The Dillard vs. Xavier game was the most anticipated game of the year. The rivalry of the two teams go back further than any Dillard or Xavier student can remember. However, the hoopla over the night’s events turned sour for some students.
While most of the Dillard student body was inside Dent Hall enjoying the game, there were a few that could not get in. These students, like the others, paid $7 for their tickets. These students waited in line just like those who got to see the game.
However, for those that could not get in, hope was the only reason they stayed around.
The atmosphere surrounding the night of the game was sheer eagerness. Dillard students wanted a win, instead they got two loses, three if you count that fact that students were being arrested.
The New Orleans Police Department stopped students from entering Dent around 5:30 p.m. They said the gym reached its capacity and no other persons would be allowed inside. Unfortunately, this did not sit well with the students that paid in advance for their tickets and could not get inside.
In turn, problems brewed. Students began to sneak inside the gym and that is when police officers began to make arrests.
J.Avanti Gutter, a junior accounting major at Xavier University, said that the police had no right to arrest people. " No one was being unruly," she said.
Xavier University sold out of tickets and had a large number of students that could not get inside the game. Students protested the fact that even after officers said no one else could get in, members of the SGA and greek organizations were allowed to walk in front of other students and go inside.
Senior mass communication major, Karessa Francois of Dillard said, "I am very upset! Dillard should not have sold all those tickets to students knowing that there was not enough room inside to accommodate everyone."
"I want a refund of all my money. Even though it was only $7, I want it back," Francois said.
Though students from both schools could not get in, Gutter believes that for some reason about 75 percent of the students stuck outside of the game were Xavier students. "I don’t think it’s because officers showed favoritism," Gutter said.
Frequently, the officers asked students to vacate the premises and students did not move. Francois and her friend, another Dillard student, confessed that they stayed around because they hoped for a different outcome.
They thought eventually they would be able to get inside. At 7:30 p.m. she and her friend left and went to Wendy’s.
One officer was heard saying, "Get ready for the after party." As if he was taunting the fact that students could not get in.
While Dillard students inside the game were mad that the women and men’s basketball teams lost their game, they were not as upset as the student outside being arrested by the police.