Yeah he's in a tough spot. He will need to dish out some form of punishment or provide a good explanation that is backed by the "locked out" student. If punishment is necessary, it better not be expulsion or donors and the legislature will be angry.
You're comparing the best BSC school to the worst Slummit school. Sdsu usd and ndsu would all result in more fans at the Betty than Montana. Omaha would probably be a similar crowd to Montana and wiu and the Indiana alphabet soups would be similar to the rest of the BSC not named Montana or Weber.