K A N S A S
S TAT E vol. 126, issue 16 friday, oct. 23, 2020
kstatecollegian.com
IMPACT Student highlights immigrants’ experiences in senior art exhibition
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Upcoming general election keeps longtime county clerk busy
Page 04
HOME TURF
Vaccines key to mitigating flu season during pandemic, health officials say
Page 05
New faces, same attitude: K-State’s young core takes on in-state rival Kansas
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ON THE COVER
FALL EDITORIAL BOARD
Archive Photo by Emily Starkey | Collegian Media Group
In 2016, the Wildcats beat the Jayhawks 34-19 on Nov. 26. It was former head coach Bill Snyder’s 200th win.
Kaylie McLaughlin Managing Editor
Gabby Farris Design Chief
Julie Freijat Deputy Managing Editor Copy Chief
Cameron Bradley Sports Editor Nathan Enserro Assistant Sports Editor
Emma Witter News Editor
Dalton Wainscott Multimedia Editor
Sean Schaper Assistant News Editor
Dylan Connell Deputy Multimedia Editor
Rebecca Vrbas Culture Editor Madison Daniel Assistant Culture Editor
By Dave Green
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CORRECTIONS If you see something that should be corrected, call editor-in-chief Bailey Britton at 785-370-6356 or email collegian@kstatecollegian.com The Collegian, a student newspaper at Kansas State University, is published by Collegian Media Group. It is published Mondays 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, 2020
Anna Schmidt Opinions Editor
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2020 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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.
Bailey Britton Editor-in-Chief
NEWS
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T R E NDS As campus positivity rate stays low, officials worry about complacency with guidelines KAYLIE MCLAUGHLIN managing editor
Though it’s good news that the campus positivity rate has stayed below five percent for the last month, there is a growing fear that the prolonged period of low transmission could lull students into a false sense of security, Jeff Morris, vice president for communications and marketing, said. “We’re deeply concerned that people will get complacent,” Morris said. “We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing. This is not the time to take our foot off the gas.” Thomas Lane, vice president for student life and dean of students, said fatigue from the reality of living in a pandemic is natural, especially as the public health crisis stretches into its eighth month in the U.S. “I’ve heard from students ... and from others that they’re tired and exhausted from the pandemic, which is certainly understandable,” Lane said. “I can certainly understand that folks are tired of the pandemic and they’re tired of masking social distancing — I get that.” It’s also difficult to encourage proactive behavior when the problem seems small, he said. “It can be natural for people to start getting complacent once they see the low numbers,” Lane said. But that doesn’t mean students should be letting their guard down.
“Now’s not the time to let up our efforts,” Lane said. “The virus doesn’t care about our tiredness — all it’s looking for is a host so we want to do all of the things that we can try to prevent that from happening.” Further, ceasing to engage in tactics that we know work, Lane said, is ill-advised when you’re dealing with an ongoing crisis like a pandemic. Per university guidance, Kansas State cannot progress to the phasing out stage of the campus COVID-19 restrictions until there is a therapeutic treatment or effective vaccine. “We didn’t get to this low number of cases by accident — it took us, as a community, working together, doing the things that we know mitigate disease,” Lane said. “To stop doing those behaviors doesn’t make a lot of sense to me if we want to maintain the low number of cases and maintain the healthiest campuses that we can.” For now, symptomatic testing is one of the best weapons in the arsenal, Lane said. In fact, through K-State’s expanded testing protocol, six people who weren’t displaying symptoms tested positive last week. “Because they had the community forethought to get tested, we were able to mitigate the further spread from those six people,” Lane said. “I think that’s important — it shows that it’s working.” Cases remain low in the greater Manhattan area despite steep inclines in case counts and
We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing. This is not the time to take our foot off the gas. Jeff Morris
vice president for communications and marketing
monitored outbreaks in the state of Kansas as a whole, and that’s generally a good sign, Pranav Savanur, senior in biology and global health, said. However, he doesn’t think that alleviates students’ responsibility to engage in good mitigation behavior — even if they aren’t personally concerned about getting sick from COVID-19. “If not for [themselves], at least for the immunocompromised friends, family or the elderly living in the same community as them. COVID-19 is a public health challenge right now, we can’t succeed if the public does not put trust in the process of defeating this virus,” Savanur said. Morris said another key concern is how the virus will spread during the winter months. Outside congregating becomes more difficult when it’s cold outside, sending people indoors, which could result in higher transmission. “We see a lot of factors that certainly could see a fall surge, and we certainly could see those cases kind of ratchet back up,” Morris said. Fluctuation is possible. From the week of Oct. 5 to the week of Oct. 12, K-State documented the slightest uptick in its positivity rate, but that’s not too alarming, Morris said, since it’s still below five percent. “If it goes to more than that ... we start getting into double digits, we’ll start looking at what else we need to be doing because that’s a concern,” Morris said. In the meantime, Savanur is urging his fellow students to make the choices necessary to keep the community safe, no matter how frustrating or inconvenient they may be. “The pandemic is still here, it’s happening, it’s real,” Savanur said. Morris agrees. “This is going to be for the long haul,” he said.
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ELECTI ON S
Uncontested candidates eager to continue serving Riley County EMMA WITTER news editor
This Election Day, voters in Riley County will cast their votes for several uncontested candidates. Shilo Heger, running unopposed for reelection as the Riley County Treasurer, said though she’s not competing for her position, she wants the public to know she has its best interests at heart. “I feel sometimes that people don’t know really who the County Treasurer is,” Heger said. “It’s an important role.” As treasurer for the past
six years, Heger is responsible for Riley County’s revenue, as well as registering and titling vehicles. She took the job in 2014 when former treasurer Eileen King retired before her term ended. “It was never something I was interested in, but Eileen saw something in me,” Heger said. “She started taking me to meetings with her and showing me how things worked.” Heger runs unopposed each year. Barry Wilkerson only faced one competitor in 16 years serving as the Riley County Attorney. After he was elected over his opponent in 2004, Wilkerson
said he’s used unopposed election cycles to continue his work rather than campaign. “When I had opposition, I was going door to door, running ads, sending out flyers, raising money,” he said. “While I run unopposed, I left that time to do my job.” Wilkerson said he takes pride in fulfilling his responsibilities as County Attorney. Reviewing police reports, filing charges and prosecuting “everything from traffic cases to capital murder cases” are aspects of the job he said are essential for the health of the community. “I don’t want to ever give people the impression that I like
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sending people to prison ... but helping get justice for the victims of crimes is what makes it satisfying,” Wilkerson said. Heger shares Wilkerson’s passion for serving the public, even in a completely different department. “I’m not a real political person, that part I do struggle with,” Heger said. “But just being able to serve the public has been very rewarding, and I hope to continue doing it, at least until I have to retire.” Though she didn’t hold an elected position until 2014, Heger began working for the county in 2004 as a tax and accounting supervi-
sor. Heger said her favorite part of the job was learning about her local government. “It was kind of fun because as I started working here, I’d tagged vehicles, but I didn’t really know how all that worked,” she said. “I owned a home, but I didn’t know how all the intricacies of property taxes worked. I found it very interesting.” Though Heger has never had to campaign for her position, she said she’s always prepared to. “When I ran the first time, people didn’t really know who I was, so running unopposed, I still wanted people to get to know who I am,” Heger said.
