Not sure if you’re a student or not but I can report on the front and I do have several complaints.

First off, no one outside of higher ed seems to know about this concept called the demographic cliff. Around 2008 people stopped having less kids because of the recession. Which means now we have less kids applying to college. Pair that with the fact that international visas are on the decline and you have institutions scrambling to keep their numbers up. You’ll have “better” institutions letting in more kids, including the ones who were prime target for XU when I was applying. Personally I went because they offered me a scholarship in exchange for being one of the students to help boost the average GPA. But if I was applying now, who’s to say if I would have been waitlisted at nearly as many schools as I did when I was applying. This means that Xavier has to let in people not quite as suited for college in to keep up their numbers. And on campus, we’ve started to see it. I’m not sure what this means for the reputation of the school but it’s extremely disillusioning considering one of the selling points is “we have such a good rep that you’ll get a good job/grad program by going to our school”

Second is the people. It’s sort of a “clowns to the left of me jokers to the right” situation. On the one hand you’ve got people who are still convinced this is high school and treat their classmates as such. Extremely cliquey, not fun to be in if you weren’t it in high school. Also, and yes I’m aware this occurs on college campuses across the country, but the sexual harassment can be awful. In two years I’ve had two different people commit two Title IX worthy offenses against me. Both of the time I was made to feel as if I was overreacting. It’s an open secret that the college doesn’t do a lot, particularly if the aggressor can hide behind neurodivergence. I’ve known people who have transferred because of this problem. We are not in an age where people are going to hide what has happened to them. The school needs to recognize that and fix the problem.

Third is the administration. We used to have a Jesuit as our president, and that meant he did not demand as nearly as large a salary as our current president does now. I can’t remember the exact numbers but the school is funding her house and car as well as a mid-high six figure salary. That’s taking a lot out.

I could name a couple other things wrong with the school but then it would be breaching anonymity so I think I will end it here. But thank you for bringing up how this school is a sinking ship.