WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896 www.thesunflower.com
Dec. 7, 2023
Volume 128 Issue 15
Ashley Collette and Cole McDaniel work on one of the cars during the Baja Racing meeting on Nov. 29. | Photos by Shelby DuVall / The Sunflower
Shocker Racing clubs describe lack of funding from SGA, College of Engineering BY JACOB UNRUH
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jacobunruh333@gmail.com
nside the Shocker Racing workshop, they still run equipment coded to floppy disks. Built in 1996, the outdated mill cutting machine is just one example that Shocker Racing Baja SAE and Formula SAE club members cite as evidence of persistent underfunding from the Student Government Association (SGA) and the College of Engineering. The two clubs build cars from scratch that they take to competitions against universities from around the globe. Alex Spear, the Baja SAE shop director, said students have used their experience with the club to acquire internships. “It’s a great talking point for people coming into engineering firms,” Spear said. “From this club, they gain a lot more knowledge than just in school. And that’s what companies want to see, that hands-on knowledge.” The clubs take some of their most active members to competitions across the country. There, their car is judged on tests such as brakes and acceleration before an endurance test, either on a fourhour off-road track for Baja or a 15-minute sprint for Formula. Finally, they are graded on a business presentation where they examine their budget and attempt to sell the car. The travel and equipment costs of the clubs add up. For fiscal year 2024, Baja SAE and Formula SAE requested
$42,343.60 and $75,000, respectively, from SGA, but only received $18,270 and $19,260. Both clubs described their budgets as being significantly less than most other competitive universities. Formula SAE President Beau Rodriguez said the money the club received from SGA is the “bare minimum” to cover the costs of building their car, which leaves out funding for traveling to competitions. “Competition costs are a big part of what we’re going to try to work on this next semester,” Rodriguez said. “In the past, we have been able to kind of squeak by with money, but it’s been really on the knife’s edge.” In 2022-23, Formula SAE spent $62,451 on parts and $21,290 on travel. The clubs seek out and receive outside sponsorships, usually in the form of discounts on parts. However, Baja SAE club treasurer Hannah Leslie called the lack of SGA and Engineering funding a “perpetual disadvantage.” “Because we’re underfunded, we can’t do as well at competition compared to other teams,” Leslie said. “Then, outside funders don’t want to fund us because we’re not doing well. It’s this terrible cycle of, we’re always going to be below where we could be.” The lack of funding has lowered the number of competitions Baja SAE is attending this year as well as the number of people they take to competitions. Cole
McDaniel, Baja SAE’s Chief Engineer, said their limited budget also prevents them from updating and purchasing equipment that could lower their longterm costs. “Having a full budget, it would be to buy new machines and equipment that can help us do more stuff in-house,” McDaniel said. “A lot of that in-house is cheaper because when you outsource, the material isn’t normally the most expensive; it’s the time you have to pay for labor.” Leslie said SGA and the general public on campus don’t have a full understanding of what goes into their budget. A question the Baja and Formula SAE clubs both say they received from SGA is why they don’t share and reuse parts for the cars. Leslie said that isn’t viable because of equipment damage, rule changes and the lack of crossover in the parts necessary for Formula and Baja cars. “It’s like swapping parts from a go-kart onto a Ford Ranger,” Leslie said. The clubs generally expect not to be fully funded by SGA because of budget constraints. However, Baja and Formula SAE receive no funding from the College of Engineering. The College usually helps the clubs find outside funding rather than providing it directly, which club leaders say is abnormal compared to other universities. Rodriguez said the Engineering College told Formula SAE they would
Rylan Fay, mechanical engineering major and composites lead, works on carbon fiber molds during the Baja Racing meeting on Nov. 29
consider providing direct funding three to five years from now. For now, he claimed the lack of funding is a bad look for the university. “When we do well at a competition, it directly affects the school on a national level as well as a worldwide level,” Rodriguez said. “I think it’d be wise for the school to support us more because this is a direct reflection on them.”
