THE WWW.THESUNFLOWER.COM
SUNFLOWER WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT-RUN NEWS SOURCE
MONDAY • OCTOBER 6, 2014
VOLUME 119, ISSUE 30
News: SGA passes anti-sexual violence resolution Page 3 | Sports: Women’s tennis wins MVC individuals Page 4
Fairmount park cleanup draws large crowd By Reece Burns STAFF REPORTER @ReeceBurns14
Photo by Marcus Wright
Wichita State student Anusha Powaku offers prayers to the Hindu Goddess Durga Mata at Garba night Saturday. The festival was hosted by the Association of Hindu Students in America, a student organization that strives to increase understanding of Hinduism in the community.
Garba Night delights students and families By Paulo Lazo STAFF REPORTER @Paulo_JLazo
The center of the ballroom at the Marcus Welcome Center resembled a whirlwind Saturday, as attendees danced around the photograph of a goddess while commemorating the triumph of good against evil. It was Garba Night, a Hindu celebration, organized by Wichita State’s Association of Hindu Students in America. “Garba is a religious dance form,” said Anusha Powaku,
president of the organization. “One of our goddesses, she likes this dance form. We offer a prayer, and we dance around her to show her enthusiasm and happiness.” Durga, the deity Powaku was referring to, served as the focus of the celebration Saturday. The event was part of a larger festival known as Navratri, which lasts nine days — the last of which is referred to as Dussehra. “For nine days, people dance,” Powaku said. “Because it’s a university and we cannot dance for nine days, we have it on one day. It’s a free event, anyone can
come, and many families are here.” Vivek Abhilash, former publicity coordinator at AHINSA, emphasized the unexpected turnout and said he believes the event warrants a greater location. “This is a huge success,” he said. “I’ve never seen such a crowd. They need to find a bigger place for next time. I think the advertising this time is too good. They’ve done a very good job. “I’ve seen it. Everywhere you go you see the poster. Every Asian or Indian store you go, there’s a poster there … This is real good
stuff what these guys are doing.” The group’s vice president, Pratik Bhardwaj, commented on the importance of similar festivities across campus, as they often help international students overcome homesickness. “It’s really amazing to organize something this big and have so many people come and live their culture that they’ve been missing back home,” Bhardwaj said. “It’s really great to have everybody here. Staying away from home can be kind of hard sometimes, you do miss it a lot, especially when there’s festivals going on.”
Fairmount Park and neighborhood underwent a cleanup effort Saturday directed by Darryl Carrington, chair of the Fairmount Neighborhood Association. Carrington said there was a record-breaking turnout in numbers and a record-breaking amount of time it took to do the project. The cleanup began at 8:45 a.m. and finished about two hours later. The cleanup spanned from 17th Street to Maple Grove Cemetery, a service to the occupants of the area, Carrington said. The cleanup is meant to help the neighborhood and the park at its center for the benefit of both Wichita State and the neighborhood. “The goal is to create a seamless relationship between the university and the community,” Carrington said. Creating that relationship is no walk in the park, however. “I’d say we serviced over 700 homes in the process,” Carrington said. “You have to create the world you want.” This was the third year the annual cleanup hosted its “Back to the Park” part of the project. Carrington described this aspect of the project as “cleaning the park, going home and cleaning up and then coming back to celebrate.” This year’s celebration featured six live bands, a train ride for kids, face painting and free food. The music kicked off the celebration around 2 p.m., each band playing for about an hour. See FAIRMOUNT on page 3
Wu’s Big Event gets students involved in community service By Sarah Carlson STAFF REPORTER @sunflowernews
Members of the Wichita State community completed more than 450 hours of community service over the weekend with Wu’s Big Event. The Community Service Board, a campus organization, planned the event, which included students, faculty and staff completing service projects at 23 locations Friday and Saturday. The locations included United Way’s Give Items of Value (GIV) Warehouse, several YMCAs, Woofstock and others. “The whole goal of the Community Service Board is to participate in passionate service together, and we wanted to give the Wichita community an idea of how passionate Wichita State is in giving time to the community,” said Lauren McGuire, big events chair for the board. “We’ve noticed that a lot of individuals want to volunteer, they just don’t know how to, or don’t know who to ask or don’t want to take the time to go do that. So that’s where we come in.” McGuire said at first, it was difficult to find places for students to volunteer during Wu’s Big Event. She said United Way’s Volunteer Center helped with that problem. “They got my email about Wu’s Big Event,” McGuire said, “and they said that they could nudge a little my way and get some more service sites for us, and they ended up being a huge asset, and I really appreciated their help.” Mark Stump, director of direct services for United Way, said the GIV warehouse couldn’t exist without the support of volunteers. For that program, companies donate items and nonprofits throughout Kansas can come
Photo by Sarah Carlson
Students participating in Wu’s Big Event completed community service over the weekend. The students sorted items to be handed out at the United Way’s Give Items of Value Warehouse.
“shop” at the warehouse to get much-needed items for free, ultimately saving them money in overhead expenses. Students spent time sorting items and removing barcodes, laughing as they worked. Sarah Cummings, a WSU alumna and returning student, volunteered Saturday since she had a break in her work schedule. She said she thinks it is important for students to spend time volunteering because one time will lead to more. “In the grand scheme of things,
everyone wants the world to be better, despite their differences or different perspectives,” Cummings said. Stump is also a WSU alumnus — and former WuShock — and said he was happy to have the students there. He also said that volunteering is beneficial for students. “From the students’ perspective, they get an opportunity to see that there is a need out there and that they do have the ability, regardless of skill set, to be able to come help us with this project,”
Stump said. “They didn’t see the clients and the people that they’re helping directly, but they know that there’s a need out there.” McGuire said this was the first time Wu’s Big Event was held, and even though the group didn’t meet their goal of 1,895 service hours, they did complete 450. “That’s what matters, is the amount of service that we were able to give out to the community,” McGuire said. “This was the first time we’ve done this. We’re hoping in the future we can get enough volunteers to reach that
service number.” McGuire said the Community Service Board is planning Wu’s Big Event 2.0 for the spring semester. She also said as a way of thanking student volunteers, the Rhatigan Student Center and University Bookstore will hold National Student Day on Thursday. During that day, students who show pictures of themselves volunteering can win prizes and other incentives. For more information, go to wichita.edu and search “National Student Day.”