April 4, 2018 by The Wichitan

April 4, 2018 | Midwestern State University | thewichitan.com | Your Campus. Your News. | Vol. 82 No. 24 In APRIL 2015 posters were posted around Pierce Hall saying “Save the Males.”

Immigration Stories pg. 5

A panel of faculty, students and staff share what it means to be an immigrant on campus.

On NOVEMBER 19, 2015 posters were posted around campus saying “White supremacy rules,” and hashtags with the same message.

On APRIL 18, 2017 an article by Mercy Yermo was published where she reported on sexual assault cases on campus.

On MARCH 28, 2018 President Suzanne Shipley sent out an e-mail to bring students up to date on the progress being made to address sexual misconduct.

On MARCH 19, 2018 Matt Park, dean of students, makes a joke during the Open Forum about campus safety.

$25,000 donation Anonymous donor gives school money to research sexual misconduct CORTNEY WOOD MANAGING EDITOR

Softball Game pg.8

Check out the photos from the softball game against West Texas A&M at Mustangs Park.

Voter Registration

Fill out a voter registration application so you can vote on the bond for downtown.

n anonymous donor established a fund of $25,000 for Midwestern to research responses to sexual misconduct on college campuses, with MSU as a case study. In a postmaster sent out by Suzanne Shipley, university president, on March 28, she stated, “The donor, who has had a lifelong interest in enhancing the safety of students on college campuses, said that an enormous opportunity exists at this point in time to make important strides in this area. It is hoped that by studying processes in place at MSU Texas and their impact on student safety, significant improvement might be facilitated.” According to Shipley, the donor said they want to remain anonymous, so Shipley said she and the university administration members will respect their decision while using the funds to move forward with sexual misconduct research. While the funds were donated this semester, the money will not be used until the 2018—2019 academic school year semester with the “expectation that research results are disseminated nationally,” Shipley said. Because of the campus climate surrounding sexual misconduct and administration’s response at the forum, Shipley said the donor felt the money was needed to fund research

on this topic. sciences, criminal “It is a one time justice, mass commugift of $25,000 which nication, higher edumeans it is all available cation practice and next year,”Shipley policy and student stated. “It is to fund affairs. Students and research that is very faculty are able to apimmediate to our situply for grants from the ation. It is my intenfund, and the posttion that the summer master said applicamonths be used to tions are welcomed collect research and through the Office of reports to support Sponsored Programs the work of the panel and Research. when it reconvenes in According to the the fall semester.” Faculty Senate notes To begin working from January, stated SUZANNE SHIPLEY on resolutions before faculty satisfaction UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT the Spring 2018 sesurvey findings, inmester ends, Shipley cluded some comstated they will begin reviewing existing in- ments concerning sexual harassment and formation through Title IX and Clery records. gender discrimination in the workplace, and “It is my intention that the summer at the Student Government Association Tuesmonths be used to collect research and re- day night, Maria Peña, political science seports to support the work of the panel when nior, said it’s important to remember student it reconvenes in the fall semester,” Shipley accountability is necessary for productive stated. “I appreciate the supportive role that campus. our governance bodies are filling in effecting While accountability is important for stua rapid response.” dents to connect with administration, faculty The funds will be allocated on research see DONATION pg. 4 projects in the fields of behavioral and social

“It is to fund research that is very immediate to our situation. It is my intention that the summer months be used to collect research and reports to support the work of the panel when it reconvenes in the fall semester.”

2 | April 4, 2018 | STAF F E DI T O R I A L

Community improvement needs student engagement OUR VIEW: City and campus officials have a vision for MSU to grow in retention and activity, and this will only work if students interact with the opportunities.

o emphasize college prevalence in town, Mayor Stephen Santellana and Suzanne Shipley, university president, added campus banners throughout downtown to show the pride Wichita Falls has in MSU last spring. So instead of heading back to hometowns every weekend, students would want to explore Wichita Falls. A community event is planned almost every weekend, either to take on the THOR or listen to Pixar music from local musicians, so there is always something to look forward to in Wichita Falls. College students love food and anything with the word “free,” and many times these events offer just that, but students steer clear because they might seem “lame.” Students complain about this sleepy town, but they are often too lazy to just look up events going on here. Instead of complaining about what Wichita Falls doesn’t have, students should look up and see what’s going on in the Falls.

