The Sunflower v. 126 i. 30

/ The Sunflower

THURSDAY April 21, 2022 Volume 126 Issue 30

WICHITA STATE’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896

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Shiftspace Gallery criticized a Student Government senator, now it could lose its student fees funding

BY JULIA NIGHTENGALE AND LINDSAY SMIT news@thesunflower.com and editor@thesunflower.com

Shiftspace Gallery, a student-run art gallery located in downtown Wichita, could lose all of its funding from student fees allocations over a Facebook post criticizing an SGA fine arts senator.

This comes after a monthslong battle to restore the gallery’s funding after it was initially cut 65.8% in student fees deliberations.

When discussing it in senate meetings, Senator John Kirk did not support the gallery. The group went to Facebook on April 1, three days before SGA elections voting, to share their frustration.

The Shiftspace Facebook post

read: “This is the support we are getting from our fine arts senator, John Kirk. He’s up for re-election.

Let’s show him how ignoring and neglecting a significant portion of his constituency affects his poll numbers.”

The SGA election commission found the Shiftspace post in violation of election policy. SGA Advisor Gabriel Fonseca told the Sunflower via email that the following was the specific policy violated: “No faculty or staff member can utilize University resources to support specific candidates. This shall include but is not limited to email list servers, resource rooms, room reservations, and finances.

This shall not be interpreted to

“I think [art] is important and I think it’s important for students to see that they’re in college, I think it’s important for people to see that in our community.”

- Jeff Pulaski

restrict the ability of any faculty or staff member to publicize the dates and times of the General Election or to encourage voter participation in the General Election, provided that no suggestion is made to encourage voting for any specific candidate.”

Shiftspace President Lydia Humphreys, a graduate student, said that the allegations against

Shiftspace don’t make sense to her.

“It just feels like there was some grudge or something that we’ve done something wrong and we’re not really sure,” Humphreys said.

Humphreys said that all Shiftspace was trying to do was hold leaders accountable.

“We were voicing our concern for not having been represented by our fine arts representatives,” Humphreys said. “For him to be the main one advocating against us was very confusing.”

Humpreys said Zachary James, the SGA treasurer, reached out and called the post rude, which led to the gallery editing the post. But a day after they edited the post, Kirk submitted a complaint to the elections commission alleging that the group broke SGA election code.

CAMPUS CONCERT Grammy nominee Wale performs at Koch arena

Kirk said that because Shiftspace is a department, he saw it as problematic.

“Departments cannot say how people should vote, by saying …

‘This is going to reflect in his polls, let this show him,’ that is telling people how to vote,” Kirk said.

“Departments can’t do that.”

“There’s freedom of speech, people can do what they please, yes. That doesn’t mean there’s no freedom of consequences.”

Kirk said when he submitted the complaint, he did not know that could lead to Shiftspace losing funding.

“I want it to be very clear that nothing that I did was out of malicious intent,” Kirk said.

SEE SHIFTSPACE PAGE 2

GO GREEN EVENTS FOR EARTH DAY SPECIAL BOOK DISPLAY April 22 - May 1 | All day Ablah Library

ELECTRONIX RECYCLERS AND WICHITA SHREDDING April 22 | Noon - 4 p.m.

NetApp SE parking lot

SEED GIVEAWAYS AND PLANTING April 22 | 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Community Garden

EXHIBITORS April 22 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

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WELCOME SPEECH | RICK MUMA April 22 | 1 p.m.

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SUSTAINABLE FARMING AND RANCHING PANEL April 22 | 1 p.m. - 1:55 p.m.

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KEYNOTE PRESENTATION April 22 | 2 p.m. - 2:40 p.m.

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SUSTAINABILITY AT WSU PANEL April 22 | 2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

Hubbard Hall 208

STUDENT POSTER SHOWCASE April 22 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

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K-12 SUSTAINABILITY POSTER DISPLAY April 22 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

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VIRTUAL MOVIE SCREENING April 22 | Anytime Registration needed

WUSHOCK EARTHFEST April 22 | 4 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

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America rapper Wale comes to Wichita State University on Friday night, performing with DJ Kittie and bringing a new school vibe to their tunes. | Photo by Baswanth Naidu / The Sunflower. See the full story on page 5.

BEAUTIFY CAMPUS WITH GREEN GROUP April 22 | 10 a.m. - 12 p.m Braeburn Square Starbucks

2 | THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022

NEWS

Students share feedback on mental health services and diversity at SGA town hall

BY KYRAN CRIST arts@thesunflower.com

Diversity and mental health were the two main subjects at the SGA town hall Monday afternoon.

The Student Government Association hosted a town hall to give students the opportunity to listen and talk with representatives in Counseling and Prevention Services and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

On the topic of mental health, students shared their concerns and comments about what the campus is doing for mental health for faculty, as well as for students when not on campus.

Margarita Baez, a representative with CAPS, said that she works with the office to ensure their website is updated and offers resources for students when they’re not on campus. The website will soon have additional information and be revamped with more services from CAPS. WSU President Rick Muma

encouraged other offices to promote mental health resources as well.

“Mental health doesn’t just happen in these offices or my office, it happens in all of our offices,” Muma said. “And promoting that, the provost I know sends messages out on a weekly basis to faculty to remind them of certain things and mental health.”

While discussing classroom engagement, SGA asked the representatives what WSU is doing to match the demographics of their faculty and staff to that of their students to make sure their students feel represented and seen.

Muma talked of the diversity and inclusion plan the university incorporates into their hiring process, stating that the university works to have a hiring team that is mindful of those demographics.

Marche Flemming-Randle, chief diversity officer, explained that the college is working to have diversity classes,such as the Black Lives Matter course added last

semester.

“We’re trying to make sure that the course studies that we have, not only Black Lives Matter but Latinx classes, we want to make sure the words get out,” FlemingRandle said. “The faculty that teach the course, they go to class to ask people, ‘Hey what classes are you looking for?’ Diversity is all of our responsibility, not just one area.”

Fleming-Randle went on to explain that promoting these courses is a big factor in making sure that students are aware of what is being offered.

Student engagement was the next topic brought up, with the question of how WSU is working to have better student engagement on campus.

Fleming-Randle said that they try to engage with students by being involved with the events the campus hosts and making sure other members are participating.

She said this is a way that everyone involved can learn about one another.

President Rick Muma and Executive Vice President and Provost Shirley Lefever have a conversation with students about mental health services and diversity on campus on April 18, 2022. | Nithin Reddy Nagapur / The Sunflower

Baez said that she learns how to say students’ names properly in order to engage with them.

“Saying a student’s name correctly is very important, Baez said.

“And so I think that’s something as we have conversations, like the proper pronunciation, I know that might seem very minimal and it’s very low hanging fruit, but it makes a significant difference.

Oftentimes we think of culture and heritage. Saying someone’s name, there’s a lot of thought, there’s family history to it.”

The meeting concluded with the university representatives encouraging students to come talk with them any time with concerns and questions.

Shirley Lefever named next provost of WSU

Leah Thomas sheds light on social injustice in environmentalism

BY LINDSAY SMITH

BY KYRAN CRIST

editor@thesunflower.com

arts@thesunflower.com

After 17 years at the university and two years as interim provost, Shirley Lefever will serve as the next provost of Wichita State University.

Lefever is the first woman to serve in the role.

The executive vice president and provost serves as the head of LEFEVER the academic programs.

Lefever spent 14 years at the University of Arkansas before moving to WSU in 2005.

Lefever received her bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D from Kansas State University. The university named her interim provost in 2020 after former provost Rick Muma became interim president following the resignation of Jay Golden.

At an open forum last week, Lefever said through her optimism, she can make the correct decisions for the community.

“I’m an eternal optimist,” Lefever said. “I’m very team driven, I think when we have teams working together, the solution that we come up with is going to be a lot more powerful.”

Lefever said the topic of higher education can sometimes become stigmatized.

She said this is something that needs to change.

“I think the public’s perception of higher education needs to be addressed,” Lefever said.

“We are addressing it by the way we approach our conversation with industry and how we approach determining what degree programs we offer.”

Wichita State used a search firm to find the next provost.

There were two other finalists who also came to campus to speak in open forum.

Intersectional environmentalist Leah Thomas discussed the link between social justice and environmentalism on Thursday, April 14th, on a Facebook live Zoom call.

WSU’s green group and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion took part in the conversation.