This year, Heger hoped to attend events and parades like in years past, but the pandemic threw a wrench in those plans. Without normal, in-person events, Heger said attending functions for elected officials and keeping in contact with the public is vital. “I just want people to know who they’d need to go to with questions about their real estate taxes, bills, how to register a vehicle and I’m always open to listening to people if they have suggestions or things they’d like to see done differently,” Heger said. “I want people to know I’m here and available to help wherever I can.”
U N O PPO SED Upcoming general election keeps county clerk Rich Vargo busy CHANDLER MIXON staff writer
In 1996, Rich Vargo was elected county clerk. He’s held it ever since. Vargo described his job as hectic, especially with this year’s general election coming up. “The part people don’t realize is that we do all the payroll for the entire county, we do all the human resources for the entire county and we’re responsible for the tax roll,” Vargo said. “You name it, we do it.” With the general election on Nov. 3, Vargo is extremely busy, and he said the pandemic contributes to his crazy schedule. “COVID-19 has quadrupled our workload,” Vargo said. “With so much emphasis on voting by mail, it’s like doing two elections at one time. We still have to have polling places opened, and plus, we’ll be sending out over 10,000 ballots by mail.” Though voting by mail is taking place in larger numbers this election than in years past, Vargo said the concept is noth-
ing new, and voters don’t need to worry about their ballots being tampered with. “Ballot by mail is not new in the state of Kansas. It’s been around for serval decades,” Vargo said. “Everything gets amped up around presidential elections because of the emphasis on [it]. Then, you hear things in the national media and figures making
comments about mail ballots.” Vargo said the county clerk’s office follows strict guidlines to ensure no tampering occurs. The signature from each voter registration form is compared to the mail-in ballot to ensure those voting are who they claim to be, he said. see page
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Dylan Connell | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
County Clerk Rich Vargo was elected to his position in 1996.
Vaccines key to quell flu season during pandemic, health officials say
H E A LT H JULIE FREIJAT copy chief
Flu season is creeping around the corner, yet COVID-19 continues to run rampant. While there’s no way to predict how the pandemic and the flu season will affect one another, Lafene Health Center is preparing for anything. That’s why the flu vaccine will be so important this year, Abby King, associate nursing director at Lafene, said. Even though COVID-19 did not take full force in the U.S. until after the peak of the last flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is possible to have both illnesses simultaneously. King said she doesn’t know of any specific correlation between how one virus would af-
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fect the contagion of another, but that with any infection, the immune system is weakened and an individual’s susceptibility to infection increases. COVID-19 and influenza come from different viral families, but cause similar symptoms when they infect humans, like fever, fatigue, cough or a sore throat. King said it’s up to the individual health provider to determine whether these symptoms can be attributed to COVID-19 or the flu, but someone showing the shared symptoms will likely be tested for both. Local health officer Julie Gibbs said the Riley County Health Department’s clinical task force collaborates with school nurses to create a protocol for dealing with flu-like symptoms in students. While antiviral treatment can be used for the flu, most treatment involves symptom relief and rest. King said on average each year, Lafene sees about 150 positive influenza tests.
Preliminary estimates from the CDC suggest there were 38 million flu cases during the 2019-2020 flu season. Since Jan. 21, the CDC reported over eight million cases of COVID-19. This year, King said, Lafene will keep data on coinfection as well. The local health department will also collect data about coinfection, Gibbs said. RCHD uses syndromic surveillance to record potential influenza cases throughout the county, which involves monitoring cases that present symptoms related to the flu.
To read more, visit kstatecollegian.com Photo Illustration by Julie Freijat COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
While there’s no way to predict how the pandemic and the flu season will affect one another, Lafene Health Center is preparing for it.
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“We give people the opportunity to update their signature ... and if they don’t match, we send them a card if the addresses match and ask the person to update their voter registration signature,” Vargo said. “If it comes back and matches, then it’s valid.” Processing mail-in ballots takes time. The county clerk’s office picks up mail twice during the day in order to process ballots in a “more efficient manner,” Vargo said. “I can only speak for Riley [County], but I feel the same way for the entire state of Kansas that we have no concerns for mail ballots,” he said. County Commissioner Ron Wells said working with Vargo the past eight years has been a positive experience. “I like [Vargo’s] work eth-
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tions supervisor Susan Boller said she had nothing negative to say about Vargo as a clerk and individual. “As a person, he’s a great community contributor and kind person,” Boller said. “As a colleague, the things I appreciate about him is that he leads by example, he articulates what the expectation is and it’s equal for everyone that works for him. He gives you the resources to be successful, and he’s supportive and there every step of the way.” The last day to register to vote was Oct. 13, but Vargo stressed how important it is to use your voice by voting. As soon as people make up their mind as to who they want to vote for, Vargo said they should cast their ballots in advance. “The reason I encourage that is because in Kansas, you never know what the weather’s going to be like, so don’t procrastinate,” Vargo said. “I encourage people to not wait until Election Day on Nov. 3, but go out and vote.”