wichitan

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Vol. 82 | No. 24

Midwestern State University Fain Fine Arts Bldg., Room D201 3410 Taft Blvd. Wichita Falls, Texas 76308 (940) 397-4704 wichitan@mwsu.edu thewichitan.com @wichitanonline

Model UN wins big in the Big Apple

hile most people were enjoying their last two days of spring break and preparing for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations two weeks ago, I was packing my bags and flying to New York City with the rest of the Model United Nations team. This was my second year on the team and my expectations were high. The previous year, our delegaKelsey tion represented Perú and had a strong finish Purcell by winning three awards and creating a bond that seemed unbreakable. I thought the memories we made could not be beat, but I thought wrong. When we started preparations for the new year, representing Iceland, there was a group of us who had bonded from the year before, but with a new year, a new country and new members, we sought to make this year better than the last. Upon arriving in New York, the thrill of the city sent me into a newfound excitement. I had been so nervous about the conference the year before. I was unable to enjoy the experience of being in NYC for the first few days. This year, I was going into the conference and city with a new confidence. This year, I stood at a microphone and gave four separate speeches I hoped would bring the other hundreds of students to their knees. Last year, I would only walk when the light said “walk,” and would eat lunch at the same restaurant almost every day. This year, I would step out into the street just after cars would

pass and I tried many new, cute eateries I would never find in Wichita Falls, Texas. I was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone, but I was not walking alone. On our fifth day something amazing happened — it snowed. While we walked through the flurries, many flakes would rest on my red coat and as I looked down upon them, I had a thought: we were like the snow. Thousands of students from hundreds of schools all over the world were all united by this particular conference, trying to solve the major problems facing the world which we all call home. Just as a single snowflake does not make a difference on its own, no single person there could have done the assigned tasks on his or her own; however, when we all joined together, we created something beautiful. Snow may stop traffic, but the work we did in our committees could move mountains. We finished the conference with five awards: the Outstanding Delegation Award, Outstanding Delegates for GA1 as voted upon by their peers and three position paper awards. Our group took home the most awards and the highest awards of any delegation in MSU’s history. The conference and the trip may have come to an end, but I will forever hold the memories of late night McDonald’s runs, spontaneous snowball fights, sing-a-long dinners and bellylaugh-worthy subway rides dear to my heart. As for the city that never sleeps, you will be in my heart and in my dreams. Kelsey Purcell is a mass communication senior.

A critical look into administrators’ complicity

he word “complicit” has been thrown around a lot lately. Specifically, the word has been adjoined to charges that MSU’s administrators have been complicit in sexual assault and misconduct on campus. Complicity is generally defined as direct involvement with others in criminal activity, synonyms including “cover-up” and “collusion.” If Markell Braxton-Johnson we are to honestly interpret the aforementioned claim using that definition, then we are to infer that administrators have covered up sexual misconduct in the past and are conspiring to do so today. Allow me to play devil’s advocate. Administrators took action on sexual misconduct prior to the recent charges of complicity. A wealth of resources is easily accessible to all students: mental health resources (such as free psychiatric and counseling services, crisis intervention), inperson or online reporting forms and contact information for sexual assault investigators (including Title IX coordinators and state police). This is the exact opposite of what complicit individuals would do. I was at the campus safety forum, and my reading of the

event was considerably different than those involved in #ComplicitMSU. I recall numerous times, after a question was addressed, a university official would ask earnestly, “did that answer your question?” to students who seemed nonplussed. They wanted to extinguish all the concerns students had, and for that they should be commended. I’m not arguing that every answer administrators gave was sufficient; however, I’m disputing the claims that the administration trivialized or dodged questions posed by students. Administrators made themselves available, both in private and in public, to take tough, uncomfortable questions. The same cannot be said about the creators/leaders of #ComplicitMSU. Administrators are judged by measures to prevent sexual misconduct as well as their reaction to said misconduct. They are obligated to maintain fairness, privacy and consistent procedures to all parties involved. There is room for the university to do better – even the administrators acknowledged that. However, the lamenting of MSU administrators is unfair. I don’t want to dissuade anyone from holding powerful people accountable, but I did want to offer that good-faith, contrarian viewpoint. Markell Braxton-Johnson is a sports and leisure junior.

