the
SUN FLOWER
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015
VOLUME 120, ISSUE 36
THESUNFLOWER.COM
Community celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day | PAGE 3
Defendants in killing of WSU student enter pleas CHANCE SWAIM
REPORTER
@chanceswaim
One of the two defendants accused of killing Wichita State student Rayan Ibrahim Baba in the parking lot of Fairmount Towers last August pleaded guilty this month to second-degree murder and aggravated robbery. The homicide shook the university the weekend before freshmen move-in day, and two suspects were arrested the day after Baba, an electrical engineering student from Saudi Arabia, was found in the dormitory parking lot
with multiple gunshot wounds Aug. 8. Wichita police arrested Isaiah Copridge, 23, and Eboni Fingal, 20, for first-degree murder in connection with the case. Neither Copridge nor Fingal were WSU students. Copridge pleaded guilty Jan. 14. WSU officials said Baba had not enrolled for the fall 2015 semester and was planning to move out of Fairmount Towers at the time of the shooting. Copridge faces sentencing Feb. 18. He could be sentenced up to 54 years in prison for the murder
conviction. Fingal entered a plea of not guilty. She will stand trial Feb. 16 at the Sedgwick County Courthouse. According to the probable cause affidavit in the case, Wichita Police were able to track cellphone locations from Copridge and Fingal to the Fairmount Towers parking lot around 5:30 a.m. Aug. 8. According to evidence gathered in the investigation, police believe Baba had contacted Fingal previously through a female escort listing on BackPage.com, a classified website similar to Craigslist.
Police say Baba met with Fingal in a Braum’s restaurant parking lot on North Rock Road in mid-July, where they had a sexual encounter. The night before Baba was murdered, police say he went to a nightclub in Old Town, to a friend’s apartment, another party and then another friend’s apartment before returning to Fairmount Towers around 4:06 a.m. Aug. 8. Police believe around 5 a.m. Baba began searching through BackPage. com when he found Fingal’s listing. Based on cellphone records, Baba then attempted to contact a phone linked to Fingal twice between 5
and 5:03 a.m. Fingal told police she had been working out of a hotel on East Kellogg. Police were able to track a phone Fingal claimed to share with Copridge and the BackPage phone as it traveled toward Fairmount Towers, according to the affidavit. A University Police officer reported hearing gunshots around 5:25 a.m. while he was sitting in his car at the corner of 22nd and Hillside streets, which is just east of the Fairmount Towers parking lot.
SEE PLEAS • PAGE 2
A night under the stars
Photo by Manny De Los Santos
Wichita State students and faculty bundle up Jan. 11 to spend a “Night Under the Stars” outside of First United Methodist Church to raise awareness for Wichita’s homeless population.
Students sleep outside, shed light on homeless community LEVI YAGER
REPORTER
@sunflowernews
Wichita State students in sleeping bags slouched up against the side of a Wichita church building as Orion lit up the winter sky one cold night last week. People huddled together in small groups Jan. 11, sipping hot chocolate and smoked cigarettes. A few kids played games with a spare glove. “If the world was like this more often, it’d be a much more beautiful place,” Donald, a homeless man, said.
Students and faculty and various Wichita community members attended “A Night Under the Stars” at First United Methodist Church in downtown Wichita. They gathered and distributed donations of clothing and food for Wichita’s homeless population, while also raising awareness about the conditions they endure each winter night. They also gave them some encouraging words. Other donations are designated for the Point in Time homeless count, an assessment of the city’s homeless population, later this month.
“We’ll make 600 (donation) bags — that’s our goal,” said senior Kaitlin Heaton, president of WSU’s Student Organization of Social Work (SOSW). She was at the forefront of organizing the activity. The 2015 count for Wichita takes place Jan. 28 at Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center, 225 W. Douglas Ave. Numbers from other cities, and then states, are included in a nation-wide total that represents the number of homeless people in the United States. Heaton said hygiene and feminine care items donated Jan. 11 will be bagged and distributed to homeless
people who show up for the count. “There will be 40 of us social workers at the Point In Time count to give them away,” she said. Emily Ozbun, who graduated from WSU last semester, came with her guitar and provided music that evening. “So all I have is Jesus music, if that’s OK with everybody,” Ozbun said to the audience before she started strumming and singing Christian worship songs. Ozbun didn’t stay to sleep outside, but she enjoyed the event. “It’s impressive, the turn-out, because it’s really cold. But it’s been
really nice,” she said. “You know, Jesus walked on this earth with people like this, and he was telling us that all we need is love,” Donald said while talking with a group of students and munching on a snack. “Yep, just like the Beatles,” a girl piped in, before Donald belted out the chorus of a popular ’60s song. Donald and Jeff were two homeless men who stayed the night last week outside the church. Some other homeless people stopped by that day but didn’t stay.
SEE HOMELESS • PAGE 3
Gordon Parks photograph exhibit opens at Ulrich Museum MARISSA CAMPBELL
REPORTER
@soupitup13
Photographer and artist Gordon Parks was known for his visual representations that challenged the meaning of America and the segregated society of the ’40s. Through 177 works obtained by Wichita State, the Ulrich Museum of Art opened its winter exhibition “Visual Justice: Gordon Parks’ American Photographs.” The museum hosted an opening reception Friday night, and at least 100 people attended. Parks created pieces that helped progress the Civil Rights Movement. He was featured in Life Magazine for creating powerful imagery of what segregation was truly like. “Although my opinion is extremely biased, I believe that Gordon Parks is one of the world’s most creative geniuses,” said Ted Ayers, a lead negotiator for gaining the Parks collection. “As Kansans, we should be proud
Photo by Jessica Green
Jennifer Perry, left, and Nan Leiter, right, discussed the meaning and interpretations of multiple artworks during the Visual Justice opening reception Friday. Both Perry and Leiter mentioned Parks’s photos are an important part of American history.
that he is from here.” With the opening reception having a record number of people in the galleries, the new exhibition
has drawn in a lot of attention and collaborations for the Ulrich. Professor John Edwin Mason from the University of Virginia
will visit the Ulrich at 6 p.m. Feb. 12 to discuss the works of Gordon Parks. Along with Mason’s discussion, the Wichita Art Museum will also host an event starting at 2 p.m. Feb. 13 discussing the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, Wichita’s part in the movement and Parks’s work. Artist Jennifer Perry, who is currently doing work in the Flint Hills, came to the Ulrich strictly because she heard of the opening reception. “When I heard that there was going to be a Gordon Parks gallery in Wichita, I knew it would be worth the drive to town just to see his amazing work,” Perry said. “I feel proud of Wichita for showing an exhibit like this. It shows the true importance of photography and the involvement it had in American history.” Along with people outside of the area and members of the community, many high school students were at the event. Andres Leland, along with other students,
were invited by the director of Sunflower Community Action—a local non-profit organization—to view the exhibit. “I’ve always been interested in seeing artwork about community justice and the power that you can see in photographs,” Leland said. “It is one of the best experiences you can have to connect with people over such a prominent topic in our history.” The collection started with four pieces in 1999, which Ayers helped acquire. Through the work of Ayers and three other curators, the collection has officially grown to 177 photographs and documents from Parks. “The collection has been a wonderful supplement for Wichita State because Parks is able to show such vast contrasts with his different style of works,” Ayers said. “As a photographer, journalist and artist, the community is able to gain more insight on not only civil rights, but on Parks himself.”