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ic,” Wells said. “I like what he does when he’s not at work. He lives in a rural county, he burns wood for heat in the winter, he has crop land and he’s a deer hunter. He’s just a well-rounded person who loves life.” Elected to the county commission in 2012, Wells didn’t know much about Vargo’s work before meeting him. “He’s gone way beyond what I thought a county clerk does,” Wells said. “To me, I think he’s a very valuable person, and I’ve been impressed with how much knowledge he has about the total operation of a county.” Wells said much of Riley County’s success in Kansas can be attributed to Vargo. “Riley County is one of our top ranked counties in Kansas, and that’s thanks to the county clerk, county treasurer and the county appraiser,” Wells said. “They are looked up to by many of the counties in the state of Kansas.” Deputy clerk and elec-
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HELPING HANDS Wildcat Community Tutoring hosts soft opening, aims to expand nationwide SEAN SCHAPER assistant news editor
In a collaborative effort to provide free online tutoring and activities for K-12 learners, a few Kansas State colleges joined together to form the Wildcat Community Tutoring and Educational Enrichment Initiative. The College of Education, College of Health and Human Sciences and the Staley School of Leadership Studies teamed up to create this service, and Monday kick-started the program’s soft-opening. Roger Schieferecke, assistant dean of the College of Education, took the lead on this initiative and said once the service is fully operational, it won’t be limited by region. The soft-opening allowed for any kinks to be worked out before opening the services to the public. The service will soon expand nationwide. “Our short-term goal is to have a really advanced program for the spring semester,” Schieferecke said. “If [COVID-19] relaxes and things get back to a little more normal, certainly it’d be really cool to have an in-person activity as well.” With more than 30 volunteers prepared to tutor everything from kindergarten to calculus, more tutors are being added daily as the team continues accepting applications. “Some of the tutors have been ready to roll for, like, weeks,” Schieferecke said. “What I’ve been impressed with is the students’ passion for just wanting to help.” Hailey Casey, freshman in biology, will tutor high school Spanish and English, some middle school science and language courses and general K-3 subjects. “I am excited for this opportunity in the way that I hope it will help me to become a good educator and resource and perhaps
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BEER GOGGLES VOTE US FOR BEST LIQUOR STORE IN MANHATTAN!
File Photo by Paige Eichkorn | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP The Wildcat Community Tutoring and Educational Enrichment Initiative aims to help K-12 students with various subjects.
learn something that I did not know throughout the process,” Casey said in an email. “I think there should be more of an outreach to students who would potentially want to take part in this as a tutor. The more time slots we have filled, the more students we can help.” Casey said the process for signing up was simple. “[The application] asked us a few questions regarding our motives for tutoring, what our interests were and our schedule,” she said. “Once the application was accepted, we had to go through modules and tests over the modules to ensure that our interactions with the students and our methods of tutoring were satisfactory.” Sofie Urquiza, sophomore in elementary education, went through the same application process and said she will use her past tutoring skills to help these next group of students. “I used to be a tutor when I was a senior in high school, and I tutored just K-8 math,” Urquiza said. “I thought it was super rewarding when I saw my kids benefiting from the strategies I was giving them.” Adelaide Klutse, graduate student in applied family science,
learned about the tutoring initiative through the Oct. 5 edition of K-State Today. Klutse is scheduled as a K-3 tutor and said she looks forward to supporting young children to work meaningfully towards their academic goals. “For anyone who loves to teach and has a few hours available, sign up to serve as a tutor,” Klutse said. “This could just be your way of giving back to the community, especially if you are looking for safe ways to do so.” Since the tutoring service is geared toward children, two tutors will sit in for each session. “Due to our two-to-one tutor-to-student ratio, I can rely on my co-tutor to help in areas I may not be overly confident in,” Casey said. Educational Enrichment Programs will be offered throughout the fall semester and cover a variety of activities from reading programs to STEM activities K-State students created and will lead. Students participating in the enrichment activities need to complete the Consent, Waiver, Release and Assumption of Risk for Virtual/Remote Event for Children Participants form prior to the tutoring appointment.
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Across the Atlantic: Anna Turco finds success with Wildcat tennis KYLE RUDER staff writer
It’s common to move to another city or state to attend college. However, junior Anna Turco moved across the Atlantic to a whole new country. Turco, junior in psychology and criminology, came to Kansas State in 2017 from her home in Mondovi, Italy. She’s a student athlete, playing for the women’s tennis team. “Back home it is kind of tough, either you focus on sports or you study and get a degree, but I wanted to do both,” Turco said. “It is a great opportunity to try new things and learn a new language.” The family aspect of K-State is what intrigued Turco the most when she made her decision to become a Wildcat. Turco said the family-like atmosphere at K-State intrigued her. “I chose K-State mainly because the coaches are nice and
made a good impression and I really like the concept of family,” Turco said. Turco misses plenty of things being so far from home. “I miss all of my family and friends for sure, but food would definitely be a top one,” Turco said. “Here you have more of a variety of food, but back home it is mainly Italian food.” Outside of tennis practice and games, Turco enjoys spending time with her friends at coffee shops and taking walks on the Konza trail. Turco found success on the court with the Wildcats. She said her favorite memory was being part of the 2018 team that defeated Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. “... they were the favorite and we won 4-3,” Turco said. “It was the first time in many years that we went to national’s and won our round.” Turco played her part in that matchup, defeating Lesedi Jacobs 5-4 in the first set of the
No. 5 singles because of Jacobs’ medical retirement. Turco has a 47-32 career record in singles, and a 39-40 career record in doubles. She held the No. 1 spot in singles for the Wildcats in 2019, earning All-Big 12 Second Team honors in singles. Turco also has achievements in the academic world dating back to her first year in the program. She was named to the Big 12 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll in four of the semesters that she’s been on campus. Turco isn’t sure what she will do when she graduates, but has weighed her options and realized that she has multiple paths to choose. One of those paths includes sticking with tennis. “I would like to try and coach college tennis, maybe try that as an option,” Turco said. “I feel like staying in the U.S. would be a good thing for me to do, but I have different options.”
File Photo by Dylan Connel | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Junior Anna Turco reaches to make a play on the ball as the Wildcats competed against Washington in February 2020.
