THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019 • VOL. 123, ISS. 32
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WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.
crunch time EASTON THOMPSON/THE SUNFLOWER
Teri Hall, vice president for student affairs, speaks to attendees during the town hall meeting in Beggs Ballroom on the third floor of the Rhatigan Student Center Wednesday.
Town hall tackles fee questions, what comes next if referendum fails BY MATTHEW KELLY
Faculty and administrators were well-represented, but no more than 10 students showed up for the first all-student town hall Wednesday to discuss the infrastructure referendum slated for early March. The proposal is a $6 per credit hour fee hike to bond $38.5 million for campus facilities upgrades across all colleges. More than half of the money raised — $20 million, would go towards the construction of a new business school on Innovation Campus. Engineering graduate student Laura Sanchez said the proposed
upgrades for her college — renovating and modernizing wind tunnel labs — are “minimal.” “It kind of feels like they took something, very needed of course, but they took a little bit of every single college and put it into the basket just to kind of hold our colleges hostage to be able to fund the new business building,” Sanchez said before the town hall. State law does not require Wichita State to follow the will of the student body, but Provost and acting President Rick Muma reiterated that if the vote fails, fee hikes will not be forced on all students. SEE TOWN HALL PAGE 2
Referendum steering committee fighting student apathy within itself Wichita State tops Southern
BY ANDREW LINNABARY
Methodist 85-83 for second
As the referendum approaches, the Shock the Future steering committee is trying to combat student apathy — while at the same time combating apathy within the steering committee. Monday’s committee meeting included a complaint by health professions representative Max Karst, who handles logistics for the committee. Few members of the committee, made up of students representing different colleges, have been signing up for town halls and tabling events, he said.
conference victory of the year JOSEPH BARRINGHAUS/THE SUNFLOWER
Wichita State freshman Erik Stevenson and sophomore Brycen Bush celebrate at center court after beating SMU on Wednesday at Charles Koch Arena. Wichita State senior Samajae HaynesJones receives a hug from Assistant Coach Tyson Waterman after scoring the game-winning shot. The hug was premature as the Southern Methodist coach Tim Jankovich called a timeout with one second left in regulation.
SEE MEN’S BASKETBALL PAGE 6
“We have a lot of blank spaces,” Karst said. “We had a tabling today, but nobody could do it.” That led Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Aaron Austin to chime in: “[Max] is doing a great job of carrying the load for everybody — but he’s carrying the load for everybody.” Students on the committee are tasked with gathering feedback from their respective colleges, and with making sure students are aware of what exactly is happening with the referendum. SEE REFERENDUM PAGE 2
‘Artificially growing the state of Kansas’
Expanded in-state tuition offering aims to grow workforce, fill student housing BY MATTHEW KELLY
Kansas is a state of 2.9 million people, but Wichita State will have a pool of 31 million people to draw on for in-state tuition this fall. The expansion of the “Shocker City” initiative along the I-35 Corridor means WSU can offer in-state tuition to more prospective students than any university outside of California. At a Jan. 10 WSU Board of Trustees meeting, Vice President for Technology Transfer John Tomblin called it “artificially growing the state of Kansas”. The offering is on the table for residents in specific Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado counties. Residents of all Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri counties not included in the Shocker City program qualify to
pay in-state tuition plus 50 percent. “What we want to do is put them in an applied learning job and then keep them,” Tomblin said. “That’s the end goal, and it’s working.” I-35 enrollment at WSU rose to 794 students last semester — a 35 percent increase from 2017. People are moving out of Kansas, Tomblin said, and if WSU wants Innovation Campus to be an appealing destination for industry partnership, they have to have the workforce to back it up. Tomblin also serves as president of the Wichita State Innovation Alliance, the non-profit organization that manages Innovation Campus. Other universities offer in-state tuition to certain states or pockets of cities, but WSU Chief of Staff Andy Schlapp said the Shocker City program is unique. “Nobody’s doing an I-35
Corridor where you’re looking at economic trade roots for where you’re drawing your population from,” Schlapp said. The increased focus on out-ofstate recruitment could have major implications for student housing at WSU, where just 12 percent of students currently live on campus. The goal is 25 percent, Tomblin said, noting that WSU’s student housing is currently at 130 percent occupancy. The first week of January is when WSU benchmarks paid housing contracts for the coming school year. “Last year, we set a record at this time of 263 contracts for housing — paid contracts for housing. This year, that’s 700,” Tomblin said. “It’s this I-35 draw. They want to come to Wichita and they want to live on campus.” SEE I-35 PAGE 2
INSIDE
MIND OF A KILLER
PAYBACK
AFTERSHOCKS
Student Affairs event provides stress relief and a custom-painted tile to take home.
Serial killer Ted Bundy recounts his crimes in chilling Netflix mini-series.
The WSU Women’s Basketball team got paybackby knocking off Eastern Carolina.
A roster of Shocker basketballl alumni will compete in a tournament hosted by WSU.
