The Sunflower v.123 i.13

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2018 • VOL. 123, ISS. 13

THESUNFLOWER.COM

WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.

WSU reports 1.6 percent enrollment increase

housing hikes

BY MATTHEW KELLY

Wichita State reported an enrollment increase of 1.58 percent from last fall, according to preliminary figures released by the Kansas Board of Regents Monday. WSU’s full-time equivalency is up to 11,285 from 11,109.

The Regents switched to featuring the full-time equivalency (FTE) metric this year instead on the longstanding 20-day headcount metric. FTE is based on the sum of credits taken by all students divided by 15 credit hours for undergraduate students and 12 credit hours for graduate students.

WSU’s headcount enrollment is 15,784 — up by 703 students or 4.7 percent from last fall. Despite the Regents’ decision to feature FTE, WSU cited headcount numbers in the original headline of their enrollment release. “WSU enrolls largest freshman class in history and increases total enrollment by 4.7 percent,” the headline read. It was later changed to read, “WSU enrolls largest freshman class, increases enrollment.”

Last month, Matt Keith, KBOR direct of communications, told The Sunflower that 20-day headcount, which provides a snapshot of the total number of students enrolled in for-credit courses on the twentieth day of class, is no longer the most effective metric for tracking enrollment trends.

“It’s a number that used to have a significant amount of value,” Keith said. “But as time has gone on, the profile of a student has changed.”

“The switch to Full Time Equivalency for the Fall Enrollment Report allows the Board, higher education institutions, and the public to have a more uniform way of measuring the number of students served throughout the system,” Keith wrote in an email.

WSU reported 30.1 percent growth in non-degree-seeking students and 60.6 percent growth in online majors.

For the third year in a row, WSU reported the largest new first-time freshman class in school history.

This year’s class is 1,606.

WSU’s housing proposal for next school year features across-the-board rate increases for on-campus living

BY AUDREY KORTE

S

tudents living on campus can expect to pay more for housing next year. Interim Executive Director for Housing and Residence Life Scott Jensen spoke to the Student Government Association Wednesday night about proposed rate hikes at Shocker Hall and The Flats and outlined what students can expect to pay at The Suites, phase two of The Flats.

Overall, housing costs at Wichita State will go up 2.5 percent next year.

“Each year, things get a little more expensive,” Jensen said. “Utilities get a little more expensive. If the university gives a raise to our full-time staff, that obviously becomes a little more expensive, but we try not to raise our rates too incredibly high.”

WE KNEW THAT THOSE NUMBERS WERE GOING TO GO UP. WE DIDN’T KNOW HOW MUCH THEY WERE GOING UP BY.” ­—SHELBY ROWELL, STUDENT BODY VICE PRESIDENT

The biggest rate increases are at The Flats, the private apartment complex developed by a company owned in part by David Murfin of the Kansas Board of Regents. A two-bedroom apartment, double bedroom is expected to jump from $2,800 to $3,450 per semester, pending a Regents vote. A three or four bedroom apartment, double bedroom will increase from $2,500 to $3,450.

“The double rooms in The Flats jump up considerably,” Jensen said.

“The rate that’s in there is left over from Fairmount Towers. We said we would keep that price for one year but with the demands that we have, we just need to raise that rate up to be more comparable with the Shocker Hall double.”

SEE HOUSING PAGE 3

SEE ENROLLMENT PAGE 3

Intoxicated student with firearm apprehended on campus last week

BY MATTHEW KELLY

Wichita State police responded Wednesday to a report of an intoxicated student with a firearm in the Military and Veteran Student Center in Grace Wilkie Hall.

Capt. Guy Schroeder said the student was apprehended without a struggle and treated medically.

“He was taken for a check at the hospital,” Schroeder said.

“He was never taken to jail.”

Schroeder said at no point were other students, faculty, or staff threatened by the intoxicated student.

“The only threats made were to himself,” Schroeder said.

“Nobody reported to us any kind of threats whatsoever. Not at all.”

WSU Vice President for Strategic Communications Lou Heldman reiterated that no one else in the student center was in danger.

“I don’t think there was a reason

for anyone else to be concerned for their safety,” Heldman said.

“The other veterans who were there were immediately asked . . . to leave the center, and then the police dealt with it in what sounded like a professional manner.”