H AR RY TR O T TER WAN TS TO K EEP TH E G O V E R N O R ’S C U P IN M A N H AT TA N ADAM MEYER staff writer
As the football team gears up to host Kansas for the Sunflower Showdown, senior running back Harry Trotter gears up for his last meeting with the in-state rival. But this isn’t the side Trotter thought he’d be playing for. Growing up a KU fan, he thought he’d show up for the Jayhawks in the rivalry, but he’s honored to be a part of it. “I think [this rivalry] is definitely important,” Trotter said. “I think for all the Kansas kids being born and raised here, it’s for bragging rights, it’s a fun game every year — highly competitive, very emotional game. ... I’m super
thankful to be here. It’s a fun game every year, and we look forward to it.” As a senior, he knows it’s his job to make sure his younger teammates understand the importance of the rivalry because the last thing the members of the Kansas State team want to do is lose this game. “Some of us talked yesterday in a team meeting, some Kansas kids about just how important it was to us,” Trotter said. “We just made it for them like how Texas kids really enjoy playing UT or for Oklahoma kids, like AJ [Parker], they get to play OU, and it’s that type of game for us. They know how important it is, and I’m sure all of the young guys will come ready to play.”
Trotter is having a productive senior season. He rushed for 113 yards on 36 carries along with two touchdowns. Whether it’s scoring a touchdown or helping the team get productive rushing yards, he wants to do whatever it takes to help his team keep the Governor’s Cup. This is head coach Chris Klieman’s second Sunflower Showdown, and he recognizes its importance to the players and the program. “I’ve only been here for one year, but for the state of Kansas, it’s a big deal,” Klieman said. “For those kids from Missouri, it’s a big deal. So many of our guys know a lot of players on their team. Anytime you have teams from the
same state going against each other at any level, and now you throw in Big 12 and Power 5, I think it’s a big deal. I know it is. Our kids, alums and fan base and community and state, this is a big game. Our guys are excited for the opportunity.” The Wildcats defeated the Jayhawks last season, and Trotter plans to do his part to make sure the team is ready to do the same this season. “It was very satisfying [to beat Kansas last season],” Trotter said. “I knew going into the week I was going to be leaned on a little bit more. So, I just tried to prepare the best I could. I thought, as a team last year, Monday through Friday, we had a great week of practice. We stayed away from dis-
File Photo by Logan Wassall | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Senior running back Harry Trotter runs in a touchdown during the football game against Kansas in David Booth Memorial Stadium on Nov. 2, 2019. The Wildcats defeated the Jayhawks in the Sunflower Showdown, 38-10. tractions, and I think that is what helped us win that game. It’s something I will definitely remember, but the past is the past, and we have to play well
again this year.” The Sunflower Showdown will kick off at noon on Saturday in Manhattan on Fox Sports One.
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GAMEDAY GUI DE
CODY FRIESEN staff writer
Fresh off a bye week, the football team hosts the Kansas Jayhawks in the 118th installment of the Sunflower Showdown. The Governor’s Cup has been in Manhattan since 2009, but the struggling Jayhawks aim to play spoiler and ruin Kansas State’s Big 12 Conference title hopes. True freshman quarterback Will Howard is listed as the starter for K-State, which
will make him the third true freshman to start against KU. No true freshman quarterback has defeated the Jayhawks or even scored a touchdown. Howard earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week awards for his efforts against TCU with 117 passing yards and 86 rushing yards and a touchdown in his first career start. He is currently tenth in the Big 12 in total offense averaging 135.7 yards per game through three games. The K-State defense
played exceptionally well in Big 12 play this season. The Wildcats are atop the conference in turnover margin and held opponents to 26.2 points per game. Senior defensive back AJ Parker earned both Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week and Jim Thorpe Player of the Week with five tackles and a pick-six. The Jayhawks still need their first win of the season and are coming off a 17-38 loss on the road to West Virginia in the
lone conference game last week. Head coach Les Miles did not make the trip to Morgantown, West Virginia, after testing positive for COVID-19. The Jayhawks struggled to find an answer at quarterback, throwing three quarterbacks into play through four games this season. Junior quarterback Miles Kendrick leads KU with 341 yards, the highest completion percentage and his three touchdowns top the quarterback
K-State’s young core takes on in-state rival Kansas room. Kendrick has thrown four interceptions and has not gotten help from his offensive line, getting sacked 11 times this season. The Jayhawks allowed 20 sacks, which is tied for 76th in the NCAA out of 77 teams currently playing. Sack yards lost this season total to 84 yards. Junior running back Pooka Williams opted out of the season earlier this week, meaning sophomore running back Velton Gardner will have to step up for the Jayhawks to be
successful offensively. He ranks tenth in the Big 12 in rushing with 225 yards and two touchdowns this season. KU shows individual promise in positions like running back and wide receiver, but the issue the Jayhawks face this season is getting the ball to the key weapons. If the offense can spread out the K-State defense, the game will be closer than projected. It is also worth noting that the Wildcats are susceptible to big trick plays this season.
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Junior defensive end Wyatt Hubert ranks thirteenth nationally in career sacks per game among active players and has two on the season. Hubert is a force on KU’s struggling offensive line, who give up an average of five sacks per game. Senior running back Harry Trotter ran wild against the Jayhawks last season with a career-high 20 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown. Trotter has 113 yards and two touchdowns so far this season. The Jayhawk defense is ranked seventieth nationally in rush yards allowed as opponents average 227.3 yards per game on the ground. Trotter, along with freshman running back Deuce Vaughn, will need to expose this weakness. Senior wide receiver Andrew Parchment leads the Jayhawks in receptions with 17 on the year for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Parchment made seven touchdowns last season, but K-State kept him out of the end zone during their previous matchup. He has the listed height advantage at 6-foot2, which could be a problem for the Wildcats. Sophomore defensive back Kenny Logan Jr. leads the Jayhawks in tackles with 34 on the season. The Wildcats enter the game as 20-point favorites, with the over-under set at 48.5. Kickoff is 11 a.m. on Saturday in Manhattan and will be on Fox Sports One.
