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THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018 • VOL. 122, ISS. 48

THESUNFLOWER.COM

WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.

Student government wants The Sunflower to look like this next year Student Senate approved a student fees budget by a 21-18 vote Wednesday night, cutting The Sunflower’s funding request in half. The budget still has to be signed by Wichita State President John Bardo, but if he doesn’t restore The Sunflower’s funding to its previous level — $105,000 for the last two years and $158,000 before that

— papers would have to look a lot like today’s. The Sunflower’s total operation budget for next year is $196,000. $75,000 of that will come from student fees. That means the newspaper will be expected to sell $121,000 in advertisements to meet its budget. To make that happen, The Sunflower will have to sell

about three out of its four pages to advertisers. Besides the fact that’s an unattainable goal in the current state of advertising across the country, it would leave less room for The Sunflower to tell the stories Wichita State’s students deserve. Today’s paper is a reflection of that. If you want more news, opinion,

culture, and sports in next year’s paper, please urge President Bardo to restore The Sunflower’s funding. He can be reached at president@ wichita.edu. Let him know a university supported, student-run, editorially independent newspaper is vital to the Wichita State community. —The Sunflower editorial board

SUNFLOWER CUT

Here’s the budget the Student Senated voted 21-18 to approve FIXED-LINE ITEMS

Educational Opportunity Fund 2018 allocation: $260,041 2019 requested: $257,586 2019 recommended: $257,586 (100 percent)

STUDENT AFFAIRS

2018 allocation: $2,761,340 2019 requested: $2,876,059 2019 recommended: $2,871,059 (99.8 percent)

RHATIGAN STUDENT CENTER

2018 allocation: $4,849,000 2019 requested: $5,004,750 2019 recommended: $5,004,750 (100 percent)

THE SUNFLOWER

2018 allocation: $105,000 2019 requested: $158,000 2019 recommended: $80,000 (50.6 percent)

CAMPUS RECREATION

2018 allocation: $1,040,337 2019 requested: $1,043,550 2019 recommended: $1,027,412 (98.5 percent)

STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION BRIAN HAYES/THE SUNFLOWER

Vice President of Student Affairs Teri Hall listens as student senators debate on the recommended student fees budget during the meeting on Wednesday night.

Senate narrowly approves cut to the Sunflower

HOW YOUR STUDENT SENATE VOTED ON THE STUDENT FEES BUDGET

YES

TOTAL FIXED LINE ITEMS

2018 allocation: $9,461,915 2019 requested: $9,598,152 2019 recommended: $9,497,014 (98.9 percent)

NON-FIXED-LINE ITEMS BAJA SAE

2018 allocation: $15,000 2019 requested: $14,250 2019 recommended: $11,250

BY JENNA FARHAT

he student senate approved the student fees budget proposal by a 21-18 vote Wednesday night. The student senate cannot change the budget for fixed-line items, such as The Sunflower. They can only vote to approve or reject the student fees budget as a whole. The senate voted to give The Sunflower half of the $158,000 it requested. “The very first time I read these line items I asked myself, why is The Sunflower being picked on?” Senator Kathy Bond said. “As a communications major, I think it’s very important that we fund The Sunflower.” Because of this, Bond said she would vote against the student fees budget. Senator Matt Miller said this was an opportunity for student government to repair relationships with The Sunflower. “As many of us know, currently the relations between SGA and The Sunflower are not really the best,” Miller said during debate. “We hold an opportunity to extend an olive branch to them and I think we should take advantage of that,” Miller said, encouraging the senate to vote against the budget. “We should be giving as many journalism students as possible — and as many not-journalism students as possible — the opportunity to get involved and get real-world working experience about how to write, about how to engage in newspapers, and understanding the importance of news and the media. I don’t want to miss that.” Student Government’s Faculty Adviser Nancy Loosle reminded

2018 allocation: $281,197 2019 requested: $258,207 2019 recommended: $258,207 (100 percent)

