the SUNFLOWER
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 VOLUME 120, ISSUE 30
One year later. REMEMBERING THE FAIRMOUNT PARK ATTACK
NOW
THEN
Photos by Shelby Reynolds
(LEFT) Wichita Police crime scene investigators study the scene where Letitia Davis, 36, was found in a fire Nov. 14 at Fairmount Park. (RIGHT) A year later, the burnt scars in the grass have healed.
I
t was a night that would later shape the community’s and university’s attitudes toward campus safety and community engagement. Saturday is the one-year anniversary of the attack at Fairmount Park, and the effects are still felt by many. The brutal attack sparked a community-wide effort to improve the areas surrounding campus, with WSU as its leader. Here is a breakdown of events since the night of Nov. 14, plus what’s to come of the Fairmount neighborhood south of campus.
CHANCE SWAIM
REPORTER
@chanceswaim
Nov. 14: The attack happened on a frigid Friday night in November. A cold front had blown in mid-week and temperatures dropped from the upper-70s on Monday to the mid-20s Friday evening. That night, the Wichita State men’s basketball team unveiled banners for their NCAA appearance and Missouri Valley Conference championship the year before, and easily defeated New Mexico State, 71-54, in their home-opener. Hours after the basketball game, less than a mile from Koch Arena, a fire scorched the grass between the tennis courts and the swings at Faimount Park. Inside the fire was a woman named Letitia Davis, 36, mother of four. Davis was nude, bloody and on fire, according to a court affidavit. Davis told firefighters she had been raped, beaten and set on fire by a man she did not know. In the hospital, Davis acknowledged to Wichita Police the suspect was a black male, the affidavit said. Davis was unconscious and intubated at Via Christi St. Francis hospital in critical condition, where she was treated for second- and third-degree burns on more than 70 percent of her body. She also suffered a number of blunt-force injuries to her head. Nov. 20: Based on evidence gathered at the scene of the crime — a damaged Keyocera phone — and DNA evidence taken from a Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit, police arrested Cornell McNeal, 27, the affidavit said, in connection with the crime. Two days after McNeal’s arrest, and eight days after the attack, Davis died from her injuries. An autopsy determined her manner of death to be homicide, the affidavit said. Nov. 26: McNeal was charged with capital murder in the death of Letitia Davis. He has also been charged with rape and two counts of arson from fires at both the park and a detached garage seven blocks from Fairmount Park; the arson charges were later dropped. McNeal’s arraignment is Thursday, where he is expected to plead not guilty, according to a Wichita Eagle article. Classroom effect Natalie Grant remembered when it first happened. She was teaching a Women and Poverty class that semester, a class of 120 students. “It wasn’t what I would call a teachable moment,” Grant said. “Just the opposite of that, actually. It was more of a serendipitous moment where I had go through that process with 120 students about learning what sexual violence means.” Grant said the Letitia Davis incident became a central focus of the discussion in her classes. The night after the attack, Grant said she went to Kirby’s Beer Store, where, the night before — the affidavit said — McNeal pocketed a pink lighter he had asked to borrow from a woman outside of the bar. Kirby’s is only few blocks from Fairmount Park. Grant’s friend, Kali Kerr, was also at Kirby’s the night after the attack. She and Grant were both deeply
WATCH IT ONLINE moved by the Visit thesunflower.com attack, even to watch university though neither of leaders discuss the them knew Davis impact of the attack. personally, Grant said. Together they started developing a plan of action. Grant said she felt responsible to do something because the incident involved so many things she cared about: the prevention of violence against women, the northeast Wichita community — one of Grant’s interests lies in the restoration of the Dunbar Theater at 9th and Cleveland Streets — and the neighborhoods around her university, where Grant has one of her classes, as part of a digital history project, interview residents from the neighborhoods around Wichita State. “We knew “It hurt me,” Grant said. She said she took flowers every if we came day after the attack and hung together we them on the fence surrounding the tennis courts near where could do Davis was found. something “We didn’t know what we powerful.” wanted to do,” said Grant of she and Kerr, “but we knew if we NATALIE GRANT came together we could do Professor, School of Social Work something powerful.”