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KNOWYOUR OPPONENT NATHAN ENSERRO assistant sports editor
The Wildcats look to extend their win streak over rival Kansas to 12 straight wins on Saturday when the Jayhawks visit Manhattan. The last time Kansas beat Kansas State in football was during former head coach Ron Prince’s final year in Manhattan. At head coach for Kansas is Les Miles, who formerly coached at Oklahoma State and LSU. He is in his second season at KU and has shown little improvement in Lawrence with a depleted and very young roster. Kansas is in the middle of a youth movement. Juniors and seniors make up the starters, but man young contributors are behind them on the
depth chart. Miles is trying to grow the program through depth, which is a slow process but can be effective. The Jayhawks’ offense possesses talent at the skill positions. Senior wide receiver Andrew Parchment is an athletic target at 6-foot-2 and sophomore running back Velton Gardner is serviceable, but not a replacement for junior running back Pooka Williams, who opted out of the remainder of the season. The problem for KU’s spread run offense is at the quarterback position and offensive line. Frankly, the line struggled to open up holes for Williams against West Virginia and the Jayhawks do not have a game changer distributing the ball to make up for it. Kansas’ depth chart for
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this week list three quarterbacks with an “or” between their names. That means that none of them are the starter. Miles hinted in his weekly press conference Kansas may play all three or some combination of them — and that will likely be the case. It will be interesting to see what offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon does without Williams. His offense used Williams as a feature back in traditional run game as well as a receiving and screen pass threat. The spread is all about creating horizontal space for athletic players to run into with the ball, and Gardner is not as effective as Williams in the run and screen pass game. West Virginia held the Jayhawks to just 17 points. Each of the two scoring drives started
October is LGBT History Month! Join with K-State LGBT Resource Center Want to get involved? and our LGBTQ student Need a safe space onorganizations campus? and our campus community in celebrating Have questions? lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history. Our past inspires us to continue The LGBT Resource Center at Kansas State University is dedicated blazing forward towards progress. to helping LGBT students, staff, faculty and community members
to become more secure and educated about sexuality and gender identity207 in their personal Holton Hall and professional surroundings. The center is open to everyone, and provides connections to local 785-532-5352 resources. The center hosts several events throughout the year, lgbt@k-state.edu including guest speakers, social events and a LGBT Leadership Conference. feel free to contact us with any questions, Open Please M-F 9AM - 5PM concerns or simply to say hello. Coordinator | Brandon Haddock
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Running game key in matchup against KU
around midfield and a kick return from Williams generated the third touchdown. The Kansas defense is the worst in the conference in terms of points allowed and rushing defense. They have the worst total defense — yards per game — in Big 12 Conference play. The Jayhawks’ 3-4 defense does have talent at the linebacker position with junior Dru Prox holding down the weak side and senior Denzel Feaster in the middle. The defensive line, on the other hand, does a poor job of getting in the backfield.
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Dalton Wainscott | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Senior running back Harry trotter runs through a gap in the defense. The Wildcats beat the Red Raiders 31-21 on Fort Riley Day at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
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The Sunflower Showdown promotes generations-long rivalry between Kansas teams CAMERON BRADLEY sports editor
The Sunflower Showdown — a rivalry game between two teams separated by just 85 miles of Interstate 70. First meeting in 1902 and continuously playing since 1911, the Kansas State versus Kansas game stretches across generations, and though every meeting wasn’t pretty, it’s hard to not love the good old fashioned tension that divides both teams. While K-State football is on the cusp of what could be its twelfth straight victory over the Jayhawks — which would break the series record for the longest winning-streak for either team in the series — the Sunflower Showdown didn’t always favor the Wildcats. In the series history, Kansas leads 64-48-5, but since the introduction of the Governor’s Cup in 1969, K-State leads the series 31-19-1. The series began on Oct. 7, 1902, in Lawrence, when the Jayhawks defeated K-State 16-0 for the Governor’s Trophy, not to be confused with the Governor’s Cup. The trophy was only awarded in that first meeting. Between then and 1924, KU built up the lead they have in the series now, winning 17 of the first 21 meetings to put the overall series at 17-1-3. K-State’s first
and only victory in that period came on Nov. 23, 1906, in the rivalry’s fifth meeting, when the Wildcats defeated KU in Manhattan 6-4. The series between K-State and KU would be the longest continuous rivalry in the Football Bowl Subdivision if the meeting in 1910 wasn’t canceled — the two teams were unable to agree on eligibility rules after KU was found to be involved in a number of cheating scandals. After years of KU dominating the rivalry, K-State made the series competitive, winning 12 of the next 17 meetings from 1924 to 1940. Since 1924, the series sits tied 47-47-2. From 1940 until 1969, the winner of the series was awarded the “Peace Pact Trophy,” which came in the shape of two miniature bronze goalposts. This trophy was used to discourage the winning team’s students from tearing down the actual goalposts on the field after the game. KU took the mini bronze goalposts 23 times in the next 29 meetings from 1941 to 1969 — this is where another large chunk of the Jayhawks’ wins came from. In those years, K-State defeated KU just four times, putting together a threegame winning-streak against KU from 1953 to 1955. The tide in the series slow-
ly shifted K-State’s way at the introduction of the Governor’s Cup in 1969. The Wildcats won the first meeting for that trophy 26-22 after a KU pass was interrupted in the end zone during the final play. Almost every game was competitive in the series from 1969 onwards, and there was some controversy, with the 1980 meeting’s outcome still disputed. Kansas won that meeting 20-18, but after their running back Kerwin Bell was ruled ineligible at the conclusion of the season, KU had to forfeit three conference victories, including the win against K-State. Perhaps the most infamous matchup between the two teams occurred seven years later in 1987, when KU entered the game 1-7 and K-State came in 0-8. Dubbed the Toilet Bowl, both teams were at the bottom of college football at the time. The game lived up to its name, ending in a 17-17 tie. After Bill Snyder arrived in 1989 the series flipped on its head. From 1990 to 2003, K-State started a run that went matched until recently, going 12-2 against their in-state rival and winning 11-straight from 1993 to 2003. The Wildcats beat KU by an average of 33 points per game during the winning-streak. During that time,
Archive Photo by Evert Nelson | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
The Wildcats line up against the Jayhawks during a third down play at the Sunflower Showdown on Nov. 26, 2016. The ‘Cats won 34-19. K-State snapped an 11-game losing streak in Lawrence, in 1994, sending K-State fans in attendance into a frenzy. The victory prompted the fans to rush the field and tear down the Jayhawks goalposts on their home turf. In 1995, both teams were ranked going into a matchup, as No. 14 K-State (5-1) dominated No. 6 KU (7-0) 41-7 in Manhattan. Preventing the streak
Men’s basketball to host Texas A&M in SEC/Big 12 Challenge MARSHALL SUNNER staff writer
The men's basketball team confirmed another game on their anticipated season schedule with a Big 12 Conference/ SEC Challenge against Texas A&M. The Wildcats play Texas A&M in in Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021, both conferences announced Wednesday.
