Schooled. That’s what happened to the men’s basketball team two weeks ago, when the biggest game of the young season ended in a 75-60 Vermont victory. The Catamounts, under forward Taylor Coppenrath, learned Northeastern to the tune of 28 points, while David Hehn took control of the paint, posting 16 rebounds.

Still, that performance earned Coppenrath, Hehn and the rest of UVM a big incomplete. Why? Because a main event match-up that was supposed to pit two of the conference’s top frontcourt players against each other became an under card when super freshman Shawn James missed the game due to academic issues. One can only imagine what would have happened if James, the man of triple-double lore, had been patrolling the block. One thing is for sure: the hosts would not have been outglassed by a 46-31 margin.

Now, I’m not trying to blow up James’ spot, or make an example of him to the masses. It is not uncommon for first-year students to struggle, never mind as a scholar-athlete trying to acclimate to the college lifestyle. After all, James was an honor roll student at Notre Dame, where he helped them to a No. 3 national ranking among fifth-year prep schools.

But isn’t that the problem, this term “scholar-athlete”? James is not the first student to go through such struggles, and he won’t be the last. It seems to happen so often, however, that shoving it under the rug will not suffice. This is especially true at a school like Northeastern, where our president remains undeterred in his goal to place the university among the top schools in the nation.

In order for a university, or any academic institution, to achieve success, its primary responsibility at all times should be to serve the best interests of the student sabove all else. Sadly, it is too often institutions fail in this regard. This transcends all levels of learning. In elementary school, the kids who exceled at kickball got to go to the front of the lunch line. In middle school, you didn’t have to do a science fair project if you played for the basketball team. Drive in the game-winning run against the state champs in high school, and that F in woodshop becomes an A-.

Then there’s college, where you have athletes like former Ohio State standout linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer, who took classes like golf and AIDS awareness to fulfill his graduation requirements. Worse yet, you have schools like Cincinnati and Arkansas, whose basketball programs had zero graduation rates in the late 1990s.