WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896 March 23, 2023
www.thesunflower.com
Volume 127 Issue 25
DECADE OF STUDENT FEES Recommended budget from student fees committee, to be approved by SGA
Student Fees Commission recommends organization funding decreases while student fees increase remains “ I still think, with students on BY TRINITY RAMM
W
Sports@thesunflower.com
hen the Student Fees Commission reconvened on Tuesday, they made it clear that they were looking to slim down the 2.9% increase to student fees. Commissioner Gregory VanDyke Jr., Speaker of the Student Senate, emphasized that he was looking for places to cut student fees this time around. “I did not vote in agreement with the 2.9(%) change last time we were in commission,” VanDyke said. “I still think, with students on my mind, that that number can be slightly decreased.” The 2.9% increase was originally approved by the commission at their first meeting on March 7. The commission called for a second meeting to correct mistakes made in allocations as well as revisit previous recommendations. The commission didn’t address two items at their first meeting: a 5% ($174,515) increase in compensation for workers in the Rhatigan Student Center and a $5,000 request for The Sunflower Equipment Reserve. Both items were approved with little to no deliberation. The committee also voted to decrease the healthcare compensation from $94,765 to $89,469, which they linked to the 5% increase. Commission members were given the opportunity to readdress any other line items and readjust the commission’s recommendation. VanDyke looked to the Student Government Association Office Expenditures to cut the commission’s recommendation from $671,052 to $650,000. Last year, their budget stood at $605,052.
my mind, that number can be slightly decreased. GREGORY VANDYKE JR. Student Fees Commissioner
Commissioner Devin Moore, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences representative, expressed a similar goal to VanDyke in trying to cut down the overall amount of student fees. He moved to cut The Sunflower’s recommended funding to $135,000, which would’ve been below what the publication received last year. “I’m looking for line items to subtly decrease to change the actual Student Fees charge,” Moore said. “As I’m looking at it, The Sunflower has at least a reserve of $58,500. While unfortunate, I think this change is necessary to combat the change in Student Fees.” Of the $58,582 in The Sunflower’s reserves, $45,000 of it was put towards facility renovations, which was listed in the reserve section of the Sunflower’s request. Commission members pointed out that this would give the publication over $10,000 less than last year, after which Moore encouraged his fellow members to fail the motion. Commissioner Jordan Webb then moved to decrease The Sunflower’s original allocation from $155,000 to $148,000; The Sunflower initially requested $160,000. The motion passed with six yeses, one no and four abstentions. Varsity Esports, which had $70,000 cut from their initial request of $150,000 had their Student Support Services Budget recommendation cut even further, going from $80,000 to $50,000. VanDyke pointed out that the number of
students that participate in Esports doesn’t justify the amount of student fees that would be going towards their program. “I believe they are funded by two other divisions here on this campus,” VanDyke said. “Unfortunately, I would recommend that they seek more money from these divisions or seek more outside ad partnerships.” Esports director Travis Yang was present at these deliberations and answered questions about the Varsity Esports and Esports Educational Opportunity Fund budgets during recesses from commission chair Jacob Brand and Webb. The proposed budget for SEAL was also decreased from the initial recommendation. SEAL’s funding moved from $1,081,955 to $1,071,955. At the initial meeting, the SGA Scholarship fund was given $500 more than they requested. Commission Esther Belotsi said there was no justification to give the fund more than asked for and proposed that their recommendation move from $35,000 to $34,500. Belotsi’s motion passed. “I just want to even out all of the increases we’ve made so far,” Belotsi said. After all readjustments, the student fees increase remained at 2.9%. Three committee members missed this meeting: Emanuyel Brown, College of Applied Studies commissioner, Tanatswa Mafume, College of Engineering commissioner, and Jaquelinne Villa, graduate school representative. Additionally, Webb had to leave early. The proposed budget must go through the Student Senate before it can be adopted. It will be given a first read on March 29, but no action will be taken until April 5 or 12 at the latest. If the budget is failed by SGA, the commission will reconvene for a third time.
Oral Roberts coach tapped as next men’s head basketball coach BY TRINITY RAMM Sports@thesunflower.com
Former Oral Roberts men’s basketball head coach Paul Mills will become the 27th head men’s basketball coach MILLS at Wichita State, as announced by Wichita State Athletics on March 22. Mills and athletic director Kevin Saal will officially announce
Mills as head coach at a ceremony on March 23 at 3:30 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena. The event is free to attend. Mills led Oral Roberts to two NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournaments. The Golden Eagles made a Cinderella run in 2021 to the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 15 seed, taking down No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Florida. During the 2022-23 campaign, Oral Roberts went 30-5 overall and 18-0 in Summit League play. They were the No. 12 seed in the East
Region and lost in the first round to No. 5 Duke. In his six seasons at Oral Roberts, Mills went 106-83 overall. Before he came to Oral Roberts in 2017, Mills spent 14 years on Scott Drew’s coaching staff at Baylor as an assistant. Wichita State used Parker Executive Search, the same search firm that hired Saal last summer, to help fill the position for a $60,000 fee. Mills was hired 11 days after former head coach Isaac Brown
was relieved of his duties. In an email from the athletic department, Saal thanked Brown for his “contribution to Wichita State Men’s Basketball.” BROWN Wichita State still has to pay Brown the remaining $4 million of his contract, meaning he would receive $108,000 every month until April 2026 if not hired at another school.
This is in addition to the $5,478,846 that the athletic department still owes former athletic director Darren Boatright, former baseball head coach Eric Wedge and former men’s head basketball coach Gregg Marshall. Brown has been with the program since 2014 when he was hired as an assistant coach under Marshall. In November 2020, Brown was named interim head coach after Marshall resigned and was signed to a five-year deal in February 2021.