Thomas’s recently published book, “The Intersectional Environmentalist,” touches on these social issues and her studies surrounding these topics. She also discusses her experience growing up in St. Louis, Missouri.

“Being from the midwest, I just really really wanted to go to California as many midwesterners do,” Thomas said.

From California, she began her formal education in environmentalism.

Thomas said that growing up, she always enjoyed plants and the outdoors, but she knew little about sustainability. After spending most of her freshman year trying to learn about sustainability, she officially declared her major in environmental science and policy.

Thomas was heading back to California in 2014 when she got a

SHIFTSPACE FROM PAGE 1 Jeff Pulaski, director of the school of art, design and creative industries, serves as the budget officer for Shiftspace. He said that he was notified via email from the SGA advisor that Shiftspace had done something wrong.

“I was told that somebody complained to the election commission, and that the election commission found that we had violated the SGA policy, and the treasurer James implemented the only caption that was available to him,” Pulaski said.

Shiftspace Gallery will submit an appeal to the student supreme

The Sunflower, founded in 1896, is the student-run newspaper covering Wichita State University. The print edition is published Monday during the fall and spring semesters. The staff publishes daily online at www.thesunflower.com.

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call that changed the course of her studies direction.

“So I had about two weeks before I was about to leave for sunny California, when unfortunately I got a call from a friend if I knew a gentleman by the name of Michael Brown,” Thomas said.

“And while I didn’t know him, he was only a couple of circles of friends away and I didn’t know at the time that his name would be remembered forever within American history.”

Thomas said that in the aftermath of protests and watching her city and hometown mourn, she had to return to school.

“My parents were participating in protests, I had to leave and to go back to school,” Thomas said.

“I wanted so badly to stay, and just completely dedicate myself to helping my community, but my parents really, really wanted me to go back to school.”

After returning to school in California, she became very isolated. She was the only Black student in her environment and policy class, and felt distant from her community.

With her thoughts consumed with the social injustice that had happened in her hometown,

Thomas said it made learning about things such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act difficult.

Thomas developed a certain degree of skepticism in her early environmental science program.

“I started to wonder, ‘How can we talk about the Clean Air Act when there are Black and Brown folks who don’t have the right to breathe in every sense of that word?’” Thomas said. “And as I dove into the research, I found out that it wasn’t just our right to life in the criminal justice system, but when I looked at air pollution and how it differed across different areas in the United States, I found really startling data.”

Thomas’ studies found that 71% of African Americans live in counties that are in violation of Federal Air qualities standards, which is true for other communities of color across the nation as well.

“I’m going to try and make intersectional environmentalism legitimate, so people can understand what environmental injustice is,” Thomas said. “And not only the trauma of that, but I want people when they think of an environmentalist, to have an incredible indiginous rights activist pop up easily in their head, the same way that they can recall the name of someone like John Muir.”

court.

“We’re going to work through the process with them and hope that there’s a change in what they’re doing,” Pulaski said.

Humphreys said that if they did break a rule, SGA needed to make it clear to them.

“They could communicate better in order for us to understand,” Humphreys said. “There’s no reason for us to do something against their rules and regulations, and so being punished for them when we didn’t even know about them is bizarre and unfair.”

Humphreys said this brings up free speech questions.

“And we are in the arts, part of the arts is communicating about our lived experiences, making art

into that so for them to critique us on critiquing our fine arts representative seems kind of against free speech,” Humphreys said.

Max Kautsch, a media attorney in Lawrence, said that unless SGA can explain how cutting the organization’s funding outweighs students’ First Amendment rights, it breaks the constitution.

“It is presumably being punished merely for expressing a political opinion, which is the most fundamental protected activity under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” he said in an email to The Sunflower.

“Only if the SGA were able to identify the specific provision(s) of its bylaws the organization is alleged to have violated, and explain how

cutting the organization’s budget advances an interest that outweighs students’ First Amendment right to express themselves politically, would the denial of funding here pass constitutional muster.”

Pulaski said that arts is already dramatically under-funded, which would make it harder for the gallery to find funding outside of SGA. “They’re not well funded by the university and they’re certainly, you know, if they cut this they’re gonna be even less funded by SGA,” Pulaski said. “I think [art] is important and I think it’s important for students to see that they’re in college, I think it’s important for people to see that in our community.”

Courtesy of WSU Office of Diversion and Inclusion Facebook page

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NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022 | 3

Endless Pawsibilities

Lunch buddy program provides opportunities for students to mentor

BY LINDSAY SMITH editor@thesunflower.com

A participant in the Walk 4 Pets event feeds their dog a puppuccino after the 1 1/2 mile walk around campus. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

Natalie Walters and her friends walk their dogs during the Walk 4 Pets event hosted by Pawsibilities on April 16. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

Kiandra Hobley feeds a dog a puppuccino at the end of the 1 1/2 mile walk around campus on April 16. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

New student organization on campus partners with Kansas Humane Society

BY MIA HENNEN mbhennen@shockers.wichita.edu

On the day before Easter, dog owners around the community braved the Kansas wind and committed to a 1 ½ mile walk around campus with their furry friends.

Walk 4 Pets is an event to raise money for the Kansas Humane Society. It was hosted by the newly founded organization, Pawsibilities.

The group began in a management class called Building Remarkable Teams.

“The entire point of the class is you pick a cause you want to support and

do donation events,” team member Garnett Tate said.

“It’s a cool class — very involved.”

The team was made up of five official students involved with the class: Raven Garrison, Eymi Escalera, Tate, Victor Farina and Kiandra Hobley. Honorary members include Cole McDaniel and Sergio Escalera.

The team chose to support the Kansas Humane Society because of their love for pets.

All team members have the training to be some sort of KHS volunteer or have had experience volunteering.

“We have been partnering with them all semester, and this is kind of our big event,” Garrison said. “Registration fee is ten dollars and that goes straight to the humane society, and we don’t take any chunk of that.”

Although the organization began through a class, members are hopeful that it will continue past the semester.

“We’re hoping someone will take this and run with it next semester,” Tate said.

If you are interested in or have questions about the organization, contact rlgarrison@shockers.wichita.edu.

“The goal of it is really to provide undergraduates with an applied learning experience and working with children in the schools, my research is really focused on improving children’s peer relationships in school settings.”

- Samantha Slade

Victor Farina feeds a dog a puppuccino during the Walk 4 Pets event hosted by Pawsibilities, a student organized fundraising group. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

Japanese Culture Association teaches students about japanese history and culture

BY JACINDA HALL jacinda.hall@live.com

Foreign exchange students from Japan may be able to find a home away from home in the Japanese Culture Association, as well as have the opportunity to connect and share their culture with other students.

Japan, relative to other countries in the world, has a deep culture with many aspects that hold meaning to a majority of its citizens.

Considering the cultural background of the United States, those who immigrate to the country from Japan find it difficult to find a community they can relate to or form a sense of belonging.

However, the Japanese Cultural Association (JCA) offers Japanese Foreign exchange students that opportunity.

“The main purpose is to help the Japanese students feel like they have a place or an organization to go to and have cultural exchange between the American and Japanese students,” JCA President, Joshua Keese said.

“It helps the American students learn and look at the world from a different point of view, it helps the Japanese students as far as they

might be coming into this country with not much knowledge, they need a lot of help. They need some friends to count on.”

One of the main focuses of the organization is to teach Japanese culture and help represent the Japanese community in the city of Wichita.

“It’s very important because the Japanese community in Wichita is very underrepresented currently and I would like to see more people know about it, and like, know some more things about it other than just anime,” Keese said.

“I think a lot of people enjoy anime and that might be a doorway into Japan and getting an interest in what they want. I found so many other things like, the architecture, the trees, the landscaping, and just the people too.

They’re very friendly.”

Risa Kojima is an exchange student from Japan and found the organization to be home for her.

“I knew that there was a JCA,” Kojima said. “My friends wanted me to go to the JCA room and I joined it.”

Cameron Gillespie found the organization to be helpful when it comes to exchanging with international students.

“I really like interacting with

There are some opportunities you can’t get in the classroom. That’s why Wichita State’s Inspyre class focuses experiences outside the classroom.

Students involved in the Inspyre lab’s lunch buddy program get the opportunity to become undergraduate mentors to youth in the community.

Psychology faculty member Samantha Slade runs the class to research the importance of having youth mentors. She found that mentorship had a positive effect on youths’ lives.

“The goal of it is really to provide undergraduates with an applied learning experience and working with children in the schools,” Slade said. “My research is really focused on improving children’s peer relationships in school settings.”