Schroeder said the student was incapacitated when the police arrived.

“He was under the influence bad enough that he was passed out when we had contact with him,” Schroeder said.

In accordance with state law, concealed carry became legal in all buildings on campus in July 2017.

There were three weapons arrests made in 2017, according to the annual security report released by university last week.

“Someone having a concealed weapon is a completely legal act,” Heldman said. “It changes when there’s a visible weapon, and there was in this case. The the next stage, which did not happen as

I understand it, is if a weapon is displayed in a threatening manner to others.”

It is illegal to possess a firearm while intoxicated in Kansas.

Schroeder said he doesn’t know if the student has been back on campus since Wednesday.

The first page of all incident reports filed with the university police department are open record.

The description of the incident reads only “Sick and Cared For.”

Final WSU engineering dean candidate wants to execute, envision, and excite

BY AILEEN RUEDA-DACOSTA

The final candidate for the dean of Wichita State’s College of Engineering visited campus Monday.

Chuck Bunting has been the associate dean of research at Oklahoma State University since December of 2012, and a faculty member since 2001. Bunting has been published 36 times in the Journal of Engineering Education and 87 times in peer-reviewed publications.

His research at Oklahoma State includes reverberation chambers and their inverse, anechoic chambers. He went on to show slides of his previous students working on an experiment for a UAV aircraft.

“I don’t trust the simulations or the measurements alone,” Bunting said. “They both must be brought together.”

Bunting said he is a “democratic, participative leader.

“I want to hear input,” he said.

Bunting said he has a vision

of growing scholarships, internships, research, and grants — all while addressing the critical needs of faculty retention.

Bunting said this can be accomplished by understanding systemic obstacles, promoting a culture of collaboration, and rewarding excellence. He also said he wants to nurture undergraduate research and develop mentoring networks, which which he identified as key to student success.

JOSEPH BARRINGHAUS/THE SUNFLOWER

Dr. Chuck Bunting speaks to students, professors, and staff during a public forum Monday in Devlin Hall. Dr. Bunting is currently the Associate Dean of Research among many other roles at Oklahoma State University.

INSIDE

AUTUMN

MEMORIAL

FOOTBALL?

New single recaptures Bladee and Whitearmor’s magic.

Your autumn essentials from The Sunflower culture section.

WSU remembers the plane crash that killed 31.

President Bardo discusses whether or not there’s a future for the sport at WSU.

CULTURE • PAGE 2

CULTURE • PAGE 3

SPORTS • PAGE 4

SPORTS • PAGE 4

‘EXILE’

CULTURE/OPINION

2 | THURSDAY, OCT. 4, 2018

www.thesunflower.com

Back from ‘Exile’

www.thesunflower.com

THE STAFF

shocker

street speak

EDITORIAL

Editor in Chief Matthew Kelly Digital Managing Editor Andrew Linnabary

Do you like the plus-minus grading system?

Visual Managing Editor Madeline Deabler News Editor Jenna Farhat Culture Editor John Darr Sports Editor Evan Pflugradt Photo Editor Selena Favela Sports Photo Editor Joseph Barringhaus

ADVERTISING

Advertising Manager Kylie Cameron

ADVISING

Faculty Adviser Amy DeVault

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send letters to the editor to editor@thesunflower.com or submit at thesunflower.com. Please keep letters to 400 words or less. All letters are edited for clarity and length. Please include your name, WSU affiliation and a phone number for verification purposes.

Our Mission

The Sunflower — both in print and online — will be a timely resource of information about the Wichita State University community. It will report on news, issues, activities, academics and athletics, in addition to offering a forum for discussion, reviews and commentary. It will also be an effective learnig experience for students, who will have the final authority over what is published.

Legal

The Sunflower (published for use by WSU students, faculty and staff) is private property and unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable. One copy may be taken for free. Additional copies must be purchased for $1 each. The Sunflower is also partially funded by the Student Government Association at WSU. The opinions expressed in The Sunflower editorials, columns, guest columns, reviews, advertisements, letters and editorial cartoons are not necessarily those of the staff, publications board, student body or university. The Sunflower reserves the right to edit or reject any submission. We also reserve the right to edit or reject any advertisement.

