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
EMPTY SEATS? See page 4 Students didn’t buy enough athletic passes this year, but Athletics says they won’t kick them out yet
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kstatecollegian.com
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Stay safe and have fun on Halloween with these tips
vol. 125, issue 28
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REFLECTION: What I learned on a trip to the Middle East
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Meet the new K-State Student Ambassadors
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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
Rachel Hogan Copy Chief
Julia Jorns Assistant Sports Editor
Peter Loganbill News Editor
Abigail Compton Multimedia Editor
Bailey Britton Assistant News Editor
Dalton Wainscott Deputy Multimedia Editor
Wednesday
Occasional snow showers.
Leah Zimmerli Olivia Rogers Community Editors Gabby Farris Colton Seamans Design Chiefs Monica Diaz Social Media Editor Katelin Woods Audience Engagement Manager
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LOOKING AHEAD Thursday
Friday
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ON THE COVER Logan Wassall | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
K-State fans cheer on their football team during the Homecoming football game against OU in Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Oct. 26, 2019. The Wildcats upset the No. 5 rated Sooners with a final score of 48-41.
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trick or treat?
wednesday, october 30, 2019
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TIPS AND TRICKS FOR
STAYING SAFE HAV ING FUN O N HALLOWEEN
Don’t take unwrapped or opened candy
Have a walking buddy Halloween is a spooky night — bring someone with you to keep safe.
Don’t take the risk — keep yourself and others safe by ordering an Uber or calling a friend for a ride!
Watch your drinks
There are goons everywhere. Beware of their opened or unwrappped candy — it might contain something dangerous.
Establish a designated driver
Watch out for kids
Kids will be trick-or-treating, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled.
Stay on guard. Keep your drinks covered or in your line of sight.
Take a Stand SafeBar Alliance comes to Manhattan
JACOB LETOURNEAU THE COLLEGIAN
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in three women and one in six men in the U.S. experience some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime. Kansas State and the Student Governing Association are working to change these numbers through the SafeBar Alliance. SafeBar Alliance is an education and bystander interven-
tion training program for drinking establishments. Its goal is to keep bar staff and patrons safe from aggressive behavior, harassment and sexual assault. SafeBar Alliance, based in The Care Center in Lawrence, began in 2010 with two bars. Today, the trained establishments in Lawrence alone total more than 22. Cheyanne Brunner, SGA sexual violence prevention and awareness director and sophomore in psychology, took charge for SafeBar Alliance in Manhattan.
“I found out about SafeBar after I had been put in my position at SGA, and I thought it would be very helpful for Aggieville,” Brunner said. “The positives would not only have a tremendous affect for Aggieville, but create a safer community for those within it. ... It would show that it is not okay for anyone to be harassed at any point ... and that we should all stand up to sexual violence.” As far as the growth of the SafeBar Alliance in Manhattan goes, it is only the beginning. “In my time at my current
position, my goal is just to continue the growth of SafeBar within Manhattan, … but I would hope by 2021 there would be a good number of bars partnered with SafeBar,” Brunner said. But it’s not just that SafeBar Alliance is coming to Manhattan, but that the message they have to share hopes to be helpful. “It’s good to see that something like the SafeBar Alliance is out there,” Madison Spear, junior in finance, said. For more information on the SafeBar Alliance visit their website.
CITY COMMISS CITY CITY
CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY COMMISSION COMMISSION COMMISSION COMMISSION COMMISSION COMMISSION COMMISSION COMMISSI SOLID LEADERSHIP FOR A SOUND FUTURE SOLID LEADERSHIP SOLID LEADERSHIP for a Sound Future PaidFuture for by Hatesohl for City Commission, for a Sound Neil Horton, Treasurer SOLID LEADERSHIP Paid for by Hatesohl for City Commission, Neil Horton, Treasurer
SOLID LEADE for a Sound F
Paid for by Hatesohl for City Co Neil Horton, Treasure
SOLID SOLID LEADERSHIP SOLID LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP SOLID SOLID LEADERSHIP LEADER Paid for by Hatesohl for City Commission, Neil Horton, Treasurer
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PASSED UP PASSES Students didn’t buy enough athletic passes, but won’t lose seats yet KAYLIE MCLAUGHLIN THE COLLEGIAN
The student section in Bill Snyder Family Stadium has been considered one of the best features of the game day experience in Manhattan for some time. The Bleacher Report puts Kansas State in the top 20 football student sections, citing its small but mighty presence at the 50yard line. But that could change.
