Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
SAS, FACES share south asian culture with XU
Matthew Finger
Op-Ed Editor
As holiday lights appeared all over campus, the South Asian Society (SAS) and Filipino-American Cultural Enlightenment Society (FACES) celebrated Diwali on Thursday, Nov. 16. The theme for the evening was “Lights of Unity,” and featured a buffet-style selection of South Asian and Filipino food. This popular event sold out the Monday before and filled the Gallagher Theater with an audience eager for a night of music, dancing and fun.
Junior Anish Kapil, vice president of SAS, helped emcee the show.
“Diwali is the Hindu cultural festival that occurred this year in October where one of our lords, King Rama, was exiled into the forest,” said Kapil. “He took his brother-in-law and his wife, Sita, with him. After 14 years of exile, they came back from their exile and the town basically lit up in joy,” he said.
The theme for this year’s event was “The Lights of Unity” and featured prayers from each major South Asian religion. The emcees and SGA president Steve Bentley repeated this theme as they emphasized how different aspects of South Asian culture are related. The finale included a fusion dance with elements of traditional South Asian dances and hip-hop as a living example of a blend of two cultures.
“The food as well as the performances - in particular the collaboration with FACES - turned out to be a big hit,” said sophomore Michelle Kurian. “The audience greatly enjoyed the food that was served prior to the show - and were equally as thrilled by the performances from SAS and FACES of XU as well as the guest performances from Miami University.”
The newly-formed club FACES, comprised of students from both Xavier and UC, drew cheers from the audience with traditional dances featuring students jumping between bamboo sticks and dancing with candles on their heads. The collaboration allowed Xavier students to experience yet another culture.
“Both of our goals were to be able to share our culture with the Xavier community, and we hope to provide more opportunities like Diwali for students throughout the year,” said FACES co-president and founder Christian Sese. “Diwali was awesome. It gave us the opportunity to collaborate with another cultural group on campus - especially one that shares a similar culture and experiences.”
Kapil hopes students learned something at Diwali.
“Our goal at SAS is to help be an outlet to the Xavier community about South Asian culture. That is the whole reason that we even do this event, so we hope that our goal is fulfilled,” he said.
Kurian feels this has helped Xavier’s campus.
“The campus has been positively influenced by events that SAS has held in its few short years of existence, and we hope to continue to enlighten the campus on South Asian culture and to further diversify our university beyond the limits,” Kurian said.
FACES and SAS are open to all Xavier students interested in Filipino and South Asian culture. SAS meetings are held every Tuesday night in the Honors Villa. FACES also meets on Tuesdays in GSC.
“The buzz word on campus is Diwali right now,” said junior Jules Byrne. “People keep asking about it and what exactly Diwali is. The specific cultural traditions associated with the Festival of Lights are definitely very important, but in the case of XU’s student body, what sticks out most is the rockin’ food, dance and costume that goes along with the celebration.”
Auburn win highlights weekend
Nick DiFrancesco
Contributing Writer
Over the past two weeks, the Xavier women’s basketball team took part in two early season tournaments. They defeated Western Carolina 79-50 and Loyola Marymount 75-65 on Nov. 17 and 18, respectively, en route to their second straight National City Xavier Invitational championship.
The team then spent their Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. Virgin Islands, finishing second in the Paradise Jam. Xavier won its first two games, defeating Auburn 75-64 and Western Michigan 69-62, before finally succumbing to Marquette in the final, 73-53.
The team’s strong early play has been a direct result of something the coaches will continue to harp on all season – their defense.
Through six games, the Musketeers are holding its opponents to a paltry 35.1 field goal percentage. Couple this with the fact that Xavier is shooting 43.1 percent themselves, and it is no surprise that they are 5-1.
In talking with the coaches before the season began, the biggest thing they seemed to stress was holding every opponent under 38 percent from the field, and the four times they have done that have led to victories.
The one thing that doomed Xavier in the Paradise Jam final, as it did to the men’s team a week earlier, was a lack of consistent zone offense. Instead of involving constant passes and cuts, the offense was stagnant and most of the shots Xavier took were ill advised.
Marquette, on the other hand, was able to sit back and force long jumpers for most of the game. The Musketeers will need to improve in this area since it’s certain that their opponents will have taken notes.
Overall, it was a pretty solid two weeks, as freshman Amber Harris took home two consecutive Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week awards. She has been Xavier’s most consistent player so far, and it is safe to say that these two awards will be just the first of many for Harris this year.
She leads the team in scoring at 16.5 ppg, closely followed by four other Musketeers averaging double digits: Michele Miller (13.8), Miranda Green (12.7), Suntana Granderson (11.7) and Joei Clyburn (10.8). Harris is also the team’s leading rebounder, snagging eight boards per contest.
This week, the team faces the Louisville Cardinals at 7 p.m. on Thursday and the Morehead State Eagles at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be at Cintas Center. The Cardinals come in with a 6-0 record and ranked 19th in the country, while the Eagles bring a record of 1-5.
Brian Bowsher 
Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Downing
Senior News Editor
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