Poetry pg. 6
Gala pg. 7
Tye Dye pg. 6
E M P O R I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
T HE BULLETIN T H U R S DAY, SE P TE MB ER 29, 2016
V O LU M E 116 - N U M B E R 05
THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1901
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Emporia walks for suicide awareness Kansas universities forced to allow concealed carry D ustin B ittel assignment editor
Volunteers at the Out of the Darkness community walk release balloons Saturday at Jones Park symbolizing friends and family who taken their own lives. The walk has been hosted in Emporia for four years. DONALD GOODE | The Bulletin
A layne W eber s ta f f w r i t e r
The Out of the Darkness Walk is an event that has been held in Emporia for four years now, and is designed to raise awareness for suicide. This year’s walk took place Saturday afternoon at Jones Park, with over 200 participants in attendance. “Out of the Darkness is about stepping out into the light and acknowledging
struggles and loss,” said Melissa Kurtenbach, chair organizer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “We’ve noticed that with college students, especially over the past year, the conversation has really started to open up.” The walks are meant to raise funds for research and education of suicide prevention. “Just by being here and supporting people, it raises awareness and provides some education to those who might
not really know what suicide is,” said Natalie Guevara, a volunteer at the walk and senior, sociology major. “It’s very important to let the community know that it’s a serious thing and that it happens every day.” A table located at the entrance of the event held different colors of “honor beads,” of which each color held a different meaning. This tradition of
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ENTERTAINMENT
Alpha Kappa Lambda Hosts Slam Poetry Night
Hewleek Mckoy, sophomore theatre major, performs his original poem titled “What? No!” last Wednesday in the KSTC Colonial Ballroom. The event included a variety of poets with a prize that was awarded to Zach Palmer, who was voted by the audience as best poet. JOHN REYNOLDS | The Bulletin
Alpha Kappa Lambda hosted their annual slam poetry night last Wednesday in the memorial union ballroom. Officially titled, “Alpha Kappa Slambda,” the event invited students to perform and share their original poetry. Alec Walberg, freshman theatre education, performed his piece, “A War in the Stars,” inspired by his love for Star Wars. Walberg was introduced to slam poetry in repertory theatre, but struggled with finding a topic to perform. “I’m a privileged white male, so I don’t have a lot to slam about,” Walberg said. “I’m gonna try to recap Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.” Zack Palmer, junior interdisciplinary studies, performed his piece, “Voices of the Silent,” which he was motivated to write for family members
Emporia State’s faculty senate passed the weapons policy on concealed carry, allowing guns to be carried on campus as long as they are concealed in compliance with Kansas law, last Tuesday. There are a variety of mixed student, faculty and staff reactions about the law itself and the passing of the bill within the faculty senate. “The reality is the law is the law and we have to comply with that,” said Allison Garrett, ESU’s President. “There are of course a wide range of opinions about the law, but many individuals here at Emporia State, as well as other universities throughout the state, are not pleased that is the law and there are certainly some people who hold out hopes that might be changed. That being said, the law is the law and we certainly, as a university, want to do our best to comply.” Garrett believes the weapons policy committee did a “marvelous” job of recognizing the need to develop a policy, analyzing where the greatest risk to the university could be and then drafting a policy that addresses those risks “while still being consistent with the law that the legislature has passed”. The deadline for all univer-
sities to submit their policy to the Kansas Board of Regents for the October meeting was yesterday, Sept. 28, according to Garrett. “The two universities policies that will be considered first by KBOR are Fort Hays State University and Emporia State University,” Garrett said. “We know that, at their October meeting, our policy will be reviewed by the full Board of Regents.” Having more people on campus carrying guns could possibly have a “chilling effect” on the free exchange of ideas and discussion of difficult topics and is probably why a high percentage of faculty and staff, not only at ESU but other universities, feel the law is a misguided attempt to insure safety on campuses, according to Garrett. “...There is always somebody who will or may not say something because they are afraid of the reaction they might get, that happens now, people are afraid that if ‘I take a position on a particular topic, they are going to come after me’, whoever they are,” said Kevin Johnson, weapon policy task force member and general counsel. “To me, if a person says ‘I don’t want to say any-
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Don’t text, just drive competition underway E mily G iffin s ta f f w r i t e r
The ‘Don’t Text, Just Drive’ competition is in full swing on campus at Emporia State University, encouraging students to take the pledge not to text and drive. “It is important for students to pledge not to text and drive because it raises awareness for such an important cause,” said Kathryn Martin, Union Activities Council (UAC) president and senior elementary education major. “Way too many people die in accidents involving texting and driving. If we raise awareness, hopefully people will pay attention when they habitually pick up their phone while driving.” Associated Student Govsee POETRY page 3
ernment partnered with UAC and other departments on campus to promote the competition being held between regent schools in Kansas. Anyone wishing to make the pledge and participate in the competition can text the word ‘Hornet’ to 50555. “Different departments around ESU are working together to build a week long competition for the event,” said Elijah Williams, ASG president and senior political science and economics major. The goal of the competition is to raise awareness regarding the dangers of texting while driving. Students can participate now through November 22 to pledge not to text and
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ESU football players fear retaliation for speaking about protests football player threatened to report him to the coaches if he spoke out, so he Three ESU bowed out of an football play- I think that all too interview with ers refused to often, especially within The Bulletin. comment on Emporia State, we “We (coaches) the recent silent would like to think of don’t really go protests of the those things as isolated over things,” said National Anthem events. Kent Weiser, athfor fear of retaliK ayla G ilmore letic director. “I ation in the form P r e s i d e n t o f B l a c k S t u d e n t just notice that a of being kicked U n i o n lot of our student off of the team or athletes, they eilosing their scholther have relatives or parents arship. One player was only willing to speak anonymously, if there was no association with see FOOTBALL page 2 the football team, but another
R alvell R ogers II managing editor
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Source: Kansas Board of Regents INFOGRAPHIC BY KALLIOPE CRAFT | The Bulletin