/ The Sunflower
THURSDAY April 7, 2022 Volume 126 Issue 28
WICHITA STATE’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896
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ARTISTIC FREEDOM MADT springs into their student choreography showcase BY MIA HENNEN mbhennen@shockers.wichita.edu
The Mid American Dance Theatre showcased students’ choreographing and dance skills last week during the Student Choreography Showcase. The short performance featured a variety of contemporary performances that blended features of jazz, modern, ballet and others. Music like “Je te laisserai dos mots” by Patrick Watson, “Self Reflection” by Mac Miller and “Keep Moving” by Jungle were among some of the songs dancers choreographed for themselves.
Madelyn Marshall, Liberty Joy, Rhiannon Vierya and Bailey Buchanan perform “Keep Moving” by Jungle together. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower
Student senate passes 2.7% student fees increase, funds Shiftspace through reserves BY JULIA NIGHTENGALE news@thesunflower.com
The student senate met last night to vote on the student fees bill proposal, which includes a 2.7% fees increase. Shiftspace gallery, a student-run art gallery down down, received a 65.8% funding cut in the proposal. After listening to dozens of speakers who spoke against the cut, the student senate voted to provide Shiftspace the remaining funding not approved in the proposal through SGA’s reserves for a year. During the discussion period, Senator Jay Thompson said that the decision to cut funding would push art students away. “It is not wrong to ask this group and others to find alternative sources of additional funding — In fact, that should be encouraged,” Thompson said. “But a cut of this kind, with this timing, guaranteed for three years, in a discipline that has been historically underfunded, should not happen.” Kristin Beal, manager of Shiftspace, spoke again in public forum Wednesday and said while they are willing to find other
sources of funding, they needed time to figure out what that would look like. “If this is the expectation moving forward that we diversify our funding, we need time to figure it out,” Beal said Senator Kirk spoke in opposition, saying that over 100 students he spoke to were not against the gallery’s funding cut. “If this is a department or organization that is requesting to ask for a large amount of money that, to our knowledge, only is being participated by a large amount of fine art students, this should not be funded through student fees,” Kirk said. Senator Jacob Unruh spoke in favor, citing the passion he saw from those who spoke in public forum. He said that giving them their request this year gives them an “offramp” to shift that funding. “Not every organization is going to have a huge impact on every single person, like Varsity Esports doesn’t really impact all of us on a personal level, but we are still giving them funding,” Unruh said. Senator Omarian Brantley asked Treasurer Zachary James if
SGA senator asked to leave meeting for not breaking mask mandate rules BY LINDSAY SMITH editor@thesunflower.com
An Exhibit about speaking out against rape culture, Mar 23rd, 2022, in Shift Space, a WSU student run art gallary in downtown Wichita. | Photo by Devon Sipes / The Sunflower
SGA would be in a comfortable position with their reserves if they took money from it for Shiftspace. “This one time deduction from the student fees reserve shouldn’t hurt the SGA’s reserve fund, but I would caution future senates in
sessions to not rely on this fund,” James said. There were 17 in favor and five against the motion to fund the gallery through reserves. All senators were in favor of passing the student fees bill.
A student government senator had to leave Wednesday’s SGA meeting after refusing to put on a different mask. Senator Sam McCrory wore an outline of a mask with what appeared to be only mesh covering the mouth and nose. SGA requires masks to be worn in the chamber. McCrory has sparked controversy during his time at SGA multiple times. He’s worn a “white lives matter” mask at multiple meetings, including the inauguration ceremony, and was censured by the student senate in February after stating that identity based groups, like the Black Student Union, were “discriminatory.” When asked to put on a proper mask, McCory refused, arguing that his mask “followed CDC guidelines” because it “covered the mouth and nose.” “Well, I disagree,” Speaker of the Senate Jacob Tubach said. “So I would ask … that you put a mask on or I will have you leave the chamber.” SEE SENATOR PAGE 2