The Sunflower v. 123 i. 53

MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019 • VOL. 123, ISS. 53

THESUNFLOWER.COM

WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.

Bark in the park

Regents currently identifying candidates to chair WSU presidential search committee

BY MATTHEW KELLY

The Kansas Board of Regents is currently identifying potential candidates to chair the committee tasked with guiding the search for the next Wichita State president, Regents spokesman Matt Keith told The Sunflower.

“They’re usually looking for someone with some familiarity with the university and with the community, who can help organize a search committee and keep the process moving,” Keith said.

He said the Regents are still early on in the process of identifying candidates.

“I have no idea who they’re potentially looking at,” Keith said. “I don’t know if they’re looking at the community, if they’re looking for — I don’t know who they’re considering or how many candidates they might be considering at the moment.”

In addition to naming a chair, the Regents will also vote on each member of the search committee.

Keith said the board could go about choosing committee members in a number of ways.

SEE KBOR PAGE 5 KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER

Dogs had a ball at Eck Stadium Saturday during Bark in the Park, put on in partnership with the Humane Society

WSU PRESIDENTS THROUGHOUT HISTORY Nathan Morrison: 1895-1907 Henry Thayer: 1907-1914 Walter Rollins: 1914-1922 John Finlayson: 1922-1927 Harold Foght: 1927-1934 William Jardine: 1934-1949 Harry Corbin: 1949-1963

Bark in the Park returned to Eck Stadium Saturday during the Shockers’ game against UCF. The Kansas Humane Society was on site with dogs available for adoption, and fans brought their own dogs, who could play in the left field seating area.

Emory Lindquist: 1963-1968 Clark Ahlberg: 1968-1983 Warren Armstrong: 1983-1993 Eugene Hughes: 1993-1998 Donald Beggs: 1998-2012 John Bardo: 2012-2019

KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER

As housing development ramps up, Fairmount stakeholders weigh in on community investment, gentrification

BY MATTHEW KELLY

Mark Farha’s vision of transforming Fairmount took root on a car ride through the neighborhood more than a decade ago, when the developer saw a window of opportunity.

“About 13 years ago, we were driving through the neighborhood and thought, ‘Here’s a major university. Why isn’t there some more appealing, more attractive for-rent units in proximity to the school?’”

Farha said in a March interview.

“I’M TRYING LIKE HELL TO DO AS MUCH AS WE CAN TO IMPROVE THE AREA. NOT ALL OF THE HOUSES CAN STAY.” ­—Mark Farha, Farha Development owner

Farha Development’s first major renovation project in the community was the Granada Apartments, housed in a Spanishstyle building on Fairmount Street that hadn’t been updated since it was built in the 1920s.

In the decade since the Granada, Farha and his partners

KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER

WSU Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement Marche Fleming-Randle shakes hands with Major General Lee Tafanelli of the Kansas Army National Guard Thursday. Fleming-Randle was instrumental in bringing the ROTC program to WSU, Tafanelli said.

MATTHEW KELLY/THE SUNFLOWER

Holyoke Cottage was built in 1887 and later sold to Fairmount College as a women’s dorm. The cottage will soon house Storytime Village Literacy Center.

have continued to develop property in the name of affordable student housing — renovating 450 living spaces in the Fairmount neighborhood.

Farha said he’s proud of the transformation and the roughly 400 students, most of them international, who live in his rental housing and apartments. He said many students can’t afford to live

on campus.

This fall, Wichita State will open the Suites, phase two of the Flats private apartment complex.

In July 2017, with the Flats below 20% occupancy, WSU shuttered university-owned Fairmount Towers residence hall and relocated students to the private facility.

SEE FAIRMOUNT PAGE 2

‘We have a Shocker battalion now’

ROTC program to begin fall semester

BY ANDREW LINNABARY

A new Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program is projected to bring up to 60 students to Wichita State this fall, Provost Rick Muma said Thursday at the program’s announcement in the Experiential Engineering Building.

That projected number came from military officials working with

the university to develop the program — a program that has been years in development, university and military officials said.

The program, housed under WSU’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, will begin fall 2019 for the United States Army. The Air Force portion of the program will begin in 2020.

SEE ROTC PAGE 2

INSIDE

CAMPUS STRAY

FEMINIST FILM FEST

SERIES VICTORY

WSU’s Wind Ensemble and Dance Theatre collaborated on an original production.

Max may be a stray, but he has a loyal group of caretakers at Wichita State.

Two local high schoolers put on Femme Fest to much community acclaim.

Shocker baseball and softball both picked up conference series victories at home.

CULTURE • PAGE 4

CULTURE • PAGE 4

CULTURE/OPINION • PAGE 5

SPORTS • PAGE 6

DANTE’S DREAMS

NEWS

2 | MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019

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CLASSIFIEDS Summer Internship Alternative & Scholarship-Wichita KS Coleman Worldwide Moving is looking for college students for summer work.

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Four arrested in connection to last week’s shooting at popular WSU party venue

BY KYLIE CAMERON

A shooting occurred at Cortez Mexican Restaurant, a popular party venue for Wichita State students, a little after midnight last Sunday.

