The Stylus- Volume 129, Issue 1

The Stylus

A student publication of Park University since 1895

The Stylus gets a modern makeover

Melody Alexander Adviser

When I joined Park University as the adviser for The Stylus in 2022, one of the first things I told my students was just how fortunate they were.

In its first 127 years as the newspaper for Park University, The Stylus remained a printed publication. This was important, I told them, because across the country, universities were actively turning away from printed newspapers to instead begin focusing on digital news production.

I let them know regularly that what I learned in my undergraduate newspaper room back in the ‘90s translated directly into practical skills I used daily in my career as a journalist.

I felt strongly that my students were incredibly fortunate to learn to write and design for a printed newspaper. And despite several hiccups that came from me being new to Park and the position, as well as having a small staff, I took great pride in what we produced.

See Stylus Online on page 3

Left: Kali Day, senior catcher for Park softball, and Lindsey Derry, Park softball’s head coach, act as volunteers to help students move in on Aug. 11.

Above: Jennifer Moenning, senior elementary education major, guides a truck on move in day as a part of her RA duties.

PHOTOS COURTESY/Park University

OPINION

VA must be held accountable for ‘software glitch’

Danny Burger Reporter

Veterans Affairs officials acknowledged a major technical issue in August that affects over thousands American veterans. Due to a flaw in the federal filing systems, more than 32,000 veteran disability claims have been delayed, some of those for up to five years.

The problem with the software was originally discovered in February. However, the Department of Veterans Affairs only recently began to address it. The problem in the software came from the online filing system accepting the claims, which held them rather than passing them along to individuals who handle the claims.

In our modern society, it is no surprise that technology is becoming more and more utilized in every facet of our day to day lives. But we expect things to perform at a bare minimum of what they were programmed to do.

The VA healthcare system has been dealing with issues like this for years due to its antiquated filing systems. The organization is currently in the middle of a major overhaul of those systems and is placing a major emphasis on digitizing and streamlining the process. The idea of this is great on paper, but technology doesn’t always perform how it has been programmed to do, no matter how many million dollars go into creating the software.

It is also important to note that not every claim has been affected during this time. Since 2018, there have been over 7 million claims put into the VA claims system. Comparatively, 32,000 is a small number. However, that is 32,000 people, many of whom have been permanently injured in some way due to their time in the service. And many have been waiting, hoping to hear any news.

Since 2018, these cases have sat waiting in a server, and many veterans, me included, have waited to hear any news about their claims. Each time, they have been given

an acknowledgment that their claim was in the system but could not be given any time-frame to expect news. Now, each of the 32,000 disabled veterans will be receiving letters in the mail explaining that they were affected by this and what the next steps will be.

VA officials call this “an embarrassing oversight” and promise that back pay will be rewarded once their files are handled.

It is my opinion, that “embarrassing oversight” does not begin to describe this incident. Maybe it is because I am one of those 7 million veterans who have filed claims since 2018. I hope that I was not one of the 32,000 who were lost on a server somewhere. But, to call this an “embarrassing oversight” is borderline insulting. We served our country. We did what we were asked to do. When we came to the VA healthcare system for help, we were lost on a server.

No amount of “oops” makes this okay.

Girls of summer: breaking records, building confidence

Skyler Jensen Editor-in-Chief

Between the Barbie movie, the Eras tour, and Nebraska women’s volleyball, this summer has redefined how many women view themselves and other women.

When I was really little, I loved pink and all things princess. But then I started to be told by other kids that pink was too girly, and that princesses are crybabies. I started to feel like being girly wasn’t a good thing anymore, so I changed.

I decided I didn’t want to be like other girls. My favorite color became blue. I stopped wearing dresses. I started reading and stopped playing with Barbies. I didn’t want to be girly anymore.

Yet somehow, people still found things wrong. I was too bossy. I was a know-itall. I was smart “for a girl.” I was basic because I liked Target and Starbucks.