CULTURE • PAGE 3
CULTURE • PAGE 4
SPORTS• PAGE 6
SPORTS • PAGE 6
TILE STYLE
NEWS
2 | THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2019
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Are they for on-campus emergencies only? BY AUDREY KORTE
A
n emergency alert went out across Shocker nation Tuesday, after a fire was reported in McKinley Hall. The WSU ShockerAlert system took center stage with its sound and color flashing across monitors, popping up on phones, and landing in inboxes from Ablah library to Old Town. The ShockerAlert system worked as advertised, in a textbook situation — on campus and for a potentially dangerous situation — both of which qualify it as an unquestionable emergency alert situation. But what happens if there’s a fire off campus or an active shooter right down the road? You might assume off-campus threats would constitute an alert if the situation was close enough or dangerous enough, but at most colleges and universities, that’s not the case. Last Thursday, a shooter was on the loose in State College, Pennsylvania, less than two miles from the Penn State campus. How did the university handle it? They didn’t. The shooter first killed his girlfriend, then two others at a local bar. He fled the scene, crashed his car, and broke into a nearby house where he shot and killed the owner. During that time, PSU issued no warning either through their emergency alert system or online. PSU community members noticed something was missing, as reports spread of the shooting despite PSU’s
TOWN HALL
FROM PAGE 1 If it fails, Muma said, business students will likely see a second vote on a program-specific $30$35 per credit hour fee increase. “We will have to find a way to build a business building,” Muma said. “We’ve had donors give us $30 million to build it, so we have to find a way to do that.” The price tag on the new building is $50 million. Muma said the roughly $30 million in private donations collected by the WSU Foundation is “about as much as we can raise for the project.” “It’d be problematic to go back to donors and say, ‘No one wants a business building here. We’re giving your money back,’” Muma said. He said he believes business students shouldn’t be the only ones paying for the new building. “I’m all about the common good and spreading the burden out across as many people as possible,” Muma said. “Personally, I think that to have one group of students finance a building is problematic for those students and for this institution.”
REFERENDUM FROM PAGE 1
The Sunflower reached out to all 26 members of the committee in early January for input on the initiative and referendum. Only three members responded, one of them being Karst. The committee meeting went into a discussion of alternate, easier-to-understand ways of presenting the $6-per-credit-hour fee increase, which will primarily fund a new business school.
I-35
FROM PAGE 1 This fall, The Suites private resident hall will open on Innovation Campus. Leased by the same company that developed The Flats private apartment complex, The Suites will be priced similarly to Shocker Hall, the only university-owned housing option. Shocker Hall will become a freshman-only facility next school year. WSU is already paying The Flats of Kansas, LLC more than $2.5 million this year to lease The Flats. Two of the company’s partial owners — one of whom is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents — are co-chairing a 2020 Republican Senate campaign. “The reality for us here is we need more housing on campus, and I don’t know how else we
silence. Students and parents took to social media to voice their frustration and openly criticize the university. PSU defended their decision on Friday, when university spokeswoman Lisa Powers said their campus alert system only includes incidents in “Clery-reportable locations.” “The safety of our students is a top priority at Penn State,” Powers said. “State College Police responded to the shooting in the borough last night as it was not on Penn State’s campus. The alert system includes incidents that are within Cleryreportable locations.” Like Penn State, WSU is bound by the federal regulations outlined in The Clery Act, a federal statute enacted in 1990 that requires universities that receive federal financial aid to report annual crime statistics, maintain a daily crime log, and provide “timely reports” regarding criminal activity that is considered an ongoing threat to the campus community. The Sunflower asked WSU Associate General Counsel, and Chair of the Clery Committee, Molly M. Gordon if university policy is based exclusively on the Clery Act requirements. “Timely warnings are only issued in response to the occurrence of crimes specified in the Clery Act. Other dangers to the campus community are addressed through a safety alert or an emergency notification,” Gordon said. “The main point in this is, and this is straight from Clery, is to issue a timely warning or emergency notification for crimes that pose a serious or continuing
threat to the campus.” Examples that Clery gives are meningitis outbreak, gas leak, bomb threat, approaching tornado, and active shooters, but some things aren’t required under clery like power outages and snow emergencies. “If something happens off of campus but kind of close to campus and it’s handled by another police force, we might not find out until the next day,” Gordon said. “Just because a university doesn’t issue a timely warning or doesn’t issue a safety notice doesn’t mean the university isn’t concerned or wanting to help in that regard.” In events that wouldn’t normally be covered by The Clery Act, Gordon said, “some information will now be distributed to the campus community via an emergency notification.” The new alert policy is part of WSU’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) which covers emergency preparation, planning and training for handling campus emergencies. As part of the university’s EOP revision process, WSU updated their emergency notification policy. As of July 2018, WSU Policies and Procedures: 20.21 now lists three campus alert policies for: 1. Timely Warnings 2. Safety Alerts 3. Emergency Notifications Timely Warnings and Emergency notifications are clery terms, and they’re defined by clery regulations as well. That won’t change and neither will area that’s covered by those two notification policies. But safety alerts are up to the university.