For the first time since 2009, student athletic pass sales dipped below 7,000 — the threshold at which K-State Athletics can remove students from midfield at home football games. Athletics and the Student Governing Association entered the agreement in spring 2018, when the department formally terminated their Privilege Fee agreement and stopped receiving student dollars. “The agreement was
We really don’t want to change anything. If our attendance continues to decline then ... we will have to look into and see what options are available. Gene Taylor
Athletic Director
based on the student fee, which we no longer get anymore, and I think we decided to continue the agreement because we want students to come,” Athletics Director Gene Taylor said. In the agreement signed by SGA and Athletics representatives, students will keep their seats on the 50-yard line if — and only if — 7,000 student athletic passes are purchased and an average of at least 4,000 students attend each football game. At this point in the season, average attendance for football games sits at 4,456, according to K-State Athletics data last amended on Oct. 6. But, when it comes to pass sales, students are about 300 passes short at 6,701 passes purchased. “We realize that we’re in violation of the contract and are simply trying to figure out a way to get students more involved at games and more interested in our athletics as a whole,” Dalton Willbrant, SGA’s Athletics liaison and junior in civil engineering, said in an emailed statement.
WHY AREN’T STUDENTS BUYING AS MANY PASSES?
Student pass sales have been declining semi-steadily since they peaked at 9,587 in 2013. Willbrant said there are any number of reasons students might forego passes this year, specifically referencing the football record in recent seasons and the changing values of college students. Taylor said it’s possible student pass sales fall with enrollment. “I’m sure if you were to look at the numbers from a percentage perspective that
Infographic by Kaylie McLaughlin | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Data used to support this graphic were provided by K-State Athletics. the number of students that are declining in enrollment, our attendance, it probably does match that,” Taylor said.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Student body vice president and junior in chemical engineering Ali Karamali said the decline has opened conversations “I don’t think they’re going to immediately terminate our contract and kick us in the corner of the stadium, but I do think we’ll open up a conversation about renegotiating that contract,” Karamali said. Taylor said Athletics does not want to take away the student-designated seats in Bill Snyder Family Stadium. “The bottom line is, we don’t want to change what we’re doing,” Taylor said. “We don’t want to take seats, we want to do everything we can to entice our students to come and they drive the atmosphere in both football and basketball, they drive the enthusiasm.” That being said, Tay-
lor said the status quo might change if things do not turn around. “It’s in conversation simply because we need to talk about it, it doesn’t mean anything different is going to happen next year, but I think as we continue to see the numbers go down, we want to do everything we can to get the numbers back up. The conversation is more about that right now,” Taylor said, “but at the same time there is reality — if it does continue to decline, at some point, we may have to look at adjusting. That’s kind of like the last thing we want to do.” Willbrant said SGA leadership and Athletics are kicking around ideas. “There has been talk of moving us to the north end zone and selling that 50 yard line marker to alumni to boost revenue and also ... to simply keep it as it is and hope that by next year, we can turn around this ongoing trend of declining ticket sales,” Willbrant
said. In the meantime, Taylor said Athletics has spent about $100,000 marketing passes to “entice” students and plans to keep doing so. Other tactics include giveaways and focus groups. Additionally, Willbrant said plans are in the works to send surveys to the student body to find out what they want to see from Athletics and the game day experience. “We are doing everything we can to try to entice the students to keep coming,” Taylor said. “We would prefer to have that section filled every game and we’re continuing to increase our marketing efforts toward our students.” For now, students can expect to keep their 50-yard line seats at football games and mid-court at basketball games. “We really don’t want to change anything. If our attendance continues to decline then … we will have to look into and see what options are available,” Taylor said.
