MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2019 • VOL. 123, ISS. 33
THESUNFLOWER.COM
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.
Business students talk referendum, new building on Innovation Campus
‘thirsty thursday’
BY MATTHEW KELLY
Newly released documents shed light on the party that got Beta Theta Pi fraternity suspended until May
Of the $38.5 million Wichita State is seeking to raise from a proposed student fee increase, $20 million would go towards the construction of a new business building on Innovation Campus. Even within the college that stands to gain the most from an affirmative vote on the March referendum, student feedback on the $6 per credit hour fee hike is mixed. “I don’t think it’s a good situation,” sophomore business major Danielle Harms said. “Obviously, I want the new business school because that would be good for future business students, but I’ll never use it, so that kind of sucks.”
BY ANDREW LINNABARY
B
eta Theta Pi’s current suspension stems from a “Thirsty Thursday” party in August — one that reads like a stereotypical rager: MD 20/20, 30 packs, bottles of vodka and whiskey, alleged kegs, and bags of wine specifically to get women drunk, solicited over a GroupMe text by a Beta member, according to fraternity members’ testimonies and other documents. Those details emerged from a 70-page investigation summary into the fraternity, an investigation that began in September and ended in November. Redacted records of the conduct process, including six fully redacted pages, were obtained Friday through the Kansas Open Records Act after being requested in early November. Beta was charged with five violations of university policy in November, including the underage drinking, social host violation, and excessive drinking subsections of WSU’s alcohol and drugs policy. At the time of the incident, Beta was already under deferred suspension and disciplinary probation through March 2019 for hazing and violating alcohol policies and department policies. The initial incident report
“I’M HERE TO LEARN. I’M NOT HERE TO HAVE THE COOLEST BUILDING ON CAMPUS.” —DANIELLE HARMS, SOPHOMORE BUSINESS MAJOR
The new building, Woolsey Hall, is projected to open in the winter of 2021. It has a $50 million price tag, but the WSU Foundation has already raised roughly $30 million in donations for the project. Harms, a member of the dean’s ambassadors for the Barton School of Business, is also a first-generation college student. She said doesn’t know why the university can’t build Woolsey Hall on a $30 million budget. “I get that it’s cool to have a new building, and it will be nice and new, but everything we have functions,” Harms said. “For me, I’m here to learn. I’m not here to have the coolest building on campus. I’m looking for a cheap, good education.” Sophomore business major Keaton O’Neil said a class visit from Business School Dean Anand Desai won his support for the initiative.
for the August party, sent anonymously to Student Conduct, alleged that Beta’s “assistant pledge ed [redacted] hosted a party which provided wine, purchased with donations from chapter members, to specifically bring women to their ‘Thirsty Thursday.’” “Beta Theta Pi has repeatedly been a significant risk to the health and safety of its own members and those members belong to Wichita State,” the anonymous report reads. “Executive council knew of the party days before the event and did nothing to stop it. As a member of Wichita State, I beg you to finally take the action this chapter deserves to protect students.” A separate email thread between the anonymous reporter and Student Conduct alleges the party also included a keg, a fight “in which inactive member [redacted] was punched from behind and knocked out,” and “two gunshots fired . . . according to [redacted] and multiple other members.” Members denied there were any kegs in their student conduct questionnaires, but were not asked about any fights or gunshots, at least in their written responses. There were 13 members of the fraternity, including executive members and members confirmed to be
Members of Beta Theta Pi fraternity pose in a redacted photo taken at their “Thirsty Thursday” party last August. Beta was suspended in November and charged with five violations of university policy.
at the Thirsty Thursday event, questioned during the investigation. The house had around 40 members at the time of the incident. There were around 40-50 people at the house party, members said in their written questionnaire responses. Questionnaire questions included “Was a keg
purchased for this event?” and “Were you told to ‘bring women’ to the Thirsty Thursday event?” The investigation summary included screenshots from a Beta GroupMe chat, “Silent Men of North Hillside: With Campus as an Exception.” SEE BETA THETA PI PAGE 2
SEE BUSINESS PAGE 5
Heldman: Bardo in and out of hospital; ‘absolutely’ expects to return as president BY MATTHEW KELLY
EDUARDO CASTILLO/THE SUNFLOWER
Tammy Dorsey, a mother of five and graduate student in the innovation design master’s program, discusses her biomedical engineering senior project. The project would help OB/GYN’s monitor fetal oxygen levels of the fetus during childbirth. This project has exanded into Dorsey’s master’s program.
Grad student’s in utero invention could make childbirth safer BY AUDREY KORTE
Wichita State graduate student Tammy Dorsey wants to make childbirth safer. As a mother of five, Dorsey recognizes first-hand how important it is to have accurate information during childbirth. “My middle child was born blue,” Dorsey said. “He had a normal heart rate all through delivery, and that never sat well with me. They didn’t know he was in distress.
“Fastforwarding through my educational career, I had to get to a point where I could actually do something about it.” As part of her biomedical engineering senior design project at WSU, Tammy Dorsey invented a non-invasive in utero tool that reads the oxygen levels of unborn babies and alerts doctors and nurses when their oxygen level is too low. SEE DORSEY PAGE 5
Wichita State President John Bardo has been in and out of the hospital as he recovers from a second surgery to treat a chronic lung condition, Vice President for Strategic Communications Lou Heldman said Friday morning. The Sunflower previously reported that Bardo was moved to a rehabilitation facility, but Heldman would not confirm Bardo’s exact whereabouts. “He has been both in the hospital and in rehab, because they do different things in different places,” Heldman said. “I’m not going to give a daily update on where he is. He’s in recovery.” Bardo, 70, was hospitalized in mid-November. Provost Rick Muma was named acting President on Jan. 2. When asked whether or not Bardo expects to return as president, Heldman’s response was unequivocal: “The answer is absolutely yes,” he said. “This isn’t unusual in the world that a CEO is ill and that things continue.” Heldman could not provide a timeline for Bardo’s return to WSU, saying that’s up to Bardo and his doctors. He maintained that the university is fully functioning
SUNFLOWER FILE PHOTO
WSU President John Bardo talks to David Murfin of the Kansas Board of Regents at an event announcing a partnership building with Spirit AeroSystems and Wichita State University last year.
in Bardo’s absence. “The reason we have an acting president and an executive team is to continue the work of the university,” Heldman said. Matt Keith, Kansas Board of Regents director of communication, wrote in November that the board will “remain in contact with President Bardo and will
support the rest of the Wichita State leadership team until he can return to campus.” Heldman said the Regents remain supportive. “They put out a statement to that effect in the beginning, and people don’t usually feel like they have to put the same statement out every week,” Heldman said.
INSIDE
MIKROBREWS
THE BOSS
UPSWING
Thousands of gamers converged on WSU for the Midwest eSports convention.
WSU’s literary magazine hosted an open mic night Thursday.
A new Netfliz documentary gives Bruce Springsteen’s compelling origin story.
After defeating Tulsa, the Shockers look to continue climbing the AAC stndings.
NEWS/SPORTS •
CULTURE • PAGE 3
CULTURE/OPINION • PAGE 5
SPORTS • PAGE 6
GAMERS UNITE