EDITOR: Tyler Manning

MANAGING EDITOR: Cortney Wood

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ADVISER: Bradley Wilson

| April 4, 2018 | 3 UP C O M I N G EV ENTS Reflection on the 50th Anniversary

April 4 | The MSU community will lay a wreath around the MSU MLK memorial plaque on campus to commemorate the life and death of Dr. King. Attendees will have an opportunity to reflect on his life’s work, as well as ways to continue to promote the dream of unity, equity and progress.

Learn How to Spin and You’ll Learn How to Win

April 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Dillard 189 | Dr. Thuy D. Nguyen will present “Learn How to Spin and You’ll Learn How to Win.”

Ms./Mr. Black Excellence Pageant

April 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. | Akin Auditorium | Who is poised, confident, ambitious and all-around beautiful person representing the culture in style and grace? Tickets are $5.

Reel to Real Film Series

April 5 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. | Legacy Multipurpose Room | The series introduces and engages MSU students in a variety of topics focused on culturally relevant themes. A guest panel offers thoughtful commentary on each film and engages the audiences in deeper dialogue and reflection.

Consent and Sexual Violence

April 5 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. | Dillard 101 | A interactive look at the ways our culture facilitates sexual violence. Participants will explore ideas about healthy sex, obtain consent, victim blaming and bystander intervention.

Opening Reception

April 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. | Juanita Harvey Art Gallery | The Juanita Harvey Art Gallery will present an opening reception for Victoria Meek.

Last Lecture Series

April 9 from 7 to 9 p.m. | Legacy Hall | The last lecture series for this semester will be presented by Dr. Frank Wyatt.

G Yamazawa Spoken Word

April 10 from 7 to 8 p.m. | Legacy Multipurpose Room | Celebrate Asian American Awareness Month with poet/rapper G Yamazawa, an award winning slam poet who has performed his spoken word across the US, Europe and Dubai.

Moffett Movie Madness

April 10 from 7 to 10 p.m. | Moffett Library Leisure Reading Room | Christopher D’Amico will introduce the film “Dead Poets Society.”

C R I M E LOG Daniel Building

Clark Student Center

L.J. Rodriguez Dr.

Fain Fine Arts Center

Sunwatcher Village

Prothro Yeager

Drugs: Possession of Drugs | March 28 at 5:03 p.m. | Traffic stop reveals drug paraphernalia.

Drugs: Possession or Delivery of Drug Paraphernalia | March 24 at 3:03 a.m. | Drug Paraphernalia found during a traffic stop.

Sexual Assault | March 23 at 4:03 p.m. | Report of a sexual assault.

2517 Hampstead

Resisting Arrest | March 20 at 11:03 a.m. | Suspect caused a disturbance and resisted arrest while being arrested for disorderly conduct.

Theft: Misdemeanor | March 19 at 2:03 p.m. | Report of theft from Clark Student Center.

Theft: Misdemeanor | March 12 at 2:03 p.m. | Between March 9 at 12:01 p.m. and March 12 at 11 a.m. a student’s paintings were stolen.

Criminal Mischief | March 8 at 7:03 p.m. | Unauthorized stamp being used on posting displayed.

Prothro Yeager

Theft: Misdemeanor | March 8 at 4:03 p.m. | Student came to the PD to report theft of Mac Book Pro.

Tye Sheridan in Ready Player One (2018)

‘Ready, Player One’ presents a fun trip down memory lane

n an ever-growing genre of great video game movies (“Wreck-It Ralph,” “Jumanji,” “Tomb Raider,” etc.), it may seem like another addition might become white noise. Steven Spielberg’s newest masterpiece, “Ready, Player One,” is one of my favorite action movies of the year and arguably one the best video game movies Brian ever. Lang “Ready, Player One” is set in an economically precarious future where the main distraction is an immersive virtual reality game called “OASIS.” It’s an immense game system where anything is possible for your personal avatar. After the creator of OASIS dies, he leaves an impossible scavenger hunt, the prize being complete control of OASIS. After solving the first clue, Wade Watts, a teenager from Columbus, Ohio, must race to complete the puzzle and protect OASIS. This movie is a blast to watch. The storyline is fastpaced and has several tense moments. It’s fascinating to see what Spielberg and the novel’s author, Ernest Cline, envision for their technological future. The nonstop 80s nostalgia is the icing on the cake, transforming a mediocre science-fiction film into great entertainment. While some critics may oppose the nostalgic factor of this movie, it was, frankly, one of my favorite parts. The soundtrack integrated numerous 80s hits and there was an inordinate amount of classic 80s movie and video game references that I loved. I especially loved composer Alan Silvestri’s nods to his work on “Back to the Future” by in-

