WICHITA STATE’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896
MONDAY
Volume 125
www.thesunflower.com
May 3, 2021
Issue 26
WSU community gather together to remember those affected by antiasian violence BY RACHEL LYONS ralyons@shockers.wichita.edu
PHOTO BY MONIQUE GAINES / THE SUNFLOWER
Lucia Agbor hangs out with her friends at Yaya’s.
From Cameroon to corporate law — Lucia Agbor says WSU was ‘just right’ to pursue her goals BY AUDREY KORTE @akorteshares / opinion@thesunflower. com
Lucia Agbor spent her childhood in her home country of Cameroon. She was raised until the age of seven with her grandma, uncle, aunt, and brother in the central West African country. She then moved to the U.S. to join her father, who was already living and working in the United States. “I really didn’t like the school system in Africa,” she said. “The teachers were able to whoop you if you were bad. And you had to shave your head and wear a uniform. They wanted everyone to be the same.” While she doesn’t know much about the behindthe-scenes work that went into securing her a place in America, for her, it was a pretty easy trek. She complained to her family about her dislike of school in Cameroon. “Before I knew it, I was on a
plane for America,” she said. She went to middle school and high school in Kansas City before beginning a degree program at Wichita State in criminal justice. She graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest before making her way to Wichita. She said she toured KU and Emporia State but felt at home on WSU’s campus. “WSU had my major, and it was a perfect size,” she said. “KU was too big. Emporia was too small, and Wichita was just right.” Now Agbor hopes to pursue a career in corporate law. She said she’s trying to get an internship with the Chief Investigator in Wichita. “At first, I wanted to be a social worker but decided that criminal justice was a better route,” she said. Agbor is involved in Phenomenal Women at WSU, Multicultural Student Success and worked as the Black Academic Honor Society secretary before assuming her current role as vice president
“Students from Africa should focus on what they want to do. Stick with what makes you happy so that it’s not a chore; it’s a passion. LUCIA AGBOR Wichita State senior
of the group. But Agbor’s passion is domestic violence advocacy. She said she had friends in high school whose mothers were in abusive relationships. She said when she was younger, she didn’t know how to help them. It made her feel powerless. But she spent her time at WSU learning about domestic violence, the law, and advocacy. “As I got older, I got really passionate and involved in this,” she said. “I don’t feel as helpless now.”
She hopes to work in corporate law and raise a lot of money doing that work to one day establish her own domestic violence foundation. “Everything takes money, and this seems like the best route to earn a lot of money so I can help people. That’s my ultimate goal,” she said. She said she understands that there are a lot of challenges for women all over the world. Women from her home country face challenges that the average American can’t fathom, however. “I know what it means to come from a third-world country. I know poverty and sexism. It’s definitely what drives me,” she said. Her advice to students in Africa is to study what they are passionate about. “In the African community, they’re always encouraged to go into medicine and law. Students from Africa should focus on what they want to do,” she said. “Stick with what makes you happy so that it’s not a chore; it’s a passion.”
In light of the surge in antiAsian hate crimes, Wichita State student Jordan Cao and other community members hosted a #StopAsianHate candlelight vigil Friday evening. “[The purpose] is to honor and remember the victims of Asian hate crime whilst also looking towards the future for a better foot forward in our community,” Cao said. Cao said he decided to host the event when he noticed a lack of events in Wichita. “I was waiting the entire time that someone else here in Wichita, Kansas would start a program or event, or have a vigil like this,” he said. “I realized that as days went to weeks and weeks went to over a month nothing was going to happen and around that time I realized that if you want something to happen you have to do it yourself.” Part of Cao’s motivation was to encourage the university to support the Asian community more. “I wish there was more university support considering Asian-Americans constitute a good portion of the diversity here on campus, I reached out to a few administrators, but on a collective effort for the university, there wasn’t much of a mobilization,” he said. The Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Aaron Austin was in attendance in hopes of educating himself about the present events. “It’s important for me to support our students and I know that our students, especially our AsianAmerican, Pacific Islander, and Desi-American students have been the recipient of a lot of hate for the community across the country, and so if any of our students are hurting I want to be there to do what I can to help support them,” he said. For photos from the event, flip to page 3.
SGA ELECTS STUDENT SEN. JACOB TUBACH SPEAKER OF THE SENATE BY LINDSAY SMITH editor@thesunflower.com / @Lindsay_KSmith
SCREENSHOT
Senator Jacob Tubach is sworn in as speaker fo the senate during Wednesday’s SGA meeting
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The Student Senate elected Honors College Senator Jacob Tubach as speaker of the senate during their first meeting of the new session Wednesday. The speaker of the senate serves as the presiding officer of the senate and head of the legislative branch and serves in the line of succession to the office of the presidency. This is only the second time SGA has had this position. The first speaker of the senate was Sen. Olivia Babin last session. Tubach has been in Student Government since his freshman
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year as an Honors Senator. He said his experience being in SGA inspired him to run for the speaker position. “Someone was always there to help put my ideas in motion,” Tubach said. “And that’s what I want to be for [the senate].” Tubach said his goals include bettering the senate’s communication. “I feel that the senate is lacking some cohesion from some senators and I believe communication starts from the top down,” he said. Tubach also said another concern he has is the current university’s grading system and a lack of an A+. “It was intended to help
“The senate is lacking come cohesion from some senators and I believe that communication starts from the top down.” JACOB TUBACH SGA Speaker of the Senate
students with their GPA, and to be more fair to students,” Tubach said. “Because of the lack of an A+, I feel personally it has not done its job.” Senators Rexhd Martin and John Kirk also ran for the speaker position.