BEARTH

BERGKOETTER

BERRY

BURDICK

AHUKANNA

BARRAZA

BOND

BRINKLEY

DODD

HOLLAND

HOOVER

BRUMLEY

BUCCHIN

FORMULA TEAM

2018 allocation: $66,066 2019 requested: $70,000 2019 recommended: $49,550

NOT PICTURED

DELEVANTE

(79 percent)

CAO

ENSZ

(71 percent)

CSG VISITING ARTIST

2018 allocation: $5,200 2019 requested: $5,200 2019 recommended: $3,345 (64 percent)

JIHAN

KABLER

KALSCHEUR

LAMPSON

MATTEK

MILLER

NORDBY

PAUL

MIKROKOSMOS

2018 allocation: $2,000 2019 requested: $3,710 2019 recommended: $3,710 (100 percent)

MODEL UN LOPEZ

MAJURE

RIVERA

SANDERS

RAFFI

ROWELL

RWEGASIRA

SANCHEZ

2018 allocation: $20,000 2019 requested: $20,000 2019 recommended: $20,000 (100 percent)

SHIFT SPACE GALLERY SANJUAN

WAGES

WILLIAMS

YANG

SOUPENE

TALAVERA

ABSENT

2018 allocation: $67,067 2019 requested: $67,067 2019 recommended: $67,067 (100 percent)

COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS PROGRAMMING

2018 allocation: $35,000 2019 requested: $45,000 2019 recommended: $40,000 (89 percent)

ZOUMY FRIEDERICH

student senators that time is limited to consider changes to the student fees budget, and that a decision had to be made soon. If the student senate had turned down the budget proposal Wednesday, it would have been sent back to the Student Fees Committee for reconsideration. “All departmental budgets have to be submitted by the end of April. This is a state timeline that

FRYE

KHAN

we have to adhere to,” Loosle said. Senator Greg Bucchin questioned the discretionary funding of $200,000 that the student affairs department received as a fixed-line item. “Yes, you’ve gone through what’s in that $200,000. But the real question is, did each of those requests come through the financing committee?” Bucchin said.

WRIGHT

“I don’t know that it’s appropriate for student government — and this might irritate some people — for student government to make a decision about staffing levels in student affairs. I’m sorry, it’s the truth,” Hall said. “The severity of the issues that we deal with, especially with this case manager position, was critical. These are students who are threatening suicide.”

ICAA - ECK STADIUM TURF REPLACEMENT (NEW)

2019 requested: $165,000 2019 recommended: $0 (0 percent)

GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION (NEW)

2019 requested: $10,818 2019 recommended: $0 (0 percent)

GRADUATE STUDENT PROGRAMMING (NEW) 2019 requested: $20,000 2019 recommended: $10,000 (50 percent)

OPINION

2 | THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018

As the faculty adviser to The Sunflower, I am beyond disheartened that the Student Government Association has decided to slash the funding for the student newspaper to only half of what the paper requested, especially since it was cut by a third two years ago. A nearly 50 percent cut in just three years — from $158,000 to $80,000 — will be incredibly difficult to navigate. It will mean fewer paid positions for students and less coverage for the campus community. Some senators, including SGA leadership, continue to suggest that The Sunflower students should simply sell more ads. The business model for newspapers has changed drastically over the past decade, and it simply isn’t that simple. Advertising revenue has plummeted, for professional

newspapers and student newspapers alike. For the first time, The New York Times is now relying more on subscriptions than print ad sales. If you apply the professional newspaper model to a campus newspaper, student fees pay for a subscription for every Wichita State student. Look at it not as SGA funds, but student funds. For the past two years, WSU students have paid about $7 each a year to help fund The Sunflower, and for that $7, they can pick up a campus newspaper twice a week and find more content online. Every story, headline, photo, cartoon, graphic and design is created by students. Those students are paid for their work. Funding the Student Government Association at $258,000 and the student newspaper at $80,000 seems

www.thesunflower.com

LETTER to the EDITOR disproportionate to me. Both play important leadership roles on campus, both offer hands-on experience, and both pay salaries for students’ time and work. One happens to be exercising its constitutionally protected First Amendment right to freedom of expression, and that seems to be what is at issue here. Since 1896, The Sunflower has provided a hands-on learning experience for students, but just as important, it has served as an open forum for student voices. The students who work for the paper learn in the best