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Student Section
National Institutes of Health grant funds professor’s research ANGELA SAWYER THE COLLEGIAN
Emily Lenk | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
The crowd fuels the tradition of the Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Oct. 26, 2019. The Wildcats upset the Oklahoma Sooners with final score of 48-41.
Antibiotic resistance is causing quite a stir — nearly 2 million Americans develop hospital-acquired infections per year, and over 90,000 deaths occur as a result. The trend is a hot topic for researchers looking to improve the quality of medicine around the world. The director of the Kansas State Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Michal Zolkiewski, is leading a new project regarding antibiotics after recieving $1.9 million in a four-year grant from the National Institute of Health. Zolkiewski and his team will be developing a new set of antibiotics. "Decades of global antibiotic misuse and overuse, along with a lack of commercial incentives to develop new drugs
REFLECTION: JULIE FREIJAT
THE COLLEGIAN
My father was born and raised in Jordan. After years of desire, he moved to the U.S. in search of a new kind of life. He found my mother and settled in Kansas City, Kansas. I’ve lived in the pancake state my entire life, unwilling to acknowledge my ethnicity and afraid of the characteristics that made me different. Eventually, something changed, and I had a great desire to know where I came from. This past summer, for the first time, my parents took my brother and me to Jordan to meet our family and explore our heritage. While there are aspects of the trip I didn’t like, Jordan was an unbelievable trip packed with rich, cultural experiences. For the first time
in my life, things made sense. We hear a lot of negative things about the Middle East. I want to focus on the good things I experienced in Jordan — because rarely are they discussed. These are a few things I learned during my trip.
the busiest times of the day aren’t during the day at all. When the sun sets, the city rises. The rowdy streets of Amman are dressed in strips of LED lights and perfumed with the scent of fresh shawarma and sweet figs.
When I landed in Amman, Jordan, it was 2 a.m. The first sound I heard as I shuffled off the plane was flowing water from the fountains that peppered the airport, followed by the voices of a bustling building. The country was awake. I sat quietly in the back of my uncle’s car, astounded by the lack of lanes on the highway and mesmerized by the tropical air and shining lights. I’d never seen a city so lit up at that time of night. Since the afternoon sun is very hot in the Middle East,
My father calls the buildings in Jordan boxes because of their uniform nature. They are made of stone and stand strong as curly locks of jasmine crawl up the sides. The region is hilly and sprinkled with hundreds of olive trees and pale, airy sand. The sky seemed thinner than it did back home — like if you followed the horizon far enough, you’d find the end of the world (but really, you’d find the Dead Sea). This country is beautiful in ways that other places are not. While old, it possesses a mystical kind of charm.
WHEN THE SUN SETS, THE CITY RISES
IT IS A STONE CITY
have brought us to a point where antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to human health." Zolkiewski said. Zolkiewski said he hopes that with their research, they will be able to prevent the threat of future deaths — though he is working in what he would call "unknown territory." "When you design new antibiotic, you target a particular component of a pathogen cell," said Zolkiewski. "That protein becomes your target. In our case, we are exploring a new target no one [has] looked at and we are hoping this new target will be very broad." If all goes well, Zolkiewski said he hopes to produce breakthroughs in tough diseases. "The goal is to produce new antibiotics that will be used in a very broad way," Zolkiewski said. "It could effect
things ranging from bacteria, fungi, and even some more sophisticated pathogens like plasmodem — the cause of malaria." Zolkiewski and his team produced some results — the outlook of which aided in receiving the grant. "We received some preliminary funding for this project and we received some preliminary results. which helped us win this particular award," Zolkiewski said. With new research comes the opportunity for graduate students interested in biochemistry, Zolkiewski said. "The grant will support personnel in my lab, which includes graduate students," said Zolkiewski. "So this will allow me to train a few more graduate students and they will have an opportunity to participate in really exciting research."
I traveled to the country my father grew up in. This is what I learned.
TEA IS BETTER SCALDING HOT AND SOAKED WITH MARAMIA
The hot weather seemed extremely incompatible with scalding tea, especially since I typically woke up in a pond of sweat. But after a few days, the thought of hot, freshly brewed tea with maramia (sage) made my mouth water.