Gordon said safety alerts can be issued when a timely warning is not required. “What we mean by that is it’s not within our Clery geography so Clery says you don’t have to do anything. We’ve given guidance in our policy to say, ‘we’re not required to do anything by law but we want to keep our community informed of things that are happening. So that’s where the safety alert came in,” Gordon said. As for sending an alert via the ShockerAlert system, Gordon said, “that’s all UPD.” The Sunflower spoke to Chief Clark of the WSU Police Department to ask if the ShockerAlert system could be used for off-campus emergencies if they’re outside UPD jurisdiction. If there was a shooting incident like the one in College Station, Pennsylvania, Clark said he would put out an alert if he felt the situation might threaten campus. “We’ve actually done that before — if it’s close enough to campus,” Clark said. “It depends on what’s going on, but certainly somebody waves a gun around, they’re running towards as opposed to away from us that makes a difference. The whole point of it is are they posing an immediate threat?.” Clark said that nothing in his time as Chief has been an active threat to the campus. “We deal with close proximity things all the time, criminal activity right off campus and we still send out an alert to let people know this is going on,” Clark said.
He said other infrastructure priorities are worth supporting, including remodeling the play therapy center and psychology clinical labs. “There’s two programs there — the play therapy program and the clinical psychology program, that have accreditation requirements,” Muma said. “Those requirements are telling us right now that we’re deficient in those lab spaces for both of those programs, so that puts the programs’ accreditation at risk for both of those.” If the initial referendum fails, Muma said, not all non-business priorities will be moving forward. Does that mean they’re never going to move forward in the future? Probably not,” Muma said. “But they won’t move forward with this referendum.” He said not all projects lend themselves to donor support like the business school. “We know where the donors are, and they’re not there to do some of the smaller projects that are still needed,” Muma said. Engineering student Sierra Bonn asked if there was a way for students to propose other priorities for their colleges. “There’s no women’s restroom on the second floor of the
Engineering Building,” Bonn noted. “Women aren’t supposed to be engineers, you know,” joked Vice President for Student Affairs Teri Hall. “Don’t take me out of context, please.” Muma addressed the question. “In terms of the projects, the deans brought those forward after they got student feedback . . . so we haven’t had any conversations in those meetings about ‘Should we take this off the list or that off the list?’ because after all, the deans have already done that with their own student populations,” Muma said. When The Sunflower asked Hall for data on student input in November, she said none was available but that deans went about getting it in different ways. Parallels have been drawn between the infrastructure initiative and the YMCA and wellness center proposal, which the university brought before the 59th Session of Student Government in spring of 2017 with the understanding that if they voted against it, the project would not move forward. The YMCA partnership was rejected, but two months later, the next session of SGA approved
a similar proposal funded by a tiered Health and Wellness fee that students are paying for a second year. “Students like to say to me that this is just like the Y — that no matter what comes up, that the university’s going to do whatever they want with this,” Hall said. “What I want to remind you all is that the 59th Session said ‘no’ to the Y, the 60th Session brought it back up. If it wasn’t for the 60th Session coming forward and saying they thought having a Y and a wellness center on campus was a good idea, it wouldn’t have happened.” “If you can help people understand the difference about that, because that’s really misunderstood.” Bonn said she thought the town hall was productive, but that she wished more students turned out. “I’m kind of disappointed in the turnout of students,” Bonn said. “I tried to drag out as many people as I could. I think it would have been more productive if more students would have come. The next all-student town hall is Monday, Feb. 11, but various colleges will hold their own town halls in the coming weeks as well.
Student Involvement Director Nancy Loosle pitched the idea of comparing the fee increase to “about twelve Starbucks runs” per semester. Student Government Vice President Shelby Rowell shot that suggestion down, saying, “I’m not sure about that one — it may be a little patronizing.” Committee members agreed that sticking to the numbers — by saying it’s about a .0225 percent, or $720 increase, for a four-year, in-state degree — would be a better approach.
would have got more housing on campus if not for the arrangement that we currently have,” said Teri Hall, vice president for student affairs. Hall said that, thanks to out-ofstate recruitment, WSU may need a new long-term housing solution in five years. “We need a 500-800-bed dormitory like what we have at Shocker Hall,” Hall said. There have been talks of adding another wing to The Flats, but that expansion would only add 150-200 beds, she said. “Many of our students come from Sedgwick County, and the likelihood that they’re going to live on campus is less because of that,” Hall said. “But as our base shifts and we get more students from out of state and out of Sedgwick County, those are the students that are getting housing on campus.”
Read WSU’s tentative student fee referendum here BY ANDREW LINNABARY
Monday’s Shock the Future steering committee meeting included a presentation showing what students will see when they vote on the proposed infrastructure student fee hike. Students will access the ballot through an email sent out March 4. Voting will be active for three days. Here is the full text for the ballot, which committee members — 17 of 26 members were in attendance Monday — have already made suggestions for changes on. THE REFERENDUM’S INTRODUCTION
“What can we do to make our university the best it can be? To answer this question, we asked students, faculty and staff to identify needs and opportunities that would elevate WSU’s academic experience. Every college solicited and received feedback through annual surveys, town halls and focus groups to develop project plans that reflect student interests and academic needs, and which will benefit future
Shockers in every academic college for years to come: -New tech to create and collaborate -Better environments for applied learning and research -More convenient and accessible study spaces and student services Because of funding decreases from the state of Kansas, there is only one way for this slate of improvements to become a reality: an increase in student fees.” THE QUESTION ON THE BALLOT
“Do you support a $6 per credit hour fee increase to fund the Shock the Future campaign?” “This vote is for funding improvements in academic building for all colleges. Click here for an overview of all proposed projects.” Students are given two options, saying they support or do not support the increase. Steering committee members immediately suggested adding the specific $6 per-credit-hour amount to the referendum’s introduction, as well as leaving it in the ballot question.