Four teenagers, aged 18, 17, 16, and 15, were arrested in connection to the shooting, Wichita Police Officer Charley Davidson said in an email to The Sunflower. The shooting is still under investigation.

All four teenagers were booked for aggravated battery, destruction to automobiles, and criminal possession of a firearm by a juvenile. The 18-year-old man, identified on jail arrest records as Felton T. Williams, faces a

FAIRMOUNT

FROM PAGE 1 “It has just created one hell of an opportunity for me, because you’re pricing 80% of the kids out of the market by charging them what they’re charging them on campus,” Farha said.

His properties across 17th Street are a three-minute walk from the Rhatigan Student Center.

“The properties that we have immediately south of campus are half the distance that it is from the Flats or the Flats Phase 2 to the Rhatigan Center, and I’m going to be anywhere from 20-50% less to rent,” Farha said.

Harjinder Singh graduated from WSU last fall with a master’s degree in aerospace engineering and is currently working on campus at the National Institute for Aviation Research. Originally from India, Singh has spent the last two and a half years living in rental housing on 17th Street.

He said affordability was his main concern when it came to making living arrangements.

“It’s expensive on campus,” Singh said. “I can live off campus spending less than half of the money.”

He said he also appreciates the privacy of living off campus.

Farha, a former vice president of the Fairmount Neighborhood Association, said that beyond providing affordable housing, his company has helped with neighborhood cleanups — building fences and painting houses that haven’t had a fresh coat in 20 years.

“In the near future, it will be quite apparent to about anyone driving down 17th Street that the south of campus has made some major, major changes,” Farha said.

GENTRIFICATION

Brandon Johnson, District 1 city councilman for just over a year, said he knocked on every door in the Fairmount neighborhood during his 2017 campaign.

Johnson said Fairmount residents generally have a positive relationship with WSU — save for their streets being perpetually jammed with students’ parked cars. He said there’s more skepticism when it comes to the developers profiting off of the neighborhood’s proximity to campus.

“What I hear are fears of expansion from Wichita State, which truly means, since it’s not Wichita State doing it, the fears of developers changing 17th Street drastically enough to change property values and push people out,” Johnson said.

“Those fears need to be addressed so that someone who’s 85, who wants to — and it sounds a little morbid — but who wants to die in that house, is not pushed out because they can’t afford it.”

In an April interview, Farha rebuffed Johnson’s claim that development could force elderly Fairmount residents out of their homes against their will.

“Currently, I don’t have a single 85-year-old who wants to die in their house,” Farha said.

“If they don’t sell their property, they don’t sell their property. I don’t have eminent domain. I can’t force people out of their homes — nor do I want to.”

Debbie McGuire spends most of her time in Fairmount caring for her 99-year-old father in his home on Harvard Street, just across 17th Street from the university. McGuire said that in recent years, student housing development has led to fewer lifelong residents calling the block home.

“We’ve been contacted by development people that I’m sure want to just raze the home and maybe do the

marijuana charge.

Three handguns were confiscated, one of which was reported stolen.

According to media reports, a 21-year-old man showed up to an area hospital hours after the shooting with a hip injury. He was at the restaurant at the time of the shooting and was treated and released. It is not known if the man was a WSU student.

Four cars were damaged in the shooting and a bullet hit the exterior wall of the restaurant, resulting in over $6,000 worth of damage.

According to the front page of the incident report obtained by The Sunflower, the shooting was not gang related. lot next to us,” McGuire said.

“I don’t know if they want to do apartments or what, but it’s normal that when you’ve got a college, you’ve got to have space for students too.”

McGuire said she likes being so close to the university.

“We love seeing the kids — we don’t get to know them very long because they’re kind of in and out,” she said.

“I would hate to see this whole neighborhood be high-rise apartments or something, but it may happen.”

Farha said that although most new development is student-oriented, lifelong residents shouldn’t be threatened by his presence in the neighborhood.

“Off-campus housing — that’s my main focus, absolutely,” Farha said.

“But I’m not trying to run anyone out of the neighborhood.

“I just want to make good student housing available and have a safe community.”

Farha said he loves Fairmount and sees his work as community investment.

“I’m trying like hell to do as much as we can to improve the area,” Farha said. “Not all of the houses can stay.”

He said when he and his partners restore properties, it prompts other community members to “elevate their game and clean up their neighborhood — take care of their properties.”

“You got your heart and soul invested in, you know, beautifying and taking care of a neighborhood and making it nicer all the time,” Farha said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped to pick up trash or clean something up.”

Cruising around Fairmount development sites in his white pickup truck last week, Farha paused his interview with The Sunflower intermittently to pick up chunks of concrete and throw them into the bed of his truck.

Councilman Johnson said there’s an important distinction to draw between gentrification and community development.

“Development is finding ways to include the community — take into consideration that this here could increase your property values or the value of the community, so what we’re going to do to minimize you moving out is we’ll find you somewhere to work in here.”

Farha said the Fairmount Neighborhood Association supports his mission of community investment.

