09.18.19 by Kansas State Collegian

T H E I N D E P E N D E N T V O I C E F O R K A N S A S S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

vol. 125, issue 10

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wednesday, september 18, 2 0 1 9

Wildcat Dialogues encourages inclusivity

SIERRA STAATZ

THE COLLEGIAN

Students gathered in the K-State Student Union Ballroom Monday night to experience Wildcat Dialogues — a night of discussion to create a pathway of intercultural interaction. The event’s planning committee consisted of 30 individuals in a variety of departments and services throughout Kansas State. Seven students spoke at the event followed by breakout sessions and an ice cream social. “Our current national climate delivers a need for dialogue,” said Jansen Penny, senior in industrial engineering and student body president. “We are here to share dialogue that delivers competence and confidence.” Most students attending were freshman attending for a class requirement or learning communities. Before the event, many students did not know what to expect. “I haven’t really heard anything about this,” Jarrod Springston, freshman in accounting, said. However, he said he

felt optimistic about the event due to its relationship to his leadership class. “Leadership is more than just taking control of a situation; it deals with emotions and values,” Springston said. The speakers shared personal stories on immigration, poverty, race, gender identity, sensory disadvantages, being from another country or coming from a broken household. Ellie Seeler, freshman in elementary education, spoke even though she’s only been at K-State for four weeks. Seeler experienced hearing loss her entire life, but sees how it built her strengths. “I am very good at lip reading,” Seeler said. She credits helping out at the Special Olympics as her reasoning to pursue a major with an emphasis on special education. “What is normal for me may not be normal for you, and that’s okay,” Seeler said. Her words were similar to many speakers that night, emphasizing how people are different, but come together to make one K-State family. Shania Cook, sopho-

Dylan Connell | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP

Panel members speak at the Wildcat Dialogues event about past and present experiences on Sept 16, 2019. more in sociology and criminology, related to first-year students by sharing her own experience. “College is like looking both ways before you cross the road and then getting hit by a plane,” she said. After the speeches, students had a moment to share their thoughts in breakout sessions of six to ten people led by facilitators. While many facil-

K-State houses most powerful academic supercomputer in KS

itators were faculty, some students had the opportunity to lead the small group discussions. Lily Colburn, sophomore in political science, was one the facilitators. “I saw what the facilitators did my first year, and I wanted to do the same,” she said. Colburn explained how each group had a deck of 52 cards with various ques-

tions to help students start conversations on gender identity and communicating with people from a different linguistic background. “I’ve heard a lot about [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] students, but I wasn’t really expecting for any of them to be here [at K-State],” Elizabeth Gregory, freshman in open option, said.

SPIRIT program seeks ‘tangible action’ on campus issues

NEWS

Campus police activity: Sept. 1116 Wednesday, Sept. 11 Incident: Vehicle vs. bicycle non-injury accident Location: North Manhattan Avenue and Vattier Street Time: 12:20 a.m. Disposition: Citation issued Incident: Two vehicle non-injury accident Location: 1700 Denison Ave. Time: 2:57 p.m. Disposition: No citation issued Thursday, Sept. 12 No incidents reported. Friday, Sept. 13 Incident: Driving while license is cancelled, suspended or revoked Location: 1300 Denison Ave. Time: 11:30 a.m. Disposition: Citation issued Saturday, Sept. 14 No incidents reported. Sunday, Sept. 15 Incident: Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol Location: 1600 College Ave. Time: 12:56 a.m. Disposition: Arrest made Incident: Vehicle vs. bicycle injury accident Location: Denison Avenue & Todd Road Time: 8:38 p.m. Disposition: Under investigation Monday, Sept. 16 Incident: Two vehicle non-injury accident Location: Denison Avenue & Kerr Drive Time: 11:01 a.m. Disposition: No citations issued Incident: Theft (under $1,500) Location: 706 N. 17th St. Time: 1:30 p.m. Disposition: Under investigation

wednesday, september 18, 2019

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EDITORIAL BOARD Kaylie McLaughlin Editor-in-Chief Molly Hackett Managing Editor Sports Editor

Julie Freijat Culture Editor Nathan Enserro Assistant Sports Editor

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Julia Jorns Assistant Sports Editor

