-down with the administration to discuss the available resources and support for the UNews. We begged to be included as part of whatever process was taking place behind locked doors to improve campus journalism. After three weeks, we received word that a meeting would be granted.

People have suggested that student journalists “talk through it” with the SLU administration to see if we can find some middle ground. No, let’s respond to it. The student body did not invite nor call for the proposed newspaper “reforms.” I’m not willing to accept “a conversation at an unspecified point in the semi-near future.” There seems to be a point where we’ve forgotten that compromise is two-sided. We’re so quick to throw away what’s important to us (an independent, student led, operated and organized newspaper) for the sake of “compromise” that compromise risks allowing the University to fiat their will.

We should not leave campus this May wondering how another spring surprise slipped by us. We’ve operated under fear for far too long.

What are we afraid of? What are administrators afraid of? The power of the printed page? A bully with a collar?

We are prepared. We readied ourselves with an inoculation for seasonal spring surprise; we have been sick for too long and we have nothing else to lose.

One song has served as an anthem for the past few weeks: In the iconic words of one Mr. Roger Daltrey, I “won’t get fooled again.” Will you?