CULTURE
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A
THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2019
‘Style Your Tile’ provides stress release, prevention
BY JOHN DARR
ll of us consume art during our free time in some way — music and television are basically omnipresent — but making art can be just as delightful. That’s how dozens of students spent their lunch Tuesday — laughing and meeting new friends while hunched over ceramic tiles with paintbrushes in hand. From the good vibes in the room, it was clear that “Style Your Tile” was a success. Shayla Ingalls, a graduate of WSU and former Student Involvement ambassador, said an event that gets her back in touch with Student Involvement and provides free art materials was a perfect opportunity. “I helped plan some of these kind of events, so I wanted to come out and support,” Ingalls said. “It’s just a good stress reliever.” Wichita State’s Division of Student Affairs, which threw the event in the RSC, set up the painting session with many goals in mind. Along with offering students a way to decompress during a busy week, “Style Your Tile” was designed to distribute study help tools such as planners and tip handouts. The goal was to make the positive impact stretch beyond the half hour or so that students came to paint — even though the tiles that students take home, painted in WSU’s signature black and yellow, will make for a lovely keepsake in the years to come. The event’s fusion of stress relief, study skills, and school spirit, was no mistake. Joshua Villa, a graduate assistant for Student Affairs who was overseeing the event, said all the elements reinforce each other. “I think they go hand-in-hand,” Villa said. “Being prideful of your school will help you perform better at the university.”
EASTON THOMPSON/THE SUNFLOWER
Graduate audiology student Shayla Ingalls applies finishing touches to a ceramic tile during the “Style Your Tile” event held in the RSC Wednesday. The event was hosted by Student Affairs to help students reflect on various aspects of their academics.
EASTON THOMPSON/THE SUNFLOWER
Left, Sophomore Alexis Reid works on a ceramic tile. Above, A WSU ceramic tile from the “Style Your Tile” event.
SECOND STAGE THEATRE PRESENTS ‘THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE’ ABRIDGED
FOOD BANK FRIDAY Time: 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Location: RSC
Time: 7:30 - 9 p.m.
Cost: Free! Take some time this weekend to give back to your community by participating in the Community Service Board’s Food Bank Friday. You’ll carpool from the RSC to the Food4Kids backpack program, where you’ll spend the afternoon packaging food for children in need. It’s a great way to build relationships with other students while doing good for the community.
Location: Hughes Metropolitan Complex, Welsbacher Theatre Cost: Free Student Ticket (must request) Do you laugh with Shakespeare or laugh at Shakespeare? Regardless of your answer, you’ll love “The Complete Works of Shakespeare” (Abridged), which squeezes all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays down to microscopic size in a blistering barrage of high and low comedy. It’s one of theatre’s most ridiculous and exciting shows — don’t miss it.
FUN: FUTURE NOW AT THE ULRICH
BUFFALO WILD WINGS TRIVIA NIGHT
Time: 4 - 5 p.m.
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Ulrich Museum of Art
Location: Buffalo Wild Wings, 3236 N Rock Rd
Cost: Free! Do you love learning but hate slowmoving lectures and presentations? Then come to the Ulrich for a lightning round of Pechakucha-style presentations. Each presenter flips through 20 slides for 20 seconds, meaning each presentation clocks in at under seven minutes. There’s no time to get bored! Come fill your brain in one of the campus’s coolest venues.
The Sunflower Archives — Jan. 12, 1986
Some take it seriously...
