President Elder giving a speech @sxucougars on Instagram
This week, the Xavierite Editorial Board gathered to discuss the upcoming presidential investiture of President Keith Elder, Ph.D., MPH, MPA which will occur on Thursday, Oct. 2 in McGuire Hall.
Overall, we feel that Elder is working really hard and doing a good job at improving the environment of SXU and making it more student centric.
We appreciate his frequent engagements with students, as well as his visibility on campus. It makes us feel that he is trying to get to know us, and find out what SXU needs to do to help support us in our educational journeys.
With new faculty hires across numerous departments such as English, Math, History, and Education, we feel like the administration is listening to student opinions on class offerings. Unlike previous administrations that made decisions without taking student opinion into account, we feel that SXU is moving towards an equal partnership between students, faculty, and staff.
While there have been steps in the right direction, there’s still work to be done. SXU still struggles with creating a sense of campus community. Many students still feel disconnected from SXU for various reasons. One member of our editorial board even stated: “I am not seeing a lot of change on campus. I am as unhappy with the school as I was before he was president.” The challenge facing the administration is how do you change the minds of the students who feel like this? How do you even identify who they are? These are questions that need answers.
Another area to work on is communication. Elder was hired in March of 2024, and if you asked most students, they wouldn’t be able to describe what his vision for SXU is.
One board member stated: “I’d like to hear more of Elder. I rarely hear about what he’s doing as president or what he’s trying to improve. Maybe I just need to do more research and stay more up-to-date, but I feel like most students would say the same thing.” An idea she suggested was the creation of a student newsletter to help bridge the gap.
“I would really love another rec center near the Shannon for students to play more sports,” another member proposed, highlighting a perceived need for more student spaces dedicated to physical activity.
With Elder’s investiture approaching, there’s one final question we have. Why is the investiture happening now? Shouldn’t this have happened much earlier in his tenure? Why hold it almost a year and half after he’s started?
“The timing seems odd to me. I’m not sure why it wasn’t held closer to when he became president and the hiring of a new SXU president was still exciting news on campus and in the community,” one member stated.
Despite the lateness of the ceremony, we, the Editorial Board of The Xavierite, are excited for the investiture, and hope that it will serve as a jumping off point for SXU to become its best version of itself. We wish President Elder continued success!