Peter Loganbill News Editor

Abigail Compton Multimedia Editor

Bailey Britton Assistant News Editor

Dalton Wainscott Deputy Multimedia Editor

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The Mission of the Collegian Media Group is to use best practices of journalism to cover and document life at Kansas State University from a diverse set of voices to inform and engage the K-State community. The Collegian welcomes your letters. We reserve the right to edit submitted letters for length and style. A letter intended for publication should be no longer than 600 words and must be relevant to the student body of K-State. It must include the author’s first and last name, year in school and major. If you are a graduate of K-State, the letter should include your year(s) of graduation and must include the city and state where you live. For a letter to be considered, it must include a phone number where you can be contacted. The number will not be published. Letters can be sent to letters@ kstatecollegian.com or submitted through an online form at kstatecollegian.com. Letters may be rejected if they contain abusive content, lack timeliness, contain vulgarity, profanity or falsehood, promote personal and commercial announcements, repeat comments of letters printed in other issues or contain attachments. The Collegian does not publish open letters, third-party letters or letters that have been sent to other publications or people.

CORRECTIONS If you see something that should be corrected, call editor-in-chief Kaylie McLaughlin at 785-370-6356 or email news@kstatecollegian.com

The Collegian, a student newspaper at Kansas State University, is published by Collegian Media Group. It is published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the school year and on Wednesdays during the summer. Periodical postage is paid at Manhattan, KS. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 828 Mid-Campus Drive South, Kedzie 103, Manhattan, KS 66506-7167. First copy free, additional copies 25 cents. [USPS 291 020] © Collegian Media Group, 2019

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wednesday, september 18, 2019

Wildcat Watch granted 1-year Privilege Fee Continuance BAILEY BRITTON THE COLLEGIAN

The Privilege Fee Committee recommended a one year continuance for Wildcat Watch and recommended the dependent student organization consider becoming a service organization. Tyler Traxson, Wildcat Watch adviser and video production manager for the Division of Communications and Marketing, asked for a continuance of $45,000. Their allocation is two-fold: $30,000 for operation costs and $15,000 for equipment. Kylie Ledford, sophomore in journalism and Wildcat Watch creative director,

said the organization gives students the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of creative videography under the Division of Communications and Marketing. Wildcat Watch provides video services for student organizations for little to no cost. Michael Rencher, executive director of Wildcat Watch and sophomore in journalism, said a continuance does not allow for growth within the organization. However, Traxson said a three percent decrease would not hurt too much. Thomas Ryckert, committee member and junior in finance, asked what the organization did with their surplus budget from years past.

Traxson said it is a cushion in case equipment breaks. “A lot of that surplus is happening within our operating budget,” Traxson said. “So we haven’t done a whole lot of advertising or marketing towards student groups or anything like that ... That’s something that we’re definitely needing to be doing. The other thing we had that first year, we actually went over budget what we predicted for student crew hours.” Alan Hinds, committee member and sophomore in agricultural economics, asked if Wildcat Watch would be interested in restructuring to become a service organization instead of a dependent student organization.

“It’s something we are still interested in and would like to know more,” Traxson said. Natalie Jabben, committee member and junior in political science, said she would be more comfortable continuing funding to Wildcat Watch if their equipment was insured. Their recommended continuance would extend their allocation for another year, meaning they would be up for review again by the 2020-2021 Privilege Fee Committee. The motion passed 7-0. These recommendations will most likely appear for the first reading in student senate on Thursday, Sept. 26.

LETTER: K-State should continue striving for a 2-day fall break After wishing that Kansas State had a fall break for years, I did not know about the joint efforts to institute one until reading the Collegian article on Monday, when it was already decided against. Even if it is too late to add a fall break for 20222025, I strongly believe this is a goal we should strive toward in the future. Each October, when stress levels are at their peak, students have to look ahead and face the fact that we have no break in sight. Continuing studies can feel almost pointless in the face of seemingly never-ending work and stress. I remember feeling desperately in need of time off as a freshman, only to look at the calendar and see we still had eight more weeks until Thanksgiving. Looking at those eight weeks then, I could not even imagine going that much longer without time off. The situation worked out okay for me, but I truly believe the intense stress I felt could have been lessened if we had

had a small break to look forward to. At first, I assumed that this was simply how it was everywhere, that this stretch of work and stress until Thanksgiving was just part of the college experience. However, when I realized that many other schools in Kansas already had fall breaks, I was surprised and honestly upset. As a school that prides itself on caring about students and their wellbeing,

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implementing a small break to help us cope with fall semester stress seems like a natural step, especially now that so many students are requesting it. I am aware there are many factors that go into this sort of decision. However, I would ask anyone reading this to please honestly consider the day-to-day impacts this decision can have on students’ health and wellbeing. The proposed schedule is one that works at other