CONTACT THE SUNFLOWER 019 Elliott Hall 1845 N. Fairmount Ave. Campus Box 134 Wichita, KS 67260-0134 ----------

SUNFLOWER OFFICES Front Desk: 316-978-3640 ADVERTISING Kylie Cameron: 316-978-6906 admanager@thesunflower.com EDITORIAL Matthew Kelly: 316-978-6905 editor@thesunflower.com ADVISER Amy DeVault: 316-978-6052 amy.devault@wichita.edu ---------ONLINE www.thesunflower.com FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/sunflowerwsu TWITTER @sunflowernews INSTAGRAM @thesunflowernews

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

CORRECTIONS This space is reserved for corrections.

Spot an error? Call us at 316-978-6905.

COURTESY

Bladee and Whitearmor recapture their magic on new single

U

ntil recently, the only people who cared about Bladee were in his cult following. Fans of Bladee were restricted to sadboys and sadgirls drawn to the juxtaposition of his deadened autotune singing and glittering, hyper-melodic instrumentals. The niche cloud-rap/R&B style of Bladee and his more famous associate Yung Lean has kept them out of the eyes of most music publications, despite their growing popularity.

However, Bladee’s profile just recently jumped due to a less-thanideal bit of press. YouTube’s most successful music critic, Anthony Fantano, slapped Bladee’s latest LP “Red Light” with a rare 1/10 score.

“The only commendable thing about Red Light is that it’d be almost impossible to parody with a worse sounding version,” reads the video review’s description.

Normally, one bad review wouldn’t be worthy of note. However, as Bladee gets relatively little press coverage and Anthony Fantano has the largest audience of any single music critic today, the review could really shape Bladee’s image for time to come.

It’s a shame, really, because if any Bladee project undersells him as an artist, it’s “Red Light.” From 2013 to 2016, Bladee and his go-to producer Whitearmor were creating exciting,

JOHN DARR

CULTURE EDITOR increasingly gorgeous music that sat at the forefront of auto-tuned alternative R&B. This cumulated with Bladee’s debut LP and masterpiece “Eversince,” a record whose gorgeous synthesizers battled thrillingly against aggressive trap beats and Bladee’s evocative lyrics.

“When I’m in your area, the flowers start withering / Ice world, everything glittering,” sang Bladee on album highlight, “Romeo.”

Over the Vespertine-esque beauty of Whitearmor’s instrumentals, Bladee’s sentiments of yearning despondence resonated powerfully with listeners who struggled with depression yet found in art and nature a powerful, inspirational beauty.

Over the next two years, Bladee and Whitearmor struggled to move into new territory. Bladee’s smooth auto-tune flow became heavily predictable while Whitearmor’s

Civil discourse on college campuses: The elephant in the room Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: six blind men encounter an elephant for the first time. They place their hands on the animal to figure out what it looks like.

Later, the men have a heated debate, each one defending their woefully incomplete view of the animal. One man felt the trunk; he argues it’s a serpentine beast.

Another felt the tusk and insists it’s covered in a shell, and so on.

When I was in college, public policy debates were a lot like that parable. I hate to admit it, but my fellow students and I could be a lot like the blind men: arguing without a complete picture of the issues at hand.

Every generation probably looks back at their college years and feels that way. What makes the situation unique for you and me is that we’re grappling with a lack of information in a time of great polarization and hyper-partisanship. That’s a dangerous mix that has serious consequences for our democracy.

Between 2000 and 2016, the number of college freshman who described their political leanings as

LETTER TO THE EDITOR “middle of the road” dropped by nearly 10 percent.1 In my experience, this hardening of political views makes people more likely to simply adopt the position endorsed by their political party — and less inspired to seek out new information that might challenge their assumptions.

That approach has done little to advance our national debate about important issues, and it’s left young Americans feeling pessimistic about our future. According to the MTV/AP-NORC Youth Political Pulse Survey, nearly 7 in 10 young Americans think our country’s politics are “dysfunctional,” in part because people can’t come together and work out their differences.

There is one bright spot in the survey: 79 percent believe our

production became streamlined.

The experimental, amateur edge that instilled “Eversince” and previous projects with life slowly faded. The best work Bladee released after “Eversince” found him collaborating with other artists who brought a fresh edge to his sound.