“I think the Fairmount Neighborhood Association is and has probably been our strongest ally in our efforts to improve the neighborhood,” Farha said.

Vivien Minshull-Ford, current vice president of the neighborhood association, said housing prices haven’t been affected noticeably by continued development in the area.

“The housing prices are quite low, and have sort of gone down if anything, which is very sad,” Minshull-Ford said.

She said displacement hasn’t been a major issue either.

“A couple people were very nervous that they were going to be turned out of their houses so that they could be upgraded,” MinshullFord said. “Well, a lot of these things haven’t really happened.”

Darryl Carrington, a WSU graduate and the university’s former Fairmount community liaison, said Johnson may have his “finger on the pulse in terms of a much broader constituency,” but the councilman doesn’t speak for the Fairmount community when it comes to perceived concerns of displacement.

“I think Brandon (Johnson) misses the mark on that for sure,” Carrington said.

Johnson noted that some

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ROTC

FROM PAGE 1 The program comes with ROTC scholarships that pay a $5,000 housing stipend per semester.

Students contracted with the Kansas National Guard can receive up to $4,000 a semester, in addition to the scholarship.

Students joining the ROTC program will select a major of their choosing and minor in military science.

Thursday’s announcement included remarks from a number of university officials, including Marche Fleming-Randle, vice president for diversity and community engagement.

Fleming-Randle and former President John Bardo were the main WSU point people for bringing a ROTC program to campus, Interim President Andy Tompkins said.

“It’s a culmination of years of hard work prioritized by President Bardo and led by Marche FlemingRandle,” Tompkins said.

The vision was Bardo’s, but making it happen? That was all residents might be hesitant to voice their concerns about development.

“There’s also fear of saying that too loud, because what if that scares a developer away?” Johnson said.

“I don’t want to make it sound like 80% of people hate this — there’s excitement about what can come. There’s just a fear of what that means, and that fear has not been addressed.”

Ed Langston, who has lived in his house on Vassar Street since 1981, said he has “mixed feelings” about continued development in the community.

He said WSU has plenty of space to build on Innovation Campus for now, but the Fairmount neighborhood will likely be the next frontier for campus expansion.

“Gentrification is sort of an issue that — it concerns me a little bit, but in 20 years, this property right here will probably belong to WSU, and that’s fine with me,” Langston said.

“I really think that WSU is a great asset to the neighborhood, and if it takes part of the neighborhood with it, that’s just part of it. Twenty years from now, I’ll be gone anyways.”

Farha doesn’t shy away from acknowledging that gentrification is a side effect of development.

“There’s only so much land adjacent to Wichita State. Wichita State as a school and the student body benefits greatly from me investing into and improving the adjacent neighborhood,” Farha said.

“If that’s called gentrification, then it is.”

That means a certain level of displacement.

“If I scrape 30 houses and build a student housing complex with 350 bedrooms for students, you are displacing some people.

But what did you pay them for their property?” Farha said. “You probably paid them an absolutely astronomical amount of money that they normally would not ever have an opportunity to get.

“If I told you the prices that I’ve paid people for properties in this area, you’d think I’m crazy.”

Carrington said residents afraid of potentially rising property values need to realize that their houses are being devalued. He said he bought his home in Fairmount without using a bank.

“That’s how depressed those property values are,” Carrington said.

He said home ownership is an investment that should help residents pass wealth from generation to generation.

“People need to realize their investment,” he said.

COMMUNITY INVESTMENT

Carrington said gentrification is a sensitive topic, and that the word itself has negative connotations he doesn’t associate with development taking place in Fairmount.

“The ‘G’ word, ‘gentrification’ — everybody’s afraid of it because usually when we hear about it, it’s detrimental to somebody, but in this case, there’s another phrase called ‘development in place,’” Carrington said.

To explain the phenomenon, Carrington described a scenario where WSU employees move into an improved Fairmount neighborhood and incite positive change.

“What it would do instantly is change the dynamics in that all of a sudden, I have someone in my neighborhood that’s a professional,” Carrington said. “Let’s just say they’re a professor on campus or an administrator on campus. Now, all of a sudden, I feel like I have an inside track.

“I can go to someone and say, ‘How do I get myself, my spouse, my kids — how do we get on campus?’”

Minshull-Ford has lived in Fairmount with her husband,

Fleming-Randle, Tompkins said.

Fleming-Randle said it took her 14 months to “pull everything together.”

“It was a long road, but it’s here,” Fleming-Randle said Thursday after the announcement. “We have a Shocker battalion now.”

Fleming-Randle joined WSU in 2007. She wondered then why WSU didn’t have ROTC, she said.

“That was my job, to me — making sure we do have ROTC. For underrepresented students trying to go to college, this is a pipeline.”

When Fleming-Randle spoke during the event, she recognized First Lady Deborah Bardo, President Bardo’s wife, who sat in the front row during the announcement.

“I looked at [President Bardo] and said, ‘We did it,’” FlemingRandle said, describing the moment she and Bardo finalized the new program.

After the event, Deborah Bardo offered a quick reflection: “It’s a great day for the university . . . to provide more diversity and bring more students on campus. John would have loved to be here for it.”