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schools, and I believe if we implement it here, the gains in student wellbeing would far outweigh any downsides. Just last week, a friend told me she “could not even imagine” going until Thanksgiving without a break. I personally would be proud to be part of a campus that makes sure future K-Staters don’t have to. Natalie Wolf is a senior in English and Spanish. The views and opinions expressed in this column are

Saturday, Sept. 21 9 am - 4 pm Hillsboro, KS For information • 620-947-3506 director@hillsboroartsandcraftsfair.org

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those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of

the Collegian. Please send comments to opinion@ kstatecollegian.com.

wednesday, september 18, 2019

There's a first floor, but what’s next for Hale’s upper-level renovations? ANGELA SAWYER THE COLLEGIAN

Hale Library is in the process of a major transformation. The first floor opening was only one milestone on the road to rebuilding. After a major remodel, the difference before and after are like night and day, and Kansas State students say they like the updates. Abby Bozarth, freshman in family science, first toured the old Hale as a junior in high school. “I love it so much, I study here everyday,” Bozarth said. “I really love the little study pods. Before it looked like a typical library, but now it’s super updated and just better for all students.” More updates will come to the lower floor, and the second level will open in the spring. Lori Goetsch, dean of Hale, described the upcoming features on the second floor. “The entrance to the second floor will be relocated closer to the building entrance,” Goetsch said. “We’ll also have

a new service desk shared by the libraries and ITAC, the Information Technology Assistance Center, so you only need to go to one place for help.” Books will return to the third and forth floors after more facilities open, and Goetsch said the library is expected to have most of the building reopened by the fall 2020. Goetsch said it is likely the Great Room will still be closed. Darchelle Martin, public information officer for Hale, said as the floors reopen and offices become available, staff will begin trickle back in. Martin said coming back to Hale was the light at the end of the tunnel. “It felt really good because it was a very visual representation of the progress that we made to have something finished that we can have students come back in,” Martin said. “For us, just to be back here and seeing students, we really missed that.” More information about progress, pictures and updates can be found on the Hale Library blog.

Abigail Compton | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP

Although a majority of the work on the first floor is finished, you will spot a few workers at Hale. Hale’s first floor opened to the public Aug. 28, 2019.

Grab your copy of at Lafene Dene Dryden | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP

Room 222 of Hale Library is deemed for library staff only, according to the writing on the wall ,on May 17, 2019.

wednesday, september 18, 2019

Football ranked No. 25 in Coaches Poll, shy in AP CODY FRIESEN

THE COLLEGIAN

The Kansas State Wildcats are off to a hot start in 2019 with a 3-0 record and a victory over a Power 5 opponent in Mississippi State last weekend. After three weeks of no votes in the Associated Press Poll and Coaches Poll, K-State broke into the ranks in week

four, sitting at an unofficial No. 26 in the AP and No. 25 in the Coaches. The last time K-State ranked in either poll was in September of 2017, right before a loss to Vanderbilt. Big 12 preseason rankings predicted a ninth place finish for K-State, but the new era of Wildcat football brought a new level of swagger to the field. K-State head coach Chris

Klieman said the real challenge lays behind the early success. "I'm happy obviously that we are 3-0, but the big picture we haven't started conference play yet," Klieman said. "We know every game is going to be a dogfight." Klieman said the team is taking the season one game at a time. "We know that whatever you did last week has no bear-

ing on the next week, so you better just put your head down and go to work and make sure that you're preparing every day to be successful on Saturday," Klieman said. Junior quarterback Skylar Thompson plays a crucial role in the team's success, but he said he isn't satisfied yet. "Yeah, having a 3-0 start and getting a national ranking is special but at the same time, that's just one of many goals

we have set for ourselves this year," Thompson said. Thompson, who has already thrown for 486 yards and four touchdowns, said there is still work to be done. "We have to remain humble and remain focused on the little details and things and continue to grow as a team," Thompson said. Junior defensive back A.J. Parker dominated offenses in the first three games, but still

is focused on improving as a team opposed to paying attention to the national rankings. "It's a good thing to see, but I feel like as a team, that not something that we focus on," Parker said. "We focus on being the best team that we can be week in and week out." K-State will have a week off before beginning conference play against Oklahoma State in Stillwater at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.