“Red Light,” produced almost entirely by Whitearmor, was naturally Bladee’s least-experimental and least-rewarding project yet.

It seemed that the magic the pair found on “Eversince” might never be seen again.

Thankfully, “Exile” proves that Bladee and Whitearmor can still make risky, engaging music. A-Side “Trial” ebbs and flows with a near-indecipherable time signature. Its jagged 808’s thunder and disappear thrillingly as Bladee begs for his life to “add up . . . make sense.”

It’s a startlingly vulnerable and reflective track that deviates from Bladee’s usual style where images take precedence over ideas.

“Sentence,” while not quite as abstract, still stands as a strikingly mournful track from the pair. The glacier-like pace and chime synths recall “Eversince” without directly echoing it. Bladee’s layered harmonies and yearning refrain, “I don’t even feel like me,” make something new from familiar materials. If “Exile” is any indication of the pair’s intentions going forward, they’ll be able to turn the negative attention on them into long-overdue respect.

Rating: 3.6/5 generation would do a better job of running the country. I agree, but we will have to lead differently.

Fortunately, Free The Facts wants to give us that opportunity.

The summer before my senior year, I attended an event that Free The Facts held for interns in Washington, D.C.. Truth be told, I showed up for the free food, but I got involved and brought them to my campus twice because of what I learned.

Many organizations want to get students civically engaged, but most of them serve a partisan aim. Free The Facts is different. Its goal is to get America’s brightest minds working on our toughest policy challenges — and through its college tour and leadership programs, the organization supports students who want to get involved, regardless of what party they vote for or which policy solution they want to pursue.

Free The Facts can come to your campus to help you learn everything you need to know about America’s entitlement programs. Without the facts, we’re all just blind people arguing over an elephant… That’s why you should email contact@freefacts. org to see how you can get involved!

Venkatram Gopal Free The Facts

Lana Del Rey is reborn on ‘Venice Bitch’ As “Venice Bitch” begins, it seems to be the tenth rendition of the same ol’ song Lana Del Rey was born to sing.

It has all of her typical conventions: wispy vocals, deeply veiled lyrics, an instrumental filled with post-summer moodiness and sad references to “the golden age” of American culture.

To sum it up, the first three minute of “Venice Bitch” contain all of the reasons I blame Del Rey for the “Tumblr girl aesthetic.” I thought, as Lana herself would puts it, I was “fresh out of f***s forever” about her sadgirl music.

And then, three minutes in, those conventions take a ramp onto the interstate and floor the gas. The track soars into gorgeous psychedelic instrumentation by Jack Antonoff. “Venice Bitch” transforms

“The plus-minus grading scale for GPA is unfair. If you have trouble with a certain class, it shouldn’t drop your GPA so harshly.”

—HEAVEN LOVE, integrated marketing communications, sophomore

“I like it. I had it in high school. It benefits you with more flexibility between the major GPA values.

I think it will help most people in the long run.”

—DAVIS DUBBERT, economics, sophomore

“The plus-minus scale weighs more heavily on my drive to get a 4.0 GPA. I believe that, overall, it is good. In my experience, instructors seem to help students level out their GPA potentials.”

—JORDAN SEILER, computer science, junior

“The plus-minus system is not the best option. I feel that the flat grading scale is better than the plus-minus scale for GPA. It gives more of a cushion for students.”

—RAQUEL DIAZ, forensic science, sophomore

“In some cases, it can be good, but if someone makes a minor mistake, it could affect their GPA too quickly. I think there should be more leeway.”

—LILY BRANNON, exercise science, freshman

RYAN CREWS MUSIC CRITIC

COURTESY

into a tapestry of guitar solos and otherworldly synthesizers. Del Rey’s lyrics are infused with interpolations of Tommy James and the Shondell’s “Crimson & Clover.” All of a sudden, those sun-washed elements that form the track’s foundation are made fresh through a seven-minute detour into psychedelic pop heaven/ I was beginning to question if Del

Rey was a broken record, revolving tales of love’s past for eternity. If she can keep evolving like this, the haunted tales of her broken American dream will renew themselves forever.

With her upcoming album “Norman F***ing Rockwell,” Del Rey could finally be becoming what she has always pretended to be — the last great American icon.

“I like the plus-minus scale.

I am comfortable with it because it was the same scale I saw in high school.