A fundraiser Kerr organized a “Home Base: ICT Coming Together to Help One of Our Own” fundraiser at Kirby’s Beer Store to raise money for Christmas presents for Davis’ four children. “It was hugely successful,” Grant said. Local artists auctioned their artwork, local businesses donated items for auction, bands played and donated tips, food trucks donated part of their proceeds, and $10,000 to 12,000 was raised in one day, Grant said. Grant said she and Kerr are in the process of organizing another fundraiser before Christmas for Davis’ children. “We don’t want this to be a one time thing,” Grant said. ‘Enough is Enough’ In late November, after Davis’ death, WSU President John Bardo contacted retired General Counsel Ted Ayres, and the “Enough is Enough” task force was formed Dec. 2. Two days later, its formation was announced to the university and community, with Ayres as the head. “Recent assaults and other crimes south of Wichita State’s campus have led President John Bardo to direct the formation of a task force called ‘Enough is Enough’ to focus on creating safe, economically vibrant neighborhoods near campus,” a news release said. “We don’t live in a bubble at Wichita State. Our success and future are tied in every way to the success of the surrounding area . . . Yes, we live in the largest city in the state, and yes, crime will happen. But, enough is enough,” Bardo said in the release.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS It’s been a year since the attack, but the night of Nov. 14 kicked off a series of events that would change the way Wichita State interacted with its neighbors. NOV. 14, 2014 Letitia Davis is attacked in Fairmount Park, about a block south of campus.
NOV. 22, 2014 Davis dies from her injuries. DEC. 2, 2014 President John Bardo announces formation of the “Enough is Enough” task force to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods surrounding campus using the expertise of WSU and the Wichita community. APRIL 24, 2014 WSU and WASAC partner to host a “Take Back the Night” walk in the Fairmount neighborhood in a fight against sexual assault. AUGUST 19, 2015 Student Affairs sponsors a Safety Forum at the Campus Activities Center on campus. SEPT. 10, 2015 Kick-off community meeting (related to KHF grant) with residents of the Fairmount Neighborhood (over 100 in attendance). SEPT. 14, 2015 University Student Government Association sponsors a Campus Safety Town Hall meeting. SEPT. 17, 2015 University sponsors a campus safety walk on campus.
SEE ANNIVERSARY • PAGE 4
NOV. 18, 2014 University leaders hold a forum to address students’ concers for safety. NOV. 23, 2014 Family, friends and complete strangers gather in a vigil in memory of Davis. JAN. 22, 2015 WSU works with the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center to host a community conversation in Fairmount Park called “Confronting the Reality of Sexual Violence in Wichita.” MAY 15, 2015 Kansas Health Foundation accepts WSU’s grant proposal to support the improvement of the Fairmount neighborhood. SEPT. 2, 2015 A meeting and tour of housing is held in the Price Woodard Neighborhood with officials of Wichita Habitat for Humanity. SEPT. 12, 2015 Follow-up meeting with Fairmount Neighborhood residents to report out the results of the September 10 meeting. SEPT. 15, 2015 University organizes a Celebrate Safe Communities event in Fairmount Park. OCT. 15, 2015 The first meeting of the Fairmount Neighborhood Stakeholders/Leadership Group held on campus.
Students to represent international projects in Alternative Gift Market AMANDA HANSEN
REPORTER
@mandabri4
The Alternate Gift Market does more than give people the opportunity to buy unique Christmas gifts. It helps charities all around the world. The non-profit organization, Alternative Gifts International (AGI), hosts an annual market to raise funds to support philanthropic projects across the globe by selling gifts in the form of ornaments, gift cards and donations. The proceeds benefit more than 70 different countries and a variety of needs. About 300 people shop at the event each
year. AGI Executive Director Tony Princ said the market provides an alternative to traditional Christmas shopping. “It’s a wonderful place to go if you don’t feel like going to the mall, or if you don’t feel like going shopping at the big-box stores,” he said. “It’s a fun environment. It’s a great way to go and feel good about yourself.” Wichita’s market will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at East Heights United Methodist Church, 4407 E. Douglas Ave. The Pre-Medical Student Association and the Global Awareness Student Project are
co-sponsoring two projects each at the market. The Pre-Medical Student Association will raise money to support Healthy Bones, Healthy Teeth, Healthy Kids! — a program that provides fresh milk and formula to children in Vietnam — and Healing Nepal’s Sick and Injured, a program that helps rebuild hospitals in Nepal that were destroyed in an earthquake in April. Global Awareness Student Project (GASP) will sponsor, a Safe Haven for Orphans, “to provide maltreated children in Mexico a safe haven and a brighter future” and Bikes for
Healthcare Workers, to provide bikes for people in Africa and, “put healthcare within reach for those suffering from disease,” the AGI catalog stated. Other projects at the market are raising money to support hunger, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, medical services and environmental sustainability around the world. When shoppers purchase a gift, it is purchased in honor of a family member or friend. “You put those [gifts] under the tree or in the mail to families and friends saying, ‘I thought of you when I sent a safe mother-
hood kit to a woman in Africa, or when I helped dig a well for kids in India or when I helped rescue a woman from sexual slavery,’” Princ said. There is no maximum or minimum limit on how much or little shoppers can donate. My-Trinh Nguyen, former president of the Pre-Medical Student Association, said the biggest challenge in preparing for the market was making 150 milk-carton ornaments and tri-folds. “It can be very time consuming,” she said.
SEE GIFTS • PAGE 3