Anyone who attended the UTSA vs. Oklahoma State game on Sept. 7 probably noticed the herd of freshmen leading our football team onto the field. Apparently they are known as the “Rowdy Rush Crew.” I’m curious as to why the freshmen got this privilege, while the majority of the student body didn’t even know this would be happening.

My jaw honestly dropped slightly when the announcer introduced the class of 2017 as the students who would be leading the team out. They didn’t experience the first season that consisted of much more defeat than victory— or the second season for that matter. Let the students who have been here through it all have seniority on something like this.

It may be that freshmen are more accessible and easier to come by, but I’m sure plenty of juniors and seniors would jump at an opportunity like this to support our developing football team. Our e-mail inboxes are always filled with messages from the university warning us about census dates, encouraging us to rent our textbooks from the bookstore and asking us to vote for Mr. and Ms. UTSA. Getting a message with the subject line ‘rush the field at home football games’ is more likely to be opened than one reading ‘last day to add/drop classes is Sept. 4.’

Another reason this feels unfair is the fact that most current freshmen weren’t even seniors in high school when the football program kicked off in the fall of 2011. I remember being in the record-breaking crowd at the first-ever UTSA football game. The game this past Saturday might have been the first game that most of the Rowdy Rush Crew experienced — two years later.

A heads-up or a simple invitation would have been nice. At the next game the class of 2016 should be allowed to represent the Rowdy Rush crew and the class of 2015 at the next and so on. At the very least, any student should be able to be a part of this and the class separation should be omitted.