I have friends that would benefit from a change in the grading scale.”

—WAMBURA MOENGA, forensic science, freshman

CULTURE

www.thesunflower.com

THURSDAY, OCT. 4, 2018

|3

AUTUMN ESSENTIALS

JOHN DARR COLUMNIST

Fall is a wonderful time of the year. The harsh summer weather mellows out, the world around us takes on beautiful new colors, and the start of a new semester offers a fresh beginning full of potential.

There’s nothing better than some good art to make the season even more special. Check out the works below to add a bit of spice that will turn your autumn magic up just a little bit more.

T.V. MINISERIES: “OVER THE GARDEN WALL”

When we encounter sources of incomprehensible goodness, everything evil fades into irrelevance.

“Over the Garden Wall” is one of these shining sources of hope. With its exquisite animation, powerful acting, and hilarious yet devastating script, “Over the Garden Wall” is not only the best Halloween film ever created, but also one of the best animated film projects period.

Our two heroes are Wirt, an angsty clarinet-playing teen (Elijah Wood) and his younger brother Greg (Collin Dean), who wears a kettle as a hat and continuously renames his pet frog. They’re lost in the middle of a fantastical American woodland, stumbling through a series of magical folktales which are both familiar and strange.

Under an unskilled hand, the

show’s magical spirits and talking animals could have turned the show into an off-brand Disney flop.

However, under a crew of veterans from “Spongebob Squarepants” and “Adventure Time,” “Over the Garden Wall” establishes a warm, unique personality that navigates gothic conflict and cute humor with grace. As if that wasn’t enough, the show boasts a number of absolutely spectacular songs that contain more wonderful melodies and memorable lyrics than many full-on musicals.

Not only is the show perfectly formatted — it’s divided into ten ten-minute episodes that are perfect for study breaks — it’s also subtly efficient, wasting no piece of dialogue or frame of animation.

Jokes and characters that seem to be throwaways reappear with enriched meaning as the show winds towards its shockingly powerful conclusion.

An absolute essential for any fan of Halloween, animation, or humanity in general, “Over the Garden Wall” is a masterwork that is as easy to watch as it is hard to forget.

MUSIC: “PERIPHERAL VISION” BY TURNOVER

The general public has been sleeping on rock music for a while as hip-hop and R&B dominate the radio. However, there have been plenty of wonderful records coming out of the genre in the past years, and “Peripheral Vision” might just be the best. Turnover’s 2015 record inhabits a sweet spot that other indie rock bands had hinted towards — a perfect mix of atmospheric rock and sparkling, guitar-driven emo that’s both satisfyingly complex and gorgeous.

Turnover’s debut album, “Magnolia,” was a pretty

COURTESY

straightforward emo and pop punk affair with a handful of strong tracks. On “Peripheral Vision,” they stripped back their noisy aggression to reveal the unbelievably catchy guitar and vocal lines anchoring each song. Subdued yet rich, “Peripheral Vision” glimmers with propulsive intensity that springs from excellent songwriting rather than aggressive performances.

It’s brimming with the sort of slow-burning hooks The National has perfected, yet it trades in that band’s midlife moping for the rush of young loves found and lost.

It’s not often that a record can easily provide background for an October bonfire while boasting the colorfully complex arrangements of a tree mid-fall. “Peripheral Vision” is likely to quickly find its way into your heart this season and burst forth whenever sweaters and leafy

streets come to mind.

VIDEOGAME: “NIGHT IN THE WOODS”

Are you an angsty college student who likes cats? Now that you’ve answered yes to this question, you need to go out and play “Night in the Woods,” a game where you play as an angsty college student who also happens to be a cat. Gorgeously animated in a textured paper cut-out style, “Night in the Woods” walks the reader through a zoomorphic town with cuteness matched only by its melancholic humanity.

You play the game as Mae, a cat who has recently returned to her childhood home to figure out her life after dropping out of college.

She soon finds herself wrapped up in solving a Halloween mystery with her childhood friends, each of whom has remained in her

hometown for a different reason.

Over the course of the game, you explore Mae’s hometown through everyday situations given a touch of magical realism. Before the game is over, you’ll have slapped some bass, slammed brews in the middle of the woods, and, of course, shoplifted from the local Hot Topic.

