— STAFF EDITORIAL —
SOL changing their luck
You know, there’s a lot of whining that goes on at this campus. Some might say we’re avid contributors to this movement, though we try to offer some positive suggestions instead of pure complaint.
Unfortunately, though, most of this whining simply stays as such: just whining. People don’t act to change the things they are upset about or slighted by. And so the problems continue, stacking up, one by one, and nothing ever gets better.
The Student Organization of Latinos (SOL), however, has grown tired of sitting around and complaining. They’ve officially severed ties with the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) and with the university’s “diversity” promotions because they don’t feel that the OMA has adequately met their needs. Something tells us that their actions have a lot of potential to effect change.
Now, we understand that the OMA has limited resources, and that the majority of those resources are probably used to serve the largest group of students the office represents, which is African-American students. But if Xavier wants to continue to tout diversity as one of its selling points, then perhaps the institution should look to getting more resources for the OMA.
We don’t think resources should be presented in the form of committees discussing what should be done or extra core classes or new administrators, either. The university needs to go to students groups like SOL, who feel that they are not well-represented, and ask them what the university can do to meet their needs.
SOL’s actions will force the university to do just that.
The way the organization presented their case was fair and classy, and it strikes at areas the university will need to address quickly.
The members of SOL turned their complaint into action, and as a result, change will happen. Perhaps the rest of the Xavier community can look to SOL as a model for how to shape Xavier into the place we students want it to be.
All it takes is some cajones.
Misleading marketing
There are few things that the student body of Xavier University seems to almost universally agree on:
(1) 94 cent Pabst Blue Ribbon in Ryan’s is great.
(2) The commercial Xavier runs on TV during basketball games sucks.
And…that’s about it.
So let’s address the second point. Why does Xavier insist on running a television commercial that depicts a campus that does not in fact exist (yet)?
Don’t get us wrong, we love artist renderings of what the campus may or may not look like five to 1,743 years from now. But is this really an appropriate way to depict Xavier University?
What kind of message does that send to the students who currently attend Xavier? The college that we go to currently isn’t good enough to advertise? We have to advertise the college of the future because the college of the present isn’t so telegenic?
We like Xavier University of the present a lot actually. If the buildings aren’t good enough for television, can’t we advertise the students of Xavier, many of whom seem to rather enjoy this place?
Anytime the current commercial comes on, we like to play the “real or fake” game, where we determine which parts of the commercial depict things that exist, and which parts depict fictitious ones. The fictitious ones tend to win every time.
Also, the music in the commercial simply has to go. The techno-ish song that serves as the soundtrack for the advertisement is tacky, dated and incongruent with a commercial that portrays an academic institution.
Rehauling Ryan’s
Matt Finger
Managing Editor
First thing’s first: It’s Ryan’s Pub, not Ryan’s Xavier’s Sports Café. I don’t know who made that unilateral decision, but whoever it was should probably be fired. Also, just like Toni’s Little Italy does not have the best pizza anywhere, ever, Ryan’s does not have the best pub food anywhere.
That being said, I love Ryan’s. More than you can ever know, mediocre food and all (mmm buffalo wrap). The concept is genius: a (nearly) full bar on a college campus. That is awesome. It ranks up there with Velcro, remote controls and written language. Food, beer, friends—all in one place: It practically sells itself. The job is done Ryan’s, just sit back and rake in the money, right?
Wrong. For some reason, Ryan’s loses money hand-over-fist. There are several reasons for this. But I’d like to focus on poor management. That’s right Sodexho, someone noticed that you are awful at your job.
Let’s start with operating hours. The Pub is open until 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and is only open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays. Now, I realize that Xavier isn’t a party school, blah blah blah. But why would you close a bar that sells a Blue Ribbon beer for 94 cents at midnight on a weekend? I can’t vouch for the classics majors and the Dorothy Day kids, but I know that I am not studying Plutarch and social justice at 12:02 on a Saturday. And even if I were, I would probably want a beer. Sunday’s hours are just miserable, and need no further explanation.
Moving on to entertainment: If I hear that stupid apple bottom jeans song one more time I am going to do something. I don’t know what yet, but I’m sure no one will like it. All Ryan’s needs to do is bring in more musicians, and maybe change the stock CD that plays on repeat all day. The past two years the Xavier Irish Society has brought Irish musicians to play live, and the Pub has been packed every time. One year they ran out of beer (poor management).
Come on managers, use your noodle. More people equals more money. And more fun! Bring in some local or even student musicians who just want some exposure or the chance to play. Their friends will come and their friends’ friends will come. You’ve probably already quadrupled your business. And with the crazy prices you charge for cheese fries you might break even on the day. Maybe.
Hire more servers. Poor Cherene, Mary Kate, Maggie, Danielle, Aaron and Monica (yes, I know all of the servers, and how wonderful they are) can’t do it all when just one of them is there, no matter how perfect they are. You need to hire, or at least schedule more servers when it’s busy, e.g. game night, weekends, when your newly solicited musicians are playing. It’s hard to make money when there is one server to every 10 tables. Beer sales slow down, and that’s your bread and butter, baby. Especially when Guinness and Smithwick’s drafts are only $3.50.
