THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018 • VOL. 122, ISS. 32
THESUNFLOWER.COM
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.
Finally.
MATT CROW/THE SUNFLOWER
Gov. Sam Brownback smiles during his visit to Wichita State’s Innovation Campus in the spring of 2017. He was confirmed as Ambassador of International Religious Freedom at-large Wednesday, and is expected to resign from his post as governor as early as next week.
Brownback confirmed as international religious freedom ambassador BY CHANCE SWAIM
K
ansas Gov. Sam Brownback was confirmed as the international religious freedom ambassador atlarge by a vote of 50-49, clearing the way for Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, a Johnson County plasic surgeon, to succeed him as governor. The Associated Press reported that Brownback is expected to resign from his
position as governor as early as next week. Colyer will step in when he resigns. A 50-49 cloture vote by the U.S. Senate — a deadlock broken by Vice President Mike Pence’s 50th vote in favor — on Wednesday cleared the way for a confirmation vote on Trump’s appointment of Brownback to an at-large ambassadorship for international religious freedom, based in Washington, D.C. Senators voted on party lines.
Republicans voted in favor and Democrats voted against Brownback’s nomination. Republicans control the senate with 51 seats, but John McCain (R-Ari.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) were both absent, leaving a 49-49 split, which left Pence with the deciding vote. Brownback, who was nominated for the ambassadorship by President Donald Trump in July, has been one of the nation’s most unpopular governors in recent years.
“Normally, these things would have moved forward much more expeditiously, but it hasn’t and it’s been a difficult time for the United States Senate, the Congress, this year. But I’m glad it’s coming up,” Brownback told reporters Wednesday afternoon at a school choice rally in Topeka. Brownback’s new position will oversee the country’s advocacy for religious minorities in areas of religious conflict and oppression around the globe.
SGA changes supreme SGA offers internship to comply with ADA court composition meetings, but so far none of the fall meetings have been uploaded online. “Nowhere is it mandated that we have video and audio recordings of our meetings,” Hungate said in an email this week. Hungate said the reasoning for creating the internship is “to create a long-term solution that can be carried over into future sessions.” The intern would record and transcribe all audio from the student senate meetings and advise the director of public relations on uploads and editing. Vice President Breck Towner said he’d like to see the position
BY CHANCE SWAIM
BY DANIEL CAUDILL
The Student Government Association passed a bill to reform the composition of the Student Supreme Court during its meeting on Wednesday night. The Student Supreme Court was previously composed of three full-time faculty members — as appointed by the President of the University — and four student members appointed by the Student
Body President. Under the new legislation — passed by a 33-2 vote — the Court be composed of two full-time faculty members and five student members, effective next year. According to Student Body President Paige Hungate, a vacancy will open as a faculty’s term as a Justice ends. A student nominee will fill the seat. SEE COURT PAGE 4
Wichita State’s student government association is offering an internship through the Career Development Center for a student to make sure its captions on videos are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In October, SGA dropped its Facebook live stream out of concerns it was not ADA compliant. “Live streams are not ADA compliant because it doesn’t have automatically-generated captioning,” Hungate said in October. Hungate said SGA will make the videos available soon after
filled in the next week to week and a half. “Currently, we are waiting for applications to come in. Depending on the number that we receive I hope to have someone in this role within the next 2-3 weeks, but if possible I would like to have someone in this role within the next week and a half. “I wish I had a set time frame, but currently it is completely dependent upon applicants,” Towner said. This position will housed in the SGA office in the Rhatigan Student Center and may also require some work from home hours.
Faculty senate votes to select committee members for provost search BY JENNA FARHAT
Four faculty members will help the university find a new provost. Business professor Gery Markova and music professor Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn were voted to the provost search committee during a faculty senate meeting Monday. Faculty Senate President Carolyn Shaw said she and Betty Smith-Campbell — Faculty Senate president-elect and senator from the school of nursing — were asked to serve on the committee by President John Bardo. The committee, which will be chaired by Vice President for Finance and Administration Werner Golling, is in charge of the national search for a new provost following Provost and Senior Vice
President Tony Vizzini’s paid leave from the university “to focus on his professional goals.” He will continue to receive his $297,353 salary while on leave. The provost is the top academic officer, and assumes the university president’s role if the president is unable to serve. Rick Muma, senior associate vice president for academic affairs and strategic enrollment management will serve as interim provost until the position is filled. Shaw said in an email that provost search committee members have not been finalized yet, “but will likely have about 15 members from units all across campus that interact regularly with the Office of Academic Affairs.” She said the university aims to
have the position filled by the start of the next academic year. “President Bardo said he thinks it’s very important that the Faculty Senate have a good representation, that this is a very important search, and wants us to be a key part of it,” Shaw said. Ballots were passed out to senators, who voted confidentially for their picks for the provost search committee. Senators picked two from a list of five nominated faculty senators that agreed to serve on the committee if they were chosen — Abu Asaduzzaman, engineering senator; Gamal Weheba, engineering senator; Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn, fine arts senator; Gery Markova, business senator; and Bob Ross, business senator.
BRIAN HAYES/THE SUNFLOWER
Senators pick up their name tags prior to the start of the Faculty Senate meeting. Faculty Senate votes for provost search committee members Monday afternoon.
INSIDE
I, TONYA: HIT AND MISS
DID YOU MAKE A WISH?
BOWLER TAKES VEGAS
Is Wichita State’s move to online courses good or bad for students?
A witty cast underperforms.
Yoko Ono’s idea lands on campus. Have you made a wish yet?
Cortez Schenck won the amateur bowling championship in Las Vegas.
OPINON • PAGE 2
CULTURE • PAGE 3
CULTURE • PAGE 3
SPORTS • PAGE 4
MOVING ONLINE