Kansas Day: laughing stock of Boston Today marks the 125th anniversary of Kansas’s admittance to statehood. Most people tend to ignore Kansas Day because it’s a pretty poor excuse for a holiday. More people would celebrate it if there were a fireworks display in Cessna Stadium, lots of parties that involved free beer, a paid day off or even Hallmark cards that commemorated the occasion. Since Kansas Day only celebrates the statehood of a place considered a national laughing stock from Oregon to New York, there isn’t much partying going on. Personally, I think we should send a few good ol’ National Guard units into places like Los Angeles and upstate New York, where people frequently make fun of Kansas. In fact, every time someone on the East Coast starts cracking wise with Kansas jokes, I think we should send in the militia. If a Kansas commando were to ask someone in, say, Boston if he thinks Kansas is funny and then flip the safety catch off a Gilal assault rifle, I think you’d find the Boston sense of humor greatly improved. Kansas is rich in heritage and it’s certainly no laughing matter to those of us who are trying to get enough
money together to move to Colorado. Kansas offers sources if amusement you can’t find anywhere else in America. Only in Kansas can you find miles and miles of brown, barren landscape. Only in Kansas do you have winds most of the year that are considered tropical storms anywhere else. Only in Kansas do you find towns where the most impressive bit of architecture is either a whitewashed truck stop named “Mary’s” or a 200-foot grain elevator. Kansas also offers what the Wichita Eagle-Beacon likes to describe as “unique” people. These are the kinds of folks who would be put on public display in a traveling carnival if they lived anywhere other than Kansas. These “unique people” include honest, hard-working farmers who will blow your face off if you trespass on their land, high school teachers who couldn’t get jobs as used furniture salesman in most other states, pretty girls who will listen to anything you say provided you do your talking from behind the wheel of an ‘86 Corvette, friendly old ladies that believe birth control is a form of devil worship and inbred little albino
teenage boys who are spot welded into Stetson hats at birth. In addition to all that, Kansas has more of one single commodity than any other state — morality. The people of Kansas (except for a few bad apples) are as pious as a deacon’s widow. The people of Kansas don’t cotton to none of those corrupt, sinful, “big city” ideas like liquor by the drink, lotteries, or tipping in restaurants. Unlike some other states — California for example — where most of the people are spaced-out, greedy, sub-human psychotics, the people of Kansas cling to traditional values. Among the traditions Kansans seem to value most are hard work, strong coffee, going to church any time you can find one open, dating people you meet hanging around a Quik-Trip and making unholy amounts of money on land stolen from Native Americans and other minority groups. So as we all prepare to celebrate another birthday of this grand old state, we should all gather for a moment of silent reflection. Remember that no matter how bad things are in Kansas, they can only be worse in Boston.
Cost: Free! (Food not included) Treat your stomach and your brain to a night of spicy wings and even spicier questions. This Homecoming event is sure to be as challenging as it is delicious. Assemble a team of friends, head out for some wings, and support WSU! Friday doesn’t get much better than that. Preregistration through the Student Activities Council is recommended. INFORMATION COMPILED BY JOHN DARR
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CULTURE
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Kid Bloom: Your Next Obsession
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f Daft Punk merged with a 70s funk quartet, you’d get Kid Bloom. In anticipation of their soon-to-be released EP, “Lemonhead,” Kid Bloom dazzles with their first single of the new year, “Sugarcoat.” The Studio City, California band has been steadily creating eccentric music for a while, but this up-andcoming four-man group is rapidly breaching the surface of the pop-rock genre. “Sugarcoat” ticks all the boxes. A groovy influx of upbeat melodies twisted in with a little sweet talk, “Sugarcoat” distinctly captures a casual soulfulness. Starry and bright with a funky beat, Kid Bloom’s new song will have you dancing before you even realize you’re doing it. With creamy supporting vocals that provide a welcome contrast to lead singer Lennon Kloser’s grungy style, “Sugarcoat” becomes
ELLA DOMINGUEZ COLUMNIST
as addictive as a sugar rush. With Zach Tabori on guitar, Clayton Sewelson on drums, and Blake Morell on bass, every musical element of this single melts together to create a cohesive song that is completely intoxicating. Kid Blooms’ signature sound provides a cool oasis in the current pop rock musical drought. Thank me now — in a year, you’ll be claiming that you knew Kid Bloom before they were big.
COURTESY “Sugarcoat” is the Kid Bloom’s first single of the year.
Netflix documentary brings Ted Bundy back from the dead If Ted Bundy was never fried in a Florida prison’s electric chair, then he surely would be watching his Netflix documentary with pleasure today. Last week, Netflix released “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes.” Hours after the release, thousands of people had already gone through all four-hours of the gruesome documentary. The mini-series picks up in Bundy’s young adult life. Over the course of four hours, the stunning compilations of photos, newsfeed, police documents, evidence, and chilling audio tapes of Bundy himself, take the viewer through the roller coaster of his demonic life. The series itself is a massive hit across the board. I wasn’t even alive when Bundy’s acts of terror were gripping the nation, but I was hooked immediately. I still am — even after finishing it. But why do we enjoy the gruesome Bundy storyline? I’m here to tell you why. The show itself puts you in Bundy’s shoes while leaving you in the
MARSHAL SUNNER COLUMNIST
comfort and safety of your own home. The recorded tapes themselves basically put you into a storybook with Bundy as narrator. While recording the tapes, Bundy talked in the third person, creating audiobook-like documents. “The killer would then . . . The killer would do this . . . Then he would go back to the scene.” You find yourself directly in the mind of a serial killer. The tapes are extremely disturbing, but in spite of this — or, maybe even because of this — they’re extremely intriguing. The documentary is constructed to make you question, in hindsight, how you would have responded in Bundy’s most precarious situations.
COURTESY “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” is a mini-series that was released on Netflix last week.
Even though its story is well-known, many viewers will likely finish the series in a day because they want a movie theater thrill with a real-life twist. Even if people don’t want to admit that they’re watching the
documentary for its gory details, they’re still watching it to get a full picture of what Bundy did. The documentary nails this, and that’s why the series is so good. It helps that the composition of the show is exquisite. It’s
never too slow, and each episode — except for the last — gives viewers a cliffhanger that keeps the audience begging for more. You’ll keep watching as the violence escalates. It’s human nature after all.
