— STAFF EDITORIALS —
Team players
Though you might be convinced otherwise, the Newswire does not actually hate any groups on campus.
Sure, we’ve taken more than our share of cheap shots at certain organizations, pointing out what we see as flaws and failures, and often leaving little room for positive perception.
Many people have voiced concern (though never in published print form on our always-open letters to the editor page) that the student body may have misguided and negative impressions of what their group does on campus.
Quite frankly, though, this is not our problem. We are not out to be a PR machine for Xavier’s clubs.
Our mission statement highlights our commitment “to challenge the minds and inspire progress in the actions of our readers.” In order to challenge, we must always demand the best out of our fellow student organizations.
Just because we rarely say so doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the work various clubs have done to make Xavier a better place, but we know you can do better, and we’re going to constantly bring that to light. Take our criticism as a sign of faith that we know you’re capable of pulling off bigger and better things.
The important thing to realize is that we’re on the same team here. We as students seek to better this university. As a newspaper, we better Xavier by bringing the heat on the clubs that can and do effect change.
If you’re worried that all the Newswire does is paint you in a negative light, write a letter to the editor. Let our readers know where we’ve been wrong and what you’ve done right.
Hopefully by making use of the forum we give you, you can help the Newswire be a better publication.
Plus, communication always works better when it’s two-way.
Bring back the love
The Newswire thinks that Xavier’s campus is currently missing a very important social tool: Courting. No, we don’t mean basketball. We’re talking about romance.
It seems that dating, defined by the Newswire as taking people out on dates, is in a recession. No one ever woos, courts or even talks intimately anymore.
Poking someone on Facebook does not qualify as a woo, nor does buying someone a “buttery nipple” at Dana’s count as a deep, inter-personal experience.
Now, the Newswire realizes that in an age of impersonal communication and high social expectations it is difficult to break through to something real. Text messaging and instant messages have replaced the once cherished art of letter writing. Chivalry, though not dead, has devolved to the point where many women would swoon (if women still swooned) with the simple gesture of a man opening the car door for them.
Today, most relationships spawn from drunken hookups instead of serious affection, which ultimately leaves the two parties awkwardly asking two months later, “So...what are we?”
It is nearly impossible for a man to approach a woman with genuine intent, because it is just assumed that all he wants is something physical.
But what most guys don’t know is that if those brave souls do muster the courage to ask a girl out on a “date,” they may be pleasantly surprised.
The Newswire ladies find such openness refreshing, if not invigorating.
So it’s up to you guys.
We at the Newswire know it’s easier said than done, but take a leap of faith and woo your heart out.
Open your mind before your mouth
Mfreke Akpaninye
Editorial Columnist
Halo 3 came out about a week ago, and I am pretty sure that most of you have been in the Gallagher Student Center recently and seen it being played on the flat screen TV randomly during the day. While observing some guys playing the game I happened to overhear some girls walking out of the bookstore. One girl said “How immature, video games are meant for little kids.”
After hearing this comment, my brain juices really got going. I immediately sat down and thought it out. I talked to my friends. I meditated. I even called Ms. Cleo for help. I couldn’t understand how college students could be so intolerant and immediately reject something that they had no clue about. I would bet that this girl hadn’t played one second of Halo in her life.
Then it came to me: Guys and girls are different due to the way they were raised. It is expected that we do not understand one another.
Go back to when you were six or seven years old. Since I’m a guy, I was playing with my Hot Wheels, watching Power Rangers and enjoying Captain Crunch by the bowl (oh, how I miss Captain Crunch). Anyways, I remember that my sister spent most of her time playing with Barbies. She also had a little cooking oven in which she could make cookies and brownies.
Why were we supposed to play with these certain things? Why did I have to play Mario on my Super Nintendo while she got to cook brownies?
Fast forward to college. There are still these labels. Football and video games seem to be guy things, while manicures and shopping tend to fall under the girl category. Why can’t Sally like football and be an avid Halo player? Why can’t I like having soft hands and smooth nails? (By the way, I don’t have smooth nails but my hands have been said to be heavenly soft.)
I’m not just criticizing the opposite sex with this issue. Sometimes peers of the same sex tease each other for liking things outside the norm. I’m a “Grey’s Anatomy” fan and get hassled by my guy friends because for some odd reason watching it takes away your manhood.
I think we need to become more open to new ideas and different things. So guys, try watching shows like “Grey’s” or “The Hills” so you can start a conversation with that cute girl in your 8:30. And girls, when you walk by the guys playing Halo 3, sit down and just try playing it for a while. You’d be surprised how many guys would love you if you could pull off a triple kill in Halo 3. That’s wife material.
Next time you’re in a situation where you can try something new, I suggest you do it. You never know; you might fall in love with it.
The fight against injustice
Corey Burton
Leadership Committee Co-Chair for the Black Student Association
In the midst of the political controversies of Jena, La., we, the Leadership Committee of the Black Student Association, are looking to take the focus off racist and divisive sentiments. We would like to do this first by informing the Xavier community of the situation in Jena, La.
Last fall, when two African-American high school students sat under what was considered “the white tree” on their campus, Caucasian students retaliated by hanging nooses from the tree.
In response to the light punishment issued (one week of in-school-suspension), African-American students protested.
District Attorney Reed Walters came to the school and told the students he could “take [their] lives away with a stroke of [his] pen.”
Racial tension continued to mount in Jena, and the district attorney did nothing in response to several egregious cases of violence and threats against African-Americans students.
A Caucasian student—who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses—taunted an African-American student, allegedly calling several black students “nigger,” and as a result was assaulted by African-American students.
