Last Friday, the question of whether on-campus military recruiters should stay or go unfortunately became a question of how many UCSB faculty legislators would show up to vote.

The answer to the first question has now been postponed until fall of next year because the answer to the second question was a resounding “not enough.”

Be the cause apathy or a tangled web of prior commitments, the failure of the Faculty Legislature to meet quorum at last week’s special meeting showed tremendous disrespect for the large number of UCSB students who feel passionately about the issue of military presence on campus.

Students should be commended for demonstrating their commitments for or against the proposal at a town hall meeting on the topic two weeks ago. The faculty members who did not show up to their own special meeting should be chastised for not taking the campus controversy seriously.

Somehow, during the same hectic period of midterms currently cited as a possible cause for the dismal attendance at the Faculty Legislature meeting (less than 20 members of the 50-member body), students were able to muster over 100 people to attend a midweek town hall meeting.

Hell must be freezing over if members of the 18- to 24-year-old demographic turn out to voice their opinions in greater numbers than an age group consisting mostly of current and soon-to-be members of the AARP.

When students actually take the time to get off their asses and express interest in a matter of such significance as the right of military recruiters to set up shop on their campus, the faculty — whom students should be looking up to — should match action with action.

Hosting the town hall meeting allowed students to demonstrate their maturity in confronting an extremely complicated issue like the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Last week’s special session of the Faculty Legislature gave our professors that same opportunity, and they blew it.