At about 3:20 a.m. on Nov. 19, the day that the University of Maryland would publicly announce it had joined the Big Ten Conference, the student government’s top leaders released a formal one-page letter supporting the move.

Throughout that whirlwind day, U-Md. President Wallace D. Loh kept a printout of that letter in his suit jacket pocket. He referenced it when asking the University System of Maryland Board of Regents to bless the move. And he quoted from it when speaking at a televised news conference.

”If you will permit me,” Loh said in his closing remarks, “I will read just one sentence, because that student was able to write in one sentence what has taken me many, many minutes to say: ‘Although we mourn the traditions that would inevitably be lost, joining the Big Ten would fundamentally transform our university for the better.’”

The men in suits who moved Maryland to the Big Ten. (Patrick McDermott - Getty Images) This was not a piece of support that Loh had solicited. In the days leading up to the announcement, Loh quietly and quickly reached out to about two dozen of the school’s most powerful and valued liaisons, including politicians and major donors — but not students on his campus.

One student was briefed on the topic on the weekend the deal was reached: Steven Hershkowitz, a U-Md. graduate student who is the student member of the Board of Regents. Hershkowitz did not brief the student government, according to its leaders. When asked about his role, Hershkowitz wrote in an e-mail: ”I prefer not to be interviewed about this story anymore.”

What about the student government? Sure, on most campuses student-led governing bodies are occasionally questioned or mocked for appearing to lack true power. But these students are elected by their peers to provide a collective voice for the student body. University presidents typically consult the student body president, if not the whole group, in some way before making a major decision.

The University of Virginia’s accrediting body announced Tuesday that its trustees placed the elite public flagship “on warning” for allegedly violating two compliance standards earlier this year during a leadership shake-up. (You can read the full story here: “U-Va. receives warning from accreditors after failed ouster of president in June.”)

U-Va. Provost John D. Simon announced the sanction in a campus-wide e-mail sent on Tuesday afternoon. Here’s a copy of that message:

To the University community:

As you know, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) has been reviewing governance issues at the University since President Teresa A. Sullivan's resignation and subsequent reinstatement this past summer. SACSCOC announced today that it has placed the University of Virginia "on warning" for one year and will send a visiting team to Grounds in early 2013.

 This action does not imply any criticism of the University's academic quality and programs, nor does it affect the institution's ability to receive federal aid, including financial aid and sponsored research.

On Friday morning, James Madison University Senior Vice President for Student Affairs and University Planning Mark J. Warner e-mail-blasted the campus to wish students well on their exams and encourage them to properly manage their higher stress levels.

The e-mail landed in the inbox of Eric Davey, a JMU junior, who at first thought he had received a message from a slightly more famous Mark Warner — Mark R. Warner, the Democratic senator from Virginia. That prompted these tweets:

And then this one:

For the past few months, University of Virginia officials have swapped correspondence with the region’s accrediting agency regarding concerns raised by the unexpected ouster and eventual reinstatement of U-Va. President Teresa Sullivan in June. On Tuesday, the commission is expected to announce its latest verdict.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (better known as SACSCOC or SACS) Board of Trustees is expected to discuss the U-Va. case during an annual meeting in Dallas this week. The board could take one of four possible actions: stop probing, continue investigating, issue a warning or impose a sanction, such as placing the school on probation. The commission president, Belle S. Wheelan, is expected to announce the board’s decision Tuesday morning, according to her staff.

To refresh your memory, here’s a timeline of what has happened so far:

June 10: The U-Va. Board of Visitors announced that Sullivan would soon step down as president after just two years on the job. The announcement cited a philosophical difference of opinion between Sullivan and the board. The board never met to discuss the ouster, but board leader Helen Dragas has said that she received authorization from more than two-thirds of board members to ask for Sullivan’s resignation.

June 25: The accreditation commission’s vice president sent a letter to Sullivan that raised questions about the governing board’s actions and “UVA’s ongoing compliance with The Principles of Accreditation,” especially those regarding integrity, governing board control and the faculty role in governance. The commission set a deadline of July 31, which was later extended.

Passing notes is so old school. At New York University, a glitch in the school’s e-mail system allowed students to share their most vacuous thoughts not with a couple classmates, but with the entire student body.

The debacle, which students nicknamed “Replyallcalypse,” broke out Tuesday when the Bursar’s Office sent an e-mail to students with the wrong settings, reports NYU Local. A sophomore mistakenly replied to the message — and 39,979 people got the one-line e-mail (“do you want me to do this?”) actually meant for his mom.

In the more than 24 hours before NYU’s IT department shut down the thread, thousands of messages ricocheted around the listserv. But if you expected students to use their newfound platform toward a higher purpose, you’d be disappointed. Buzzfeed’s screenshots of the more outstanding messages include photos of Nicholas Cage, complaints about tuition and many, many requests for everyone to just shut up. Whether that reflects young people or Internet culture is up for debate.

“We had been given a great and terrible power,” freshman Kelly Weill wrote in NYU Local. “For a moment we contemplated responsibility, then gleefully tossed it aside in favor of posting pictures of cats.”