Pride of place

September 1, 2022

Only 2 of my 21 Goa students this year hail from Cincinnati — which has reminded me that welcoming new students (and new faculty and staff) to Xavier also means welcoming them to our city.

That's fitting. Whereas the paradigmatic American colleges were designed to be bucolic oases of learning, Jesuit universities have always been urban. It's no accident that a quarter of the AJCU institutions took on the names of their cities.

Sure: Xavier and many others moved away from their original downtown sites, but our cities have since spread to envelop our campuses once again. Xavier remains Cincinnati's premier private university, and one committed to engaging our neighbors.

How should we introduce Cincinnati to Xavier's newest members? As a small-town big American city with all the attractions and challenges that entails. And one that gets awfully excited about its sports teams, if you haven't already noticed. (Which helps to explain a questionable record of public funding and gentrification.)

The excitement now includes Cincinnati's newest professional team, which has already established one of the world's best-named sports rivalries and, as I witnessed last weekend at Washington Park, some of the most creative urban insults (see photo: who slams another city's beleaguered zoo?)

So for those of you who are new to our community, I welcome you warmly to our university and our city.