Slade said that the class goes both ways — it benefits not only the mentors, but also the mentees.

“The research lens always kind of examines it from the perspective of the students, like the children, how does this benefit them?” Slade said.

“We see from our studies that it helps improve their peer acceptance and it can reduce things like bullying over time.

“I think for mentors, it’s experience, like learning how to be with children and learning kind of how to use some basic behavioral principles to try and shape behavior.”

Slade said that there is evidence that proves the class positively affects students’ lives.

“We have some empirical evidence that backs up the program, in addition to wanting it, you know, to just be an experience for our students to get more applied learning experience and working with

Koki Murakami (L) and Alex Limon (R) write Haikus at a Japanese Culture Association meeting on April, 15 2022 at the Rhatigan Student Center. | Photo by Devon Sipes / The Sunflower

international students,” Gillespie said. “Currently, I’m learning Japanese as a kind of a hobby, taking a few courses in it, so it combines both of those interests.”

Both Kojima and Gillespie have said that they like learning the languages and the cultures from members of the organization.

“For me, everything is new and I really like to learn about American culture and I really like to practice my English,” Kojima said. “Also, I like to help American

students study Japanese.”

The organization also focuses on activities related to Japanese culture such as writing Haikus.

“I enjoy talking through English things with the Japanese students and going through different grammar, because it makes me realize how absurd the English language is,” Gillespie said.

“I also enjoy talking a bit about culture and learning and comparing and contrasting the differences.”

children,” Slade said.

Inspyre Lab Coordinator Mackenna Snodgrass said that this year has been a different, but better, experience than her time in the program.

“When I first came in, we were just writing letters to the kids,” she said. “So this year is really my first year that I’ve been able to work with undergraduates that are going to the school.”

Snodgrass focuses on the communication between the undergraduates.

“We hold meetings with our undergraduates, we hold four a semester,” she said. “And it’s really really cool to hear them all talk together. So we’ll open it up and allow them to kind of problem-solve with each other.

“I’m kind of just making sure that everyone feels supported.”

Because of the design of the class, students cannot enroll like they would a normal class.

Students must pass a background check and also have to go through an interview process.

“During those interviews we are really giving them kind of a more in-depth look at what the course looks like,” Snodgrass said. “The second half of the interview is kind of like application questions. Like, ‘If a child acted like this, how would you respond?’ ... To kind of get a perspective from them and see where they’re at.”

4 | THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022

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Arts & Entertainment

HAVE A STORY IDEA? contact The Sunflower’s A&E editor, Kyran Crist arts@thesunflower.com

Art For the Heart: ICT’s Downtown Public Gallery

BY MARK BARLOW

Courtesy of Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Unlimited Love’ brings back their signature style we’ve been waiting for Jacinda Hall Reporter jacinda.hall@live.com

On April 1, 2022, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released their longawaited album, “Unlimited Love” and no, it was not an April Fools Joke.

The album includes the Chili Peppers’ latest singles, “Black Summer” and “Poster Child” along with their most recently released single “These are the Ways.”

To be completely honest, before the album was released, when I first heard “Black Summer,” it sounded very similar to “Snow (Hey Oh)” from their 2005 album, “Stadium Arcadium.”

But once I heard the rest of the album, I thought it was amazing.

There is an eclectic mix of sounds on the album that sounds similar to their previous albums and some new material as well.

Songs like “Here Ever After,” “Poster Child,” and “These are the Ways” had the same style as their previous 2016 album “Dark Necessities.”

The only difference between those three songs and the album itself is that the songs are a little bit slower and have more of a “grunge” sound to them compared to their previous work.

The Chili Peppers still have their surfer rock style going on with this album. That’s how they have always been and it will never change, but the album gives off the vibes of an MTV Unplugged session from the early ‘90s (in a good way), minus the live performance and live audience.

Overall, this album was really well done. It’s more grunge-sounding than their previous albums, but they combine it with their original style to make it a Red Hot Chili Peppers album.

Organist Christopher Houlihan made his way to Wichita State for the last event of the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series this season. Houlihan covered pieces by Cloude Debussy, Johann Sebastian Bach and Louis Vierne. | Photo by Sascha Harvey / The Sunflower

Renowed organist comes to WSU

BY SASCHA HARVEY saschaharvey68@gmail.com

Organist Christopher Houlihan has played around the world. On Tuesday, he made his way to Wichita. In the last event of the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series in the 2021-2022 season, Houlihan covered pieces by Claude Debussy, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Louis Vierne.

Following the intermission, associate professor of organ Lynne Davis interviewed Houlihan in a “Conversation with the Artist.”

“Your career and your accomplishments speak volumes to who

you are and how you’ve touched so many through your playing,” Davis said to Houlihan. “You’re sharing that with us tonight.”

Houlihan, originally from Connecticut, attended Trinity College in his home state. He took a liking to the organ at a young age, with official lessons beginning at age 12.

“I played organ for the first time when I was nine or ten,” Houlihan said. “It was really the sight of the instrument — it was up in the loft in a church — and the sound of it... I just thought that was so cool.”

His junior year, he studied abroad in Paris, where he took

organ lessons at the Versailles Conservatoire and played at the American Cathedral in Paris. He lived in the tower of the cathedral for the year, climbing 83 steps up and down daily.

“I accompanied the choir,” Houlihan said of his time in Paris.

“I directed two children’s choirs and had a wonderful experience.”

Playing during most of his undergraduate years in a neogothic chapel in Hartford, he appreciates the beauty of organs. “[The Marcussen Organ] is a real treat to play,” Houlihan said.

“It’s very nice to be in Wichita.”

jacinda.hall@live.com

Earth Day is a holiday that is important to many people, especially those who care about the climate and its current state.

One group that has been taking the steps to show love and support to the planet is Wichita State’s Green Group.

Over the past couple of years, the Green Group has helped make efforts to bring awareness of sustainability to Wichita State’s campus.

“The goal is to make WSU a more sustainable and earthfriendly campus through advocacy, education and service,” Green Group President, Alice Fitzgerald said. “That’s our official motto but, we also focus on issues in the Wichita community and outside.”

This Earth Day, Green Group teamed up with NetApp to put together Earthfest.

Earthfest is a free community event open to WSU students and anyone in the Wichita community.

With the climate crisis surrounding the planet, Fitzgerald feels that it is important for everyone to be educated on the issue.

“Education could mean educating yourself on who the actual contributors to climate

change are,” she said. “All of us are contributors and that’s why it’s important to educate yourself on ethical consumerism.”

Fitzgerald said that people often try to downplay ethical consumerism by saying that it doesn’t exist or they feel like they don’t have to change their lifestyle to help make things better.

“That’s kind of an easy cop-out,” She said. “Educating yourself on what you can do, whether that’d be just making sure you’re turning off the lights at night and unplugging your electronic devices while you’re away at work or at school and compost and gardening. It can be a lot of different things.”

Another big aspect Fitzgerald mentioned is educating yourself on how to start that change.

“Part of it, again, is ethical consumerism,” She said. “Part of it is our infrastructure is set up to the point that we are so reliant on things like cars that use gas.”

Fitzgerald mentioned that there are things that you can’t really change, but there are a variety of things you can do.

“You can try to contact your local representative,” She said.

“Whether it’s the Kansas state legislature, or the United States federal legislature.”

Fitzgerald also stated that you

Jaden Wood, a freshman member of the Green Group plants at the WSU community garden on April 21, 2021 during their Earth Day Event. | Photo by Sean Marty / The Sunflower

can help keep the planet clean by trying to reduce your plastic waste.

“Zero waste lifestyle can be really difficult if you’re trying to do that cold-turkey,” She said.

“Instead of saying, ‘I’m gonna be zero waste, I’m gonna go out and buy everything that is zero waste,” maybe wait until your toothpaste

“We want to have more events, more representation and more people interested in the things that are really being put on here.”

-Michelle Leo

Green Group president gives realistic tips on being earth-friendly

BY JACINDA HALL

Painters. Photographers.

Musicians. Dog-walkers.

Families. Ping-Pong enthusiasts.

Those with nowhere else to go; others with nowhere else they would rather be. All gather on the weekend at the Chainlink Gallery Place in the heart of downtown Wichita, coming and going as they please in an effort to breathe fresh life into a contemporary downtown experience.

For those out of the loop, Chainlink is Wichita’s premier public art installation. After a period of brainstorming and community feedback, Chainlink opened its doors — well, its fenceline — in July 2021, branding itself as a free community-driven space, focusing on highlighting the creativity and imagination of Wichitans hailing from every conceivable demographic.