Girls have to deal with comments like this from peers, friends, and the media. Most of the characters I watched growing up who had blonde hair fit the stereotypes

and were either mean or dumb. It started to make sense to me that this is all people expected from me.

For a long time, I struggled to feel confident just being myself. However, life kept throwing challenges after me and made me realize that I had to be myself. Maybe I am girly and basic, but those things make me happy, so who cares.

Summer 23’ reaffirmed this idea for me.

I watched as women dressed up, went to the Eras concert, and sang their hearts out. Some were mocked for it. There were posts on social media calling women crazy for being so excited and spending so much, but would these same people judge a man for being that excited for the Superbowl? There are reports every year about men who flip cars or punch TVs when their teams win or lose, yet newscasters have judged Taylor Swift fans more for scream singing at a concert than they judge these men. On top of that, Taylor Swift has broken record after record in the music industry, yet people still say she’s a whiny brat who only sings about

her breakups.

The Barbie movie came out with this message that women don’t need to be perfect, that being real is better. However, it was still criticized. People posted on social media saying that this message was stupid, and that the movie spent too much time focused on Barbie. Did people leave Oppenheimer saying the film talked about him too much?

University of Nebraska’s women’s volleyball team set a new world record for the amount of people in attendance for a women’s sport. When people have been saying for years that women’s sports just aren’t exciting. That women will just never play as interestingly as men do. Yet, it seems like the tide is changing. Even in Kansas City, the first women’s sports stadium in the entire world is being built.

This makes me hope that the critics will get quieter. That women enjoying the same thing as other women will stop being a reason to tear someone down. That maybe women will stop being told to give up things that make them happy to appease someone else’s idea of who they

should be.

Watching men and women unite on social media over these topics and celebrate them has been overwhelmingly inspiring. It makes me proud to be a part of this generation, and proud to be a girl. So, thank you to the record-breaking women who helped lead the way.

Staff List

Editor-in-chief

Skyler Jensen

Editor

Tucker Horn

Reporters

Elisha Knapp

Danny Burger Adviser

Melody Alexander

New Aquarium Opens at KC Zoo

The Kansas City Zoo opened their new aquarium on Sept. 1. This new facility, now named Sobela Ocean Aquarium hosts close to 8,000 animals in 34 different habitats. This attraction includes a curved overhead observatory that hold various species of fish and sharks, pictured above. This allows visitors to view the animals from many angles.

This is the largest project that Kansas City Zoo has taken on. It cost $75 million to complete. To cover the majority of the cost, $45 million came from the zoo district sales tax which was approved in 2011. Donations paid for the $30 million left.

Stylus Online

Continued from page 1

However, things change. When you consider how much has changed within the first 127 years of The Stylus, journalism itself had to make massive strides in the past decade. In fact, I tell my media and journalism students regularly how much the media landscape has changed since I graduated in 1999.

Now, in its 128th year, The Stylus will take on the new challenge of going fully digital.

I am excited and optimistic about this change. I know I wasn’t the only person who noticed the stacks of unread newspapers that remained largely untouched across campus. At some point, we had to face the reality that printed newspapers don’t resonate with today’s students.

As Park University focuses on training tomorrow’s journalists, it was time to begin extending our reach into the digital market. That shift begins now.

Our digital focus will create numerous opportunities we are excited about. We’ll be able to focus our efforts on connecting with all Park students, faculty, and staff, no matter where they are. We’ll be able to engage with our alumni more than ever before. And we’ll be moving the tradition of The Stylus into a place where we can be innovative and focus on growth outside of the Parkville campus alone.

We ask for your patience. Our staff is still small, and as we learn how to change our mindset and processes, it’s going to take some time. There will be bumps. And our engagement may be slow at first. So, we also ask for your support as well.

Follow us on social media. Engage with our content. Share our stories. Send us ideas. You could even consider writing for The Stylus yourself.

And as our staff learns and grows and adapts to the changes in journalism, we ask that you keep watching. After all, we can’t do what we do without an audience to share it with. We hope you’ll be a part of our story.