There are probably a bazillion more reasons why Ryan’s could be the greatest place ever in the history of places. But it really boils down to hours, entertainment and service (and of course, our poor management motif). Oh yeah, bring back drink specials. Not having them is silly.
iRead, and so should you
Madeline LaFave
Editorial Columnist
I received my favorite gift this year from my brother. I tore off the wrapping to find a grocery bag filled with old, tattered books. I looked up at Teddy confusedly, and he explained that he had hand-picked 25 books from the list of top American novels since 1900, and ordered them from various places just for me. To each he attached a brief plot synopsis. They lay in a large stack—two actually—next to my bed. I am slowly, yet steadily and excitedly, conquering this pile
Books. Remember in grade school when the teacher would ask what books everyone was reading? Remember summer reading lists and Great Books and Word-a-Days? Remember the contest at the library when you’d stick those colored stars on the graph whenever you finished a book, and when earning a bookmark was the best prize ever? Remember bedtime stories and ghost stories and story time being the third best time of the school day next to recess and lunch? I do. Gee…iWish we could go back to those times…
Steve Jobs is the mastermind co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple, Inc., and was ranked as Fortune Magazine’s 2007 businessman of the year. When asked about Amazon.com’s electronic book reader “Kindle,” he states, “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don’t read anymore.” This seems like a valid statement made by a successful businessman. It is likely that a majority of the Xavier student population spends hours a day using this man’s creations. The statement can be made that technology has taken over our present lives, as Time magazine has labeled us “Generation M” in the name of multi-tasking. But does this mean that the reading trend must suffer? Not necessarily.
Apparently one-fourth of Americans read no books last year. To take a few statistics from New York Times blogger Tim Eagan, 2.7 million iPhones were sold in 2007. But guess what? Nine million copies of Harry Potter were sold in the first 24 hours it was on the shelf—in English—and 27 percent of Americans read over 15 books per year.
It’s clear we readers are still out there, despite the iRevolution. If you used to be one of us and remember the good old days of gracefully falling asleep upon completion of that next captivating chapter, as opposed to waking up mid-REM cycle to the third re-run of “Road Rules” that you fell asleep to late last night, then retire with me and my fellow nerds to the nerdery once again with our books and give reading another try. And really, iHope you don’t drop and break your iPhone/camera/internet/Pod…
— STAFF EDITORIAL —
Support the Seniors
I’ve been a member of the X-treme fans since my freshman year. Although some of my greatest memories of Xavier have been in the student section, I have to admit, this year has kind of been a let down.
Now please don’t get me wrong. I love our student section, I love our fans and I love our team. But this year, it just seems like the student section has been a little apathetic compared to previous years. Perhaps we have been spoiled by our team’s success. I remember my freshman year when our team had a losing record for a large part of the season. But I also remember some of the best fan support that year. Until this year, we had only been ranked a handful of times. And now that we are ranked higher than we have ever been, I wonder if people have a true appreciation for how special this really is.
Xavier basketball has given me a ton of enjoyment and thrills over my four years and I have enjoyed having the opportunity to give back by laying it all out on the line for my team every game. As I enjoy my last two games as a student at Cintas, I want to go out with a student section that is giving it their all to make it special for the seniors. So do your part and come early to the next two games, wear blue shirts, and get crazy and loud. Help make our seniors’ last games something they can never forget!
Benjamin Rife | 2008
Make love, not nookie
Virgin births and artificial insemination aside, abstinence is 100 percent effective against pregnancy and disease when practiced. Of course abstinence fails when it’s not practiced, but what kind of argument is that? Abstinence from sexual activity is guaranteed to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (hmm I wonder why?). According to a study published in 2000, when a condom is used correctly there is a two percent failure rate of preventing pregnancy, but when used incorrectly there is a 10-18 percent chance of failure. A similar study in 2001 revealed that condoms only reduce the risk of transmitting HIV/AIDS to 15 percent. The only truly perfect score goes to abstinence.
If I know that I have a 100 percent chance of something working, I think I will stick with that. Why stray from a sure thing?
I have heard that “sex is the fullest expression of love.” As right and logical as that definition sounds, I have never once had a desire to have sex with either of my parents although I love them dearly. Many people love babies, but I am pretty sure there are laws against having sex with them. Obviously, sex cannot be the only way to express love and passion for another human being since people do not have sex with everyone they love. I have pasted on my wall in my room “101 Ways to Make Love without Doin’ It,” a brochure containing answers from Iowa high school students to the question: “If you and your girlfriend or boyfriend had decided to postpone sexual intercourse, how would you let the other person know you loved her or him?” Some answers are more creative than others, but they are all effective ways to express love for another person without having sex.
Thaddeus Winker | 2010
Poor Procedures
“Not to be critical, but” – Don’t you hate it when someone starts out a thought like this? ‘Cause you know the next thing out of their mouth is going to be critical. Well, that’s exactly how I’m starting out. Not to be critical, but the system in place for picking up men’s basketball tickets is horrible! Even if you sit outside—well, lately inside—for hours you will still get crappy seats because everyone cuts. Up until an hour before ticket pick-up everything looks good, but then wham! People start getting in line with their friends or friend of a friend and push everyone else behind them back about four rows. This sucks, right? Especially since my butt has been out there since about 7 a.m. that morning.
So being the solution-oriented person that I am, I decided to send a very politically correct email to the X-treme Fans Board telling them the problem with ticket pick-up and the solutions that I proposed thinking it would be lame for me just to complain without offering any practical solutions. Granted, I did get responses from two unnamed board members, but the basic gist of the responses were “we know it sucks, but we don’t want to be the ‘bad guys’ so deal with it for the last few games.” What did I expect from people who don’t have to deal with the cheating and cutting in line and automatically get front row seats for every game?
Which, if you think about, it is sort of sad and pathetic.
By not doing anything, the X-treme Fans Board is feeding into a lot of college stereotypes: we’re apathetic, powerless and only care about our own personal comfort. So here it is X-treme Fans Board members, I’m calling you out for all to see. I’m calling you out knowing that I’m not alone in my feelings. I tried to handle things diplomatically, but where did that get me? To the back of the line! Be thankful that you’re not elected and instead get picked on a “who you know” and not “what you know” basis.
Sarah Morris | 2010
Katherine Monasterio
Op-Ed Editor
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