WSU philosophy professor Robert Feleppa, since the mid-1980s.

There used to be quite a few faculty members living in Fairmount, but that isn’t the case anymore, she said.

Minshull-Ford said WSU should expose children in the community to higher education and the resources available at the university.

“All these kids are over the road from a university, and that road, 17th Street, is as deep as the Grand Canyon,” Minshull-Ford said.

“Where there were possibilities that they could gain something, or there would be programs that could affect their lives and give them opportunities they hadn’t had before.

“Some of that GoCreate, the Innovation Campus, is supposed to be geared for the community as much as for the campus, and I’m not sure whether that’s still actually happening,” MinshullFord said.

Lavonta Williams, who represented District 1 on the City Council before Johnson, told the Chung Report last year that WSU is a place where community members feel welcome.

“It is a place where our young people who are surrounding this community now feel like they can go to campus here,” Williams said.

“They can come onto the WSU campus and go to school, where many thought before that they could not come.”

Minshull-Ford said that during the Enough is Enough campaign, Fairmount residents toured Innovation Campus.

“Busloads of us went on tours of campus to see some of that innovation stuff. You know, all the things that are electronic — imaging and all of those things, but where Fairmount neighborhood comes into that, I never really quite knew,” Minshull-Ford said.

She said the community could benefit greatly from an after-school children’s program. Fairmount used to have such a program — Fairmount Go Zones! — which provided games, tutoring, and occasional field trips for children.

The program was held in the education building adjacent to the Fairmount United Church of Christ, but that space was lost when the church sold the property to developers who plan to convert it to student housing.

Minshull-Ford said she wished the Enough is Enough campaign, which addressed such concerns as lighting in Fairmount Park, had longer-lasting effects on the neighborhood.

“You think, my God, what happened to that? Did we just get lighting out of it?” MinshullFord said.

Carrington said certain investments are being made to enhance life for Fairmount residents.

This summer, Farha Development will break ground on Storytime Village Literacy Center, which will promote child literacy in the neighborhood. The literacy center will be located in Holyoke Cottage, which was built in 1887 and later sold to Fairmount College as a women’s dorm.

The first floor of the cottage, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will house Storytime Village.

Upstairs will be dedicated to student housing, Farha said. He said everyone in the community stands to gain from his development.

“Building fences and painting houses and remodeling homes and making them nicer — building and providing housing for students and families — if there’s something wrong with that, then what I’m doing is truly wrong,” Farha said.

www.thesunflower.com

NEWS

MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019

|3

spring family carnival

SAC hosted the 26th annual Spring Family Carnival on the Airbus lawn Saturday KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER

Children and families take part in carnival festivities Saturday during the 26th annual Spring Family Carnival.

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CULTURE

4 | MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019

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‘Dante’s Nightmares and Dreams’ a triumphant Wichita State original

BY BECCA YENSER

“Dante’s Nightmares and Dreams” is a stunning collaboration between the Wichita State Wind Ensemble and the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theatre. Featuring live music, film, and dance, Dante’s classic tale, “The Inferno,” is brought to life in a veritable feast for the senses.

Director of Dance Nicholas Johnson initially took inspiration from a similar production called “Devil’s Lament,” for which he acted as choreographer in 1994. When Director of Bands Timothy Shade reached out to Johnson for assistance in designing something more “visual” for the wind ensemble, Johnson decided to collaborate with him on an original production.

This performance is nothing if not visually striking. “Dante’s Nightmares and Dreams” is a multitiered smorgasbord for the eyes, featuring a wind ensemble centered against a backdrop of film and foregrounded by a troupe of dancers.

In a series of three acts, “Dante’s Nightmares and Dreams” seeks to poetically represent the themes of the classic book, “The Inferno.” The tale of Dante can be simplified as a man tortured by dreams of humanity’s malice toward its own people. It serves as a warning to not repeat our past mistakes and as a plea to instead follow our own muse into the light.

Interestingly, the entire show is rooted in Dante’s fevered mind. This dreamlike state is evoked beautifully by the dance ensemble. Their performances manages to heighten one’s interpretation of the wind ensemble through frenetic, sometimes terrifying, movements.

The first movement, “The World Alive,” features only the wind ensemble and a movie, which plays black and white images of old-fashioned cameras. This segment opens simply, with a euphonium solo (a euphonium is a tenor-voiced brass instrument whose name is Greek for “sweet-voiced.”).

Gradually, the symphony fills in, creating a haunting melody. As the song progresses, so does the film — eventually revealing a figure of a man we follow down to a river, where he begins to develop a photo.

The music slowly crescendos with painfully high flutes, until, sonically, we intuitively know something is wrong. The stage for Dante’s nightmares has been set.

The second act, “Thenato- The Descent to Hell,” showcases a song titled “From a Dark Millenium.” A young Dante (Cainan Spellman-Sak) lies asleep in bed, while dancers writhe at his feet. The dancers are dressed in dark, hooded costumes.