ESPN will provide coverage for the game. Tip-off time and full scheduling information aren't available yet. "The Challenge series continues to be a great success for both the Big 12 and SEC," head coach Bruce Weber said to K-State Athletics. "It has also become one of the most competitive in the country with the conferences tying for the second time in the last four years
in 2020. Texas A&M is another great addition to our schedule and we know that any Buzz Williams-coached team will be [a] difficult opponent to play." The two conferences tied in the Challenge for the second time in eight years last season, with each conference earning five wins a piece. The Big 12 is 40-30 (.571) all-time in the challenge. K-State is 3-4 all-time in the Challenge. The Wildcats last
played the Aggies in 2019 — the Wildcats lost 63-53. K-State leads the all-time series 18-9 and is 11-0 against Texas A&M at home. This will be the second scheduled meeting with a former conference rival for the 2020-21 season with the Wildcats playing Colorado on Nov. 27 in the Little Apple Classic at Bramlage Coliseum. The rest of the Wildcats’ schedule remains uncertain.
from worsening in 2004, the Jayhawks defeated K-State 31-28 in Lawrence, starting KU’s most successful trend against the Wildcats in the twenty-first century. They won four of the next five games against K-State. K-State put a stop to that in 2009 with a 17-10 victory in Manhattan, thus starting a new streak against the Jayhawks that carries on to this day. The Wildcats can make
history on Saturday with a win, upping the winning-streak to 12, the longest in series history. While it hasn’t always been known for being the most competitive rivalry, the Sunflower Showdown still is one of the most historic rivalries in all of college football. The 118th edition of the rivalry takes place at 11 a.m. on Saturday in Manhattan and will be broadcasted on Fox Sports 1.
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OP I N I ON
K-State should do everything possible to ensure a safe environment at basketball games CONNOR COTTENMYRE staff writer
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Having seen various approaches to fighting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic during the fall sports season, Kansas State hasn’t shared what a home basketball game will look like. We will most likely see a mix of the volleyball and football guidelines currently in place, but that is just a guess. I have a few thoughts on what could be done in the winter to improve upon the guidelines already implemented. As far as tailgating goes, it should be taken as seriously as football — not allowing people to congregate in large groups to ensure protection from the virus. Social distancing policies need to be enforced, and mask mandates are a must for home basketball games. Another big topic has been entry policies. The clear bag policy should be a no brainer, but we should see mask mandates at all times within Bramlage Coliseum. The strict no re-entry policy implemented for football games should also be practiced at basketball games this year. So far, K-State Athletics has done a solid job at football games by having security positioned well and enforcing the mask mandate. An ideal addition would be having guests’ temperatures checked upon entry. Limited capacity should play a major role in basketball games as well, with ICAT students and general attendance tickets held to a limited amount. Priority should be given to players’ families as well as guests of their choosing. Since Bramlage is an enclosed area, making sure seating stays open and sections are not crowded during home games is paramount. Football does a decent job
of enforcing social distancing, allowing the student section three rows of space vertically between parties. However, the current plan does nothing to separate parties horizontally. You could have 15 people pushed together in one-row side by side, while still following the rules of separating vertically to maintain a safe distance. K-State should do more to enforce that aspect of social distancing, whether it be separating parties entirely or doing it on a one-party per row basis. Another good practice would be reserving the first three rows from the court to maintain a safe distance from those attending the game and the players and coaching staff. As for media access, I would like to see something similar to how the NBA bubble handled things, operating with virtual press conferences and stationary microphones for players and coaches during sideline and post-game interviews. This would allow media access while maintain-
ing a safe social distance. In recent weeks, NFL players and staff members have tested positive around the league, because of this, games were moved and players quarantined to ensure containment. If cases rise and an outbreak ensued, K-State should remove fans immediately and for an extended period of time to ensure player and staff safety. I am not a health expert, but I do know if cases rise, we could see sports taken away again. It is imperative that everything possible is done to ensure a safe environment for everyone at home games. It is a privilege to have sports back and we have to work toward keeping that way. Connor Cottenmeyer is a senior in journalism and mass communications and a writer for the Collegian.The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Collegian. Please send comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.
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The first day of school is always a little awkward. Everyone has a story of showing up late or walking into the wrong classroom, but for Krista Else, freshman in nutrition and health, it was a little more dramatic than that. Else’s first in-person class was in mid-September. After a month of online-only classes, she said finally taking a walk to campus was a nice change. “It was 8 a.m., foggy out and there was nobody on campus,” Else said. “I was having a good walk.” That was until she felt a weird sensation in her foot, like it had “violently” fallen asleep. “I look down, and there’s this brown thing on my foot,” Else said. “I thought it was a
pinecone at first glance. I was groggy in the morning, I was just so confused.” What looked like a pinecone was actually a campus squirrel that had attached itself to Else’s foot. “Its little hands were latched around my ankle, and his whole body was just on my foot,” she said. “I was taking steps, and he was staying on my foot. I was just like, ‘This is actually ridiculous.’ I was kicking my foot to get it off because obviously I did not want it to stay.” After freeing herself from the squirrel’s grip, Else continued on to class, trying to stay calm. “I walked into my lab, looking petrified, I bet,” she said. “I didn’t want that to be my first impression on anyone, but you can bet I called my mom right after and told her what happened.”