Since opening to the public, Chainlink has featured concerts, artisan markets, school events, private parties, live paintings, marriage proposals, gender reveal celebrations and more.

By the admission of many of the Gallery’s staff, they want to see an increase of creative uses of the location in the future, effectively issuing an open call to the creators and doers throughout the metropolitan area.

“We really want to see more creatives coming to us with ideas,” Michelle Leo, one of the gallery’s colorful staff members, said. “We want to have more events, more representation and more people interested in the things that are really being put on here.”

According to Leo, their motto — their movement, really — is, “To create a city where I belong,” and they are always on the lookout for fresh and creative additions to the gallery. Leo wants to see a variety show come

is out to buy dry capsules or wait until your shampoo is out to go buy a shampoo bar.”

Fitzgerald mentioned that the biggest way to keep the earth clean is by being aware of your plastic use.

to Chainlink.

“Magic shows, monologues, people just getting up with their guitars, music, spoken poetry — even debate between Wichitans,” Leo said.

Shaunté Levine, site manager for the Gallery, reports that more than 1,000 visitors have contributed to Chainlink since its opening. Adding to Leo’s aspirations for the location, Levine hopes to see more school plays, group classes and pop-up marketplaces, as well as food trucks and art parties during downtown celebrations like Riverfest.

Chainlink has also made a firm commitment to showcasing the talent of local canvas-based artists. Every two months, the Douglas-side fenceline is adorned in paintings contributed by under represented members of the community.

Coming up on the fence is work

by Lydia Humphreys, who is creating ‘anti-rape propaganda’ to highlight and educate the public about victim blaming.

Chainlink Gallery Place is the brainchild of Harvester Arts, utilizing funding from the Knight Foundation, Bokeh Development, Lifeboat Creative and the Wichita Community Foundation. Their hours are Friday 4 p.m. - 7 p.m. and Saturday noon - 6 p.m. but may fluctuate slightly due to weather.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Students come out to Koch arena Friday night for dancing and music from American rapper Wale. | Photo by Baswanth Naidu / The Sunflower

THURSDAY, ARPIL 21, 2022 | 5

DJ Kittie gets the night started by spinning well-known tracks from artists such as Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion. Hyping up the crowd for the main event. | Photo

by Baswanth Naidu / The Sunflower

WALE IN WICHITA

Wale comes to Wichita State University Friday night, bringing his ‘new school’ vibe to campus. | Photo by Baswanth Naidu / The Sunflower

Wale brings rap buzz to Koch arena WALE SETLIST

BY KYRAN CRIST arts@thesunflower.com

Grammy-nominated rap artist Wale and DJ Kittie created a buzz of excitement at Koch Arena on Friday, April 15, as the Wichita State community members waited anxiously for a night not of basketball, but of music.

The night was filled with dancing as DJ Kittie began spinning wellknown tracks from artists such as Doja Cat and Meghan Thee Stallion, hyping the crowd for the main event.

The Student Activities Council put together the night’s event, looking to bring students to this year’s spring concert but also one the community knows well. The concert was for 18 and up, allowing for a less censored concert.

Wale is an American rapper, actor and activist. He has starred on Seinfeld, and since beginning in 2006 he has furthered his career and made an impression on the world and even on former president of the United States, Barrack Obama, as he made

“Shout-out to the student-athletes, to those on academic probation, hey that was me, I just want to say – that shit don’t matter – don’t let it get you down and don’t let that ambition die.”

- Wale

history as the “first rapper to open the State Of The Union” Wale is an American rapper, actor and activist who began his career in 2006. He has starred in Seinfeld and was the “first rapper to open the State of the Union” during Barrack Obama’s presidency.

Since his debut in 2006, his music has brought in a larger crowd with a wide diversity of ages. Wale mentioned during his performance that when he comes to towns and crowds that might not know him as well, he likes to bring out his newer tracks to play for them.

His #1 on Spotify, “Lotus Flower Bomb”, encapsulates his performance style of a laid-back and older feeling melody, an interesting spin on the rap genre. His newest album “Folarin II” keeps the same feel with an almost upbeat yet soothing melody.

Visitors weren’t the only ones enjoying the night either. If sitting farther up in the arena, security and SAC members could be seen dancing and hollering along with the crowd.

The arena offered an engaging atmosphere, as visitors were able to sit in the many open seats or join others and stand on the court in the crowd. Wale even walked through the crowd to sing with the crowd and give out high-fives.

In between songs, Wale offered advice and words of encouragement to students in the crowd.

“Shout-out to the student athletes, to those on academic probation, hey that was me,” Wale said. “I just want to say that shit don’t matter — don’t let it get you down and don’t let that ambition die.”

LOTUS FLOWER BOMB Album: Ambition album (2011)

MY PYT Album: Shine (2017)

THE MATRIMONY Album: The Album About Nothing (2015)

SUE ME Album: Wow.. That’s Crazy (2019)

PRETTY GIRLS Album: Attention Deficit (2009)

BAIT Album: Ambition (2011)

CLAPPERS Album: The Gifted (2013)

BAD Single (2013)

ON CHILL Album: Wow.. That’s Crazy (2019)

NO HANDS Waka Flocka Flame Album: Flockaveli (2010)

Ways to reduce and repurpose your plastic bags this Earth Day

BY JACINDA HALL jacinda.hall@live.com

Earth Day is coming up on April 22, a great time to reflect and to start thinking about ways to repurpose and recycle to help keep the planet clean.

One day to do this is to reduce consumption of plastic bags and/or repurpose them into other things.

According to Biological Diversity, every year, Americans use 100 billion plastic bags. This number of plastic bags uses 12 million barrels of oil just to manufacture them.

One way plastic bag consumption can be reduced is by bringing reusable bags to the grocery store.

Reusable bags are sold in checkout lines at stores such as Target, Dillons and Aldi.

If you are unable to bring your own bags to the grocery store, opt for paper bags or even reusable bags. Paper bags are a great alternative over plastic because they are biodegradable and they break down at a much faster rate than plastic bags.

According to Biological Diversity, it takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to fully break down in landfills.

Whereas, according to Globe Conscious, it takes paper about 4 to 6 weeks to break down in soil and it takes water soluble paper (a biodegradable alternative to paper) 30 seconds to break down in water.

When commonly manufactured plastic bags “breakdown” that does not mean they are fully broken down for quite a while. They break into further

microplastics that stick around for several years until they eventually biodegrade.

Another way to help reduce plastic bag consumption is to repurpose our leftover plastic bags.

This allows for it to be used as needed as well as keep it out of a landfill.

If you like to craft, you can weave, knit or crochet plastic bags into things such as seating mats for outdoor activities such as picnics and sporting events, bags to use for shopping or the pool and/or sleeping mats to donate to homeless shelters.

There are many ways to reduce plastic bag consumption. If everyone does their part, it can help make a difference for the planet for many years to come.

Illustration by Wren Johnson / The Sunflower

6 | THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022

WWW.THESUNFLOWER.COM

Sports

HAVE A STORY IDEA? contact The Sunflower’s sports editor, Sean Marty sports@thesunflower.com

DYNAMIC DUO

After a home run from sophomore Addison Barnard, junior Sydney McKinney runs from first base to home plate during the game against KU on April 20. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

Sophomore Addison Barnard runs to home plate after scoring a home run for the Shockers. Barnard leads WSU with 22 homers this season. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

McKinney and Barnard push each other in record breaking seasons

BY SEAN MARTY sports@thesunflower.com

During last season’s record breaking softball season, two players — Sydney McKinney and Addison Barnard — were integral to the team’s success. Even with increased expectations for both of the standout players, McKinney and Barnard aren’t scared of the spotlight.

McKinney currently ranks 2nd in the NCAA in hits and 5th in batting average, total bases and runs per game and has been a constant presence as WSU’s leadoff hitter.

She’s also recently cracked the top-10 hits list at WSU, with her 241 hits and sits in third place all-time. McKinney set the single season record a season ago with 87.

On top of that, McKinney has also added some power to her offense this season, launching a career-best 11 homers. McKinney also leads the Shockers in batting average at .477, fifth best in the country.

“What’s been working for me is trying not to put too much pressure on myself,” McKinney said. “It’s easy when you see the numbers, the end of the year accolades last year, they’re obviously big so just coming into this season knowing that I have to do my best and not comparing myself to last year has been big for me.”

