WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2019 • VOL. 124, ISS. 2
THESUNFLOWER.COM
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.
NO-RIDE ZONE
WSU tuition rate to remain flat, but not without consequence BY KYLIE CAMERON
KYLIE CAMERON/THE SUNFLOWER
A fleet of e-scooters sit in an empty lot at 17th and Hillside near Wichita State’s main campus. E-scooters are currently not allowed on campus.
Despite the city’s electric scooter-sharing pilot program launch, WSU still unsure of their use on campus BY AUDREY KORTE
W
ichita State University students who want to use the new electric scooter sharing services on campus, prepare to be disappointed. Using the new e-scooters on WSU property is currently off-limits, and the future of riding on campus remains uncertain. Noah Foster, a junior studying aerospace engineering at WSU, is frustrated by the situation. He's the guy behind the successful launch of Wichita's scooter sharing initiative. Foster said he wanted to make moving around on campus more efficient and accessible. He tried to get scooter-share locations on campus not just because they're fun and fast, but because they help address issues at WSU like inadequate parking, he said. "I thought about transportation on campus, like inside of campus, to make it faster for students to get to like the John Bardo Center (formerly known as the Experiential Engineering Building) and places like that which are a lot further away than the RSC and the dorms and stuff," Foster said. He contacted Garrett Rothstein,
a representative from Bird, an e-scooter company based in Santa Monica, California and got the company interested in WSU as a possible location for an e-scooter campaign. Rothstein flew to Wichita earlier this year to meet with Foster and WSU officials about e-scooters on campus, Foster said. "I guess I was the first person from Wichita at all to contact and have interest in the scooters and so Garett kind of went on his own with his pitch and pitched not only to us but the city of Wichita," Foster said. The idea progressed from there. "We had them on campus for one day to try them out," he said. Though the city launched its scooter program on Monday, there are no deployment locations on campus. Foster said Bird scooters would be coming to Wichita, but he's not sure if that'll include WSU's campus. Rothstein contacted him recently expressing ongoing interest in bringing scooters to the university. "They're finishing up the process of getting scooters into the Wichita area and asked us to just kind of reiterate the idea of getting them
RULES FOR USE While the future for e-scooters on campus is uncertain, here are the rules for their use elsewhere in the city. • Renters must be 18 or older • No riding on sidewalks • No riding on streets where the speed limit for cars is 40 mph or higher • Riders can only use bike lanes on streets where the speed limit is 35 mph or less
on campus since it's kind of a grey area right now," Foster said. Foster said he’s actively looking for the right people at WSU to get on board with the initiative to get scooters deployed and allow riders on campus. So far, he said, he’s had no luck in moving the concept into the decision-making phase. SEE E-SCOOTERS PAGE 2
Joseph Shepard hopes to bring diversified perspective to USD 259 on school board BY EDUARDO CASTILLO
Joseph Shepard, former Wichita State student body president, is running to be an at-large member of the Wichita Public Schools Board of Education. Currently the director of multicultural engagement and campus life at Newman University, Shepard said that a top priority for him is to strengthen public schools to increase the quality of education that students are able to receive. “I see my role as being an advocate for the communities and the people that I serve and more importantly the number one stakeholders – the students,” Shepard said. “I want to be that voice at the table to truly advocate
for their needs.” If elected, Shepard has five priorities that he hopes to accomplish: • Allocate funds to areas that directly impact as many students as possible • Give teachers an increased capacity to personalize their curriculum • Update non-discriminatory policies • Communicate transparently to be honest about school board matters • Engage through trauma-informed practices and restorative justice approaches SEE SHEPARD PAGE 2
EDUARDO CASTILLO/THE SUNFLOWER
Joseph Shepard, candidate for the At-Large board member for USD 259 talks to volunteers regarding the process of canvassing on June 29, 2019.
For the first time in at least 30 years, Wichita State will not increase tuition for the upcoming school year, but not without consequence. Wichita State originally asked for a 1% increase for both tuition and fees in May. Now, only fees will go up by 0.3%, down from 0.9% last year. The Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) accepted the request at a meeting in June. The original request and the approved request were the lowest increases in at least 30 years, according to University Budget Director David Miller. After pressure from the Kansas Board of Regents at their May meeting, no regents schools asked for an increase in tuition. KBOR put pressure on regents schools to cut back on tuition increases this year after the state legislature passed additional funding for higher education. However, the additional funding by the legislature won’t be sustainable, according to a university news release. In an email to The Sunflower, Miller said about $876,000 will be reallocated from various areas on campus. The university reduced a $1 million enhancement to the University Scholarship Fund by $150,000 and reduced the university’s utility contingency by the same amount. Other cuts came from “new planned positions” in Student Affairs and Applied Learning initiatives. The university also “reevaluated [their] overall utility budget to create some additional savings,” Miller said. Vice President for Student Affairs Teri Hall informed The Sunflower via email in June that the cut to her department was for a third, legally mandated interpreter for deaf and hard of hearing students and faculty. “Our deaf and hard of hearing students and faculty members is increasing,” Hall said in the email. “We will have to find another way to support this position because we are legally mandated to provide these services.” It’s not immeadiately known if the funding for the third interpreter has been found yet. These reallocations come after the university announced in late April that they will cut and reallocate about $1.5 million from a variety of areas on campus to help fund the new business school building since a referendum to increase student fees failed in March. According to a news release from KBOR, state universities receive $31 million less than they did in FY2009 despite the increase in funding from the legislature. “State universities are having to find efficiencies and make difficult decisions next year to keep their tuition flat,” said KBOR Chair Dennis Mullin in the release. “I believe that these tough decisions will be worth it to keep our universities affordable for Kansas families, but continued investment by the Legislature will be critical in the coming years.”
INSIDE
MAYORAL PRIMARIES
REMEMBERING KONEK
SGA UPDATES
TBT PREVIEW
Nine candidates are running for mayor of Wichita this year
Co-founder of the Women’s Studies department was remembered early July
Some new and familiar faces are working in interim positions this summer
The Basketball Tournament will fill Koch Arena again in late July
CULTURE • PAGE 4
NEWS • PAGE 5
SPORTS • PAGE 6