serting his iconic themes into this film. The special effects for this film were mind-blowing. Since the characters are portrayed by avatars, there were large sections of the film that were entirely CGI, but the blend from CGI to real life was seamless. “Ready, Player One” perfectly balances CGI; it provides several stunning shots, but knows when to pull back to properly tell its story. I also enjoyed the casting in this movie. It was exciting to see some newer break-out actors instead of the film relying on name recognition alone. The performances by Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke and Lena Waithe were very fun to watch. These actors also had to do voice-over for their OASIS avatars. Despite the fact that these are two very different types of acting, these actors did an exceptional job at both. My one complaint with this movie is that it took itself a little too seriously. Although the nostalgia made this film a blast, without that factor it would likely be a pretty boring movie. The characters are one-dimensional and the plot is not groundbreaking. This type of story has been told countless times, and I wish that there something more original, similar to Spielberg’s earlier works, that could make this film something truly special. Besides these faults, this film is a colorful collage of pop culture. It’s obvious that this movie is a passion project for Spielberg, and so we can join in on the fun for this trip down memory lane, but not necessarily put this work on his greatest hits shelf. Rating: 7/10

4 | April 4, 2018 |

INCLUSION WEEK PREVIEW WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4

• 11:30 a.m. | CSC outside at commemorative tree

Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. • Noon to 1 p.m. | Legacy Hall Multipurpose Room

Foreign Affairs Game Show PHOTO BY RACHEL JOHNSON | THE WICHITAN

THURSDAY, APRIL 5

• Noon to 1 p.m. | Legacy Hall Multipurpose Room

Disabilities and Discrimination • 7 to 9 p.m. | Legacy Hall Multipurpose Room

Film: Treasure • 9:30 p.m. | Legacy Hall Multipurpose Room

PRIDE Drag Show FRIDAY, APRIL 6

• 11 a.m. to Noon | Legacy Hall Multipurpose Room

Safe Zone Training • Noon to 2 p.m. | Legacy Hall Multipurpose Room

Sins of Ommission: Does Claiming Faith Allow a Physician to Walk Away from Those in Need? • 2 p.m. | Quad

Paint Fight • 7 to 9 p.m. | Bea Wood Studio Theatre

Shakespeare’s R&J

Preston Busby, criminal justice junior, speaks at the second Student Government Association debate for the 2018-2019 SGA officer candidate positions in Bolin 101 on March 2.

Outgoing student government administrations welcomes new STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT PROMOTES PRESENCE FOR INCOMING ADMINISTRATION CORTNEY WOOD MANAGING EDITOR

ith 6.6 percent of the student population voting in the Student Government Association election, Maria Peña, president, said she is “disappointed” in the turn out. “I am disappointed in the turn out of students who voted, and I think that has to do with our climate on campus.” Peña said. “I can’t really speak on a personal level for the campaigns, but I do think that I didn’t see much physical campaigning. I saw a lot of social media campaigning, and while that is effective at some institution, you don’t really reach the students who don’t have social media and Twitter. That’s where I saw all of the campaigning happening—on Twitter.” When Peña ran for SGA president, she said she campaigned actively across the campus to ensure her name and platform were out for the students to physically see and hear. This, she said, is vital for students to connect to the administration that will speak and make decisions on their

behalf. “From the moment they told me that I could until the moment they told me ‘you have to stop’ I was physically campaigning everywhere,” Peña said. “I didn’t just wait until the week of voting. I was campaigning the entire month. Those are the two takeaways that I have: I’m disappointed in the turn out, and I’m disappointed in the campaigning.” Ellie Gunderson and Steven Ehlert, political science juniors, ran for 20182019 SGA president. Gunderson won with 53 percent of the vote, which is 3.5 percent of the entire student population. “That’s a really small percentage of people that voted,” Peña said. “That says a lot about the people that they reached, the students they campaigned to. Did they make an effort to campaign to all of the students and not just those who have a big voter block? That’s something that I feel should be addressed.” Because so few students participated in the elections, Peña said it’s important to discuss pressing issues with students in organizations outside of their community so students feel heard by administration. Read more online at thewichitan.com.