CULTURE
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THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2019
STUDENT PRESS FREEDOM DAY Student journalists inform community, hold power accountable
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tudent journalism is an applied learning experience to rival any other internship or job on campus. We spend our days interviewing community members and typing for hours to write the stories that inform our readers. With newsrooms dwindling in size from layoffs due to budget cuts, student journalists are now more important than ever. They fill in the gaps for what bigger newspapers can’t do, and then some. They are also sometimes the only newspaper in town and the only source for information as smaller newspapers struggle to survive. Sometimes, what we report on often changes laws. After a
KYLIE CAMERON COLUMNIST
contentious battle between The Sunflower and the administration last year, our coverage of the events that unfolded brought about a new law requiring all student fees meetings to be open to the public. Unfortunately, like our professional counterparts, student media is seeing a decline in
support when it comes to advertising dollars. After the recession, student newspapers have seen a steady decline in advertising dollars and have had to make cuts, such as going down from a daily newspaper to weekly or twice-weekly printing. But just like our counterparts, our mission is to inform the community, because that’s what journalists do. In recognition of Student Press Freedom Day, I want to remind our readers that we don’t report on the “bad things” about our school because we hate it. We do it because we love where we are and know others do to, and we want to better our university by making officials think about their actions that affect us, the students.
Super Bawl — how the NFL lost my viewership For those of you who don’t know, the Super Bowl is this Sunday. Every year, I spend the two weeks between the final whistle of the Conference Championship Game until kickoff of the big game analyzing stats, looking over prop bets, and all around looking forward to the cultural and social spectacle that is the Super Bowl. This year, however, I am happy to say that I will not be a part of the one third of the U.S. population likely to tune in on Sunday. People who know me well will just assume I am being bitter. As a lifelong Chiefs fan, the disappointment that occurred a couple weeks ago is still causing me pain, but has very little to do with the decision. In fact, the choice has to due with the NFL’s efforts to change the game. The Sunday before last, for the first time in NFL history, both conference championship games went to overtime. While both games were absolute thrillers, they both in all likelihood were decided by the officials.
AUSTIN MAY
OPINION EDITOR In the NFC Championship Game, as even the most casual of fan has heard by now, a controversial no-call on a blatant third-down pass interference limited the Saints to a field goal on a promising drive late in the fourth quarter. Additionally, in the AFC Championship Game, on a second and seven late in the game, a flag was thrown. With the Chiefs leading for the first time in the game, the penalty was called against Chris Jones for supposedly making contact to the head of the quarterback. In
this instance, however, there was clearly no contact with Brady’s head. Though it is hard to say that the Patriots, lead by the G.O.A.T., would not have converted on the ensuing third and seven — see three straight conversions on third and 10 in overtime — it’s almost certain that the course of sports history had forever been altered. The blame, however, should not fall on the officials on the field. Just like the players, they are performing to the best of their ability. Just like receivers will occasionally drop a third-and-long pass, or a back will fumble on a critical lategame drive, so too can officials drop the ball (pun definitely intended) on an outcome-altering call late in the waning seconds of a crucial matchup. The people truly damaging the game are the members of the NFL Competition Committee, who, through their efforts to improve the game, have instead pushed too far — tipping the delicate balance between safety and a pleasant
viewer experience. This, coupled with the most successful dynasty in the history of professional sports, has led to games that some fans have begun to believe are “rigged.” While I don’t personally believe that the NFL provides any team with an unfair advantage through intentional miscalls, the fact remains that a select few teams are more willing to walk the fine line that splits the legal from the illegal — even if it means the occasional controversy (i.e. spy-gate, deflate-gate, etc.). The inconvenient truth is that the NFL, through their consistent efforts to create a safer league, have ruined the game, in my mind at least. Although I will always have a place in my heart for my beloved Chiefs, I will nevertheless have a difficult decision come next August when games begin again. For now, however, the NFL will officially have one less viewer. The commercials are overrated anyways.
The Rams didn’t give St. Louis a fair chance I’m doing things differently this year. For the first time in my life, I’m skipping out and not watching the Super Bowl. Sunday’s marquee contest between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams has turned into a nightmare that won’t end. For anyone deeply interested in St. Louis sports, there could not be a worse matchup. I’m from St. Louis, and the last thing I want is for the Rams to win a Super Bowl. The Rams aren’t well-liked in St. Louis, and for good reason. The Rams moved back to St. Louis in 1995. Shortly after their return, they won a Super Bowl. Years later, the Rams were back in it again. They fell to the Patriots,
SEAN MARTY COLUMNIST
who are commonly believed to have filmed the Rams’ practices that year. Those were the good days. The days before those successes became clouded by the tumultuous downturn of the franchise and its repeated losing seasons.
The Rams’ front office never did much to get back the winning culture it once had. With the losses came serious dips in attendance. That’s when Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke decided to relocate the team back to Los Angeles. In 2016, the Rams broke for California. Kroenke never gave St. Louis a fair chance. He said that diminished attendance numbers were a large factor, that people in St. Louis didn’t care for football, and that it was more of a “baseball town.” St. Louis didn’t give up on the Rams — the Rams gave up on St. Louis. Instead of putting forth the money and effort, Kroenke settled. His focus was never St. Louis, but
how he could get the team back out West. The Rams’ move to L.A. didn’t help solve the matter. You’d think a team that’s made the postseason back-to-back years would sell-out its games. They haven’t. The St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues have each proven how wrong Kroenke is. The people of St. Louis do care for professional sports. This summer, the city hosted a PGA Championship that attracted thousands to the city. In 2020, St. Louis will host the NHL All-Star game. There’s buzz of a MLS team settling in St. Louis. I care about sports, as do the people of St. Louis. That’s what Kroenke couldn’t see.