Barnard has provided similar production to the Shocker lineup, while following up her record breaking freshmen season a year ago.

Barnard is the only player in the country with 20-plus home runs and 20-plus stolen bases and her 24 stolen bases are also a career-high.

The Beatrice, Nebraska native leads the nation in home runs per game, ranks second in total home runs, third in RBI per game and fourth in RBI’s. Barnard’s 20 homers this

season give 42 for her career, the second most in WSU history.

“I take a moment to look at the numbers and be like ‘Wow that’s awesome’ but moving forward, I have to keep moving forward and do what’s best for the team,” Barnard said.

“Get base hits and continue to be a team player.”

Barnard has noticed a greater target on her back this season, with teams now pitching her more carefully due to last season’s success.

She said it’s been important for her to be more patient at the plate with Barnard getting less pitches to hit.

Her pitch selection has helped Barnard during this sophomore season, as she leads WSU hitters in home runs (20), slugging percentage (.917), RBI’s (52), and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.389).

“I have to realize that I’m not going to get a lot of good pitches so it’s hard because sometimes I get anxious and I want to hit the ball,” Barnard said. “But I have to realize that this year is going to be more of a year that I have to be more selective because people know what I can hit and they’ve scouted me because I’m not a freshman anymore.”

Both players have responded to the increased pressure from last year’s success and are on pace for record breaking seasons once again. A key to being able to sustain their performances has been McKinney and Barnard pushing each other to always strive for more.

“The two of us understand the same pressure and understand what we both have to do,” McKinney said. “We’re always trying to get to the next level so I think having her on the team and knowing that she is at the same level as me and just being able to push each other in the most positive way has been a big help for both of us.”

MCKINNEY AND BARNARD’S 2022 STATISTICS

243

44

Number of career hits for McKinney, the third most in school history

Number of career of home runs for Barnard, 2nd most in WSU history

65

20-20

11

0.58

Number of hits for McKinney this season, the second most in the NCAA

Number of home runs this season for McKinney, the most of any season in her career

Only player in the country with 20-plus homers and 20-plus stolen bases

Number of home runs per game for Barnard, which is the first in the NCAA

Softball ready to return home for final stages of 2022 season

BY SEAN MARTY sports@thesunflower.com

Only five of Shocker softball’s 38 games have come at home, but with the season winding down, the program will play six of the final nine games at Wilkins Stadium.

The daunting road schedule was primarily by design in order to build a tournament resume as the team looks to make another trip to an NCAA Regional this summer.

WSU has only hosted one home series since starting conference play, completing a sweep of Tulsa last month.

“It seems like in this conference, we ended up starting off the season at home, then two on the road and then we’re back and forth, home and away,” Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “We’re going to take advantage of it and we’re always excited to play in front of our fans.”

The Shockers have gone 9-10 on the road and 12-2 in neutral sites this spring but with the season winding down, players are excited to spend more of their weekends in Wichita.

The opportunity to sleep in their own beds and play in front of their home fans, will give players a break from the constant travel that

has come with much of the season.

“This year has kind of kicked my butt with all the traveling,” junior Sydney McKinney said.

“This is the most I’ve ever traveled and this is my fourth year here.

Being able to sleep in my own bed, getting to hang out with my dogs, being able to read a book in the morning when I wake up instead of traveling, stuff like that is really important and I can feel how different it is.”

The Shockers will host just their second conference series this weekend, when they take on Memphis starting on Friday. After playing the following weekend on the road against East Carolina, WSU will wrap up the regular season with a three-game series against Central Florida.

Bredbenner said it’ll be key to taking advantage of the home games they have left and taking advantage of their home crowd.

The Shockers are currently 3-1 in home games this season.

“I thought we had a really great crowd that opening weekend against Tulsa and we can take advantage of that kind of atmosphere here,” Bredbenner said.

“I think people are excited about Shocker softball, they want to come out and watch it.”

Senior Erin McDonald pitches the ball to KU’s batter inside Wilkins Stadium on April 20. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

Softball sweeps season series against Kansas

BY EMMIE BOESE opinion@thesunflower.com

For the second time this season, Shocker softball beat in-state rival Kansas, 9-1.

Sophomore Addison Barnard climbed back into the top spot for home runs in the country, while senior pitcher Erin McDonald collected her second win against KU this season.

McDonald struck out seven batters in four innings and allowed only two hits. Bredbenner said McDonald did a solid job to keep some of KU’s top hitters away from driving the ball.

“Not the command that we are continuing to work for but she had good enough stuff to keep them off balance,” Bredbenner said.”I thought she really handled a couple hitters really really well.”

Both of KU’s hits in the second were off of McDonald’s change up. McDonald said she and her coaches decided to come up with a new plan and try to throw something out of the zone.

“I think it was more of a regrouping more of a being, like well, okay if I do throw up my change up it’s gotta be in the dirt and just executing the fast ball where I don’t get behind in the count where I have to throw fastball, fastball instead of being

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, APRIL 23 WSU vs Memphis 6 p.m.

Wilkins Stadium

able to to mix a rise in and stuff like that,” McDonald said.

Offensively, the Shockers produced at the plate by tallying four home runs during the first three innings.

Sophomore Addison Barnard went 2-2 at the plate and hit backto-back home runs in the first and third innings.

“Today I was just really focused on seeing the ball and making up my mind if I’m going to hit it before the pitch is pitched because I’ve been struggling with that in the past weekend so just focused on really seeing the ball and not thinking too much,” Barnard said.

In the starting lineup, the Shockers will return eight of their hitters for next season. Four of those hitters have a batting average of .300 or more this season.

“We kind of have our own new murderers row in a young crew because you know you kind of pass that bat and as you continue to pass the bat.. We are not skipping a beat when it comes to that potential for offense there,” Bredbenner said.

SPORTS

THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022 | 7

Men’s tennis enters AAC Tournament after three straight losses

BY RACHEL RUDISILL rtrudisill@shockers.wichita.edu

Wichita State’s men’s tennis team suffered two back-to-back ranked losses last week against Tulsa and Middle Tennessee. The Shockers now face their third loss in a row, creating the longest losing streak of the season.

In the match against Tulsa, the Shockers faced a 0-4 loss in the doubles. Freshman Luke Mrsic and redshirt sophomore Orel Ovil were up 5-4, but were unsuccessful against the No. 73 ranked Golden Hurricanes. The Shocker duo suffered a 6-3 loss at courts two and three leaving their match unfinished.

Tulsa earned a clean sweep with three victories at courts two, five and six. In the singles, redshirt

freshman Alex Richards won his first set 6-2, but fell in the second set. As Richards went into a third set, his match was left unfinished.

Freshman Kristof Minarik suffered a loss in set one, but bounced back to claim a victory in the second set 6-4. Minarik’s third set was not played.

Going into the second matchup against No. 17 Middle Tennessee State, the Shockers fell 5-0.

In doubles, Minarik and redshirt sophomore Nicolas Acevedo took an early lead 5-4 in set one against MTSU. However, as the set progressed, the two fell short as the Blue Raiders clinched the doubles victories with wins at courts No. 1 and No. 2.

MTSU took a 3-0 victory in the single portion of the competition.

The Blue Raiders claimed victories

UP NEXT

AAC TOURNAMENT FRIDAY, APRIL 22 WSU vs Memphis Tulsa, Oklahoma

at courts three and five. The Shockers fought hard against three top four ranked players and won the first set of every match.

Freshman Jackie Lin losing the first set fought hard to make a comeback with a 6-2 victory in the second round.

After MTSU clinched two matches at courts 4 and 6, the Raiders clinched the match, after Acevedo suffered a loss in his third set finishing the day 7-5, 5-7 and 2-0. After Acevedo’s loss, Minarik’s third set was halted, finishing the day 6-4, 2-6 and 2-3.

TOURNAMENT READY

Sophomore Luka Mrsic moves toward the ball during a match against Tulsa on April 14 at the Coleman Tennis Complex. | Photo by Nithin Reddy-Nagapur / The Sunflower

Littell set to join women’s basketball coaching staff

BY SEAN MARTY sports@thesunflower.com

Wichita State redshirt freshman Max Wojciechowski takes a swing during last year’s Shocker Cup on Sept.