TYLER MANNING EDITOR

s the 2017-2018 term approaches the end for leaders on the Student Government Association, both future and serving leaders reflect on their roles. During the SGA meeting on April 3, Preston Busby, future SGA vice president and criminal justice junior, said he viewed the meeting in terms of how he would run future SGA meetings. “For this meeting it was really about me paying attention to how Damian ran things and taking notes on how I would run meetings as vice president,” Busby said. “Next semester, next year, I won’t just be representing my organization, I will be representing the entire student body, the entire [body of] senators and every organization on campus and being their voice as well.” As for serving the SGA vice president Damian De Silva, business management graduate, he said he is happy with Busby. De Silva said, “Given that he was very involved, he certainly is good about time management, there is no question about his commitment to MSU and toward the student body. I am completely happy with him.”

| April 4, 2018 | 5 PHOTOS BY FRANCISCO MARTINEZ | THE WICHITAN

Jiankun Kang, athletic training senior, Kornika Degannes, finance senior, Claudio Rodrioguez, complex coordinator for residence life and housing, Pierre Bocquet, global studies senior, Brenda Adame, bilingual education junior, and Montserrath Garay, bilingual studies and spanish minor senior, come together to share their experiences. Kornika Degannes, finance senior, speaks at Immigration Stories in Legacy Multipurpose Room about her experience at Midwestern State University as Caribbean student on April 3.

Panelists share immigration stories, discuss struggles CHLOE PHILLIPS REPORTER

spirations, to live a better life or just to play soccer. As a part of Inclusion Now week and to “make people aware of the culture that is on campus,” Bilingual Education Student Organization and Fain College of Fine Arts hosted “Immigration Stories” in Legacy Multipurpose Room. With a panel of five students and one alumni working as complex coordinator, they all had a chance to share their experiences coming to America and reasons to immigrate. “When they [students] hear the word immigrant, they only think of certain type of people, such as Mexicans or people from south of the United States. So, this was a way of just letting them know there’s just not one type of people: There’s different [types],” Patricia Ramirez, bilingual education senior and BESO president said. “I tried to invite someone from France, someone from China, someone from different countries. So, this was so people can learn more about their peers.” Montserrath Garay, bilingual education senior, immigrated with her family when she was about 6-years-old. Because her father “wanted the best” for her family and because of the job limitations back in her small, ranch hometown of Zacatecas, he traveled to Amer-

ica first. “People who live there are mostly working in agriculture. So, if you don’t find jobs, you cannot provide for your family, you cannot give your family food or shelter,” Garay said. “They mostly live in like very, very small houses, where you only have one room, the bathroom is outside and another room you can use for living room and a kitchen.” Garay also said Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals “was basically like my savior.” “With that, I was able to work, I knew I could go to school, and I was safe: not only for myself, but I can also protect my family,”Garay said.” From that, I was so excited because I could actually have an education that I’ve always dreamed. Yeah, there’s limitations, I cannot do certain things, but that cannot stop me and hopefully, things get better for us because there has been a stop where can eliminate the DACA, but it’s the only thing that tells me or says what I represent. It doesn’t limit what I could do. I made it this far and I know that I can make it even farther.” Brenda Adame, bilingual education junior, came from a similar area in Mexico called Durango at 12-years-old going into seventh grade. Because her older siblings were already in America and her father stopped teaching, Adame’s family decided to immigrate. “We usually just use to come here to visit

them like over the summer or Christmas break that all we did up to my sixth grade year,” Adame said. However, Adame, was not eligible for DACA because of her short time in the United States. “I found out that I couldn’t apply because I hadn’t been here for less than 5 years by the time and then my senior year, I tried applying again, but I was denied because of the same thing,” she said. Unlike Adame and Garay, complex coordinator and former student Claudio Rodriguez, came to the U.S. as an adult to earn a Bachelor’s degree after realizing that he wanted a better quality of life after “working random jobs” after dropping out of college in Mexico. “While I was college, I was lucky enough to start working for the housing department,” Rodriguez said. “I actually was an RA at Midwestern and, after that, I graduated and once you graduated, you have a student visa you have to apply for a work permit like every year that’s called the OPT (optional practical training for F1 students), and I did that and went to work for the banking industry and I really hated it so, that’s when I decided I had to come back and decided to come to study for a Master’s in business administration.” Pierre Bocquet, global studies junior, had a different experience. Bocquet grew up in

