Adam Klein, center, and Jose Perez, right, walk to court last year (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg).

Two of the former Columbia University students busted for selling drugs in the NYPD's Operation Ivy League last year had a very disappointing day in court today. A mean judge decided that alleged drug dealers Jose Perez and Michael Wymbs can't enroll in a pretrial diversion program that would have kept them out of prison (and cleaned their records if they made it through). Another student, Chris Coles, was allowed to enter the program while a fourth's lawyer asked for more time before the judge makes the decision. Meanwhile the pair's lawyers say that the boys are being mistreated by a judge looking to punish some rich kids from a famous school.

“If this was not a Columbia University press case I’m convinced they’d get diversion,” Wymbs's lawyer told reporters. “The system created to help those with drug problems failed today.” Clearly, the decision of Justice Michael Sonberg (who attended Harvard Law not Columbia) had nothing to do with the fact that the DA successfully argued that the diversion program was designed to help drug addicts and not drug dealers. Note that Coles, who says he is addicted to marijuana, is being evaluated for the program (also note that Coles was also the only one of the pack just facing charges of selling marijuana).

Now the remaining former Columbia kids have some tough choices ahead of them: They can either plead guilty and, assuming they can get the plea deals they previously rejected, serve five years probation or they can take their chances in court on November 15.

The alleged ringleader of the drug dealing operation, Harrison David, previously took his own plea deal for which is he serving time at Rikers.