While the mystery anchors the plot of “Night in the Woods,” the heart of the game lies in its characters and atmosphere. Each setting and conversation has been lovingly crafted. Even in its darkest moments, the wonder of day-today life radiates through the game’s detail. Patient pacing allows “Night in the Woods” to build nuanced identities for each of its characters.

The end result is a game that stands testimony to the videogame as an incredibly powerful means for storytelling.

From The Sunflower Archives — Monday, Oct. 5, 1970

Football players, coach and dean perished when ‘Gold’ plane fell

BY MARY MITCHELL

Wichita State University fell victim to the worst disaster in the history of American college football Friday as a game-bound plane carrying twenty-six members of the Wichita State football team, head athletic officials and some of the most ardent Shocker fans crashed into a Colorado mountainside while trying to cross the Continental Divide. Of the forty persons aboard who were traveling to Logan, Utah, for the Wichita State-Utah State football game, twenty-nine persons died; eleven survived.

Reports indicate that the twin

HOUSING

FROM PAGE 1 The Flats, a 112-unit private apartment complex that opened a year ago, offered a reduced price to students forced to move there for the 2017-2018 school year when Fairmount Towers was unexpectedly closed a month before move-in day. Before receiving the required state approval, WSU announced that the roughly 300 students who planned to live in the more affordable, university-owned Fairmount would be relocated to The Flats. Before the closure of Fairmount Towers, fewer than one in five beds at The Flats were filled.

After the meeting student body vice president Shelby Rowell addressed the proposed rates.

“The two bedroom apartments,

ENROLLMENT FROM PAGE 1

WSU Tech reported an FTE of 2,779, up 6.14 percent from last fall’s 2,619. WSU Associate Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management Carolyn Shaw said WSU Tech students do not count towards WSU’s enrollment “in any way.”

WSU’s 1.58 percent FTE increase was the second largest for state universities behind Fort Hayes State’s 2.05 percent increase.

“These gains are remarkable given the challenges we face in higher education such as the declining number of high school graduates, increased options for students, and the difficulties

engine plane, a chartered Martin 404, was flying low as it passed over Idaho Springs, Colo., and that the plane crashed and burned on the side of a densely wooded mountain near the Loveland Ski Basin.

According to the Federal Aviation Association officials, there was apparently no radio contact before the plane went down.

Michael C. Bruce one of the surviving football players, said that after the plane crashed he made his way out of the burning wreckage and went to a nearby construction camp for help. Construction workers and Clear Creek County, Colo. officials then took injured

At approximately 3 p.m. Friday Wichita State officials received the message that the “Gold” team plane had gone down. Sports and University officials, worried friends and relatives gathered in Henry Levitt Arena to hear further information as it was reported to the University.

Clark D. Ahlberg, president of Wichita State University, directed messages to those waiting in the Arena as news was available.

By Friday evening Dr. Ahlberg

double bedroom, and the three and four bedroom apartments, double bedroom, I was surprised by those numbers,” said Rowell.

“We knew last year that they would take The Fairmount prices over one year, so we knew that those numbers were going to go up. We didn’t know how much they were going up by.”

Of the 1,316 students living on campus, 484 people are now living at The Flats.

The Regents approved The Suites, which was billed as a lower-priced housing option, in March.

They will open next fall.

A single two-bedroom suite will cost $4,075, according to the current proposal.

“Most of the rooms will be two-bedroom private spaces,” Jensen said. “Each person will have a private room. The rooms will have full-size beds in them. The two of

them will share a bathroom.”

In addition to a private bathroom, each suite will have a kitchenette with a fridge, sink and possibly a microwave. There will also be a stackable washer and dryer and a common living room.

Though rate increases at Shocker Hall will be less than $100 per room per semester, residents can expect some other changes there next.

When Fairmount Towers closed last year, there wasn’t enough room to fit all the displaced students. The university had to add additional beds to many rooms in Shocker Hall, putting three students where there had previously been only two.

“Our private rooms within the four-person private and the two-person private, we doubled a couple of those and that has not gone well,” Jensen said. “So, we are

students face in financing their education,” WSU Provost Rick Muma said in the university release.

Kansas State saw a 0.54 percent increase in FTE while the University of Kansas’s FTE dropped by 0.77 percent. The largest decrease in the state was 3.98 percent for Pittsburg State.