THERE ARE NO INDIVIDUALS, ONLY FAMILY AND FRIENDS
In the West, we live solitary lives. Though some of us find a tribe, we have developed a concept of individuality that has echoed through our ancestors and settled its paws on us — the “me” generation.
see page 7, “JORDAN”
Photo courtesy of Julie Freijat
Julie Freijat poses in the ancient city of Petra.
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REVIEW
RYAN URBAN
THE COLLEGIAN
"Stop Kiss," by Diana Son and directed by Teva Spencer, is an insightful and unique show set in 1990s detailing the lives of two women as they fall in love with each other and the trials and tribulations they face. The show is told non-chronologically — the opening scene shows the two women meet and quickly transitions into different scenes throughout their relationship. "Stop Kiss" ran from Oct. 24-27 in the Purple Masque Theatre. Talented Brooke Griggs leads the show as Sara, a New York traffic woman, who becomes smitten
with Callie, a Bronx school teacher, portrayed by Kayla Lansing. Both actresses put on a powerful and intimate performance, examining their characters' hardships. Other characters showcase their struggles through interpersonal relations. The show culminates with a powerful kiss between Sara and Callie. The women are attacked and Callie is left badly injured and comatose for several scenes. Griggs exhibits a heartbreaking reaction during Callie's coma to sell the show. The technical crew made great use of the Purple Masque as well, using two moving walls suspended on a curtain track to close the "middle window" of
K-State Theatre’s ‘Stop Kiss’ is an emotional performance the show (note, the two pillars in the Masque break up the set into three sections when needed, and the actors have to work with this either as an entire apartment or as three separate settings). Closing up this portal allowed the audience to focus on the action in different spaces of the stage, adding a unique moving piece to a stationary set. Lighting added grade-A effects to the show; colors and changes showed characters' moods and tension to add to the setting. The sound effects were equally great, creative and immersive. The show suffered from some long and glaring pauses between beats — some of which
helped the awkwardness of scenes and others that did not. Certain times, props felt unnecessary, such as the nurse bringing out a chair that was never used, or throwing dishes in the sink at the beginning of the show for the sink to be used once or twice more total. Regardless of my petty and minor thoughts, the show was done next-to-perfectly with bright futures ahead for all involved. Ryan Urban is a graduate student in mass communications. 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.
SUNFLOWER SHOWDOWN K-State team takes first place at Adobe Creative Jam competition against KU
ANNA SCHMIDT THE COLLEGIAN
On Friday, Oct. 25, Adobe Creative Jam hosted a graphic design competition between Kansas State and the University of Kansas. The competition between 17 KU teams and four K-State teams took place in Kedzie Hall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. K-State teams won first and second place titles. The goal of the event was to familiarize students with Adobe XD, a vector-based design software. After a short
tutorial, students had 70 minutes to create an app centered around mindfulness. Cassidy Winsor, member of K-State’s winning team and senior in fine arts, said she went into the competition somewhat blindly. “We signed up really not knowing what to expect,” Winsor said. “We just knew that it was an all-day event and some sort of competition with prizes. Neither of us were really going with the intention of winning.” Winsor and her teammates competed with extra credit incentive for a graphic
design studio, as well as interest in the opportunity for a resume builder. They created an app called Flourish. “It was following the theme of mindfulness, so it was kind of a ‘grow with you’ type of app,” said Jordyn Peyla, member of the winning team and senior in fine arts. “When you sign up, you get a seed and as you participate in different mindfulness exercises such as meditative breathing, journaling and getting in touch with your five senses, your plant grows.” The illustration and animation it took to create the
growing plant were a product of teamwork. Peyla created all of the app’s illustrations, while team member and senior in fine arts, Ashley Read, created the animations. Winsor credited Read with the app’s uniqueness and explained that they were only one of two teams with an animation in their app, which set them apart. “Ashley made the animation of the plant coming to life and she tackled that really beautifully,” she said. Read felt the same way about teammate Peyla.