France and came to the United States about four years ago and enrolled in ESL courses at a community college in Dallas then transferred to MSU to play soccer. “I had a good experience like going here,” Bocquet said. “I met a lot of different people, because you don’t get to see that in France, like it’s very different here like, you meet people from around the world so, that’s very interesting.” Coming from a “humble, god fearing family” with “successful and ambitious sisters” in Grenada, Kornika Degannes, finance senior, said she MSU was “a buzz” in her home country. While she has enjoyed her time on campus, there has been challenges. “One of my biggest was transitioning from a long answer essay based institution to a multiple choice based college,” Degannes said. Jiankun Kang, athletic training senior, who came to America five years ago from China, also faced challenges because of the language barrier. Kang said he was only taught English grammar, not how to “start normal conversation with people,” in China; however, he had friends help him. “My best friend [in America], the first time I met him, took out his phone and tried to talk with me with the Google translator, that’s how bad my English was,” Kang said.

6 | April 4, 2018 |

PHOTOS BY FRANCISCO MARTINEZ | THE WICHITAN

Kristen Lodge, English associate professor, gives a lecture in Prothro-Yeager 200 on western perspective of animals throughout history on April 2. Students at Kristen Lodge, English associate professor, lecture at ProthroYeager 200 on western perspective of animals throughout history.

Faculty lectures on the perceptions of animals in history BRIAN LANG REPROTER

ver 70 students gathered in Prothro-Yeager on Monday afternoon to hear Kirsten Lodge’s lecture about “The Western Perception of Animals.” The lecture given was a condensed version of a class taught by Lodge titled, “Animals in Art and Literature.” During the lecture, Lodge explored the differing opinions about animals in various cultures and throughout history, discussions of animals rights, the relationship between humans and animals and the changing ways that societies view animals. For Lodge, the study of animals has been a lifelong pursuit. “I’ve always loved animals. I grew up with all kinds of pets. That’s because my mom loved animals. In college, I became interested in a Russian poet who wrote about animals with sympathy,” Lodge said. “I love animals and so I started doing research about the perception of animals in Western culture.” Lodge started with animals in antiquity, citing Aristotle

from DONATION pg. 1 and staff, Peña said change comes out of discussion amongst students instead of pointing fingers and blaming each other. Actions speak louder than words, Peña said. “I don’t think it’s something to pinpoint towards administration, faculty and staff members,” Peña said. “That’s something we, as students, have to hold each other accountable to. We can’t expect change to happen on campus if the perception of how things seem isn’t clear.” Although the goal is for a campus to have

and the Bible, and continued through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and on through modern times. She taught students about the complicated and often-changing ideas and philosophies about animals and explained the reasoning behind these ideas. A large number of students said they were interested in the lecture; so many students attended, that the lecture was moved to a larger room. Lodge mentioned that she was very surprised by the turnout, especially considering the little publicity that had been given to her lecture. Lodge said, “I was very surprised by the turnout. I didn’t think that it was well advertised, but I guess it was partially the offer of extra credit [that drew students]. I only expected around ten people.” Many of the students that attended were, in fact, offered extra credit in their U.S. History class by Dr. Snow, but some students also came to learn about a unique topic that they were curious about. Hixon Frank, a dual credit senior in high school, said, “I came for extra credit, but I also hadn’t been to any lectures

zero sexual assaults on campus, Midwestern ranks average on campus sexual misconduct comparatively, Peña said things seem heated because of the attention being brought on, “Ultimately, students have to start cultivating a culture where we are comfortable talking about these things, where we are comfortable looking at each other in the eye and saying ‘this happened to me, and I feel uncomfortable because of this, this and this,’ and not just relying on an ‘adult’ or a person in a position is going to fix our problem,” Peña said. The grants awarded to faculty for sexual misconduct research will be $5,000 and those

outside of my classes and wanted to try it out.” Some students said they were surprised by some of the things that Lodge taught. Amber Ewin, sophomore dental hygiene major, said, “People thought that animals were incapable of feeling. That blows my mind that they would even consider that to be true. It’s obvious that they can feel pain. That’s why I think it’s so interesting that there’s such a large culture that really thought that humans were so superior that animals wouldn’t even feel the things that humans would do to them.” The lecture also raised some interesting questions about the rights of animals. Frank said, “I don’t know exactly where to draw the line [about the rights of animals], but like Dr. Lodge was saying, nobody else does either.” Lodge’s questions taught students the history of animals and brought up questions and discussions after the lecture as students and faculty considered the implications of her lecture.