Logan Wassall | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP K-State fans cheer on their football team as they play against Bowling Green in Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Sept. 7, 2019. The Wildcats shut down the Falcons with a final score of 52-0.

wednesday, september 18, 2019

K-State supercomputer, Beocat, powers research across disciplines JULIE FREIJAT

THE COLLEGIAN

When you open the door to the data center in the Engineering Complex, a breath of cold air greets you. As you walk further in, you begin to feel more heat. The room is occupied by 400 neatly stacked computers. This data center is home to Beocat, Kansas State’s supercomputer. Dan Andresen, professor of computer science and director of the Institute for Computational Research, is one of few people involved in the computer’s upkeep and maintenance. “[Beocat] allows us to attack really big computational problems that just would overwhelm a personal computer and allows our students and our faculty to do things that otherwise [would] be impossible,” Andresen said.

WHAT IS A SUPERCOMPUTER?

“One of my standard questions, especially for the younger folks, is what makes a supercomputer ‘super,’” Andresen said. “The short answer is it’s big, and it’s fast. You can also say, if it costs a million bucks or more, it’s probably a supercomputer. But the key thing is, a supercomputer is like a great big pile of big [personal computers]. If you looked at the individual parts of a supercomputer, they aren’t that different than what you can buy as a workstation, but we have hundreds of them and they’re all tied together with really, really fast networks, like 100 times faster than Google Fiber.” Andresen said Beocat helps solve issues for those who need to run large programs. He said the computer shrinks runtimes significantly.

“For instance, last year, we worked with a professor in geography who had a program that he started off running in April and it was still running in October and hadn’t completed yet,” he said. “We said, ‘Oh, gosh, let’s see if we can help.’ And indeed, we put some of my students on and some of my staff on it, and we restarted the program using Beocat and we got him the results in a week.” Multiple departments and individuals fund Beocat’s operation. The Office of the Vice President of Research and the chief information officer supply funds. Research groups on campus contributed some of the hardware, Andresen said. Andresen said Beocat is the most powerful academic supercomputer in Kansas, but it is average or slightly below average for a research institution.

The room Beocat is in is kept at 60 to 65 degrees to prevent overheating. “If the air conditioning went off, we would have to start shutting down machines within 15 minutes, because it would be too hot for the machines in there,” he said.

WHO USES BEOCAT?

Beocat lives in the department of computer science, but Andresen said most of its use comes from researchers. “Things like real time analysis of Twitter feeds to do automatic disaster analysis and figure out, ‘Hey, when a disaster is unfolding, a lot of times, the first thing people do is call 911, the second thing people do is start tweeting about it,’” Andresen said. “So by the time a fire truck pulls up to a fire, for instance, we can, in semi-real time, have sent them a digest of ‘By the way, this is everything we think is happen-

ing there that maybe wasn’t told over 911’ or something like that—about injuries and the degree of fire and whether anybody’s trapped and that sort of thing.” Elizabeth Ploetz, chemistry research associate, said Beocat allows for better time and spatial resolution. “We do computational chemistry, we kind of make movies of how molecules are moving with respect to time, so we can kind of investigate things they can’t investigate experimentally,” Ploetz said. Paul Smith, professor of chemistry, said Beocat allows for cheaper experimentation. “We were interested in the properties of molecules and how they behave and how we might predict how they might behave,” Smith said. “Computers are a nice way of doing that without spending all the money and buying the chem-

icals and doing the experiments. They’re a kind of cheap form of labor. So even though it’s expensive to buy the thing in the first place they can replace a lot of research done in a wet lab.” Beocat is a resource for anyone at the university. Andresen said Beocat provides more than easy research. “It’s not only something that researchers and scientists use on campus, but it’s also something that a lot of the students are learning how to do, which I think gives them a strong competitive advantage,” Andresen said. “Whether they’re a biologist or a chemist or a business person—we have people from the foreign languages department use Beocat. I think it’s really cool in preparing people for outside careers, whether it’s your standard jobs or another research side.”

