I guess the only reason I disagree personally is that, no matter what school you're at or what your major, undergraduate studies are almost always BS. Chances are, if you're actually interested in the subject, you already know everything you're going to learn in the classroom. I will keep an eye out for the study I mentioned (can't remember where I heard about it, but now I'm interested!), since that would be pretty difficult to disagree with.
Of course, my personal opinion doesn't make a difference in admissions, and there I would defer to the two professors I spoke with. Neither said, by the way, that low GPA is irrelevant, unimportant, or even forgivable. They just said it's not the end of the world.
And I'll add that, even if I don't get into any schools this round of admissions, I plan on applying again repeatedly.... which the OP should also consider. Hopefully, once 20 years or so separate us from our GPAs, they'll reconsider.