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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015
VOLUME 120, ISSUE 10
THESUNFLOWER.COM
In wake of robberies, UPD focuses on campus foot patrols CHANCE SWAIM
REPORTER
@sunflowernews
Wichita State University Police are working toward increasing enforcement during late hours in the wake of two recent nighttime robberies in parking lots near 21st and Hillside. A new focus will put officers on interior foot patrol, said Sara Morris, chief of University Police. “These officers will be patrolling on foot,” she said, “interacting with people on campus, finding out people’s fears and trying to come up with solutions from the community.” The decision came the morning after a robbery Monday night on campus. According to a crime alert sent to students, faculty and staff via email later that evening, a man armed with a knife robbed a 19-year-old student on the outskirts of campus. Around 9:40 p.m. Monday, a black man described as tall, slender and in his mid-20s, approached the female student in
File Photo by Xavier Mortenson
The decision to focus University Police resources on interior foot patrol came the morning after a robbery Monday night on campus.
Lot 1N, which is adjacent to Hillside and south of 21st, wielding a large knife, the crime alert said. The student gave the man her purse and he fled on foot. She went to Shocker Hall before reporting the crime, according to the alert. The man was wearing a black or gray hoodie with the
hood covering his face. The student was not injured and the purse has not been recovered, the alert said. Morris said she is open to new ways of solving problems and that the officers on foot will provide her with an ear to the public. “Talk to the officers,” suggest-
About 500 students petition for inclusion of Muslim showers Mosharraf said WSU would be the first university campus in @sunflowernews the United States to install the handheld bidets. The Muslim Student Associa“WSU talks about diversity tion, in collaboration with the and likes to have rights for Student Government Associainternational students, so I tion and the Pakistan Student believe we should have one or Association, have gathered a two in each public building, but petition with more than 500 signatures from students, faculty especially in central places,” she said. and staff to raise The petition has awareness about “WSU talks been presented to the handheld bidets, also about diversity Student Government known as Muslim and likes to Association, and showers, and implement their installation have rights for awaits approval of funds, Mosharraf in public places like international said. So far, she said, the Rhatigan Student students, so the petition has Center, Heskett gathered beyond the Center and Ablah I believe we required number of Library. should have signatures. “It’s like one of the one or two in “If the funds are hoses you use to water not available, I have your garden or wash each public offered to pay for the your car,” said Ahmed building.” installations myself,” Aslam of the Pakistan AYESHA MOSHARRAF she said. Student Association. PETITION ORGANIZER Aslam said parts Ayesha Mosharraf, for each bidet would cost $18 to event coordinator for the $20. Organizers hope to see a Muslim Student Association, bidet installed in both men’s and said wherever there is a signifiwomen’s restrooms in the RSC, cant population of Muslims or Ablah Library and the Heskett Asians or people from India, Center. there are Muslim showers. “We want six total for now, For Muslims, it is a religious and more if we can,” Mosharraf thing, Mosharraf said. For said. “We definitely want them others, like students from Asian in the new buildings in Innovaand India, it is a cultural thing. tion Campus.” Mosharraf and Aslam said WSU graduate student Muslim students now have to Matthew Garner said he hadn’t rely on water bottles and squirt thought about the showers for bottles to wash after doing the Muslim students, and that the needful in the restroom. University of Texas, where he “It’s not convenient to walk home to wash,” Aslam said. “It’s completed his undergraduate degree in English, didn’t have OK for me because I live close handheld bidets. to campus, but for others it is a “If [Mosharraf ] can come up major inconvenience.” with the funds and people want “We have to pray five times a day at the interfaith,” Mosharraf it,” he said, “I’m not opposed.” said. “We cannot use interfaith [to wash] because we have to go back to our home, because a Find the petition for piece of tissue paper is not enough for us to clean. handheld bidets at “… We are used to using [bidets] because many of us have been using them since childhood.”
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CHANCE SWAIM
REPORTER
THE GRANADA
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thesunflower.com
ed Lou Heldman, vice president of Strategic Communications at WSU. “They want to hear from you and they want to protect you.” “I don’t check social media sites like Facebook, so this will be a way for me to know what the community wants, what students are thinking,” Morris said. Morris said the strategy of adding police on foot has been in the planning stages for a while, but it has been a manpower issue. She’s now devised a plan implementing swing shifts involving officers on second- and thirdshifts to increase UPD’s nighttime presence as evening classes let out. With the increase in patrols, Morris said she wants to encourage students to take more personal responsibility for their safety. “Per square mile, we have more officers than Wichita Police,” she said. “But we can’t be everywhere all the time.” If you have information that
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Continue the conversation online at thesunflower.com and on social media, using the hashtag,
#WSUREACTS
« IFTownYOUHallGO:meeting on campus safety
When: 5:30 p.m. Monday Where: Rhatigan Student Center, room 265
may help solve this crime, contact the UPD Detective Section at 978-3450. “We hope you’re never a victim of crime,” Heldman said. “But if you are, report it immediately and we’ll be more likely to catch the bad guy, and it will help the alert get out faster to keep others safe, as well.”
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Photo by Xavier Mortenson
The new car service on campus, Zipcar, allows students to reserve a car to drive. The vehicles are located near the entrance of the parking lot west of Elliott Hall and south of the Rhatigan Student Center.
Two Zipcars to provide campus car-sharing service for daily use ASCHA LEE
REPORTER
@aschalee
Wichita State will be the first location in Kansas for car-sharing service Zipcar, which will make its debut on campus Thursday. “We’re really excited to be at Wichita State,” Zipcar spokeswoman Lindsay Wester said. “We’re excited to grow there.” Zipcar, the world’s leading car-sharing network, was founded in 2000 with the goal of reducing pollution and helping people get transportation easily when they need it. Zipcar has more than 10,000 cars on the road across North America and parts of Europe. Wichita State now has two of these cars, located in the parking lot on the south side of the Rhatigan Student Center. “There really isn’t a target demographic of students for us, ! just anyone who doesn’t want to
deal with the hassles of bringing a car to campus,” Wester said. “Students these days are interested in getting what they need, when they need it and not having to deal with the excesses that come with ownership.” Wester said Zipcar helps to alleviate traffic congestion, parking challenges and carbon emissions. She said each Zipcar eliminates the need for up to 15 personally owned vehicles, along with reducing driving time by up to 40 percent for each member. The cars, two Ford Focuses, will cost $7.50 per hour for students to use, or $69 for a full day. This fee includes gas and insurance for up to 180 miles of driving in one day. A Zipcar membership will cost students $15 per year, along with the hourly cost of use. Members can reserve a timeslot with a car with the free Zipcar mobile app, the Zipcar website or a phone call.
Zipcar will monitor the usage of the vehicles and provide another car to the university if usage rates get high enough. “I chose the Ford Focuses simply because they were the least expensive, and I wanted to keep the cost down as much as possible for students,” said Ellen Abbey, director of Auxiliary Services for the Administration and Finances Department. “We could go larger and get a bigger vehicle if that’s what students want.”
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