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street speak
Do you plan to vote for or against the student fee hike?
“I think that I would vote ‘yes’ because I am a business student here. I favor what they are doing. When the dean came in and talked to us, he reminded us about the benefits. It should be good in the long run.” — KEATON O’NEAL, accounting, sophomore
“For me, I would probably vote ‘no’ because I don’t use the 24-hour study room, and I do not use most of the other facilities that I have heard will be updated. I am an engineering student, and I don’t think that there would be as much of a benefit to me, compared to some others.” — MATTHEW WADDELL, biomed engineering, sophomore
“Initially, my first thought is that there are many different options that students can utilize on and off campus already. I would vote ‘no’ just because I don’t see it as having too much of a purpose. I think that tuition is already high, I don’t feel good about adding more to it.” — KAYLEE WALKER, english and creative writing, senior
“I would probably vote n’o’ because I think tuition prices have already been raised enough. I haven’t heard people complain about any of the upgrades proposed myself. I don’t think that it should be necessary to raise our tuition for this.” — LIZETH ORTEGA, political science, junior
Top 5 study break ideas to stay sane this semester New semester, new you. Many of us are looking to change up our study habits, but few are willing to plan for their study breaks. The fact of the matter is that the key to a good study session is being able to sit back and process the information, and The Sunflower is providing you with the top 5 best ways to regroup during your next all-nighter. DISHONORABLE MENTION — DON’T TAKE A BREAK
Though you want to work non-stop, the cold hard truth is that you will not be productive if you try to push yourself too hard. No matter how much I need to get
AUSTIN MAY
OPINION EDITOR done, I will always allot for a 10or-so minute break every couple of hours. I’m not going to get anything done after that anyways, so I might as well draw the line. 5 — STREAM A TV SHOW
This is a slippery slope. I have a “one more episode” mentality, and this leads to me getting very little done if I get obsessed with a show. I always try to binge at least one show that requires little or no focus to follow. My favorites for this include “The Office” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” 4 — STARE OFF INTO SPACE FOR A WHILE
Ah, the original time waster. I’ve been perfecting this method since about first grade. For thousands of years, before the emergence of television and the internet, I can only assume that people wasted time by staring at
nothing for hours on end. How else could they stay sane? 3 — GO TO THE HESKETT
Obviously, this isn’t my favorite activity. I do know, however, that other people thoroughly enjoy spending their time “being healthy”, although I will never understand why. For those of you who are so inclined, the Heskett is a great place to do it, plus it’s like two minutes from the Library. 2 — TAKE A SNACK BREAK
Finally, something much more my speed. While “experts” would tell you to eat fruits or veggies, I — the true snacking expert
¬— prefer sweets. Nothing can get me through a couple of assignments quite like a cupcake. No matter what you decide to snack on, it is an important component of a successful study session. 1 — SWITCH GEARS AND WORK ON ANOTHER CLASS
Stuck on an assignment? Don’t just give up on studying all together — just switch your focus for a while. Just about all of us are taking multiple classes, allowing us the ability to switch subjects. When in doubt, change it up and try something else. Or drop out. More time to become a cupcake connoisseur.
SPORTS
6 | THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2019
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Last-minute heroics propel Shockers to dramatic victory BY MARSHALL SUNNER
Samajae Haynes-Jones put up a reverse layup off his left-hand with one second to play in Wednesday’s game against Southern Methodist. His shot rolled off his fingertips and found the bottom of the net, pushing the Wichita State Men’s Basketball team ahead to its eventual victory. Haynes-Jones burst to the rim on an isolation play with 15.3 seconds left. The Shockers had hit six shots in a row in the final five minutes of play, and SMU answered to each one. With a shot-fake, Haynes-Jones cut under the basket, past SMU’s Jimmy Whitt, and pushed by Isiaha Mike to sink WSU’s the first game-winning shot in Koch Arena in at least five years. He had to blow past three SMU defenders to reach the basket. “The kids needed that shot,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. Haynes-Jones said he was confident in his ability to make a play. “I do it all the time,” HaynesJones said of his left-handed reverse shot, that spun off the backboard before falling in. “He’ll (Haynes-Jones) mess around in practice and make them and we will all try them, but we won’t make it,” WSU senior Markis McDuffie said of the game-winner. “So when he did that and it hit the backboard, I knew it would spin and hit the rim. … I knew it was money.” Haynes-Jones had his foot stepped on early into the second
half. He was fearful to mess up any plays, as the Shockers and Mustangs went tit-for-tat early in the second half. Despite grief, he wasn’t going to let that set-back define the second half. Haynes-Jones finished with a team-high 17 points. He added two rebounds and two assists. “You have to have a lot of good performances to win in this league,” Marshall said. “We haven’t had that. If Markis (McDuffie) and Samajae (Haynes-Jones) are off, we’re pretty much dead in the water. Both were pretty good, but we got contributions from Erik (Stevenson), Jamarius (Burton), Asbjørn (Midtgaard) and finally Jaime (Echenique) at the end.” Stevenson tied Haynes-Jones with 17 points and a team-high six rebounds. Midtgaard, who has reignited his play with dominant offense, had a career0-high 10 points on six shot attempts. He added five rebounds. McDuffie had 15 points, short of his season average. With the win, the Shockers snapped a three-game losing streak. Having won, the Shockers avoided losing eight out of nine games, which would have been the program’s worst 20-game start in a decade. The Shockers improved to a 2-6 conference record, which puts them at a tie for ninth place in the American Athletic Conference. WSU next hosts Tulsa, who is also 2-6 in conference play, at 1 p.m. Saturday.