to students will be $2,500, and Peña said the efforts to fix the behavior on campus is a collaborative effort, but it centers around students interactions. “We do have excellent policies, but I think one problem we do have is the communication because it’s great to have this stuff listed on a website, but people say it’s not enough. We have to figure out what is enough and what we have to do to let people, students know,” Peña said. “These are things Dr. [Keith] Lamb is trying to do, and I am very hopeful the climate on campus will be assistant by all the initiatives on campus.”

To help unite efforts to analyze and work through the tense climate, Shipley stated the administration members are working diligently to provide efficient and clear direction to provide sufficient help for students and faculty. “I would like to remind the campus community that, although we seek as rapid a resolution to Title IX cases as possible, our processes must also be thorough, accurate and fair,” Shipley stated in the postmaster. “Thank you all for supporting an effective response to sexual misconduct.” Additional reporting by Tyler Manning.

| April 4, 2018 | 7 PHOTOS BY FRANCISCO MARTINEZ | THE WICHITAN

Michael Olaya, mechanical engineer alumni, speaks about Dexter at Odd Duck on March 25.

Concept drawing of Wichita Falls downtown updates online.

Michael Olaya, mechanical engineener alumni, speaks about Dexter.

Downtown bond aims to help local business TYLER MANNING EDITOR

imed to help reshape Wichita Falls, there are seven proposed bond projects up for election on May 5 which include construction on various streets and sidewalks downtown, renovations to the Multipurpose Event Center and improvements to Lake Wichita. For a business trying to establish itself downtown, the passing of the proposed bonds would have significant impact on their business. According to Michael Olaya, physics and mechanical engineering alumnus, the bonds – specifically Proposition G – would be a tremendous help in recruitment for his and cofounder Sean Egloff’s business Dexter. “A huge thing that we’re currently doing is recruiting and I have a few friends that have graduated from the best schools, they are engineers, computer scientists and they are wanting to move to places like Seattle,” Olaya

said. “We need those people because we’re going to have a global reach and so we need the very best people we are going to get.” Dexter is a business gear toward educating people in field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “It is a full-stack education system. So right now we’re teaching STEM for K-12,” Olaya said. “From computer programming to 3D printing, we’re giving kids the skills they need to thrive in the modern world.” According to Olaya, the idea of Dexter is to encourage its students to be more involved in the community through innovation. “Something really amazing happens when they start realizing these tools are creation tools, they stop being passive observers and start being active participants and start participating in the community,” Olaya said. Dexter holds and teaches topics such as 3D printing and computer programming. It is a four-week program held once a month. Each student has their own learning dashboard in which uses game mechanics to help learning.

Hopes the portfolio will replace a degree. Olaya and his coworkers said they have plans to partner with a company in China to assist with their curriculum and sending teachers to China as well as local schools in Wichita Falls and Burkburnett. According to Olaya, Dexter plans to be a business that will eventually replace the college degree plan, giving adults a STEM education without the cost of universities. “Education makes much more sense when the teachers are practitioners,” Olaya said. To draw attention to and encourage students and potential employees to invest interest in Dexter, the downtown of Wichita Falls needs revitalization – which the bonds aim to do – according to Olaya. “We need a place that they can come to that’s beautiful, that has a nice environment on a recruitment front, and as far as bringing customers from all over the planet, that is just really, really huge,” Olaya said.

8 |Â April 4, 2018 | SOFTBALL Samantha Loos, sports management junior, hits the ball, but is caught by a West Texas A&M player, making another out for MSU in the third inning. Caycee Griffin, biology freshman, and Taylor Brintzenhoff, first base senior, hold onto each other with excitement after running a play that got two players out from West Texas A&M , making three outs.

PHOTOS BY RACHEL JOHNSON | THE WICHITAN

Kelsey Eropkin, psychology sophomore, hits a foul ball during the third inning.

Riley Adams, political science junior, pitches to the West Texas A&M player, during the game on March 24 where MSU lost 17-0.