Six of those African-American students were charged with second-degree attempted murder.
Last month, Mychal Bell, the first young man to be tried, was convicted. He faced up to 22 years in prison for a school fight.
Thankfully, all of the “Jena Six” have been released from jail after a peaceful demonstration in Jena which involved between 15,000 and 20,000 Americans, recent media coverage and staunch efforts by advocates of “equality and justice for all.”
Why is the situation in Jena, La. just now being brought to light? Where has the media been for the past year? How can racist semblances such as a “white-tree” exist in our current day and age? As college students, why hasn’t there been any kind of university response?
Such questions speak to where we are as a society. With events like this taking place, it should be quite evident that racism still exists.
The racism of the 21st century has taken a different form: One of an institutionalized nature, creating a need for immediate action.
Throughout history, racism has scarred America’s identity. These negative characteristics have created such historical icons as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and W.E.B. DuBois.
These young leaders were devoted to racial equality and sacrificed their livelihood to derail America from its unequal and prejudiced path of existence.
It is through efforts by young individuals that a fire for justice was ignited in the hearts and souls of millions.
Since the Civil Rights Movement, where has this inspiration for action gone?
Our nation has once again fallen off its course and is in need of leaders—in need of individuals willing to sacrifice their livelihood for justice and equality for all.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated: “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
It is our duty as college students to react to the injustices of Jena, La. It is our time to put America back on course. It is a time for action.
The Leadership Committee of the Black Student Association is calling out for action. At 7 p.m. on Oct. 9, we are asking for all members of the Xavier community to join us on the greenspace to help in our fight against injustice.
World Newswire
In my first month at Xavier I have encountered many new experiences and have found out much about Xavier’s emphasis on global justice, working to educate people and helping solve those problems.
Although I enjoy reading the Newswire and I think it is important to keep people informed about what is happening on Xavier’s campus, I believe that there is still room for improvement.
The mission statement of the university begins “Xavier’s mission is to educate. Our essential activity is the interaction of students and faculty in an educational experience characterized by critical thinking and articulate expression with specific attention given to ethical issues and values,” and later says “Jesuit education seeks to develop...a world view that is oriented to responsible action and recognizes the intrinsic value of the natural and human values.”
I think that the Newswire should include a “national/world news”section. I believe that adding this section to the student paper would help keep the paper in line with Xavier’s mission statement.
But beyond just trying to be consistent with the mission statement, I believe there are still more reasons to add this section to the newspaper.
Students who read the Newswire and learn about world events may feel called to action and put their efforts into helping an organization on campus or in founding a new organization to fill a need that has yet to be addressed.
Also, even if students don’t remember every article or feel extremely moved by everything that they read, it would still ring a bell later if an organization is trying to raise awareness. This would be helpful to those organizations in garnering support for their causes.
This would make the Newswire not just a paper for students to read for fun or for campus news and events, but also a paper for students to become more aware of the world around us.
Sammy Pettinichi
Class of 2011
Clean up in the caf
Over the past two summers I was a custodian at a high school in Philadelphia. Part of my job there was to clean the cafeteria, which entailed washing the tables and sweeping the floor. Every day after the students were done eating I would have to go clean the caf, and when I would get there, all the tables and chairs were moved around so the caf looked like hell.
There were some tables with 20 chairs around them, and others with no chairs at all. There were tables that were connected to each other in one area, and other tables isolated in the opposite corner. Every day I had to set the caf back up so it looked nice for the students the next day just so those jerks could screw it up again.
When I eat at the caf at Xavier, I get upset at the numbers of tables pushed together and chairs everywhere. How difficult is it to push your chair in or move it back to where it was in the beginning? Xavier students are just lazy because they don’t care that someone has to go around and move the chairs and tables back for them. Do you all think the tables move back magically overnight?
What’s the point of sitting next to everyone you know when you can only talk to the three people around you? Unless of course you yell to the other end of the table, but if you’re yelling in the caf you’re just a jerk because other people are trying to eat.
Having once been a custodian once, I know how much it sucks to go around every day to fix the same thing over and over again. So I ask that if you go to the caf, please leave the tables where they are and push back your chairs because you don’t look any cooler, no matter how many friends you’re sitting with.
Alex Maloney
Class of 2010
Dangers of Dana
Anyone who lives in the Village or a house on Dana Avenue, or who visits the Women’s Center or the Alumni Center surely knows how dangerous the crosswalk at the end of the academic mall can be. We have to navigate four lanes of traffic that regularly travel much faster than the posted speed limit of 25 mph. Often, we find ourselves halfway across the street when we spot a car flying around the bend and have to run across the street.
In the past two weeks I have witnessed three car accidents on this section of Dana. Each of them has involved a driver slamming into the back of a car that was stopped either to turn or to allow pedestrians to cross. One of these accidents involved injury. If drivers aren’t paying enough attention to notice a car stopped in the street, what confidence can we have that they will see us crossing the street on foot?
Last week I saw maintenance crews working on the crosswalk. I was hoping that they would be significantly improving the safety of the crosswalk, but all they did was replace a few light bulbs and the markings on the roadway.
Why can’t this crossing get a traffic signal like the one on Victory? There is probably just as much foot and car traffic on Dana, and it is much harder to navigate because of the hill and the bend in the road, making it much more dangerous.
If not that, can we at least get Campus Police to help control the speeding traffic on Dana?
I would hope that Xavier will respond before there is a serious injury to a student.
Sean Bartz
Class of 2008
'So It Goes' by Matt Kroeger
Matt Kroeger
Click to enlarge.
Darren LaCour
Op-Ed Editor
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