Campus News

Step by step through campus

Kelly Shaw
Campus News Editor

Being a college freshman can be a challenge like nothing else you will experience in your lifetime. Figuring out how much studying to do, how to survive with your crazy new roommate and how to show your professors that you’re not just an immature 18-year-old is hard enough. Knowing what’s happening on campus and how to get there are the best things you can do to help yourself in the first couple weeks of school.

Photo Credit: xu.edu

Students getting a bite to eat in the Gallagher Student Center

First, the dorms: Brockman, Kuhlman, Husman and Buenger. Brockman is the all freshman dorm and is known for its smelly basement that has been lovingly nicknamed “the pit.” (Not a good place to take that new girlfriend, boys.) Kuhlman and Husman are the two middle dorms on campus, right next to the greenspace, and are known for their suite-style living with two rooms sharing a bathroom. Buenger (pronounced “bang-er”) is the honors and athletic dorm, so it is usually a quiet study dorm, despite the living rooms in each suite that are perfect for parties. It has been known to host quite a few movie nights in the lobby.

The next most important building is the Hoff Student Dining Center, commonly known as the caf (not the café). It is located in Cintas Center, right across from Buenger Hall. Use your All Card to get all three meals of the day, and you’ll be all too eager to get some real home cooking on Christmas break.

If you want a change in the dining or if you are too late for a meal in the caf, head over to the Gallagher Student Center, located in the center of campus. In the GSC, you will find Subway, Iggy’s Pizza, Burger King and Ryan’s Pub (you don’t have to be 21 to eat at Ryan’s, but you do to drink a beer). The GSC also houses the bookstore, a coffee shop, Kinkos and offices for various student and faculty-run organizations. Pool tables, video games and FLIX (a movie rental service) are also located in the GSC.

The next most populated place on campus on a weekday is the academic mall, home to most of your classes. Alter Hall is where most freshman classes are, but MacDonald Library, Hinkle Hall, Lindner Hall, Schmitt Hall and Edgecliff Hall all run along the grassy area south of the chapel. God help you if you have a class in Cohen Hall, which is in the parking lot above Cintas Center. The Armory and Elet Hall are also a hike away, as they are on top of the hill across Victory Parkway, located past the O’Connor Sports Center.

The grassy area north of the chapel is nicknamed the “greenspace.” Many events will be held here, but it’s also the hang out spot on sunny afternoons as well as the place to have 4 a.m. football games. Coming up on Sept. 11, Club Day on the Mall will be held on the greenspace. Every club at Xavier will be present to give out information to anyone who will take it. The day before Club Day on the Mall, the greenspace will host the Spirit Celebration, which is a welcoming mass and accompanying picnic for all XU students.

When mass is not held on the greenspace, it takes place in Bellarmine Chapel, located between the two grassy areas of campus. Student masses take place daily as well as on Sundays at 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. If you attend, you might see one of your teachers as presiding priest.

Just down the south side of the street from Bellarmine is the Publications House, where your faithful Newswire staff will be every week.

Hopefully between spurts of being a couch potato, you will visit the O’Connor Sports Center, just across Victory Parkway. Basketball courts, the swimming pool, the weight room and a plethora of treadmills and ellipticals are available every day of the week. To introduce you to the OSC, the recreational sports department will have an open house on Monday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Head over for cornhole, ball games and fitness class demonstrations. Don’t let that freshman 15 catch up to you!

The only other building that you’ll be in for an extended period of time will hopefully be the Cintas Center basketball arena. Volleyball and basketball games are hosted here, but either event you go to is sure to be a blast. Musketeer Madness will be held in Cintas Center during Family Weekend on Oct. 21, so come support the Muskies in your white and blue.

Just south of the Cintas Center is the campus post office and ISS (which helps with stubborn computer problems). Make sure you check your mailbox occasionally for upcoming events. Behind the post office to the south is the new police station where you can go for parking permits or for help in any situation.
Campus can seem small once you get used to it, but the city of Cincinnati is right at your fingertips. To experience one of Cincy’s claims to fame, make sure not to head home for Labor Day. Sept. 3 is RiverFest downtown, and it will probably be the biggest fireworks show you’ve ever seen. Ride down on the bus that leaves from campus, and have fun with your new friends from Manresa (or your crazy new roommate).

Hopefully knowing a little more about campus will help keep you on your feet these first few weeks as a freshman. Make the most of it and you’ll end up making the most of your entire year.

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A final farewell

Kelly Shaw
Campus News Editor

Before any of the freshmen students set foot on Xavier’s campus this year, many attended a freshmen send-off in their hometowns.

Sixteen different cities hosted groups of Xavier’s soon-to-be freshmen and their parents for a “what to expect” gathering.

“This is one of many things that demonstrate the Xavier family tradition and sets us apart from other educational institutions,” said Dianne Fisk, director of parent and constituent relations.

Fisk attended eleven of the sixteen send-offs that were located, for the most part, in Xavier’s largest recruitment areas of the Midwest, although she also attended send-offs in Washington D.C. and Dallas, TX.

“The main purpose of the send-offs is to connect local families,” said Fisk. “They can connect for rides to and from Xavier, too, but mostly it’s just to help the families know others in their own city.”

Each send-off was coordinated through Fisk and a member of the Parent Advisory Council in each of the cities (every Xavier parent is part of the Parent Advisory Council). Students and parents then met with Fisk at a house, park, restaurant or other local spot.

The beginning of each send-off was a time for the students and parents to mingle among their peers and get to know each other a little better. Students got to discuss with other XU freshmen topics such as what dorm they would be living in, what classes they would be taking and what they expected their classes to be like.

While the students mingled, Fisk discussed what to expect with the parents. Topics of her speech included Manresa, what to do on and off campus, security and the cost of lost dorm keys.

“My main purpose was just to give a parent’s view on everything and tell the parents how they should react to the new situation,” said Fisk, who has had three children attend Xavier.

Some of the parents were surprised at how well the professors wanted to know their students. One father asked if he should worry that his son was asked to go on a golf outing with another student and his professor.

“That’s very common,” said Fisk, explaining how sociable the faculty is with the students. Teachers frequently meet out of class with students for dinner or other activities that improve understanding of each other’s personalities.

The meeting finished with a quiz for the freshmen that included questions such as, “Who is the president of Xavier?” and “Which highway exit is Xavier off?” Xavier gear was then handed out to those students who got the most questions correct.
The goal of the send-off was reached if students and parents felt a little better about being in a new city come August 28.

Published since 1915 by the students of Xavier University

Step by step through campus

A final farewell

XU Players in Chicago