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Racist costumes draw Univ. response

“All students should feel offended” by slave costumes at student party

John LaFollette
Editor-in-Chief

University officials are drafting a response to overtly racist costumes that were on display at a Halloween party hosted by Xavier students over the weekend, said Dr. Luther Smith, Xavier’s dean of students.

Two graduates of the University of Cincinnati donned 19th century period clothing and black face to appear as African-American slaves, while a Northern Kentucky University graduate wore traditional Saudi cloth and emphasized his eyebrows to appear as an Arab, photos on Facebook showed.

A student noticed the photos, which have since been removed from the Facebook website, and reported them to university officials.

Smith said he received word of the party and the photos on Monday morning, and that Dr. Kathleen Simons, the Associate Provost for Student Life and Leadership, convened a meeting Monday evening.

Simons was in communication with the President’s office to draft a position statement denouncing this incident as soon as possible, according to Smith.

The statement, which would be posted on the MyXU Portal, would serve as an educational message, but not to sensationalize the event, Smith said.
Smith also said that he is directing a university statement response as well.

“This is something that impacted Xavier University [as a whole], not just African-American students,” he said. “The university will respond,” said Smith.

Another meeting is scheduled for Friday afternoon, Nov. 7, which will include officials from the division of Student Life and Leadership, as well as voices from Campus Ministry, the Women’s Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

“All students, regardless of the skin color, should be offended by this,” he said.

“It indicates a lack of understanding about what harassing behavior related to racial bias is about,” Smith said.

Had they belonged to Xavier students, the costumes would have been considered harassment under the Code of Conduct.

According to Jess Pasionek, the Student Director of Diversity, the incident is evidence that Xavier needs to do more to educate students about what is and what is not culturally appropriate.

“We need to use this as an opportunity to raise our level of education about issues of diversity,” Pasionek said.

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Hip-hop stars rep Obama at Xavier

Jay-Z, Diddy, and Mary J. Blige appear at rally ahead of election

Emily Hoferer
Managing Editor

Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Diddy, Mary J. Blige and Kevin Liles appeared before a crowd of 3,000 people at a Vote for Change rally at the Xavier University soccer field on Monday, Nov. 3.

The national presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (Dem., Ill.) approached Xavier on Friday, Oct. 31 to host the event at Cintas Center, but the location was moved to the soccer field due to a scheduling conflict in Cintas and in order to show off the beauty of Xavier.

The event, hosted by College Democrats, was scheduled for 3 p.m., but the crowd had to wait over an hour to see the celebrities, who were late arriving from Pittsburgh, Pa.

Cincinnati was the second stop on a three city tour that started in Pittsburgh and ended in Columbus, Ohio.

To pass the time, many politicians running for office, including Steve Dreihaus, addressed the crowd on the importance of voting for candidates who would help Obama once he is in office.

They urged patience in the voting lines and stressed the historical impact of voting on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Mayor Mark Mallory and Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh also made appearances, and the crowd was treated to musical stylings from the disc jockeys at 101.1 The Wiz.

Kevin Liles, former president of Def Jam records and current executive vice president for Warner Music Group, was the first to address the crowd.
He was accompanied by campaign volunteers from Xavier and Norwood.

He was followed by Mary J. Blige, Diddy (dressed in his ‘Vote or Die’ shirt) and Jay-Z with Beyoncé.

Mary J. Blige delivered a very personal message about her feelings for Obama, referencing him many times as a king.

“I’m not voting for Barack Obama because he is black,” she said. “I’m voting for him because he qualifies.”

She, along with the other speakers, did not discuss issues, but rather the importance of voting.

Blige stressed that men should vote because it comes with the responsibility of being the head of the house and the source of knowledge.

She told the women that they were sources of wisdom and that they should encourage their men to vote, and if they won’t, then to vote for them.

The man with many monikers, Diddy, spoke emphatically about the youth vote and addressed Xavier students in particular as being important to a cause. He warmed the crowd up by making a joke about the common mispronunciation of Xavier, saying that the X threw him off. “I did my research, it’s Xavier,” he said, with correct pronunciation. He told the crowd that his birthday was on Election Day and all he wanted was for people to vote for Obama.

Jay-Z was the final celebrity to take the stage. He told the crowd that this was a “historic moment” for America, citing past historical figures as being stepping stones to where they are now. “Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk, Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run…so we all can fly,” Jay-Z said. Jay-Z’s wife, Beyonce, accompanied him on stage, but did not address the crowd.

Sophomore Chris Hale, a campaign volunteer, said that hosting the event is good for the school. Hale helped coordinate many logistics for the event. He said that Xavier now has “potential to get better events in the future.”

“We built our celebrity profile,” he said. “We showed we could pull of an impressive event.”

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Chartwells, Pub snubs student workers

Kathryn Rosenbaum
News Editor

Reductions in staffing numbers have affected employees at Ryan’s Eatery and Pub, and many student and non-student employees alike have faced cutbacks in the number of hours that they are scheduled to work.

This reduction in staff is “centered on eliminating extra positions [that were previously] required for fall opening,” said Lilkeisha Smith, the Marketing Director of Xavier University Dining Services.

After Chartwell’s July takeover of dining services, which includes Ryan’s Pub, extra student staff was needed to “ensure the new Ryan’s Eatery and Pub program opened successfully,” said Smith.

Once it was determined that extra labor was not required on a daily basis, employees’ hours were cut.

Not all students who were hired this fall were aware that they would not be able to retain a consistent amount of hours throughout the entire semester.

Senior Kristina Murray was hired at the beginning of the semester to work as a hostess at the pub and worked for about two months at Ryan’s.

She was not told when she was hired that she would only be receiving hours at the beginning of the year, Murray said.

Murray was told that her hours were cut from about ten hours a week to none at all because Ryan’s as a whole had to cut staff hours.

She was also told that she could work during the Sean Miller Shows, which is a once a week show on Mondays during basketball season.

She said that this once a week shift is not enough and is looking for a new job.

Smith said that “there are also opportunities for affected students to work hours in the catering program at Cintas Center during the academic year.”
Murray said she was never offered this option initially.

Additionally, cuts were made in the shifts of student workers who worked at Ryan’s before Chartwell’s took over in July.

Smith said, “We do try to make staffing reductions based on length of employment, but a student’s availability to work is the major determining factor in final staffing decisions.”

Ryan’s employee Maggie Tracey has worked at the Pub for a year said that in the beginning of the year, employees got to pick their schedules and the amount of hours they could work. After staffing reductions, her hours were cut by about ten hours a week.

Tracey said that one day she came into work, saw that the labor schedule was cut without prior warning. She was later told by Ryan’s management that it might be a good idea to start looking for new jobs.

However, not every student’s hours have been affected. A student employee who was working at Ryan’s for a year said that he or she was not directly affected by the staffing cuts. The employee commented that after observing how Chartwell’s and Sodexo ran Ryans, it seems that “the Pub was not nearly as efficient this year as it had been in terms of amount of staff on duty at one time.”

Non-student workers hours were also reduced, according to Smith.

These staff cuts were not an affect of the university-wide budget cuts since Chartwell’s budget is independent of Xavier’s budget.

Ryan’s Eatery and Pub and Ryan’s Express are exceeding Chartwell’s early projections, said Smith.

Smith was not able to be reached via email or telephone and thus did not answer questions regarding specific revenue for Ryan’s, whether Chartwell’s informed new employees that they would be hired as seasonal workers , how many employees schedules were affected and who made the decision to cut employees’ hours.

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