In such a strange semester, Else said she never expected a story like this to define her freshman year. “You hear horror stories of first day jitters,” she said. “Well, I’d been doing my classes for a month, but of course the first time I set foot to go to a class, a squirrel latches onto me.” Overly friendly campus squirrels aside, Else said her transition to college during the pandemic has been stressful, but better than expected. “Obviously, it’s a huge transformation living on your own,” Else said. “I also rushed, which I was nervous about not picking the right house, and I live in a four-person room, so we’re all over each other while we’re trying to do school work.” Getting involved in student organizations like STUMO, K-State Proud, Alpha
Delta Pi sorority and a Bible study were helpful to avoid feeling isolated, Else said. By getting to know girls in her Bible study, she’s gotten to meet friends of friends and build a circle even with classes mostly online. “My best memories in high school were meeting people through clubs, so I’ve been repeating that here so far,” Else said. Making an impression is even easier after her first day of classes. The squirrel story became Else’s go-to during ice breaker. “My ‘two truths and a lie’ is always insane,” she said. “I tell people I got attacked by a campus squirrel, a zebra broke my finger at age five and I have a brother.” Good luck guessing the lie. Academically, Else said her freshman year hasn’t been too hard to manage, and
REVIEW: ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ invokes the horrors of mortality JARED SHUFF staff writer
“The Haunting of Bly Manor” has its fair share of jump scares, but the true horror lies in its exploration of mortality. The age-old question, “What happens when we die?” is overshadowed by a more daunting question — “Are we sure we’re alive?” This thrilling sequel to “The Haunting of Hill House” follows Danielle “Dani” Clayton, portrayed by Victoria Pedretti, as she leaves her life and career in America to au pair for two orphaned children in rural England. Running from her own secrets, Dani gets wrapped up in the mysterious secrets of her new home, Bly Manor. Plagued by the gravity of an unknown entity, Bly Manor hosts many trapped souls. Unable to escape, they aimlessly wander the grounds, forgotten by the world
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and even themselves. As time passes, all that remains are faceless figures, more like dolls than the living beings they once were. More horrifying than the faceless remnants of these forgotten souls are the ones trying not to fade away, taking whatever measures necessary to avoid eternity at Bly Manor. Deceit, possession and murder are just a few ways these spirits attempt to maintain residence in the land of the living. Trapped between the living and the dead, some of these spirits are unaware they have passed, going about their daily routines none the wiser to their unfortunate circumstances. These spirits believe they are alive to the point they can touch and feel like a living being. The only thing separating them from the living is their inability to leave Bly Manor. They simply lose track of time when nobody is
around, only existing in the presence of others. This was the single most horrific part of the show, more so than the entity trapping these souls at Bly Manor. If we aren’t aware of our death, do we continue playing the part of a living person? How can we be sure we aren’t imposters trapped on Earth, only existing in the presence of others? It’s a chilling thought, one I wish I’d never had. “The Haunting of Bly Manor” is more than a horror story with creepy orphans and dangerous spirits. In truth, it is a love story. The importance of relationships, both romantic and platonic, is a central theme of the series. While toxic relationships break people down until nothing is left, beautiful ones transcend everything, including death. The series shows in the whole scheme of things, everyone dies twice. First
when we leave the world, and second when our name is forgotten. “The Haunting of Bly Manor” is slower than its predecessor, but the emotional depth of the story is undeniable. Many episodes are heartbreaking beyond belief, especially the finale. Overall, “The Haunting of Bly Manor” is a beautifully haunting love story. Love is terrifying, scarier than all the ghosts that haunt the manor. It consumes everything and can destroy a person from the inside. However, if shared with the right person, not even death can tear it apart. Jared Shuff is a junior in secondary education.The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Collegian. Please send comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.
How a campus squirrel interrupted this freshman’s first day at K-State
Photo Courtesy of Krista Else
On her first day of in-person classes, Krista Else, freshman in nutrition and health and pre-occupational therapy, made more friends than she expected. she said sticking to a routine helped keep her priorities in check. “I stay on top of my stuff,” she said. “My schedule is to get stuff done Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, and I use Thursday and Friday to study. I’m not satisfied until everything is done.” When the stress of life during the pandemic starts building up, Else said sleep, music and getting out of the house are her favorite ways to cope.
“Making playlists on Spotify is my favorite thing to do, or sometimes, a good nap works wonders,” she said. “I like to go out to a coffee shop too, like Public Hall or Bluestem, and journal.” Else isn’t the first to recommend getting out of the house to help ease stress during uncertain times. But if you do go out for a walk, be sure to look out for any unwelcome hitchhikers.
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A R C H IT E C T U R E S T U D E N T H IG H LIG H T S IM M IG R A N T S’ E XP E R IE N C E S IN S E N IO R A R T E XH IB IT IO N REBECCA VRBAS culture editor
If you’ve been on campus recently, you might notice a new addition to the landscape by Hale Library. Selena Hernandez, graduate student in architecture, decided to design her senior art installation project to draw attention to the experience of those who risk everything to cross the border into the U.S. “I knew I wanted to do a sensitive topic that isn’t really spoken about on campus, which is like immigration, and then specifically with the crossing of the Rio Grande,” she said. Hernandez said the inspiration for the project came from her father’s experience immigrating when he was 15, carrying his brother over a mile across the riv-
er. She also expanded the project to include a broader experience. “Instead of focusing on the specific crossing, it was more of me putting myself in the experience and trying to understand how to find balance in an environment that is inherently unbalanced,” she said. The 10 silhouettes are constructed of medium-density fibreboard with a message in English or Spanish, and spray painted to give a metallic appearance. A rope suspended by stakes divides them, representing the boundary they struggle to navigate. “Each kind of shows how like your body is fighting the current trying to get across to the other side,” Hernandez said. “Each silhouette has a different quote based on the personal testimony of immigrants who have crossed the Rio Grande. And it talks
about their personal experiences, the people they’ve lost along the way and just how they’ve almost given up hope, but then they realize that they can’t go back.” Each silhouette has a solar-powered light attached to the base to give the exhibition an extra dimension at night. “They’re sensor lighting, so when people come up to them, the light is supposed to hit the silhouettes and that’s supposed to act as like a natural surveillance so that people won’t mess with them, or it also conveys the experience of immigrants crossing at night where they could be caught at any moment by border patrol,” Hernandez said. While Hernandez said the project was compared to a memorial, she’s trying to find the balance between memorializing the idea while also paying tribute
to the thousands of people who lost their lives while crossing. “I think a lot of people don’t understand the severity of immigration issues in the United States, and I think it’s just because we aren’t confronted with it on a daily basis,” she said. “My goal for this project was just to first, put it in this location because I know there’s a lot of foot traffic around Hale … and give a space so people can come here and understand the subject on a more intimate level and just engage with it in their own way.” The display is a preview to see how the project works on the site, how people understand the project and how to strengthen it, she said. Before the project is due in November, Hernandez plans to play with lights, introduce more color and add more information. “Our goal was just to see
how people I guess understand our projects and see how to strengthen those,” Hernandez said. “At first, I was kind of nervous because I didn’t think that a lot of people would get it at first, but I think I had portrayed it the way I wanted to and people have observed that, so that’s been pretty exciting.” Hernandez said the proj-
ect encouraged her to think intentionally about the details and message that goes into architecture. “There’s a certain craft that goes into it,” she said. “Just making sure that structurally they can stand up on their own, how they meet the site, how it creates a dialogue with the landscape and with the people who engage in it.”