They slither like maggots or demented animals. The figures represent “figments of his dreams, or

ANDREW LINNABARY/THE SUNFLOWER

WSU’s friendliest stray cat, Max, lounges on a bench near the CAC Theater.

Max has lived on campus for over five years. He sleeps in a storm drain.

Meet Max, the campus stray with a loyal fanbase

BY ANDREW LINNABARY

ELLA DOMINGUEZ/THE SUNFLOWER

Dante (Cainan Spellman-Sak) cries for help during dress rehearsal Thursday..

even figments of his imagination,” according to Johnson.

The effect is certainly otherworldly, as the dancers often move in synchronicity to suggest a single organism. Although the music and dance create a synergistic effect, the film portion of this movement feels, at times, cliched. As Dante loses his mind, the video depicts someone with a mental illness. To represent hell, flames are shown.

However, the performance reaches a zenith in the third movement, “Eros — The Ascent to Grace” (with the ensemble playing “Grand Pianola Music Part 1”). Dante overcomes the darkness in his mind to ascend to a beautiful place with the assistance of a blonde-haired muse, played by Kenzie Gannaway.

As she leads him by the hand, an encore of dancers float by in flowy, gorgeous white costumes. Dante’s muse, if we refer to “The Inferno,” is leading him towards clarity and light. He has finally moved from desperation into a mindset where human spirit is defined by its creativity and innovation.

The dancers embody goodness and purity, and the stage lighting grants them a surreal glow. In the final scene, Dante is gently put back to sleep. In his hand has appeared an apple. In a postmodern twist, the band’s conductor stands at the foot of Dante’s bed, gazing down at him. Finally, he takes the apple from Dante’s hand and gives it a bite. The crowd laughs appreciatively at this final sardonic touch.

Ultimately, WSU’s adaptation is

WSU ‘EARTH POD’ DEDICATION AND PICNIC

RIE BLOOMFIELD ORGAN SERIES PRESENTS BRUCE NESWICK

Location: Alumni Green

Location: Wiedemann Hall

Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Time: 7:30 – 9 p.m.

Cost: Free!

Cost: Free student tickets! ($16 regular)

A new sculpture is coming to Wichita State just in time for Earth Day! Brady Hatter’s “Earth Pod” will be dedicated at noon with live remarks from the artist himself.

To make the festivities even more exciting, there will be live music and food trucks for all to enjoy.

Don’t miss this wonderful Earth Day celebration!

SCULPTURE DEDICATION – ELYN ZIMMERMAN: ‘FONT’

Nationally renowned organist Bruce Neswick is stopping by Wichita for a special concert this Tuesday, and if you request your student ticket in advance, you’ll get in for free! In addition to being the current Canon for Cathedral Music at Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Neswick has run the gamut as a choral conductor, improviser, and composer — he’s even created and led a hymn festival. Be sure to catch the show!

WEDNESDAYS AT THE DINER

Location: Shocker Hall

Location: The Lord’s Diner, 520 N. Broadway

Time: 3:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Time: 5 – 6 p.m.

Cost: Free!

Cost: Free!

Sculptor Elyn Zimmerman, known for her use of stone and water, has created a new sculpture for WSU’s Shocker Hall, to be dedicated this Tuesday. “Font” was inspired by an ancient Egyptian alter, and the piece will be revealed at 3:30 p.m. in Shocker Hall Plaza. The reveal and remarks will followed by a reception at 4 and a dedicated artist talk at the Ulrich at 5:30.

Wednesdays at the Diner is a meal series where volunteers help provide food to Wichita’s communities in need. The mission of the diner is to serve others “with dignity and respect . . . 365 days a year,” and on Wednesdays, they provide transportation to any students interested in volunteering.

You can register to volunteer at Wichita.edu/WednesdaysDiner.

COMPILED BY JOHN DARR

a striking, original production that pushes the bounds of creativity and risks sentimentality in order to bring Dante’s “Inferno” to life.

“Hopefully, what you will experience is thought-provoking and even transformative,” Johnson said.

Walking out of the dress rehearsal on Thursday night into a tempestuous Kansas spring, my mind raced with music, dance, and imagery.

“Dante’s Nightmares and Dreams” is transformative, yes. More so, it’s a reminder of the heights to which the human spirit can soar.

Max has lived on campus for more than five years and is nowhere near getting his degree.

Max doesn’t dine at Chick-fil-A or Panda Express. But he does get three square meals a day — sometimes dry, sometimes wet. Maybe a little too much, judging by his belly.

He doesn’t live in Shocker Hall or The Flats. His bed, a storm drain, isn’t all that comfortable.

The closest thing he has to peers are possums and stray cats.

Max is a stray too, but he’s not like the others on campus. He’s friendly.

And he’s popular.

Students, professors, staff members — they all greet Max by name when they see him.

A scruffy black cat with white patches on his belly, Max lives in the stretch of campus near Morrison Hall, Jardine, McKinley, the CAC Theater, and more.

A handful of employees fed and pet Max Wednesday as he lounged on the sidewalk, but none agreed to be identified in a story.

They asked that Max’s exact usual location remain undisclosed for his protection.