PHOTOS/Skyler Jensen

Small town politics spark national debate over newspaper raid

Elisha Knapp Reporter

A rural Kansas town has become the epicenter of a First Amendment debate. On Tuesday, Aug. 1, Marion County Record publisher Eric Meyer was turned away during a meet-and-greet with U.S. Representative Jake LaTurner and three local commissioners at Kari’s Kitchen in Marion, Kan. The owner of the restaurant, Kari Newell, did not want the press attending the event and brought in the new police chief, Gideon Cody, to force them out. According to statements by Newell, she believe the meeting was a private event and the press could not be there by law. However, Kansas Open Meeting Law states that if the majority of commissioners are in attendance, it is an open meeting to the public. Since three of five local commissioners attended, the meet-and-greet was considered an open meeting.

This event, while a catalyst, was not the spark that ignited the freedom of speech debates. Two weeks following the commissioners meeting, the Marion Police Department, led by Chief Gideon Cody, executed a warrant on the Marion newspaper. On Friday, Aug. 11, they collected cell phones, computers and documents from all of the staff.

The police then raided the home of the newspaper publisher and his 92-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, who co-owned the paper. These two raids came from the claim that Newell was a victim of identity theft by a journalist from the newspaper. Chief Cody claimed Meyer had obtained driving records of Newell illegally, impersonating her to get information about a DUI.

Newell also made allegations against the newspaper, saying she was being illegally targeted by Meyer. Therefore, Cody believed the police department was within its right to raid the newspaper and the owners’ home for any device that could contain that information. While in the

state of Kansas, driving records are not public access, the newspaper stated that a confidential source provided those records to them without any prompting. Meyer went on to say that they did not run the story with the records of Newell, only reporting about her own admission to driving with a suspended license.

Where was the check of power on Chief Cody? He did not act alone in the decision to raid the newspaper. The search warrant was approved by Judge Laura Viar, which should have provided checks and balances but instead failed by approving the warrant. Some speculate that Viar may have sympathized with Newell, because she, too, had been arrested twice for driving under the influence. This also raises questions about whether Viar was fit to be in charge of approving or disproving a search warrant.

This raid sparked controversy across the nation as to whether the police department was in the wrong for their raid

on the paper and the homes of reporters. Legal experts believe it is a violation of the First Amendment to take the property of the journalists who were working to inform the community and serve as a watchdog over those in power. Cody received significant backlash for his decision to execute these raids and has come under even greater fire for what happened the day after.

On Saturday, Aug. 12, Joan Meyer died at the age of 92 from stress related to the raids that took place the day prior. The fallout came quickly as Cody not only angered journalists across the globe, but now had the death of a woman on his hands.

In addition, rumors have sparked about Chief Cody’s background from his past. Prior to his role in Marion, Cody worked in the Kansas City Police Department as a captain. According to Kansas City Star investigative journalist, Glenn Rice, Cody was fired just months

before the raid for sexist and derogatory comments made to one of his sergeants during an altercation.

Retired Police Officer for KCPD, Gary Knapp, knew Chief Cody from his time at the police academy.

“He seemed arrogant — like he knew everything, more so than those who were teaching him,” Knapp said. He stated Cody seemed to act from a big city officer’s point of view rather than focusing on a small town perspective.

According to Knapp, Cody should have focused on community policing to guide his decisions. Community policing, according to the Department of Justice, is partnership and problem-solving techniques to proactively solve public safety concerns. Community policing has three main components: developing partnerships in the community, engaging in problem solving techniques and implementing community relations between the public and police.

In addition, Knapp said Cody should have used community relations to resolve the issue instead. This type of intervention would have allowed Meyer and Newell to discuss their issue alongside a mediator. In his opinion, working out the problem should have been the first step. Rather than building connections, Cody destroyed them by taking the most extreme approach to a problem that could have been solved with a community-oriented approach to the issue.