way possible — by doing journalism. And students across campus get to learn about what the administration and student government leaders are doing on their behalf. Editorially independent student newspapers operate outside of faculty or administrative control. Editors and reporters are encouraged to seek answers to difficult questions and sometimes challenge authority, and that watchdog function of a free press creates somewhat of a natural conflict between any newspaper and the government it reports on. But democracy depends on engaged citizens and the fourth estate, and a campus newspaper provides applied learning in both. SGA presidents have come and gone. Sunflower editors have come and gone. But The Sunflower has served as a

forum for student voices as well as a preserver of institutional history for more than a century. Previous administrators and Student Government Associations have protected the funding for the paper, because they understood the value, even when they disagreed with the coverage. That’s why The Sunflower is in the fixed lineitem category. No matter the content, I hope students, faculty and administrators understand the value of supporting a student newspaper on campus. And to those senators who were brave enough to stand up for your fellow students and a free press, I applaud you. — Amy DeVault Journalism instructor / The Sunflower faculty adviser Wichita State University

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“The Sunflower has created a reporting standard that other student publications aim to follow. Thank you for leading other collegiate journalists to demonstrate the same integrity.”

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You’re not alone

Former student journalist to you; Don’t. Give. Up.

EN MAS’

Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean On view April 21 – August 12, 2018

We support you! IMAGE: Ebony G. Patterson, Invisible Presence: Bling Memories, April 27, 2014. Performance. Location: Kingston, Jamaica. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago. Photograph: Monique Gilpin and Philip Rhoden.

Saturday, April 21

Kansas State University

7–9 p.m. | Spring Exhibition Opening Location: Ulrich Museum Free Admission | Public Welcome Music, dance, parade and pageantry fill the evening of our spring feast, the opening of EN MAS’: Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean. Explore the galleries and venture amongst the works of the nine exhibition artists as they explore the history of performance art related to the traditions of Caribbean Carnival. Snakettes offer Creole favorites, roadside fare, regional ingredients, and spice blends of the Caribbean with fresh fruit drinks, and rum punch. Interludes of reggae, calypso and soca flow throughout the art center and out onto the plaza. EN MAS’: Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean is an exhibition curated by Claire Tancons and Krista Thompson; organized by the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), New Orleans and Independent Curators International (ICI), New York. The exhibition is made possible by an Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award. Additional support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and by the Institut français in support of African and Caribbean projects. The exhibition debuted at CAC New Orleans in spring 2015, and will tour through 2018. The Ulrich presentation is made possible by contributions from The Gridley Family Foundation, John and Nancy Brammer, Celebrity Cruises, The Khicha Family Foundation, Dr. Sam and Jacque Kouri, Martin Pringle Law Firm, Ron and Lee Starkel, Westar Energy, Clark and Sharon Bastian, Jane McHugh, Louise L. Beren, Eric Engstrom and Robert Bell, Sondra M. Langel, Liz and Bob Workman and an anonymous donor. Additional generous support provided by Denise and Rex Irwin, Marcia and Ted D. Ayres, Charles E. Baker, Laurie and Mark A. Finucane, Justus H. Fugate, George and Eleanor Lucas, Dr. Pat Purvis, Dr. Dennis and Ann Ross, Don and Ellie Skokan, Dorothy Shannon, Stev Overstreet, John and Kay Morse, Bill, Julia and Luke McBride in honor of Bob Workman, and Dasa and Nalini Gangadhar.

For use on a light color background, on uncoated materials.

Museum Hours For use on a dark color background, on uncoated materials.

Tuesday – Friday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday – Sunday: 1 – 5 p.m. Closed on Mondays, University & Major Holidays

@ulrichmuseum | ulrich.wichita.edu | Free Admission | 316.978.3664 | 1845 Fairmount NO BACKGROUND, on uncoated

www.thesunflower.com