There’s a difference between doing your job and doing your job well.
When you do your job, you fulfill the bare minimum required according to that job description. Nothing more, nothing less; nothing worth commending, nothing worth complaining about.
The concept of doing your job well is a lot more abstract, and the definition of “well” differs from person to person. There is a distinct difference between a mediocre performance versus a commendable one.
An indication that a job isn’t being done well is when a St. Xavier University student goes to Twitter to voice an injustice she has felt the university did not correct.
Another red flag that perhaps Saint Xavier is not doing their job well is when said tweet garners over 100 comments with attitudes ranging from disgust to calls for the cessation of alumni donations to the school.
Maybe the biggest red flag would be the divisions created, the furor caused, and the array of emotions evoked that has gripped the campus.
For those who are not familiar, this is in reference to a tweet posted by a St. Xavier student detailing an alleged sexual assault. For more information, see “Tweet on Alleged Sexual Assault” in News.
Men can participate in school sponsored events and pretend to “Walk a mile in her shoes,” first years could sit through a hypothetical sexual assault scenario during orientation, and students could complete all the informative videos and modules in the world, but that does not, and will not change the fact sexual violence occurs on campus.
That being said, there are still ways the university could properly educate its students, as that the current way St. Xavier talks about and handles sexual violence and Title IX is ineffective.
Saint Xavier has their work cut out for them moving forward. Transparency, honesty and moral integrity are few of the many areas that need to be worked upon. All three traits are not only interrelated, but interdependent upon each other, and when one is lacking, the entire system is prone to failure.
Transparency after the fact does not read as transparency, but rather a manifestation of regret only exhibited after being put to task. This is most easily seen in the email titled, “Message from Student Affairs” sent on February 9th.
The Division of Student affairs released an official email statement directly touching upon the sexual assault allegations posted by a student on Twitter. Within that email, there were posted times and locations to hold a conversation in order to ensure that, “all students are informed about SXU’s systems, standards and resources available to students in distress.”
All students should have already had a comprehensive understanding of what Title IX does and does not cover, and to what extent an institution is liable to carry a case forward. As sexual assault can be committed in a myriad of circumstances, it is the student’s right to be educated on which circumstances the school will and will not advocate for them.
This comprehensive understanding does not occur during a scripted orientation skit, nor does it happen when students complete an easily forgettable module series their first year. These informative sessions should have already been happening prior to the publicized sexual assault allegations– not in response to them.
From the start, St. Xavier has not been completely honest with its students. During first year orientation, first years attended a session on Title IX and watched their orientation leaders reenact various scenarios in which the concept of Title IX is introduced to them. The students leave with the impression that the process is swift and that justice will be dealt.
What St. Xavier forgot to include was an asterisk following the skit with fine print detailing the terms and conditions on the extent St. Xavier will involve themselves. Title IX training is important and necessary, but giving students a realistic portrayal of how various cases can and can not move forward is necessary as well to prevent the continuation of fostering false hope and false assumptions in the school’s competency in handling a case.
It comes to no real surprise that St. Xavier has not exhibited a proper level of moral integrity. After all, moral integrity in part relies on a strong basis of honesty and transparency, something that has already been established that the institution lacks. One of the lowest points St. Xavier has fallen to is when @sxubaseball released a tweet stating, “Even more important than playing well this week. Had a server at Applebee’s tell how polite and well mannered 20 of my guys were to him. Developing good people is priority 1. Proud of my guys!”
According to the alleged victim’s tweet, the student stated that her alleged rapist plays on the baseball team. Regardless of the fact that the person who runs that account probably isn’t on the Title IX board, it is insanely insensitive and inane to post that tweet on an account that represents the school.
This instance only serves as another tally on the long chalkboard list of poor judgements taken on behalf of the university. Instead of defending the character of your team in a situation that isn’t as of yet completely verifiable, you are subtly protecting an alleged rapist, while devaluing the allegations of another student against said teammate.
This is not a conversation regarding St. Xavier’s ability to do better. There is no room for debate, the university must do better. In order for St. Xavier to live out its promise that, “the health, safety and well-being of all our students are of the greatest importance to the faculty, staff and entire Saint Xavier University community,” change must occur. St. Xavier as an institution and as a community must work to do more and to do better. If there are no long standing actions to match the words, then St. Xavier has not only failed to live up to its mission, but more importantly, failed its students. And when you fail your students, you fail as a university.
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