By Hannah Stoutmire As of Oct. 3, Xavier’s president Dr. Reynold Verret notified campus that the mandatory mask mandate put in place this semester for the university has been officially been lifted. This statement caused mix feelings from the Xavier community, some good and some bad. “The prevalence of COVID-19 infections has declined significantly, and the new bivalent vaccines protect against the omicron sub variants,” Verret said his statement. “Thus, the university no longer requires masking indoors. Persons may wear their mask at their own discretion. We encourage members of…
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New Year, New Season, Still COVID
By Mekayla Marshall Amid uncertainty for a complete athletic season last year at the Xavier University of Louisiana, the university launched a new softball program. Last year, Leslie Ballard and LSU standout, Shemaiah Sanchez, coached the first-ever softball team at the Xavier University of Louisiana. “Last year, we had a lot more challenges not knowing if we were going to play because of COVID,” Ballard said. “We’ve had a few scares, one that resulted in canceling a series of games.” Considering this is the first colligate softball program in New…
Read MoreBaseball Returns To Xavier
Xavier baseball’s Coach Holloway, left-handed pitcher and outfielder Blair Frederick, and center fielder Coco Simoneaux stand in the Annex Center before practice. Many higher education institutions initially put a hold on athletic programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Xavier has done the complete opposite by reinstating the men’s baseball program after 61 years. In September 2019, Xavier announced the return of the athletic program for the 2020-2021 academic year. This brought nothing but excitement to prospective college students who wanted to pursue college athletics at a historically Black university. Among them…
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