There are not reports that Cody tried a community approach prior to his execution of the search warrant. He may have tried to de-escalate the situation from the start, but from reports, Cody seemed to be acting on his arrogance. Instead, Cody, Newell and Viar took every chance to escalate the situation further.

The single repercussion to date is a lawsuit against Cody by Marion County Record reporter Deb Grover. And the continued criticism and controversy of the Marion story is continuing to grip the nation.

The first edition of the Marion County Record, which was published after Marion, Kan. police raided the newspaper’s offces, documented what became a nationwide discussion about free speech.

PHOTO COURTESY/Associated Press

no longer me, Mario!”: Nintendo passes the torch

Danny Burger Reporter

At 9 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, Nintendo of America announced via X (formerly known as Twitter) that Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario since 1991, would be stepping down from his most notable role. Nintendo continued that although he would no longer be in the role he’s held for over 30 years, he was not done with Nintendo, or everyone’s favor-

ite Italian plumber. Martinet was given a brand new position within the Nintendo company: the first-ever Mario Ambassador.

In April of this year, the Super Mario Bros movie released in theaters and was, by all accounts, a major box office success, raking in $1.35 billion at the box office. But it was the first time since the ‘80s-era Super Mario Bros Super Show that Martinet didn’t voice Mario, giving the role instead to Chris Pratt.

Many people on the internet credit Super Mario Bros 64 in 1996 as the first time that Charles Martinet put his voice to the character. This is arguably his most famous game, but not his first. His first game would be a full two years earlier in a PC educational game called Mario Teaches Typing. In 2018, with the release of Super Smash Bros Ultimate, the Guinness Book Of World Records recognized Martinet with an award for voicing Mario in one hundred separate video game titles.

No official word has been given yet on who will be stepping into Mario’s work boots. There are, of course, millions of speculating fans on social media with different and sometimes very loud opinions on who it should be to lift the plunger next. Some joke it should remain Pratt, who voiced him in the movie while others are hoping for someone who can keep the voice closer to its classic sound.

Whoever it is, I know that we as the consumer are in good hands with Martinet as the Mario Ambassador. You don’t make over one hundred appearances as a

PHOTO COURTESY/Nintendo

Charles Martinet was the voice of Mario from 1991 to 2023.

character without loving what you are portraying. With him remaining with Nintendo to not only advertise but oversee the future projects as the ambassador, I know that the Mushroom Kingdom can continue to sleep soundly.

“It’s

Danny Burger

Lions outlast Chiefs in Arrowhead

Tucker Horn Editor

The Detroit Lions walked into Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 7 with nothing to lose, but to play spoiler. The night began with the Kansas City Chiefs revealing its third Super Bowl banner and ended with the Lions celebrating on their field. Detroit rallied from behind to defeat the defending Super Bowl Champs, 21-20.

It was a game-time decision to determine whether future Hall-of-Fame tight end Travis Kelce would suit up. Without Kelce, the Chiefs offense seemed to stall on multiple key situational plays.

With just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Lions running back David Montgomery muscled his way into the endzone to give Detroit a one-point lead. That 75-yard touchdown drive gave the Lions their first lead since early in the second quarter.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and company took possession of the ball twice after that and came up empty. The first was a three-and-out, but the second was one of the uglier drives in recent Chiefs history.

The Chiefs received the ball on their own 45 with just over two minutes to go in the game. After a handful of drops and two penalties, Mahomes threw a deep incomplete pass to Justin Watson to essentially end the game on a fourth and 25. Nothing was easy for the Chiefs offense, and Mahomes said that will be a good lesson for the team moving forward.

“It’ll be good for the young guys to know that we are not just going to walk in and win the game,” Mahomes said. “You’re going to have to play good football. We’re going to play every team’s best shot. I’ve preached it to them all preseason, but they know now.”

The thing that Chiefs fans were most excited to see was how the Chiefs’ new receiving core would gel into the offense. Mahomes finished the day 21 of 39, to-

taling 226 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. However, a lot of those incompletions and the interception simply went through the receiver’s hands.