Rodriguez called the future of Formula SAE “a little dark” without Engineering funding. However, he said the club is focused on performing the best they can, even with their limitations. “I expect us to perform well at competition and hopefully break through that top 50 to show that we are growing as a team,” Rodriguez said. “So that will help attract some more sponsorships and things like that. But it’s really hard to see the funding go away, especially when we’re on the come up from getting better and better.”
Students with disabilities receive citations despite registered ADA parking BY COURTNEY BROWN
newsprojects@thesunflower.com
Two students with disabilities said they had received tickets for parking in their registered ADA parking spaces at Wichita State. Both Zaylee Bell and Mia Dennett said they registered for the Americans with Disabilities Act parking spaces but have still received parking citations multiple times. Bell, a sophomore, said this problem has occurred twice, first in fall of 2022 and then again in spring of 2023. Dennett, a theater major, said she has received citations about five times since starting WSU in fall of 2022. According to WSU Parking Services, students with a state disabled parking placard or plate must register their vehicle and purchase an ePermit, like other students. They also must upload their Disabled Identification Card when purchasing “to eliminate your risk of receiving a citation.” Bell and Dennett both said they have uploaded their disability identification cards to the WSU
parking portal, as required, and their permits are visible on their vehicles. “I have one of the cars with – on the tag, it has a little handicap symbol. And in the picture for the tickets, you can see the symbol,” Bell, a wheelchair user, said. Bell said one citation was given in the ADA parking space in The Suites parking lot, which she found ironic due to how often she has found other students without the ADA tag parking there. “I cannot tell you how many times I would come to the dorm and park, and there might be one or none handicap spots because people thought it was okay to go ahead and park in one of those spots, even if they didn’t have the handicap tag,” Bell said. Bell said she contacted Autumn Fitten from the Office of Disability Services about the parking citation, and she and Fitten both contacted Parking Services. “Nobody knew why I got it, and they were so confused,” Bell said. “But they didn’t take it off, and I’m like, ‘I’m not paying this. I have proof
I’ve paid for my parking pass.’” Bell said it took multiple calls and eventually her mother stepping in before Parking Services removed the ticket. “As Autumn said, (the citations) shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” Bell said. “And it’s really confusing why it happened twice.” Dennett called the “reoccurring” ADA parking citations “frustrating.” “I had to go out of my way to resolve the issue when I had done everything right to have access to that (ADA) spot,” Dennett said. Dennett, a mobility aid user, said there are not many accessible parking spots on campus, and often, they’re far away from buildings, including Wilner Auditorium, where most her theater classes are held. “There’s only one space in front of the building, and there’s more than one of us that needs the spot,” Dennett said. “So someone always has to go out of their way and potentially harm their bodies to walk a distance.” In November, when the accessible spot was taken, Dennett parked behind Wilner to attend her
class there and received a ticket, which she appealed. The WSU Parking Services website states that “in the unlikely event” that students cannot find an available ADA parking space, they can park in any parking space in any lot except for restricted or reserved stalls. Emily Martins, the parking and transportation manager at WSU Parking Services, said that Parking Services has only heard of students getting citations when they have not registered their ADA parking spots. She said they usually issue a couple of warnings beforehand to let students know they should complete registration. “If anyone does have an issue, I would definitely encourage them to contact us so we can look into it further,” Martins said. “At the end of the day, even though these are cameras and computers that are scanning them (the vehicles), with anything else, they’re still open for error, so it could just be that maybe the scanner read their license plate number wrong, or something of that nature.”
Martins said students work at the front desk of Parking Services, which is currently located in the University Police Department, and those students, as well as the administrator, can assist those with parking issues and citations. “We’d rather people learn why they’re getting a citation, so that way we can help correct it, and they don’t have to get citations on the future,” Martins said. Students can also appeal citations on the parking section on their myWSU account. According to Martins, students have 20 days to appeal the ticket from when it is issued. Dennett said that Wichita State should ensure that officers pay attention to accessible permits on vehicles. Bell emphasized the importance of ADA spots for people with mobility aids. “(Other students) might see it as a luxury, but really … why we need those spots is because we need that extra room to get our mobility aids out and be able to get around vehicles,” Bell said.