Kansas State University. K State is sharing the funds with a coalition of other state universities and community colleges as part of the Kansas Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program.

The program aims to “double the number of underrepresented minorities graduating with bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields from WSU or KSU within five years of the proposed project,” a university release said.

“We are pleased to be able to participate in this statewide grant program as it will ultimately help WSU retain more underrepresented students in STEM fields,” Wichita State Provost Rick Muma said in the release. “Moreover, this initiative is central to our university-wide strategic enrollment plans.”

WSU RECEIVES $813,000 GRANT TO BOOST MINORITY STEM ENROLLMENT

BY ANDREW LINNABARY

Wichita State received a $813,000 grant to boost enrollment and retention of minority students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

The grant is part of a $3 million, five-year National Science Foundation grant awarded to

passengers for medical attention in nearby Idaho Springs.

UNIVERSITY RECEIVES NEWS

had obtained a list of persons on board the ill-fated plane, and had arranged through Kansas Governor Robert Docking for an Air National Guard C-54 airplane to fly families and friends of the “Gold” plane passengers to Colorado.

BLACK PLANE

In Logan, Utah, prior to the landing of the “Black” plane, Assistant Football Coach Robert Seaman was called to the pilot’s cabin and was told that he had a phone call waiting at the Logan Airport from Dr. Ahlberg. Seaman debarked from the plane, and approximately 10 minutes later returned to make

not continuing that. We will pull those beds out for next year.”

“The only triples we’re keeping moving forward in Shocker Hall are in the traditional doubles.

There are rooms that are bigger than others, so we’re trying to just keep them in those. We tried and failed on a couple of things this year over there.”

a roll call of those passengers aboard the “Black” plane. He then announced that the plane carrying the rest of the team had gone down.

Assistant Coaches Seaman and Charles Ramsey left Utah on a commercial flight to Denver shortly after they heard about the crash.

Coach Fred Conti called the players on the second flight into a motel room Friday evening and gave them what information was available.

“I know this has hit you as hard as it has hit us, but let’s … pray for the best. We need you now more than ever. So please stay with us.

READ THE FULL STORY AT THESUNFLOWER.COM

Last year there were 84 overflow students in Shocker Hall.

“Last year, we had 84 extra people and this year we have about 84 extra beds,” Jensen said. “But last year, our design capacity was 1,185 and this year it was 1,400, so we still have more people living with us this year than last year, but we added more beds.”

FREAKS AND GEEKS WELCOME

LIVE MUSIC- FREE ENTRY - COLD BEER - PIZZA -TASTY BEVERAGES FREE USE OF OUR OUTDOOR PATIO FOR WSU STAFF OR STUDENT EVENTS

WWW.KIRBYSBEERSTORE.COM 3227 E 17TH - 21+ TO ENTER

SPORTS

4 | THURSDAY, OCT. 4, 2018

www.thesunflower.com

EVAN PFLUGRADT/THE SUNFLOWER

A wreath was placed on Football Memorial ‘70 Tuesday. Family members of those who died in the plane crash on Oct. 2, 1970, place a wreath on the memorial each year to memorialize the 31 lives lost in the crash.

‘Lives were disrupted forever’ Wichita State memorializes plane crash that left 31 dead

BY EVAN PFLUGRADT

I

t was an oddly warm, sunny afternoon for October when Wichita State President Clark Ahlberg called Dean of Students Jim Rhatigan.

“Could you come home right away?” Ahlberg asked Rhatigan, who was in Kansas City for the weekend.

“It looks like one of the planes went down on the way to Utah.”

On Oct. 2, 1970, a plane carrying members of the WSU football team, head athletic officials, and some fans, crashed into a Colorado mountainside while trying to cross the Continental Divide. Thirty-one passengers died.

“Have you heard from Bert Katzenmeyer?” Rhatigan asked Ahlberg.

Katzenmeyer, the WSU athletic director, had died on the plane.

“Lives were disrupted forever,” Rhatigan said.

“EVEN THOUGH THOSE AFFECTED BY THE TRAGEDY ARE SCATTERED, WE ARE ONE — AT THIS TIME, AT THIS PLACE, ON THIS DAY.” ­—JOHN BARDO, PRESIDENT

Tuesday, members of the Wichita State community gathered to mourn the lives lost 48 years ago. WSU memorializes the incident every year at Football Memorial ‘70.