17, 2020. | Courtesy of WSU Athletics

Men’s golf records second place finish heading into American Championships THE AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Track and Field secures two top-five finishes in Norman over the weekend

Brooksville, Florida

BY SEAN MARTY

BY RACHEL RUDISILL

UP NEXT

rtrudisill@shockers.wichita.edu

On Tuesday, Wichita State’s men’s golf teams finished with their best outing of the season with a runner-up at the MU Tiger Invitational.

“I am just really proud, overall, of how the guys competed and played,” Head Coach Judd Easterling said.

“We’ve done everything we can to be completely prepared for next week, and starting tomorrow, we will get back to work and work as hard as we can until next Thursday.”

- Judd Easterling

The team piled 65 birdies, trailing only Missouri’s 73 and finished 12 strokes under par.

WSU secured their second place victory as they held off Oral Roberts (-7). The Shockers were one of the only three teams that finished the tournament below par.

On Monday afternoon, the Shockers finished with a dominant second round. The team put together an overall 272 score that paced the field.

Redshirt freshman Joe Bultman fired a careerbest 65, tying with ORU’s Lane Wallace for the low round of the entire tournament. With four birdies in five holes and only one bogey, he finished the tournament in 28th place.

Junior Brock Polhill excelled setting a career

Women’s basketball Head Coach Keitha Adams has named longtime friend and mentor, Jim Littell, an assistant coach to the WSU coaching staff.

Littell comes to WSU with 17 years of Division-I coaching experience and more than 40 years total. He joins the Shocker program after 11 seasons as the head coach at Oklahoma State.

His resume includes six years as associate head coach at Oklahoma State (2005-11), head coach at Seward County Community College (1991-2004), head coach at Friends University (1983-87) and stints Garden Plain High School (1990-91) and Oxford High School (1978-83).

“Today is an amazing day as we welcome Coach Jim Littell to our staff,” Adams said in a release.

“I met coach when I was in the 6th grade. I had the opportunity to play basketball for him for five years. He’s a proven winner and won everywhere he’s been.”

He compiled a 204-140 record

in his 11 seasons as head coach of the Cowgirls. Littell is a two-time Big 12 Coach of the Year (2016, 2021), while leading OSU to six NCAA Tournament appearances, a WNIT title and seven Cowgirls achieved All-America status under his guidance.

In his decadelong stint as OSU’s head coach, Littell’s most decorated season emerged from the trying LITTELL circumstances that the 2020-21 season presented.

While navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, Littell guided the Cowgirls to a second-place finish in the Big 12 Conference, behind a program-record 13 league wins.

“I’ve recognized coach many times in my career as being one of the key factors in my success,” Adams said. “He’s a great teacher of the game and a phenomenal person. Over the years Coach (Littell) and I have had many conversations about basketball and life. I’ve considered him a friend, mentor and family.”

APRIL 22-24

best with a second place finish in the individual competition and was also named AAC Men’s Golfer of the Week on Wednesday.

“This is Brock’s final year here,” Easterling said. “He’s been a great teammate, great competitor over his whole career here.”

Heading into the final round, Polhill was set to finish first in the individual competition, but fell short on the final hole.

“I went with him for almost the entire final round and he competed really hard and had a chance to win there in the final round,” Easterling said. “I’m just super super proud of that young man.”

Polhill, finishing 67-68-69 — 204, ended the tournament with just one stroke back of Missouri’s Jack Parker. The junior racked up 19 birdies over 54 holes, the second-highest total in the 90-player field.

The Conference tournament will be held in Brooksville, Florida, for the second year, so most of the men competing are familiar with the course.

“We’ve done everything we can to be completely prepared for next week, and starting tomorrow, we will get back to work and work as hard as we can until next Thursday in the practice round, and give it all we can,” Easterling said.

sports@thesunflower.com

Adam Moore etched his name in the WSU record books in California, while two other Shockers recorded top-five finishes at the Sooner Multis this past weekend at the John Jacobs Track and Field Complex.

Moore logged a personal-best 3:42.92 in the 1500 meters to move up to third all-time in Shocker history at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azuca, California. He placed 59th in the field, while also taking second place in his heat, only behind Colorado’s Noah Hibbard.

Maria Romero and Anna Heacock placed third (4,724 pts) and fourth (4,240 pts), respectively, in the heptathlon, at the Sooner Multis. The athletes moved up a combined four spots after day two of the event.

Heacock recorded the second-best javelin throw of the day with a mark of 32.45m/106-5 (523 pts), and Romero wrapped up the competition with a first-place

UP NEXT

APRIL 22-23

John Jacobs Invitational Norman, Oklahoma

finish in the 800 meters, crossing the line in a personal-best 2:24.78 (760 pts).

Kenisa Meyer also completed the heptathlon, finishing seventh with 4,068 points with personal bests in the javelin (22.96m/75-4/344 pts) and 800 meters (2:46.68/499 pts).

In the men’s decathlon competition, no athletes were able to finish. Hudson Bailey dropped out of the competition during the long jump on Friday, leaving Kolby Caster as the lone athlete remaining entering Saturday. Caster was in 13th after five events, with his best finish coming in the shot put with the fifth-best throw of the day (11.09m/36-4.75).

But Caster also pulled out of the competition after fouling in the discus and no-heighting in the pole vault.

How WSU alumni are faring in the first round of the NBA Playoffs

BY SEAN MARTY sports@thesunflower.com

For the sixth straight season, WSU alumni are in the NBA postseason with two former Shockers making the NBA postseason this year.

Here’s an update on those two players and their performances during the first round of the NBA Playoffs:

LANDRY SHAMET, PHOENIX SUNS After missing game one of the Suns’ series against the New Orleans Pelicans while working back from a left foot injury, Landry Shamet saw 12 minutes of playing

time in game two. Shamet tallied five on 2-for-3 shooting including a three-pointer.

Shamet could see an increase in playing time after Suns guard Devin Booker missed much of game two with a hamstring injury.

Shamet played in 69 games for the Suns this season and averaged points per game on 39.4% shooting.

This is Shamet’s fourth season in the NBA and his first with the Suns, after arriving there in a trade this past offseason. Shamet has played for four NBA teams during NBA career and made a playoff appearance last summer with the Brooklyn Nets.

The Suns and Pelicans are currently tied 1-1 after the first two games of the best of seven series.

FRED VANVLEET, TORONTO RAPTORS Fred VanVleet has followed up his All-Star 2021-22 season, with a pair of solid performances in the Toronto Raptors’ first round series against the Philadelphia 76ers.

VanVleet is averaging 19 points per game in the series, including a 20-point performance in the series.

Despite VanVleet’s efforts, the Raptors trails the series against the 76ers, 2-0.

VanVleet is fresh off a breakout regular season, where VanVleet averaged a career-high 20.3 points per game to lead the Raptors to a playoff berth. VanVleet also knocked down a career-best 242 triples in 65 games played.

Former WSU guard Landry Shamet brings the ball down the court during the 2017 NCAA Tournament. | File Photo by Matt Crow / The Sunflower

Fred VanVleet dribbles up court for the Toronto Raptors during a preseason game. | File Photo by Brian Hayes / The Sunflower

8 | THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022

SPORTS

IN-STATE THUMPING

James Rojas celebrates after a big play during Alabama’s game against Ole Miss last season on Feb. 9, 2022. | Courtesy of David Gray / The Crimson White

Men’s Basketball lands a pair of commitments

BY SEAN MARTY sports@thesunflower.com

Freshman Robert Cranz hands the ball over during the second inning of WSU’s game against Kansas State on April 18 at Eck Stadium. | Photo by Sean Marty / The Sunflower

Baseball matches longest home losing streak since 1970 in 11-run drubbing by Kansas State

BY SEAN MARTY sports@thesunflower.com

After lasting only one inning on the mound Monday evening, freshman Robert Cranz was frustrated. When the young right-handed pitcher arrived in the dugout, he threw his glove at the back of the Shocker dugout before taking a seat alone, seperated from any teammates. Cranz then used his hands to cover his face in disappointment in what has been a microcosm of this season.

Cranz’s irritation at another disappointing start sums up what has turned out to be a lackluster 2022 season for WSU baseball.

The Shockers’ 12-1 loss to Kansas State on Monday gives WSU a five-game losing skid at home, the longest such streak by the program since 1970.

“We’re losing as a ballclub right now, it’s not just one particular area of our ballclub,” Wedge said. “It’s not making plays defensively, it’s not throwing the ball over on the mound, it’s not taking advantage of the opportunities offensively. That’s why we’re having trouble scoring runs and that’s why we’re losing right now. We’ve got to figure it out and get better.”

