MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2018 • VOL. 122, ISS. 47
THESUNFLOWER.COM
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.
‘THE BIG DANCE’ OF DEBATE
College of engineering dean leaving WSU in June BY ANDREW LINNABARY
College of engineering dean Royce Bowden is leaving Wichita State June 30 to “invest the next chapter of his life to BOWDEN philanthropic and scholarly interests,” according to a news release. Interim Provost Rick Muma will work with the engineering faculty and staff to select an interim leader and conduct a national search for the next dean, the release says. Bowden will have completed 30 years of higher education work when he leaves the university, with the last five of those at WSU. He became dean of the college in 2014. Before coming to WSU, Bowden served as associate dean for academic affairs at Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University. In that time, Dean Bowden “has done a tremendous amount of work on the progress of the university’s mission by advancing STEM education, research and developing new cutting-edge teaching spaces in the Experiential Engineering Building,” Muma said in the release. “Royce has been a great colleague and he will be missed. We wish him well.” Bowden said he’s “grateful to have had the opportunity” to oversee and help grow the college of engineering. “I am proud to be a Shocker and will forever cheer for Wichita State’s continued success,” Bowden said in the release.
BRIAN HAYES/THE SUNFLOWER
Lee Thompson, one of the debaters that won the National Debate Tournament for WSU 50 years ago, laughs with Jeff Jarman during the NDT award ceremony in Marriott.
WSU hosts 2018 National Debate Tournament on 50th anniversary of tournament victory
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it into the elimination round. The next year, Shields and Thompson won the nationwide tournament held at the Brooklyn College in New York. “Bob Shields and I went to that tournament (in 1967) and made the elimination round,” Thompson said. “We were seniors in school years ‘67-’68.” In their victory tournament, Shields and Thompson defeated schools such as Michigan State
BY DANIEL CAUDILL
ichita State hosted the National Debate Tournament for the first time this weekend, aligning with the 50-year anniversary of Shocker Debate’s victory at the tournament. The tournament was held at the University of Chicago in 1967, where Shocker debaters Robert Shields and Lee Thompson made
and Butler University. Shields served as the WSU student body president during this time, and Thompson, a political science major, served on his cabinet as treasurer. Fifty years later, WSU hosted the tournament for the first time. Director of the Elliott School of Communication Jeff Jarman has been a director for WSU’s debate team for 22 years. “When I came in ‘96, we were not actively attempting to qualify to this tournament,” Jarman said. “We’ve become increasingly competitive among the national caliber programs that do this.” WSU qualified for the tournament by winning enough
district-wide competitions against regional schools in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. “To me, (debate) is the single hardest thing we ask an undergraduate student to do,” Jarman said. “The amount of time it takes to research and the depth of research and preparation that’s required has often been compared to writing a master’s thesis.” Jarman described the National Debate Tournament as “unique” because it is a competition without divisions. “This tournament has elite private schools. Harvard is here. They were the top-seed at the tournament,” he said. “Schools SEE DEBATE PAGE 3
A son’s promise BY MATT COOPER
Six thousand miles separate Gary Kinard and the last link to a life and family in Yokohama, Japan, to whom he swore a promise 28 years ago. Kinard, a WSU graduate, now 64, intends to track down his mother’s family in Japan and make good on a promise made to a cousin nearly 30 years ago. Via his native Japanese mother’s niece, Masoko Sanada, Kinard plans to renew ties to his roots abroad. In spending the upcoming spring semester studying Japanese at Aoyama Gakuin University, Kinard will have the ideal setting to do just that. During his first stint in college at WSU, Kinard’s cousin Masoko came for a visit to Wichita from Yokoyama. During her stay Kinard extended a promise to her which would determine the course of his later adult life. “I promised her that I would visit her and give a return visit in Japan,” Kinard said. This was 1980. Kinard extended this promise to his mother in her dying days in 1992. How Gary Kinard got here Kinard was born to Taeko Koyanagi and U.S Airforce operative Graze Kinard in Japan in 1954. Kinard recounts his early childhood in Japan and playing with cousin Masoko. “We didn’t understand each others’ language,” he said. “But when we played, there was no