“Even though those affected by the tragedy are scattered, we are one — at this time, at this place, on this day,” WSU President John Bardo said Tuesday at the memorial service.

“It still grabs me a little now,” Rhatigan said. “Every year, you remember the disruption of those families. Everybody knew somebody on that plane.”

Rhatigan traveled with families to Colorado to visit survivors and identify the dead. Eight players and the co-pilot survived the crash.

WSU’s game at Utah State was cancelled. WSU cancelled a game with Southern Illinois the following week. Following a university memorial service, Ahlberg gathered the team in a room and told them to vote on the future of the season. No coaches were present in the meeting.

All but one player voted to continue the season.

Two weeks after the crash, the Shockers returned to action at Arkansas. Arkansas was the seventh ranked team in the country at that point. WSU never made a first down.

“Every time we ran the ball, it was a standing ovation,” Rhatigan said.

WSU lost that game 62-0. They’d lose all remaining games that season.

The football team was disbanded after the 1986 season.

EVAN PFLUGRADT/THE SUNFLOWER

Left, Wichita State President John Bardo reads from a prompt at the WSU Football Memorial Tuesday. Wichita State recognizes the 31 lives lost at a memorial service held every year on Oct. 2, the date of the tragic plane crash. Middle: members of the Wichita State community gathered Tuesday morning to mourn the 31 lives lost when a plane carrying members of the football team crashed into a mountainside on Oct. 2, 1970. Right, members of the Madrigal choir perform at the WSU Football Memorial.

What ever happened to that football helmet?

BY EVAN PFLUGRADT

Wichita State President John Bardo has a history of teasing the idea of football.

In early 2016, Bardo tweeted a picture of a football helmet with the comment, “So this arrived…”

The helmet continues to sit outside his office in Morrison Hall. That was the start of Bardo’s quest to revive a sport that’s been missing from the university for more than 30 years.

WSU ended the football program in 1986 due to low attendance, falling enrollment, and uprising program costs.

Bardo is an alumnus of Ohio State and Cincinnati — schools with premier college football programs. Could he be the one to revive the sport at WSU? “I’m a football guy,” Bardo said in 2016. “I understand good football.”

Fast-forward a year past the infamous football tweet and WSU joined the American Athletic Conference as a basketball-only member. Conversations about the future of football were quickly put on the back burner.

But are those conversations entirely over?

“Doors are never closed on these kind of issues,” Bardo told The Sunflower this week.

“Nobody ever says ‘no’ forever. If the interest is there and people are willing to make it work, then I’d be right there with them.”

Buzz around Wichita was significant, Bardo said, but donor money never found its way into the conversation.

“What I didn’t find were the donors,” Bardo said. “Didn’t find that at all.

Outside dollars would need to come in for WSU to make a move

on football. The university spent $60,000 on a 69-page feasibility report in 2016. The analysis put a price tag of $40 million on a startup facility and estimated a $6 million annual budget for the FBS-level program Bardo wanted.

Broken down, that plan includes at least $30 million for a practice facility and updates to make Cessna Stadium compliant with today’s ADA standards.

“What it boiled down to was everybody wants it, nobody wants to pay for it,” Bardo said. “[Football] is not something we’re going to spend a lot of time on unless the external situation changes where people change and decide to put money into it.”

WSU’s conversations about football got serious while the school was considering jumping conferences. Conferences like the Mountain West, Atlantic 10,

COURTESY OF WICHITA STATE

In 2016, President Bardo tweeted this photo with the caption “so this arrived.” Since then, there have been no concrete steps toward reviving a football program.

and Big East might have required football. The American did not.

“By the time we got to the American, I think the AD (Darron Boatright) and I had come to the conclusion that there wasn’t an opportunity to do football in the near time at the level that we needed to do it to make us and the community proud,” Bardo said.

Reviving a football program

is likely a five-year plan from announcement to kickoff of the first game. Bardo is unlikely to see the sport’s return in his tenure at WSU. “I feel that if it ever happens, it’s going to happen down the road,” Bardo said. “I think all of us at the end of the day were disappointed that there wasn’t more excitement to step up and do this.”