Holiday cheer, yule logs and
the simple joy of a stress-free
month are usually words that describe
a Xavier student’s winter
break. So, it was a shock to most
when students received an e-mail
that required mandatory reflection
on the Crosstown Shootout and
sportsmanship.
“The student section contributed
to the hostile atmosphere
that charged the arena with unsportsmanlike
conduct through
unacceptable chanting, verbal expletives,
and objects being thrown
onto the arena floor,” Luther
Smith, dean of students, and others
said in the e-mail.
However, due to a large amount of negative feedback, the
University rescinded the mandatory
reflections. Scott Chadwick,
provost and chief academic officer,
and Ryan Alleman, senior
SGA executive president, sent a
second e-mail changing the reflections
to voluntary and rescheduled
the meeting to last night in Cintas
Center.
This reflection allowed students
to participate in dialogue
about the events that occurred at
the Crosstown Shootout and talk
about ideas that the Universitycould take to grow for the future.
“This approach will invite the
entire undergraduate student
community to discuss our strong
Xavier spirit, show support by the
students for the men’s basketball
team and our Xavier values, as
well as focus on making the student
game experience the best
it can be,” Chadwick said in the
e-mail.
Approximately 25 students attended
the voluntary reflection,
which was hosted by Chadwick,
Alleman, Mike Bobinski, athletic
director, Clare McGrath, X-treme
fans president, and Colleen
McHugh, X-treme fans vice
president.
Many students spoke about
their disappointment with the student
section, the administration
and the way Xavier represented
itself. Some students expressed
concerns about changes in security
during home games and others
wished the administration had
chosen a better time to issue these
sessions.
“Timing seemed to be poor on
the administration and wording
of the e-mail only fueled the fire
for the negative press Xavier received,”
a student said.
The original e-mail was sent on
Jan. 5 and required that students
who had attended the Crosstown
Shootout to participate in one of
three reflection sessions during
the first week of the semester.
According to the e-mail, failure
to participate in these reflection
sessions would result in an ineligibility
to receive men’s basketball
home game tickets for the entirety
of the season.
“I think the reflection ended
up being very positive and that
it seems that the majority of students
mainly want to move on,”
Alleman said. “You always wish
for higher numbers, but the students
who were there wanted to
be there and contributed a lot to
the discussion.”