Abigail Compton | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP

Beocat, housed in the Engineering Complex, is used for research in multiple departments at Kansas State.

wednesday, september 18, 2019

Kansas Court of Appeals hears four cases at K-State EMMA WITTER

THE COLLEGIAN

The Kansas Court of Appeals met in Forum Hall on Tuesday in observance of U.S. Constitution Day. Chief Judge Karen Arnold-Burger and judges Henry Green Jr. and Michael Buser heard four cases on the 232nd anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, three of which pri-

marily concerned the Fourth Amendment. “Every day at the Court of Appeals, we’re confronted with violations of the constitution, and today we’re looking back at this document to provide us with guidance,” Arnold-Burger said. Reagan Whitworth, junior in social work, attended the session as a recently-declared pre-law student. “This was the first full hearing I’ve ever sat in on, so

I learned a lot,” Whitworth said. “Beginning to be versed in the types of cases they’re working with was a really helpful experience.” One case presented to the court was the City of Manhattan v. Joel W. Laub. A police officer stopped Laub around 1 a.m. after Laub’s truck tire went over a curb near the entrance to Aggieville. The officer concluded he was driving under the influence of alcohol and

arrested him, charging him with a DUI. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure, and Laub argued the officer who pulled him over lacked reasonable suspicion. Laub said he did not commit a traffic violation, but the district court upheld the DUI conviction, finding that driving over the curb was a lane violation. Laub’s case was brought to the Kansas Court of Appeals on Tuesday with the same position taken before the district court. Tom McClain, junior in

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Andrea Klepper | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP

Forum Hall in the K-State Student Union housed four Court of Appeals hearings on Tuesday.

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economics, biology and prelaw, said he was interested to see the court in action. “I always like hearing the interaction between the judge and the attorney,” McClain said. “I think it’s interesting that the judges are involved in the proceedings.” The court heard three other cases: State of Kansas v. $81,957 in U.S. Currency, More of Less, and Alexis Milla; the State of Kansas v. Erika Yazmin Arceo-Rojas; and Dustin Delehanty, William E. Gies Jr., and Junction City Education Association v. Board of Education of

Unified School District No. 475, Geary County. Both cases of the state concerned drug charges following traffic stops. After hearing arguments from both the appellate and prosecutor from each case, the court returned to Topeka to deliberate. Arnold-Burger said the average time between arguments and filing an opinion is 38 days. Decisions are made by a 2-1 vote of the court and, once filed, are available to the public at the Kansas judicial branch website.

wednesday, september 18, 2019

SPIRIT program seeks ‘tangible action’ for on-campus issues PETER LOGANBILL THE COLLEGIAN

While Kansas State will hold the third KSUnite event this fall, another event will take place on Feb. 7, 2020, with a similar spirit. The SPIRIT — Student Problem Identification & Resolution of Issues Together — program is a day-long event facilitated at high schools and universities through the Community Relations Service of the U.S. Department of Justice. According to an online CRS document, the program “helps schools address tension and conflict related to issues of race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or disability.” The event is invite-only and will consist of 60 to 80 individuals from campus ranging from students, administration, faculty, staff and community members.

The goal is to invite people with different backgrounds to determine issues on campus and find solutions to them. “Unlike KSUnite, the goal after we leave SPIRIT is about tangible action-oriented items for students, faculty, staff, administration and the community as well for how we can move forward with this collective vision,” said Jansen Penny, student body president and senior in industrial engineering. As co-chair of the Intercultural Leadership Council, Penny said he believes the event has the same spirit, no pun intended, as the council. Trumanue Lindsey, director of diversity and multicultural student affairs and the committee’s adviser, used himself as an example for the necessity of the program, saying that as much as he tries to connect across campus, he is not aware of everything. “I may not be aware of all of the challenges that our students or other aspects of

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campus face, because a lot of my day to day workings are within [Diversity and Multicultural Student Affairs] with our multicultural students here on campus,” Lindsey said. The day will consist of participants going back and forth from small groups to a large group, eventually narrowing down a list of the top issues on campus. “We’re taking what we’ve identified, and now our groups are a little bit more diverse, and then developing strategies, potential strategies, to address those challenges that were brought together, then bringing that back to the large group, and then prioritizing them,” Lindsey said. Once the issues and action items are identified, the committee will use them as a roadmap, Penny said. “I know I’m really excited for it,” Penny said. “As far as I know, we haven’t had something like this on campus.”

Infographic by Kaylie McLaughlin | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP

The Office of Institutional Equity fields and investigates reports of misconduct defined by the Kansas State policies of harassment, discrimination and violence. This graphic depicts key areas in the office’s data collection between 2015 and early 2019. During the 2018-2019 academic year, the office received 366 allegations, a 63 percent increase from the 2015-2016 academic year. Repeat reporters account for some allegations, and not all result in disciplinary action.

News you care about. George Walker | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP

A group of 60 to 80 individuals will work together as part of the SPIRIT program.

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