MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2018 • VOL. 123, ISS. 18
THESUNFLOWER.COM
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.
Orman denies rumors, says he will not drop out of governor’s race BY MATTHEW KELLY
Independent Greg Orman has heard plenty of rumors that he’ll soon drop out of the Kansas governor’s race. He denies them all. “I’ve heard about two dozen [rumors], but I will tell you, they’re all untrue,” Orman said. “We are in this race ‘til the end.” Republican Kris Kobach and Democrat Laura Kelly remain in a dead heat with less than three weeks until Election Day. A recent Remington Research Group poll shows the race to be a statistical tie between the two major-party candidates. Another poll conducted by Emerson College showed Orman polling at roughly 9 percent. Orman, who nearly unseated Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts as an independent in 2014, rejects the notion
that he’s merely a kingmaker in the governor’s race. “I actually see a lot of momentum coming our way,” Orman said. “I continue to be confident that we’re going to pull it out. “A vote for me isn’t a vote for Kobach or a vote for Kelly. A vote for me is a vote for Kansas,” Orman said. In an interview with KAKE, FiveThirtyEight editor in chief Nate Silver speculated that Orman is pulling more votes from Kelly than Kobach. “If [Orman] were to like drop out, that could significantly change the race, and probably he is a factor helping Kobach,” Silver said. FiveThirtyEight’s governor’s forecast gives the Republican secretary of state a 2.3 percent advantage over the Democratic state senator. Kobach has already drawn
KYLIE CAMERON/THE SUNFLOWER
Independent candidate for governor Greg Orman pictured in the Rhatigan Student Center.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to the Sunflower State to rally on his behalf. On Thursday, former Republican Gov. Mike Hayden
endorsed Kelly, joining every other living former governor of Kansas besides Sam Brownback. Orman said his is the only vision that will move Kansas forward.
“Secretary Kobach is talking about starving the government. Senator Kelly has got all sorts of things she wants to spend money on but has no way to pay for them except to raise taxes,” Orman said. The independent said a vote for either Kobach or Kelly will maintain the status quo in Kansas. “In my mind, the only way to truly waste your vote is to vote for one more Democrat or one more Republican to run our state, because they’ve clearly demonstrated they don’t have the vision or the innovative ideas or the ways to do it,” Orman said. “It’s a little sad that we feel like we have to vote for a bad candidate just to avoid a worse one.” Once a candidate has qualified to be on the November ballot, their name cannot be removed.
Shocker baseball hosts SCREAMage
Screaming into season
KENZIE BORLAND/THE SUNFLOWER
Lambda Pi Upsilon welcomes its new members on their founding line presentation Sept. 24 outside of the Rhatigan Student Center.
MARSHALL SUNNER/THE SUNFLOWER
Tommy Barnhouse (T-Rex) gets a hit during the SCREAMage at Eck Stadium on Saturday. SCREAMage is a WSU baseballhosted event with a scrimmage and variety of other family activities.
SEE SCREAMage PAGE 4
Livesay named new dean of engineering BY ANDREW LINNABARY
Dean of the Graduate School Dennis Livesay is the college of engineering’s new dean, effective Jan. 1, the university announced Thursday. Livesay — who also holds the roles of associate vice president for research and technology transfer and professor of chemistry — succeeds Royce Bowden, who resigned June 30. Selecting Livesay was “the right thing to do,” Provost Rick Muma said, to grow the engineering school to “include more things beyond traditional engineering.” “Research, technology, data — it’s all going to be focused around that in the future, and Dennis has expertise,” Muma said. Before coming to WSU, Livesay held positions as professor of bioinformatics and genomics and was the founding director of the bioinformatics and computational biology Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. He started his academic career at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, where he was a faculty member in the chemistry department from 2000 to 2006. Livesay said his engineering background comes from “computing and various slices of biomedical
JOSEPH BARRINGHAUS/THE SUNFLOWER
Dennis Livesay, speaks to faculty and staff at an open forum on Monday, Sept. 10, 2018. Livesay, dean of Graduate School, will be the dean of engineering, effective Jan. 1.
engineering.” He said that aligns with his plan of making the college more nontraditional — while also retaining its traditional programs. “One of the things I’m excited about is being able to bring a broad interdisciplinary approach to engineering,” Livesay said. “There are opportunities for us to move into the cracks between disciplines.” “We shouldn’t be positioning different flavors of ourselves like they’re a threat to each other. In
fact, we can get something where the whole is greater than the parts if we work together. If we think about badges and micro masters and other new forms of education, there’s value in them. “Some view it as a threat to the traditional model. I see it as a way of saving the traditional model.” Of the four finalists for the dean position, Livesay was the only candidate who already worked at WSU.
Members of Lambda Pi talk integration into WSU’s Greek community DRAKE ROBINSON
The Chi Colony of Lambda Pi Upsilon Sorority, Latinas Poderosas Unidas, Inc., joined the ranks of the Greek community at Wichita State earlier this year. Last month, the organization held a new member presentation at the Rhatigan Student Center. Some of the members shared their thoughts about why they chose to join the organization and what they see in the group’s future. Raquel Diaz said joining the sorority gave her the chance to get involved on WSU’s campus activities, meet new people, and make friends. Diaz said the existing fraternities and sororities on campus “had open arms” and have been welcoming to the new sorority, inviting their members to social gatherings going on in the community. Adriana De La O, another Lambda Pi Upsilon member, said she decided to join the sorority because she wanted to be “a part of an organization” that she “fully committed herself to” and “work to better the organization as well.” She said she learned about the sorority when the expansion director gave a presentation this spring. De La O said she enjoyed the new member presentation because it helped her “break out of her shell” and the WSU community’s support for Lambda Pi Upsilon was encouraging. Julisa Martinez said she joined the organization because
she “wanted to be a part of something new.” As a business major, Martinez said she believes she will be able to make a positive impact in forming and expanding the sorority. Martinez said the founding line presentation was energizing to her because of the WSU Greek community’s support. She said Lambda Pi Upsilon is planning several events with the rest of the fraternities and sororities that she is looking forward to. As far as the activities that the sorority has been involved in to date, there have been a few significant events like a take the League Seminar and a leadership summit for ODI this week, but since the organization is still new, it’s still establishing upcoming events and programs. The three sorority members said they want people to know that Lambda Pi is all-inclusive. As an organization, Lambda Pi Upsilon has a Latina-based tradition, but is open for all women to join. Adriana said the main goal of the sorority is to “empower women to feel their best self and to be more involved on campus.” She said she hopes to attract a variety of women on campus to the sorority. Martinez said she wants potential new recruits to know that their input will matter, and that because the organization is new, new recruits will be able to help shape Lambda Pi to make what they want out of it.
INSIDE
LOSING CULTURE
SHOCKTOBERFEST
NEW HOME
Check out the WSU community’s hot takes.
Beloved Wichita establishments keep closing their doors.
Pumpkin Run and Trunk or Treat kicked off Shocktoberfest festivities.
WSU Rowing finally gets a boathouse.
OPINION • PAGE 2
OPINION • PAGE 2
CULTURE • PAGE 3
SPORTS • PAGE 4
OPINION LINE