“He’s our pet here on campus,” a female staff member who works in Jardine Hall said.

He’s not quite Gregg Marshall, but Max has “got a fan club,” a Facility Services worker said. “They come looking for him.”

That fan club does more than just pet, play with, and feed Max. A month ago, Max emerged from his storm drain limping, his paw hurt from a fight with some unknown foe.

So a female staff member took him to the vet. She paid for his care out of pocket.

Max has shots. He’s been treated for fleas. And he should probably be on a diet, the vet said at the time.

He has an alarm clock in his stomach, the Facility Services worker said.

“He comes around 5 or 5:15 [every day]. If you don’t see him by then, something’s going on, because he’s usually bouncing out of that drain and over here to eat.”

Sometimes Max disappears for days at a time. Each time, Max’s friends figure he finally ran away or lost his ninth live. But Max always comes back eventually.

Nobody knows where Max came from, or why he’s so friendly. They just know that Wichita State is his home, and hope he doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon. These are his stomping grounds.

Maybe he’s eligible for some kind of honorary degree.

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CULTURE/OPINION

www.thesunflower.com

MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019

|5

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Beyonce performs “Hold Up” from her concert film, “Homecoming.”

Beyonce’s ‘Homecoming’ claims and achieves its college dreams

EASTON THOMPSON/THE SUNFLOWER

The Mystery Trio performs during Femme Fest ICT Saturday at Fisch Haus. Femme Fest was an international feminist film festival that consisted of musical performances, films of varying lengths, and a panel discussion.

High school women bring Wichita’s first feminist film festival to life

BY BECCA YENSER

Fisch Haus hosted Wichita’s first International Feminist Film Festival, otherwise known as Femme Fest, on Saturday. The festival was created by two Wichita East High School juniors, Lauren Zoller and Julia Fetters.

The pair were inspired by recent events in their lives as well as their interest in film, they said. Zoller cites her experiences with sexism as a major motivating factor in producing the event.

Zoller’s connection as an intern with Tallgrass Film Association introduced her to, in her words, “two badass, amazing women” — Gretchen Miller and Lela MeadowConnor, who helped the young women start their long process of screening films and sending endless emails to filmmakers, vendors, and sponsors. The two coordinated with countless artists and organizers to launch a festival of striking magnitude.

Femme Fest sparked a great deal of attention in the Wichita community. Two of its three film events were sold out by the day of the show.

The program featured shorts and two longer films, “This Changes

Everything,” and “Miss Arizona,” with panels and musical events sprinkled throughout the day.

The shorts program was made up of six films from around the world, including directors from Pakistan and Guatemala. The shorts were bookended by films directed

by Wichita natives: “Unaware” by Caitlyn Cody and “Fantasy” by Kate Gondwe. Topics of the shorts ranged from teenage heartbreak to child trafficking and basic human rights for women.

“It’s incredibly diverse, and I love every single film in it,” Zoller said of the selection.

One film, “Freedom Fighters,” (directed by Sharmeen ObaidChinoy) unflinchingly follows three brave women in Pakistan and Pashwa as they fight for women’s rights in an incredibly dangerous environment. The film is a blend of gorgeous animation and gritty documentarian-style shots. Pakistan, we learn from the film, is the third most dangerous country for women in the world.

Another short, “Esperanza Y Futuro,” highlights one Guatemalan woman’s quest to provide homes for girls and teenagers who were forced to have babies due to assault.

In a mere 12 minutes, director Claire Imler paints a heartbreaking portrait of a girl’s efforts to raise an infant daughter conceived through rape.

The scope of the films varies greatly, but the overall message is one of feminism — the advocacy of women’s rights based on the idea that men and women are equal.

The talent showcased in the film festival and the responsiveness of the Wichita community bode well for a repeat event next year. It’s hard to imagine a more socially conscious and imperative arts event than Femme Fest.

Although some of these films deal with issues far, far away, we can still learn our own lessons in feminism here in the ICT. “We want this festival to spark motivation, awareness, and activism in the Wichita community,” Zoller said. “It’s so important that this film festival is happening, because even though there have been some advancements in equality, there is so much more that needs to happen.

“No matter what race, gender, or sexuality someone is, they should be equal. We are promoting intersection feminism in this festival — both in our community and world.”

Protection trumps privacy when it comes to child abuse After the event of April 11, with the murder of 3-year-old Zaiden Javonovich, the question that keeps coming up is, How can we protect our children here in Kansas?

Instances like these cause the public to realize how important is it to report any knowledge of abuse/neglect towards a child.

And while many who works with children and families are mandated by the state to report these instances, what if I told you that a portion of that population can choose whether or not to report signs of abuse/ neglect?

The population I am referring to is any duly ordained minister, employee, or volunteer for a religious organization.

As of now, a minister or volunteer

LETTER TO THE EDITOR who not only suspects abuse but hears of it from someone confiding in them, has the option to respect that person’s privacy or chose to protect that child. Kansas Senate Bill 37 believes that protection trumps privacy.

Many service workers, such as daycare workers, teachers, and counselors, are mandated to make

that decision daily. It is estimated that making any duly ordained minister, employee, or volunteer for a religious organization mandated reporters, would increase reports by 4%.