This season started with optimism of reaching an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2013, which has since diminished. The Shockers were energized by new faces and looked to build off their best season since joining the American, but they have failed to meet these increased expectations.

WSU stumbled out of the gates this season, dropping their first six games.

The team rebounded to win seven of their next eight games but has struggled to find consistency since then. The Shockers are now 13-23 on the season and sit in last place in the American, while looking poised for their first losing season under Head Coach Eric Wedge.

The Shockers have also lost 10 of their last 11 games, including a sweep last weekend against Cincinnati. One of WSU’s main areas of concern over that stretch is a scuffling

lineup that has comUPCOMING GAMES bined for a .229 batting average in the past 11 FRIDAY, APRIL 22 games. The Shockers WSU vs UCF 6 p.m. are averaging just 3.7 runs per game during Eck Stadium the stretch.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23 WSU will be WSU vs UCF looking to win its first 2 p.m. mid-week game since Eck Stadium a walk-off win against Kansas on March 23, SATURDAY, APRIL 24 when they travel south WSU vs UCF to take on Oklahoma 12 p.m. on Tuesday.

Eck Stadium “I want these guys TUESDAY, APRIL 26 to get on that bus, go WSU vs Oklahoma State to Oklahoma and be 6:30 p.m. a different team and Riverfront Stadium learn what they’ve 1,000 available been going through student tickets the last week and a half,” Wedge said.

The Shockers were expecting big senior seasons from Garrett Kocis and Jack Sigrist, but both have fallen out of the lineup due to poor performance. Kocis led the team with 12 home runs in only 36 games played last season, while Sigrist was the leading returning hitter after a .321 batting average a season ago. The tandem is hitting .183 and .176 through the first 35 games of the season, with five combined extra-base hits.

The Shocker pitching staff has also dealt with its fair share of struggles, with the team starting two freshmen for much of the season. The bullpen has also failed to close out leads on multiple occasions this season, with Connor Holden and Caden Favors being the only reliable arms late in games.

Wedge said he remains hopeful that the team will be able to grow from this rough stretch, whether it be in the coming weeks or in seasons to come.

“I think it can in the long run, doesn’t make it any less painful right now though,” Wedge said. “You need to continue to develop while winning. You could develop while losing too, but everybody wants to win.”

The men’s basketball program landed two commitments this past weekend, with James Rojas and Quincy Ballard joining the Shockers for next season, Rojas started his collegiate career at Hutchinson Community College, before transferring to ROJAS Alabama for the past three seasons. Rojas has dealt injuries during his tenure with the Crimson Tide and tearing his ACL twice. Rojas averaged 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds this past season, while working his way back.

“James is an experienced forward who has played in backto-back NCAA tournaments,” Head Coach Isaac Brown said in a statement. “I love his toughness.

He’s a hard-nosed kid who can rebound, defend and score it in a lot of different ways.”

The 6-foot-8 forward will help add some size to the WSU roster, after the departure of last year’s starting center Morris Udeze.

On Saturday, Florida State transfer Quincy Ballard chose to become a Shocker instead of

returning home, committing to Wichita State. The Shockers won the two-team race for the 7-foot center, beating out Ballard’s hometown school, Syracuse.

“I love the way he runs the floor and finishes around the rim,” Brown said in a statement. “We’re looking forward BALLARD to working with him over the next three years and continuing to expand his game.”

The Syracuse native was a late riser following a post-graduate season at Quality Education Academy, but ultimately committed to Florida State. Ballard averaged 0.9 points in 18 games played this past season with the Seminoles and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Ballard and Rojas are the second and third players Brown has officially landed from the transfer portal this offseason, joining former Drexel guard Xavier Bell.

The Shockers now have at least five scholarships left for the 2022-23 season. If Ricky Council IV decides not to return to college after declaring for the NBA Draft last month, WSU will have seven scholarships available.

Gaston-Chapman enters transfer portal

BY SEAN MARTY sports@thesunflower.com

Freshman guard Steele GastonChapman entered the transfer portal on Wednesday, according to a report from Verbal Commits.

Gaston-Chapman joined the Shockers as a walk-on this past season after transferring from Southwestern College, where averaged 13.1 points per game and was named the 2021 KCAC Freshman of the Year. After sitting the bench for his first semester at Wichita State, Gaston-Chapman was determined to earn a scholarship.

In February, Gaston-Chapman was put on scholarship for the spring semester. He said he believed his journey would continue in Charles Koch Arena for the 2022-2023 season and hoped to

Freshman Steele Gaston-Chapman celebrates during a game against East Carolina last season. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

make an impact next season.

With four new recruits, the Shockers now have five open scholarships – six if Ricky Council IV returns from the NBA draft – up for grabs for the 2022-2023 season.

New esports director hopes to take program to new heights

BY SEAN MARTY sports@thesunflower.com

Travis Yang’s vision for the WSU esports program goes farther beyond the equipment located in the Heskett Center.

Yang sees the program being successful as providing an applied learning experience, while also serving as a creative outlet to students.

After years of instability, Yang was hired in December as WSU’s Esports director and is motivated by that vision. Yang comes to WSU after serving as an esports coach at Texas A&M-San Antonio. From 2018-20, he worked as the assistant coach at Ashland University.

Yang said that the program’s support in continuing to build the program peaked his interest even more.

“For me, when I came here and during the job interview as I was learning more about what was going on here, that’s the part

that stood out to me. There’s some institutions that are like ‘Yeah we want to do esports’ but they’re doing it just to do it. But not Wichita State.”

Another key reason for Yang to take the position was his local connections. Yang grew up in Wichita and around WSU, with his father being a professor YANG at the university.

Yang’s local presence will also help the team recruit within the area, with other high school teams taking shape in the Wichita region.

With no set blueprint for growing the program, Yang said he wants the program to be innovative and see what appeals to them and others.

“I want to be the best and not just competitively,” Yang said.

“Esports is a competition and we want to do that, we’ve been doing a great job but I want to lead. I want

Wichita State to be a leader in the space in the sense that there’s no right way or wrong way to do something in collegiate esports.

We should look at what we like to do and take what we like but we don’t have to do things a certain way.”

The esports’ facilities are housed in the Heskett Center with a varsity office and the Esports Hub — which is open to all students — both attracted Yang. But even with the already impressive facilities, Yang still sees an area for growth for the varsity office.

Currently, only one team can practice in the varsity office at a given time but the program is hopeful to move that office over to the Corbin Education Center, to house the varsity team.

“This is a limiting factor,” Yang said. “We have around 45 total students and staff. If we want to continue growing that, if you think about it we have seven PC’s, that’s enough to have one team in here.

The good thing is we already have

WSU Esports’ Hub is located in the Heskett Center and available to all Shcoker students. | Photo by Sean Marty / The Sunflower

a solution for that.”

Shocker Esports sponsor five varsity teams: League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros and Valorant. They participate regularly in tournaments with other colleges across the country.

The team has already started to have success during Yang’s tenure,

including a Unified Wichita Valorant Championship in late March.

“That’s been amazing,” Yang said. “That wasn’t planned, especially coming in. I’ve never been to a program that’s already been established. Usually winning and having good results while we wanted that, that wasn’t a priority.”

THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 | 9

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Opinion

HAVE AN OPINION?

contact The Sunflower’s opinion editor, Emmie Boese opinion@thesunflower.com

Don’t censor student journalists LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Emmie Boese

Young trans girls and women deserve to play sports Kansas is one of a handful of states that have introduced antiLGBT bills this year, specifically targeting transgender women.

There have been various anti-trans bills (HB 2210, SB 214, SB 208 & SB 484) introduced in the GOPcontrolled Kansas State Legislature this year. Only one of these bills, SB 484 passed the Kansas Senate on March 22, 2022, in a 24-10 vote.

The SB 484 bill proposes that student athletic teams only include members who are of the same biological sex unless designated as co-ed. The bill would prevent transgender women from competing in women’s sports in public schools that align with their gender identity.

On Friday, April 15, Governor Laura Kelly vetoed the bill.

“We all want a fair and safe place for our kids to play and compete,” Kelly said. However, this bill didn’t come from the experts at our schools, our athletes, or the Kansas State High School Activities Association. It came from politicians trying to score political points.”

This is not the first time the Kansas Senate has tried to pass bills such as SB 484. Last year, Governor Kelly vetoed SB 55, a bill like SB 484 and SB 208.