language barrier. We all fit right in.” Kinard’s childhood was marked by constant moves. At six, his father was re-stationed to Taiwan. The family would return to Japan intermittently over the years. However, the Kinards finally returned to Graze Kinard’s hometown: Wichita. At a young age Kinard realized a certain humility in his mother’s native language. “The mannerisms are polite,” he said. “It’s not like when I’m speaking in English. There’s just more politeness when I’m trying to speak to somebody.” After graduating from West High in 1972, Kinard joined the Navy as an aviation electrician. He served at Atsugi Naval base in Japan working in avionics. Later he served a stint in the Philippines and just before being medically discharged, aided in Operation New Life, receiving Vietnamese refugees at Orote Point Guam after the fall of Saigon in April of 1975. When Kinard was discharged, he enrolled at Wichita State. By 1982, he had earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. While a student, Kinard worked as a DJ for KMUW and played a part in petitioning the station to bring the first Soul and R&B radio time-slot to Wichita. After college, Kinard worked for Boeing until being contracted by aerospace defense contractor Northrop Grumman in Los Angeles, Calif. There he contributed to testing
on explosives and even the Stealth B2 bomber until retiring in 2012. As with the passing of time, comes the passing of the ones who gave us life. Kinard’s mother Taeko fell ill in 1992. Immediately he flew home to Wichita to accompany his mother before her passing. Kinard, with a solemn countenance, tells of his sense of cultural disconnect after his mother’s death and how in her wake, his connection to Japanese was severed. “When my mother passed that knocked out all communication,” he said. After witnessing his mother’s last breaths Kinard developed a resolve which to this day he has not lost. “I want to keep my promise to Masoko,” he said while holding back tears. “I want to keep my promise to my mother and to my cousin.” Awaiting departure for home Despite military service, a full career, travels all over the world and a well-rounded education, one task remains for Kinard. In 2016, Kinard enrolled at WSU with one goal: Learn Japanese and get back to Japan and Masoko. Since then he has taken four Japanese classes and is now comfortable with the basic mechanics of the language. Kinard commented on his esteem for WSU Professor of Japanese Yumi Foster. “She has been a wonderful teacher.” he said. “She has inspired me to continue.”
COURTESY
Kinard, second from the right, and his mother, Taeko, pose for a photo. The Kinard family lived in Japan, Taiwan, Tampa Fl., Washington, D.C. and Wichita, Kan. during Gary’s childhood. Throughout the years he maintained contact with his cousin by writing letters and talking on the phone.
With this new-found connection, Kinard traveled to Okayama Japan in the Summer of 2017 as a part of the WSU study abroad program. He studied there for three weeks and is determined to return. WSU Director of Study Abroad Ann Burger commented on Kinard’s will to make his promise to his family a reality. “[He] is very passionate about learning the Japanese language and culture”, Burger said. “After a lot of perseverance, he has made it happen.” Now, Kinard prepares for an even gutsier endeavor. During Japan’s spring semester, which begins at the end of March, he will attend
Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. “I just want to be able to talk to my relatives,” he said. “I want to find Masoko.” Masoko, Kinard’s only connection to the maternal side of his family, will be the first person he wants to track down while abroad at Aoyama. Kinard plans to travel to Okayama City and present officials at city hall with all of his family documentation: Births certificates of himself and his mother, social security cards and his Visa. All of Kinard’s effort comes at a risk that Masoko and the rest of his mother’s family may no longer SEE KINARD PAGE 3
INSIDE
BIGGER IS BETTER
BASEBALL SWEEPS
SOMETHING TASTY
WSU wants hands-on learning, but the student paper may have its funding cut..
Rethink mammoth-sized music.
The Shockers sweeped Furman.
The dish with a Hawaiin twist.
OPINION • PAGE 2
CULTURE • PAGE 3
SPORTS • PAGE 3
CULTURE • PAGE 3
WHERE’S THE LEARNING?