Should those who know about possible abuse report? Senate Bill 37 has been at a standstill since Jan. 23. But I believe that this bill going through could help protect more children. Twenty-six states in the U.S. already have laws requiring religious organizations to report signs of abuse or neglect.

So, my questions is, Can Kansas be the 27th?

-MaKayla Cyphers, Liberal Arts and Sciences senior

When possible, place kids with grandparents — not in foster care Did you know there are currently over 7,000 children in foster care in Kansas?

Kinship placements are preferred by case managers, families, and the children themselves. There are many benefits of children staying with kinship rather than going into the system, such as stability, family support, minimizing trauma, and keeping siblings together.

Therefore, grandparents are a great placement option in situations where foster care is the only other viable placement.

On Feb. 13, Kansas SB166 was introduced. This bill considers children placed with their grandparents under the Grandparents as Caregiver’s Act. Under this program, grandparents would receive a monthly cash benefit of

LETTER TO THE EDITOR $200 per month per child, but not to exceed $600 a month.

This benefit is similar to the benefits received by traditional foster parents. This bill has not had any action since February.

It is my belief that this bill has the potential to reduce the number of children in foster care by encouraging and enabling more grandparents to take in

their grandchildren.

By keeping these children within their families, the cost is much lower for the state. Foster care costs the state between $657 and $820 per child per month. The cost of SB166 is a maximum of $600 per month for the entire household, yet this amount makes a huge difference in the lives of these children and their grandparents.

If you believe in Kansas grandparents like I do, please urge your state representatives to push along SB166, considering it has had no action lately, or to recreate a new bill benefiting grandparents raising grandchildren.

-Carson Chambers, Liberal Arts and Sciences senior

The power of a concert comes from an undeniable presence: bass coursing through your bones, the voice of a singer swelling golden through the air, the look of joy on surrounding strangers’ faces. This makes concerts nearly impossible to document effectively. If you’re not there, you’re just not there, right?

Just a handful of music documentaries overcome this massive boundary, and Beyonce’s “Homecoming” is the latest to do so.

Coachella’s flashing lights and roaring crowd overflow the boundaries of the screen. Stunning costumes and camera angles create a visual feast for the viewer. Essentially, all the flash and bang is anchored by a driving purpose that the enchanting surface only hints at.

“Homecoming” is anchored in the dream of the Historic Black College / University (HBCU).

Beyonce incorporates this stylistically through flashy Greek-lettered uniforms and musically through arrangements fleshed out by marching-band brass. What strikes as a confusing musical touchstone for Beyonce’s genre-spanning discography proves itself within minutes as the brass-laden “Crazy in Love” segues into hit after hit.

“Homecoming” alternates between strings of musical performances and behind-thescenes footage of rehearsal. It’s hard not to let your jaw drop as Beyonce explains the design of the dance in the show.

Even given the highly-ordered design of each dance, all performers were encouraged to bring their own flair to each move. Watching “Homecoming” in the wake of this knowledge is fascinating. Look at any one dancer, then another, and you’ll find that no two dances are alike — even though the entire ensemble seems to move as a cohesive movement.

KBOR

FROM PAGE 1 “The chair could propose names, the regents could propose names,” Keith said. He said campus and community stakeholders could also give recommendations.

“I’m sure that they’ll seek input from a lot of different sources.”

In the past, student leaders have typically had representation on presidential search committees.

In 2012, when John Bardo was recommended to the board as a finalist for the president’s job, both the student body president and the president of the Student Ambassador Society were on the search committee.

JOHN DARR

CULTURE EDITOR The other element brought to life through these making-of scenes is the ridiculous amount of hard work and human resources needed to bring Beyonce’s live show to life. The four months of nonstop work play out like a saga of their own. This plays beautifully off the struggle and success embodied in the show’s HBCU foundation, and the result is inspiring.

In such a way, “Homecoming” champions individual success even as it rotates around a larger-thanlife persona.

It’s of no surprise that a Beyonce concert film would succeed.

Beyonce herself, whether live or on screen, carries the sort of undeniable presence that we hope to feel at any live show. She radiates through the screen — her confidence and composure unwavering.

More than that, “Homecoming” serves as a true illustration of Beyonce’s legacy.

The concert barrels through 40 songs, most of which will be familiar to even casual fans. The sprawling highlight-after-highlight setlist on “Homecoming” marks it as the culmination of a legend’s 20-year career.

Now, with two excellent films under her belt, Beyonce continues to rise beyond her already-legendary status. We can only be thankful that, from such a high place, she dedicates herself to lifting others up.

The committee also included representation for WSU faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, the Regents, and the Wichita community.

WSU Interim President Andy Tompkins was on the committee, as was former Spirit AeroSystems CEO Jeff Turner. The committee was chaired by local real estate developer and WSU alumnus Steve Clark — the namesake of the Steve Clark YMCA and WSU Student Wellness Center, which is currently under construction.

Keith said that if the Regents identify a favorable candidate before their next meeting on May 15, they will likely call a special section to expedite the vote and search committee process.