JOSEPH BARRINGHAUS/THE SUNFLOWER
EVAN PFLUGRADT/THE SUNFLOWER
Top, Wichita State sophomore Asbjørn Midtgaard dunks in the first half of the game against SMU on Jan. 30, 2019 at Charles Koch Arena. Midtgaard scored 10 points in the game, beating his previous high by 4 points. Above, a Wichita State fan watches as Samajae Haynes-Jones drives for what will end up being a gamewinning shot. The game was tied at 83 before Haynes-Jones hit the final shot.
Wichita State to host regional games for $2 million winner-take-all tournament this summer BY EVAN PFLUGRADT
JOSEPH BARRINGHAUS/THE SUNFLOWER Wichita State alumni John Robert Simon (left) and Zach Bush (right) speak with the AfterShocks coach, Karon Bradley (middle) prior to a press conference on Jan. 29, 2019.
Wichita State will host regional games for The Basketball Tournament, a $2 million winnertake-all tournament. Wichita is one of eight host sites. The Tournament (TBT) features a 64-team field, assembled with eight host teams and 56 select teams. As host, WSU will debut a team in the 2019 tournament. The AfterShocks, a team made up of past WSU stars will play in the Wichita regional. Should the AfterShocks advance, the finals are held in Chicago. All games are single-elimination in a style reflective of the NCAA Tournament. Wichita will host its regional over a four-day stretch starting July 25. Other TBT teams include alumni teams assembled by Syracuse, Kentucky, and Virginia Commonwealth, among others.
Brian Hargrove of Visit Wichita said the reputation of WSU’s fan base was a selling point in the city’s pitch to host regional games. Karon Bradley had a short career with WSU before Gregg Marshall took over the program in 2007. Bradley watched the TBT since its inception in 2014. He said he was impressed with the TBT’s level of professionalism, so he quickly started asking for the possibilities of past Shockers assembling a star lineup. Bradley, coach and co-owner of the AfterShocks, reached out to John Robert Simon and Zach Bush, former Shocker walk-ons. The interest was overwhelming, Bradley said. “Guys were on board right away,” Bradley said. Stars such as Malcolm Armstead, Cleanthony Early and Tekele Cotton, who helped
WSU post one of basketball’s best winning percentages in a decade, fill out a roster with plenty of name recognition. Taken in the second round of the 2014 draft, Early was WSU’s first NBA Draft pick since 1987. Joe Ragland, Clevin Hannah, Toure’ Murry, and Garret Stutz have each announced their commitments to join the AfterShocks this summer. So too have Shaquille Morris and Conner Frankamp, pieces of WSU’s recent success. Simon and Bush will work for Bradley as assistant coaches this summer. Each has played a factor in recruiting past players to the program. Bradley noted there are still open spots left on the AfterShocks roster this season. He hinted that other notable Shockers aren’t off limits, as the team plans to fill out the rest of the rotation this spring.
COURAGE. CHARACTER. HELPFUL. SHOCKERS KNOCK OFF PIRATES 57-47 TO AVENGE LOSS COORDINATES. ENGAGING. PLANS ORGANIZATION. INCLUDES. CREA INSPIRATIONAL. FOCUSED. REFER CARING. UNDAUNTED. RESPECTF CRAFTY. LISTENING. HONORABLE TEAMWORK. PATIENT. LEARNING. ACCOMMODATES. COMFORTING. PRACTICAL. DEPENDABLE. FUN. WORK ETHIC. TRUSTWORTHY. EXC ENCOURAGING. CHEERLEADERS. AUSTIN SHAW/THE SUNFLOWER RESPONSIBLE. FAIR. CONSIDERAT Above, Jada Peacock celebrates as WSU extended its winning streak to RESOURCE. GUIDING. COMMITTED two games. The Shockers had started conference play with five losses before snapping the streak. WSU MEMORABLE. CONNECTEDNESS. L WE ARE SEARCHING FOR YOU! APPLY TO BE AN RA, CDS, OR DA TODAY.
continues a two-game home series against Temple at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Left, Jaida Hampton lead the way as WSU avenged a loss from earlier this season against the East Carolina Pirates. Hampton scored 12 points off the bench, on 4-6 shooting, while the Shockers shot 44 percent from the field.