The Sunflower v. 123 i.15

Page 1

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2018 • VOL. 123, ISS. 16

THESUNFLOWER.COM

WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.

REGISTER TO VOTE Tuesday, Oct. 16 is the last day to

register to vote in the Nov. 6 midterm election.

HOW TO REGISTER -If you have a Kansas Driver’s License, you can register to vote or update your information online at kssos.org or ksvotes.org. -If you wish to register on paper, you can pick up an application at the county election office (510 N Main St #101 for Sedgwick County) -Due to a new ruling, Kansans no longer need proof of citizenship to register to vote and are encouraged to use the federal form. -After you apply, it is important to verify your information to make sure your paperwork was processed before you head to the polls.

WSU police arrests reach four-year high for second month in a row BY JENNA FARHAT

Wichita State police made eight arrests in September, tying with the month of August for the most arrests made in nearly four years. Before August, WSU police hadn’t arrested that many people in a single month since December 2014. The Sunflower originally reported that WSU police arrested seven people last month, based on the information on the online crime log. When The Sunflower requested additional information regarding the arrests, WSU police included information about an eighth arrest that was not mentioned on the crime log. The Sunflower requested that information on Oct. 1 but did not receive it until Tuesday — eight days later. Here is the list of arrests made by WSU police in September. It includes an arrest — the second one made on Sept. 6 — that was not on the online crime log.

LAST SEPTEMBER’S ARRESTS 1. Sept. 6: Two people were found in the Rhatigan Student Center after hours. One of the people, a 35-year-old man, had an outstanding warrant for the possession of marijuana/hallucinogenic drugs and was arrested. 2. Sept. 6: A 54-year-old man was stopped in traffic for expired tags. He had three citation warrants for parking meter violations and was arrested. 3. Sept. 11: A 34-year-old woman was stopped in traffic on E Aloma, near Harry and Hillside. She had an outstanding warrant with the city of Wichita for parking on a private lot and was taken to jail. 4. Sept. 17: A 57-year-old woman was arrested on campus near Perimeter Rd and Yale for driving while on a suspended license. 5. Sept. 17: Police tried to make a traffic stop for an “incorrect taillight.” The 58-year-old man first fled but was eventually stopped and found to be intoxicated. He was arrested for fleeing/eluding an officer and driving under the influence. 6. Sept. 23: A 32-year-old woman was stopped in traffic for an expired tag, gave false information to an officer, and was found with a suspended license and an outstanding warrant. She was arrested for interference with a law enforcement officer. 7. Sept. 24: A 31-year-old woman was arrested on campus at parking lot 16 near Perimeter Rd. She was stopped for expired registration and was found to have an outstanding warrant with Sedgwick County for no driver’s license and no proof of insurance. 8. Sept. 30: A 19-year-old man was stopped in traffic on 17th near parking lot 17 for driving without headlines on after dark. He was arrested on a warrant for driving without a license and running a stop sign.

SELENA FAVELA/THE SUNFLOWER

Julio Villa speaks during the Student Government Association meeting Wednesday. Villa was appointed to the Election Commission along with five other students.

New Election Commission will oversee SGA special, general elections BY DANIEL CAUDILL

In preparation for the upcoming special election, Student Government Association appointed members to this year’s Election Commission. The Election Commission is a body that forms guidelines for student elections. Members on the commission are appointed by the student body president each year, subject to senate approval. Election commissioners this year are Julio Villa, Amrutha Dasyam, Michael Brown, Sierra Brown, Mackenzie Haas, and Chad Michaels. This commission will also be responsible for creating guidelines for the general election in spring 2019.

Michael Brown, one of the new election commissioners, is currently a staff member at The Sunflower. Editorial policy at the newspaper bars Brown from future news writing. Typically, the Election Commission is not formed until the spring semester, when general elections are held. But SGA needs a regulating body for the upcoming special election, which is the first of its kind in recent history. The special election will fill underserved populaces senator seats — introduced this session by a constitutional amendment — as well as vacant freshman senator seats. Only freshmen and those belonging to “underserved” populations, as defined by the university’s Strategic

Enrollment Plan, will be eligible to vote in the special election. A date for the election will be determined by the Election Commission. Traditionally, vacant seats are filled by appointment. If all the freshman seats are not filled by the upcoming special election, Student Body President Kenon Brinkley said the association will fall back on traditional means. Brinkley nominated eight candidates to the Election Commission. The Senate then held a hidden ballot vote, wherein the commissioners were selected. The next Student Senate meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Wed., Oct. 17 in the Santa Fe Trail Room (RSC 233).

Live captions to accompany SGA meeting livestream BY DANIEL CAUDILL

The Student Government Association will use a live-captioning service in its endeavor to livestream senate meetings to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Grady Landrum, director of the office of disability services, said that unlike an interpreter, captions can make video content more accessible for people who don’t know sign language, like the hard-of-hearing or newly deaf. Student Body President Kenon Brinkley said SGA made the decision between an interpreter and live-captioning based on which was more compliant with ADA. “Live-captioning wasn’t the easiest option to come to, but it seemed like, Grady [Landrum] was telling us that would be the most compliant,” Brinkley said. In September, SGA allocated $5,000 to pay for two wall-mounted PTZ (position-tilt-zoom) cameras. The PTZ label indicates that the cameras can be repositioned and zoomed by remote. David Kidd, director of information technology for the Rhatigan Student Center, said the cameras will be positioned in a way that allows for the widest coverage of

the Santa Fe Room, with one in the front and one in the back. “Our plan is to kind of mock set them up, look and see what the view looks like, so we can maximize how many people we can see or the area we can cover to determine where they will be mounted,” Kidd said. The overall cost of the livestreaming project comes to about $17,500, including the cameras, switching equipment, streaming equipment, and installation. Potential maintenance on the equipment will be covered through the RSC’s repair fund. Livestreaming is a multi-faceted operation that isn’t as simple as recording video on your phone, Kidd explained. A video switcher will be used to connect both cameras — enabling SGA to alternate which camera’s view is displayed, or to use a splitscreen feature. A separte hardware component will share the video source with a captioning service, which will then caption the video and upload the captions to a streaming platform. SGA has not decided whether it will use Facebook, YouTube, or both platforms. Installation is expected to take two days, although

REID LINOT/THE SUNFLOWER

The Student Government Association stopped livestreaming Senate meetings last October.

an official installation date has not yet been set. Kidd said that, based on when the equipment was ordered, it will not arrive until at least the end of October. In addition, SGA will look into hiring someone to manage the technical equipment that goes along with the livestreaming process. “In this session, our conversation has been more into understanding the complexities that go into making sure we do [the livestream] right,”

said SGA Co-Adviser Gabriel Fonseca, assistant director of student life. “If we’re going to do it, let’s do it right.” Fonseca said SGA is considering either an internship, co-op opportunity, or student assistantship wherein the student assistant’s sole job would be to manage the livestream. It is unclear when the livestream project will be finished, but Fonseca said SGA will use the equipment as soon as it is ready and hopes to start livestreaming by next semester.

INSIDE

ARCHIVES

‘ORIGAMI HARVEST’

‘RIGHT DIRECTION’

You can’t separate the art from the artist.

Check out how WSU handled accessibility 40 years ago.

Trumpeter’s latest release gets political.

Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner likes where WSU softball is headed.

OPINION• PAGE 2

CULTURE • PAGE 3

CULTURE • PAGE 3

SPORTS • PAGE 4

RUINED LEGACIES


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.