In a poll done by the Trevor Project, 85% of transgender and nonbinary youth—and 66% of all LGBTQ youth say recent debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health. LGBTQ youth already experience higher rates of suicide and bullying at schools Young trans girls and women in Kansas deserve the opportunity to play sports in their public schools without interference. The only thing bills such as SB 484 would accomplish would be to further alienate transgender children in schools from what should be safe spaces for them to be themselves.

As the November 8, 2022, election draws near, it is important to note that Governor Kelly is running for reelection. With the possibility that the Kansas Legislature will continue to propose such antiLGBT bills, it’s important to make sure our voices are heard in this upcoming election. Currently, the declared Republican candidate, Attorney General Derek Schmidt stated on his Twitter that he would have signed the bill.

If you are someone who believes that bills such as these should not become a reality in our state, consider registering to vote on November 8, 2022.

Erica Treto, Senior psychology student

Opinion LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters should concentrate on issues, not personalities, and must be fewer than 400 words. Letters may be edited for accuracy, clarity and length. Please include your name, WSU affiliation and a phone number for verification purposes. To submit letters, email opinion@thesunflower.com or submit at www.thesunflower.com.

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 the university. The Sunflower reserves the right to edit or reject any submission.

We also reserve the right to edit or reject any advertisement.

Opinion editor

opinion@thesunflower. com

Illustration by Wren Johnson / The Sunflower

Don’t silence student voices.

Organizations should have the freedom to say what they want about student government officials without fear of retaliation.

Shiftspace Gallery, a student-run art gallery, could get its student fees funding fully removed over a Facebook post criticizing a student government association senator. In the post, the gallery pointed out that Kirk was up for re-election and said, “Let’s show him how ignoring and neglecting a significant portion of his constituency affects his poll numbers.”

They were found to be breaking an election policy that prohibited faculty and staff members from using university resources to tell students how to vote.

This policy could become a slippery slope — effectively squelching political discussion, which is a vital part of a democracy. Student senators are elected by students to represent

STAFF

EDITORIAL them and their best interests. If a group feels like their senators are not doing that, they should have the right to publicly share that.

The marketplace of ideas is a vital part of the learning experience on a public university campus. The precedent SGA is setting could lead to a lot of problems in the future, including a student body scared to speak up about its elected officials.

Why does SGA get a say in what faculty and staff members say? If a group gets student fees funding, why are they no longer allowed to speak about who they think should be senators or not? They are essentially using student fees money to silence student opinions.

Shiftspace Gallery is a vital learning experience for students and valuable to the community as a whole. They should not be punished for speaking about how they felt their senator was doing his job.

Many spoke at public forum, highlighting how critical the gallery is for students and the community. Shiftspace Gallery deserves to be funded. They should not get their funding taken away by breaking a rule they said they didn’t even know existed.

When an SGA senator gets elected, they become a public figure who will always be open for criticism. Freedom of speech is a valuable part of a public campus. If students don’t like the kind of job a student senator is doing, SGA senators need to expect criticism. Especially during election season.

Fund the arts. And don’t silence student voices.

Too close to home: Campus threats may be closer than you expect Allison Campbell Reporter

campbellnallison@ gmail.com

We love to know the statistics of our daily lives. We love knowing obscure information like how many calories we eat, how many serial killers we’ve walked past and how many breaths we take in a year. More importantly, but far less exciting, many of us enjoy knowing exactly how safe we are in our neighborhoods and homes.

Public safety is on a need-toknow basis: after all it reassures us that we won’t be hurt, stolen from or worse. This makes it particularly shocking that many current, soon-to-be and former parents of WSU students don’t know that Shocker Hall is one of the most dangerous areas on campus, according to the Annual Security Report and 2022 Daily Crime Log. Within the last month, there have been at least five documented offenses that were committed in or around Shocker Hall. Some of these offenses include stalking, lost property and suspicious characters.

Looking farther back at the most recent Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, which was last published in 2021, recorded disturbances that occurred during that same year. There was one rape case reported and two fondling cases that were reported in Shocker Hall. The same amount of cases for the same crimes were reported as occurring on other campus properties that year as well.

A total of 32 occurrences were recorded inside of Shocker Hall in 2020 and were primarily liquor and drug abuse violations.

However, it’s still concerning

Police car parked in front of McKinley Hall at WSU on Nov. 16, 2021 | Photo

by Thy Vo / The Sunflower

that these occurrences nearly equal the 49 offenses that were committed on all WSU grounds, around campus property and on public property. This means that percentage wise, Shocker Hall was the crime hotspot of campus in 2020. Until the new report is issued we won’t know if these statistics have improved, but the numbers are staggering and frightening.

Aside from Shocker Hall, WuShock Drive, Research Place and 1845 N Fairmount are currently the most popular locations on campus for criminal activity, according to the 2022 Crime Log. Thankfully, the amount of on campus offenses doesn’t seem particularly high compared to crime outside of campus life.

As of April 17, there have been 11 outside assists. On WSU grounds there have been three welfare and two sick-andcared-for reports, two reports of criminal damage to property and lost property, a handful of drug charges, one case of stalking, suspicious characters and auto accidents and seven miscellaneous reports These offenses are not incredibly alarming, but the rate they occur at definitely is. So what is campus security doing to ensure student safety on and off of university grounds?

WSU police department officers patrol in different sectors around campus where they are assigned. Typically four officers and one sergeant are assigned to every shift, which lasts 10 hours.

Certain sectors are also patrolled more frequently depending on the amount of crime committed in the area or if officers are requested for a particular event.

WSU police Captain Corey Herl said that to ensure student safety, officers use a sort of “element of surprise” to keep criminals on their toes.

“Officers (then) generally patrol those areas at their discretion sporadically so they don’t create patterns — in order to avoid a schedule that a criminal would attempt to take advantage of,” Captain Herl said.

While WSU is ranked 15 out of 18 in “The Safest Colleges in Kansas,” according to Niche. com, I feel secure knowing that there are more than 30 emergency lights around campus and several officers constantly monitoring university grounds and finding the best ways to eliminate crime. While there may be a massive amount of unreported crimes, which will continue to leave WSU students and faculty wondering if we will ever truly be safe, it is reassuring to know that action is in fact being taken.

Student journalists serve a vital role in universities across the United States by serving as a watchdog over university officials.

But what happens when universities try to silence these voices?

Student journalists face threats of critism every day. According to The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, there are multiple reported cases of censorship of collegiate student media throughout the United States.

Recently, The Bulletin at Emporia State University has faced this kind of censorship. The Bulletin’s printed issue was covered up on Friday, April 15 by file folders over the front page story.

In The Bulletin’s Facebook pos t regarding the issue they stated, “It looks like somebody in the Memorial Union doesn’t like our front page this week. It’s a violation of the First Amendment to tamper with our newspaper distribution.”

The story details a former Emporia State student who dropped out of college in the Spring of 2018 due to mental health concerns. The student was sued by Emporia State for $10,000 dollars to collect debt from unpaid tuition and fees. Emporia State then used a debt collection agency to collect a 25% wage garnishment.

The story was covered up the same day Emporia State hosted their annual Hornet Connections Day. Horent Connections Day is for new stduents to come enroll at the university and tour the campus.

Student journalism censorship is a trend that many colleges have seen.

In 2018, The Butler Lantern at Butler Community College had 415 newspapes stolen off their racks after they published news about a former Butler football player who was charged with capital murder after a shooting that happened due to a robbery.

A Butler student athlete was caught on a security camera taking papers off the racks. He said that he felt like the papers shouldn’t be there because of the news regarding the former student athlete.

The University Press at Florida Atlantic University has experienced censorship numerous times.

In 2019, stacks of papers were stolen after The University Press published news about rape accuasitions against a FAU qaurterback.

This is only a handful of censorship issues student journalists have faced across the United States.

Student journalists are protected by the First Amendment — freedom of the press. By censoring news someone might not like, it’s directly violating the first amendment.

The Bulletin did their job in accurately reporting major news from the university. The reporter made sure to give both the university and the student an opportunity to use their voice. She also provided clear statistics and facts from credible resources.

A college media outlet’s job is not to make the university look good. That would be public relations, not journalism. A college media outlet’s job is to report and tell the truth accurately and fairly.

Journalism matters and plays a significant role in universities, workplaces, governments, athletics and so much more. Without student journalists holding university officials accountable, many concerns might slip under the cracks.

Protect the freedom of the press.

Support student journalism. Don’t censor news just because you don’t like it.

10 | THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022

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