Kadarius Toney caught one ball on five targets, and most of the incompletions were drops. One was deflected straight into the arms of Lions rookie safety Brian Branch and was returned for a touchdown. Skyy Moore had zero catches on three targets, most of which were drops as well. In a one-point loss, those proved to be costly mistakes.

Mahomes and the receivers never looked in sync or got into the flow of the offense, but he said after the game he will keep firing to the young receivers. Reid said it was uncharacteristic of the young receivers to have drop issues.

“That’s unusual for us to drop that

many passes anywhere anytime,” Reid said. “We’ll go back and work on that. But you got to take care of business and these guys know that.”

If there is one silver lining, it is that Travis Kelce’s injury kept him out of this game, but it seems like it is going to be short-term. Kansas City looked exactly like a team that was forced to change its game plan two days before the game after preparing to feature Kelce for the last month and change.

“Yeah, I mean you’re losing one of the best, I think the best tight end of all time, but other guys got to step up,” Mahomes said. “(Losing Kelce) is going to have an impact on the game but other guys got to step up in moments because I’m sure there’s times (Kelce) gets doubled. Just going to have to rely on these other guys

that are young and talented to step up and make plays and I believe they will.”

The Chiefs’ run game was not efficient, as running backs Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire combined for 45 yards on 14 carries. Mahomes was the team’s leading rusher and extended a lot of drives with his legs while tallying 45 yards on six scrambles.

While the Chiefs would love to have Chris Jones back in the middle of its defense, they did enough to win this football game. The defense only gave up 14 points, forced five punts, two turnovers on downs and caused a turnover.

Detroit’s first touchdown actually came off a big third down stop by the Chiefs, but head coach Dan Campbell caught the Chiefs off guard with a fake punt. All-in-

PHOTO COURTESY/Kansas City Chiefs

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes passes the ball to running back Isiah Pacheco during their game against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 7.The Chiefs lost 21-20 in their season opener against the Detroit Lions.

Men’s soccer dominates Kansas Christian College

Skyler Jensen Editor-in-Chief

Park University’s men’s soccer team scored big in their first win of the year on Tuesday, Sept. 5, ending the game against Kansas Christian College 9-1.

The Pirates have rarely scored nine goals during a game in program history. The last two games with this outcome occurred in 2016 and 2007.

Park had a strong start against the KCC Falcons, scoring two goals within the first 15 minutes. Freshman Alfonso Vigna sent a corner kick to sophomore Bradyn McIntyre who scored the first goal at 14:02. Then, Vigna assisted freshman Marcos Fernandes with his first goal as a Pirate at 14:56.

The men scored one more time in the first half. McIntyre proved his skills with a second goal at 24:52.

KCC broke the shutout at 39:45 with a goal of their own. This ended up being their only goal out of the three shots the Falcons took during the game.

In the second half, the Pirates showcased their abilities as they took 20 shots while KCC had none.

The Pirates made 6 goals out of those shots during this half.

Sophomore Samuele Pintossi started the half with a goal at 52:44. Freshman Francesco Esteban joined McIntrye with two goals.

Sophomore Julian Campos had a stellar second half with one goal and two as-

Chiefs

Continued from page 6

all, Lions quarterback Jared Goff was efficient en route to 253 yards, but Detroit only mustered 3.5 yards per carry.

Late in the second quarter Trent McDuffie laid out Lions receiver Marvin Jones to cause a fumble and fellow second-year safety Bryan Cook recovered it. McDuffie finished the game with eight

sists.

The other two scorers were senior Wayde Roman and junior Filip Andonovski.

Junior goalkeeper Tyler Snapp had his first start as a Pirate to help contribute to this win.

After another win on Wednesday, Sept. 6, followed by a loss against Missouri Valley College on Saturday, Sept. 16, the the Pirates are now 2-2 on the season.

tackles on the day.