“I thought it was really cool because, Jordyn, we threw a lot at her, just with designing all of the stuff,” Read said. “She drew everything for the app. We were kind of like, ‘Hey illustrate this, illustrate this, illustrate this,’ and so because of that, she really came up with the theme, look and feel of the app.” Read is also the editor-in-chief of the Royal Purple yearbook. Winsor said she suspected that the clean combination of their original illustrations and animations were what set their team apart, and allowed
them to take home the first place title. “I think our app just looked more cohesive than some of the others, because we used our own illustrations,” Winsor said. “Also, we used the UX/UI kits that Adobe provides, so everyone’s pages that they made looked cohesive because they all had the same typeface and the same size, and we created almost like a style sheet.” As first place winners, each of the seniors were awarded a $250 Visa gift card and three months of Adobe stock images.
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JORDAN continued from page
5
In much of the Middle East people look not for individualism but for collectivism. Family takes on a new meaning in Jordan. Whether this is for better or for worse is not the point. Rather, the point is the idea that a person is not just a person. They are a sister or a brother or a father or a mother. They are a lover or an enemy. They are defined not only by who they are but also by who they interact with and how.
THE WOMEN ARE POWERFUL
We have all heard the
age-old mantra that women in the Middle East are oppressed and helpless. We’ve heard the horror stories — and all of this rings true. But it is not true in all places. Jordan is one of the most westernized countries in the region. The women there are powerful. When these women speak, they are heard. Sometimes, they are feared. I had never seen fear in my father’s eyes until my jida (grandmother) snapped at him to take his feet off the furniture. Of course, conditions for women can always be improved.
THE DESERT IS NOT HOT, BARREN OR DESOLATE
The Wadi Rum is the
one of the most otherworldly places on this planet. We arrived there on my birthday after four hours of driving through what seemed to be nothing. After a few turns, we found ourselves in the midst of sand dunes and rock structures that suffocated the sky. Smiling camels walked aimlessly through the dunes, guided by the Bedouin, a nomadic group that has inhabited the country for centuries. The desert is not unbearably hot, and there are plenty of Bedouin groups who set up tents and host guests throughout the year. That night, we walked out to the middle of the desert, far away from any light pollution. We sat in the airy
Looking Forward K-State combats declining enrollment
RYAN URBAN
THE COLLEGIAN
To combat enrollment declines, Kansas State made new strategies of recruiting transfer and international students. Emily Lehning, interim vice provost of enrollment management, said the university has “completely reworked” scholarships for incoming freshman, transfer and international students. “They would be able to qualify for scholarships that have a different look than what other students have been able to see, and we hope that by doing that we’ve actually opened up scholarship possibilities for more students,” Lehning said “That’s what all of the data and the study had indicated as part of our work. That would be one of the first big initiatives that I think really impacts students directly.” Scholarships are now run through a system that filters and matches students to prospective scholarships. K-State
also lowered the renewal GPA from 3.5 to 3.0, and evened out renewal amounts so students receive an equal amount of scholarship money across their years at college rather than a large sum their freshman year and smaller amounts later on. Lehning said K-State joined Common App, a website designed to allow incoming students to apply to multiple institutions at once. This helps to keep the cost of college application fees at bay and amplifies K-State’s exposure to new applicants. Administration also took an inventory of holds placed on student accounts, whether they are financial or due to a pending survey response. “The first big initiative was to just do an inventory of all the holds, and then to look at what could possibly be reduced, and how could we better inform students and come up with a way that we’re not keeping students from being able to progress just because there’s a small administrative piece that might be in the way,” Lehning said.
The university will also introduce Admitted Student Days where admitted students will receive tailored communication; they are also introducing “Discover K-State Days” for any admitted high school student, regardless of standing so they learn about K-State. “We’ve got a great thing going on here,” Lehning said. “If you look at our Princeton Review rankings, we had so many top five, top ten and top twenty rankings for everything from ‘Happiest Students’ to ‘Best From’ Colleges, ‘Town Relations,’ over and over. Our students and that survey reports how much they love this place. And I think we just need more students to hear that story.” These strategies are based on data collected over a two-year process looking at current practices and peer institutions by an outside consultant. Students enrolling for the first time in fall 2020 will see the full effect of these changes. A separate task force will handle graduate and Global Campus enrollment.
sand and stared at the sky. The spine of the Milky Way stretched from right to left.