SPORTS

6 | MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019

www.thesunflower.com

WSU baseball literally goes lights-out in weekend series

JOSEPH BARRINGHAUS/THE SUNFLOWER

Men’s Basketball Head Coach Gregg Marshall picked up his 300th win at Wichita State against UConn on March 5 at Charles Koch Arena.

SHOCKER BASKETBALL NEWS

EASTON THOMPSON / THE SUNFLOWER

Wichita State junior Jacob Katzfey drops a bunt against the University of Central Florida Friday at Eck Stadium.

Junior college transfer completes 2019-2020 roster

BY EVAN PFLUGRADT

Wichita State Head Coach Gregg Marshall has filled the last of his remaining scholarship openings with junior college transfer Trey Wade.

Wade announced he will transfer to Wichita State via Twitter on Thursday.

He is eligible immediately.

The Shockers had two open scholarships for the spring after the departures of Ricky Torres and Rod Brown. Last week, Marshall hosted Wade and fourstar prospect Grant Sherfield on official visits.

Sherfield committed to WSU on Tuesday. He is the second-highest rated recruit under the Marshallera at WSU. With Wade’s commitment, there are no longer any

remaining scholarships available for next season.

Wade had his search narrowed to Wichita State and Florida, though Florida ran limited on open scholarships after Louisiana Tech transfer Anthony Duruji committed to the Gators on Tuesday and filled the final opening.

With his 6-foot-7, 210-lb frame, Wade adds versatility to WSU’s undersized front-court. He will fill the void left by graduating senior Markis McDuffie. His versatility on the wing translated to averages of 13 points, seven rebounds, and two assists per game as a sophomore at South Plains Community College.

He will be expected to share time with Dexter Dennis and Teddy Allen, who can each rotate into the four-spot, as well as De’Antoni Gordon, an incoming freshman.

W

BY EVAN PFLUGRADT

ichita State baseball ended a six-game losing streak with an 8-6 victory against Central Florida Thursday.

Umpires called off Friday’s game in the top of the seventh inning after a light fixture over the third-base line malfunctioned. Play resumed Saturday morning, with WSU losing 3-11.

For only the second time this season, the Shockers won the final game of the series, defeating the Knights 6-4 in Saturday’s rubber match. In the final game, WSU struck out 17 batters.

Left, Junior Preston Snavely delivers a pitch to a UCF batter Friday evening.

EASTON THOMPSON / THE SUNFLOWER

SHOCKER SOFTBALL WINS 2 OF 3 AGAINST EAST CAROLINA

Junior Eli Farrakhan announces departure

BY SEAN MARTY

Eli Farrakhan will not return to WSU next season.

“Loved my time being here but I have to do what’s best for me and my future,” Farrakhan wrote in a Twitter post early Thursday morning.

Farrakhan was originally put on scholarship after the departure of Chance Moore in December. He becomes the third Shocker to announce transfer in a week, following Ricky Torres and Rod Brown.

Marshall has already filled the vacancies left open

by Torres and Brown, with Sherfield and Wade.

Farrakhan’s absence does not open any remaining scholarships for next season, as three scholarships were already occupied by fall signees. WSU graduated two seniors, and Farrakhan’s return to walk-on status would have resolved the scholarship overflow for next year’s squad.

None of WSU’s three transfers — Torres, Brown, and Farrakhan — have announce transfer destinations yet.

AAC agrees to scheduling alliance with SEC next year

BY MARSHALL SUNNER

Four American Athletic Conference teams will play an opponent from the Southeastern Conference next season.

The AAC and the SEC announced a scheduling agreement that will have four teams from each conference play a home-and-home series in the next

two seasons. Schools participating in the alliance will be announced in May. All games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.

“This agreement demonstrates the continued growth and appeal of American Athletic Conference basketball,” AAC commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement.

The Counseling and Testing Center is now

& The Counseling and Testing Center is now Counseling and Prevention Services (CAPS) and Testing Services! For the rest of 2019, you will be able to still find both services located in 320 Grace Wilkie Hall, and can still reach us 316.978.3440. Visit our new websites at wichita.edu/caps and wichita. edu/testing.

KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER

Wichita State junior Ryleigh Buck swings at a pitch during the game against ECU at Wilkins Stadium Friday.

Spring Sculpture Dedication

Elyn Zimmerman Font

Tuesday, April 23 3:30 P.M. Reveal and Remarks 4:00 P.M. Reception Shocker Hall Plaza 5:30 P.M. Artist Talk Ulrich Museum of Art

Zimmerman’s Font comes out of the artist’s decades-long fascination with stone as a material and the forms of ancient structures familiar to us through the work of archaeologists. Font evokes ancient sacred forms from a number of cultures around the world and was most directly inspired by an ancient Egyptian altar that featured a round stone sunk into a table. In Zimmerman’s interpretation, the round stone of the original altar is replaced by a polished black granite disk over whose edge water flows hypnotically. At WSU, the piece is sited so as to encourage interaction with passersby and will provide a meditative oasis in the midst of a bustling campus.