The defensive line also stepped up well in Jones’ absence. Mike Danna came up with a big third-down sack and firstround rookie Felix Anudike-Uzomah finished with two quarterback hits on the night.

“Today is just a product of those guys doing what they’re asked to do in the scheme and just finding ways to be effective,” linebacker Nick Bolton said. “I don’t

PHOTOS COURTESY/Park Athletics

Junior goalkeeper Tyler Snapp, top left, had his first start as a Pirate. Joao Kawaski, Marcos Fernandes, and Giancarlo Rodriguez, top right, celebrate after their win against Kansas Christian College. The Pirates are currently 2-2 on the season and their next game is Saturday, Sept. 23 against Grand View University at Julian Field.

expect that to stop. Especially when we get Chris back. Chris will be a great addition to add to that d-line. Those guys are hungry.”

Other than the defense, if there was a bright spot in the season opener, it was rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice. Rice was involved in the offense, catching three balls on five targets including a wide-open touchdown to get the Chiefs on the board for the first time.

The Chiefs now have a few days to get prepared and get Kelce back in the lineup and Jones back on the active roster. Outside of that, it appears the Chiefs have a lot of work to do, especially at wide receiver. Whether it is chalking it up to a sloppy game or figuring out who needs more snaps, we will find out what the results are in Jacksonville on Sunday, Sept. 17 at 12 p.m. CDT.

Finding sanctuary in forest behind Park

Audrey Hentges Reporter

Park University is known across Parkville, Mo. as a campus with great beauty and architecture. Its campus sits near the banks of the Missouri River, in the cozy town of Parkville. While the campus itself is breathtaking in any season, just behind campus lies a woodland secret that is sometimes overlooked by residents and students.

The Parkville Nature Sanctuary is a 115-acre sanctuary wedged between Riss Lake and the Park University campus. The Sanctuary has a variety of trails and attractions, such as a cascading waterfall, an old root cellar, and a few overlook spots to sit and take in the nature around you. The trails found in the Parkville Nature Sanctuary vary from short to long and intense to easy, and you can always be sure to see plenty of wildlife, as long as you are quiet.

If you aren’t necessarily an outdoors person, don’t worry. The Sanctuary has trailheads, informational signs about wildlife, and well-marked trails so that the beauty of the forest can be shared by even the most inexperienced hikers. The only downside of this woodland paradise is that it doesn’t allow furry companions on the trails. This is due to the fact that the Parkville Sanctuary prioritizes the wildlife ecosystem within its trees, which means a new creature could disrupt the balance with the smells and waste it leaves behind. Some wildlife you can expect to see if you are quiet include deer, rabbits, groundhogs, woodpeckers, and wild turkeys. Being quiet is the key to spotting these animals because they are sensitive to sounds. The quieter you are, the more likely you are to see something remarkable.

As a student at Park University, I find myself struggling to get a break from my class load. Discovering the Nature Sanctuary actually has a connecting trail near the baseball fields behind campus was a huge relief. Nature can be a great place to forget the stresses of school and work; it connects you with the earth and allows for some peace and quiet. The nature sanctuary has many benches placed at overlooks of the forest where you can sit and meditate, read, or whatever you choose. The scenic views and tranquil atmosphere provide a much-needed detachment from the everyday stressors of life.

If you are in need of a break, look no further than Park University’s backyard. The nature sanctuary is open year-round from dawn to dusk, and you can visit its website, parkvillemo.gov/nature-sanctuary, where you can find many annual events to attend within the sanctuary. The sanctuary is especially beautiful in the fall, so as the weather gets nicer, consider exploring and connecting with nature.

The Parkville Nature Sanctuary’s 115-acre wildlife preserve is a habitat for a multitude of wildlife, including deer, above; common blue damselflies, below left; and downy woodpeckers, below right. The Sanctuary features walking trails that are mild to difficult. It is open daily, from sunrise to sunset.

PHOTOS/Audrey Hentges