Rebecca Vrbas | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Selena Hernandez, graduate student in architecture, stands in her senior art installation project.
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OPINION
OPI NI ON
KSUnite zoom bombing is a loud wake up call
VEDANT D. KULKARNI staff writer
Beginning in 2017, KSUnite represented a movement aimed at making our campus safer and more inclusive of students belonging to underrepresented and marginalized communities. As KSUnite's website says, "Kansas State University established precedence with the KSUnite movement to provide all members of the K-State Family an opportunity to engage meaningfully and holistically embrace opportunities for respect, civility and tolerance, and to feel pride in participation, as we prepare students for global citizenry."
This year, despite an ongoing pandemic, the university continued this tradition and hosted KSUnite virtually. Students joined via zoom and participated in the dialogues. It began with great enthusiasm and the sessions moved swiftly. Suddenly, the session I was part of was zoombombed by people who started messaging hurtful things in the chat. Soon, it started happening in nearly every session. In between that chaos, another unique challenge I had to face was alleged identity theft. Some of these zoombombers renamed themselves on Zoom with my name and started posting hateful comments to damage my image and reputation. This culminated in me
Recent election seasons are proving America’s two-party system to be insufficient ANNA SCHMIDT opinions editor
With each day that passes, the 2020 election draws closer and closer. We continue to see political ads, celebrity endorsements of presidential candidates, “get out the vote” campaigns and, most recently, the presidential and vice presidential debates. It’s been a couple of weeks since the first presidential debate between current president Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden, and the second is rapidly approaching. This debate, along with the vice presidential debate between Democratic candidate
panicking and apologizing to every person I meet and letting them know that I am not the one who was making those statements. Overall, the KSUnite experience was not what we want it to be. An event that signifies the importance of love, diversity and inclusion had to face the wrath of hateful people. It bears the question — what do we do now? The answer is both simple yet complicated. In an ideal world, racist individuals would be removed from campus just for their bigotry. However, that is not the case here because of the complexity of freedom of speech and First Amendment rights. While the K-State admin-
istration works out how to penalize the disruptors, there are many things all of us can do. First, call out racist behaviors and incidents you see on campus on social media. Social media in the 21st century has a great power to hold people accountable. The right tools and usage can be used to identify and stop hateful rhetoric before it spreads through targeted education. Second, we should reach out to our fellow Wildcats who are affected by racism, offer them empathy, act as their allies and make sure their voices are represented everywhere on campus. We only truly grow when we help each other — let's practice this attitude of helpfulness.
OPI NI ON
Kamala Harris and current vice president Mike Pence, sparked Twitter wars and numerous hot takes. These debates also provided additional soundbites for Americans to take and spin in their favor so that they could then “own” their opponent on Twitter or in commentary clips. I admit these hot takes are fun to watch, especially when you agree with one of the candidates. However, they also prove a very sad fact. American politicians, somewhere along the way, lost sight of the true definition of debate. No longer are our candidates talking about productive solutions to real-world, real-time issues that are extremely import-
ant to people’s livelihood. Instead, they are taking their two minutes to say rehearsed phrases that will make the punchiest moment with hopes of going viral. Why is this? For the last several years, American politics have quickly been spiraling into the mayhem that came to life in the last couple of election cycles. Both the Republicans and Democrats have drawn hard-line requirements for what it takes to belong to their party, and demand totalitarian-like devotion once you’re a member. Each party has leaned so much into their trademark stances on issues like gun control, abortion, police
brutality, COVID-19, climate change and the economy that they have morphed into caricatures of themselves. The problem with this is that belonging to a party means you have to be fully devoted to the candidate and the positions of that party. It gets harder and harder to admit your side could be wrong about something. This also leads to us feeling like we can’t admit that the party we “oppose” may have valuable thoughts and ideas too. However, the world is a wildly complicated place. It is an impossibility that one group could possess all of the right answers. No one has all the right answers,
15 Lastly, the administration should create concrete measures to sanction individuals who use campus as a platform to preach their hate. Hate has no place at K-State, and our policies should reflect this point. The fact that a huge and significant event like KSUnite can be zoom bombed by bigots from across the country is shameful and dangerous. The fact that we have not taken actions against students who lead this hatefulness on campus emboldens those who seek to attack us. That needs to change, and it needs to change as soon as possible. What happened at KSUnite is just a wake up call and the tip of the iceberg. The actual problem runs deep and it will require the administration and student leaders to come together to make our campus better. We have students from all over the country and the world
at K-State. We are all proud Wildcats and we take pride in being part of the K-State family. Let's reflect this pride in our actions by holding our family members accountable. We have to make sure none of our family members feel left out or discriminated against. We must make sure that our family is diverse and inclusive of everyone. Together, with love and education, we can make K-State not hateful again. Vedant Deepak Kulkarni is a Collegian contributor and a senior in management information systems and mass communications. He is also the international student affairs director in the Student Governing Association cabinet.The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Collegian. Please send comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.
we’re all only humans. Additionally, it is most definitely the case that in order to make progress in the complex age we live in, we’re going to have to start working together. Problems like COVID-19, automation, climate change, homelessness and police brutality are overwhelmingly daunting and don’t seem to be disappearing any time soon. The debates made it apparent that our modern politicians are not prioritizing coming together as two parties to make the world a better place. In fact, it proved that the candidates seemed to be doing the exact opposite, and dividing us so that we will rally behind just one of them. Luckily, however, America is a free country and as individuals, we are free to make our own decisions and state our own opinions on political issues. So what can we do as individuals to move forward,
rather than further into division? There are three simple things. Be empathetic in your approach to ideas, prioritize nuance in political discussions and always focus on issues more so than you do candidates. If we do these things, we are sure to make more progress as a nation than those disastrous debates did. Progress is undoubtedly what our country needs right now. It’s never too late to rise above the chaos and start listening to each other. Anna Schmidt is a junior in mass communications and the opinion editor for the Collegian. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Collegian. Please send comments to opinion@ kstatecollegian.com.
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friday, october 23, 2020
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