LIFE IS BETTER LIVED SLOWLY AND FILLED WITH LOTS OF LAUGHTER
One of the most contrasting elements in Jordan is the ease with which life is lived there. Days are usually easygoing, without fear or panic. That is not to say there aren’t terrible, traumatic things that happen there — there are. But the Jordanian people choose to take their normal routines slower and more relaxed than those in the West. These people find ways to laugh in every conversation they have. They are
happy with what they have. The entire time I was there, I didn’t meet a Jordanian who didn’t smile or joke for the majority of a conversation. I realized where my father got his energy and — generally speaking — happiness from. Not every moment is a good moment, but in Jordan, the good moments are celebrated to the absolute fullest and with total love and excitement for the present.
JORDANIAN PEOPLE WILL TREAT YOU AS THOUGH THEY HAVE KNOWN YOU THEIR WHOLE LIVES I smiled quite a bit during my time in this country. Not only had I discovered my roots and
engrossed myself in a culture which had grown too far from me, but I spent the time with people who knew how to be happy, kind and truly empathic. The people in this country are anything but cold. The Jordanian people will greet you with smiles and laughter and plenty of tea. Julie Freijat is sophomore in journalism and mass communication. 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.
@kstatecollegian
08 Meet one of your new student ambassadors: Chaz Corredor
wednesday, october 30, 2019
Wildcat Way REBECCA VRBAS THE COLLEGIAN
Chaz Corredor, junior in finance, is one of the recently announced student ambassadors who will represent Kansas State for the next year at K-State Alumni Association events around the state. Between participating in Homecoming festivities and winning the student ambassador election, Corredor described the past week as “incredible.” Corredor, like everyone else, found out about the student election results in front of a crowd of thousands of footAubrey Bolinger COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Sam Bond (left), junior in human development and family sciences, and Chaz Corredor, junior in finance, were announced as student ambassadors Oct. 26 during halftime of K-State’s Homecoming football game against the University of Oklahoma.
ball fans in Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday. “It was definitely kind of a blur,” Corredor said. “It felt like two hours, but also like two minutes at the same time. It was kind of a crazy feeling, out of body experience almost.” Corredor said his experience with New Student Services — giving campus tours and scheduling visits for prospective students — helped prepare him for the position of serving as a student ambassador for K-State. “I kind of wanted to make my mark, leave my legacy on campus, and I figured there was no greater way to connect with like, all sorts of demographics — like future students, present students obviously and then former students and alumni,” he said. Besides his experience with New Student Services, Corredor has been involved as a member of Delta Sigma Pi, where he served as director of philanthropy and vice president of recruitment. When he’s not busy studying accounting or giving tours, Corredor said he likes watching and playing sports, visiting the
zoo and cooking. “I’m really ambitious, I have really cool recipes I have in mind, but then they don’t pan out as well,” Corredor said. “So I’m trying to get better at cooking.” Corredor said he sees being a student ambassador as an opportunity to give back to K-State, and said the experiences he has gained have helped him grow as a leader. “I love how K-State has changed me,” Corredor said. “I think I’ve become much more of a leader than a follower. Corredor said while he was super excited for the opportunity to serve in this role, he wanted to remind students that even if they don’t have a title somewhere that doesn’t mean you can’t serve K-State or serve whatever organization you love. “We’re all kind of student ambassadors, you know, for K-State,” Corredor said. “We all represent our university.” Samantha Bond, the second half of the student ambassador pair, was unavailable for an interview.
What do student ambassadors do? The ambassador program began in 1977 to get students involved in alumni events. Kansas State student ambassadors represent the university at Alumni Association functions and attend Student Alumni Board meet-
ings and activities. The selection process involves application review, a student panel interview and interviews with a faculty/staff panel, where each candidate must give a presentation. Finally, the student body votes to se-
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lect the two candidates they want to represent them. Each ambassador receives a $1,500 Borck Brothers scholarship, clothing from Borck Bros and the official K-State ring sponsored by the Alumni Association.
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