RIVALRY REFLECTIONS

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University rescinded the mandatory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."