April 17, 2019 by The Wichitan and Wai Kun

April 17, 2019 | Midwestern State University | thewichitan.com | Your Campus. Your News. | Vol. 83 No. 25

PHOTO BY ARIANNA DAVIS | THE WICHITAN

Kathy Browning, director of financial aid, gives a presentation to students about different financial aid programs on Feb. 7.

STUDENTS AWARDED MORE THAN $50 MILLION in financial aid last year HUNTER TYLER REPORTER

ollege isn’t cheap and costs aren’t going down. To help from going into debt, students depend on financial aid. This year, about 76 percent of the student population received some form of financial aid, $59.4 million in total. “There’s always been a saying that every

$59.4 Million total

year millions of dollars go unspent in financial aid, but most financial aid offices award out everything they possibly can.” “We don’t have left-over money because we have students that have a need,” Kathy Browning, director of financial aid, said. Out of this $59.4 million, $8.6 million came from scholarships, $17 million came from grants or work study

$8.6 Million scholarship

and $33.8 million came from student loans. Mark McClendon, director of institutional research, provided additional data regarding financial aid, comparing the percentages of students receiving Pell Grants by gender and race. Nearly two-thirds, 63.8 percent, of students that received a Pell Grant last year KATHY BROWNING were female, while 36.2 perDIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL AID cent were male. Additionally, 42.2 percent of these students were white, 27.1 percent were Hispanic, 21.3 percent were black and 3.1 percent were

“There’s always been a saying that every year millions of dollars go unspent in financial aid.”

$17

Million grants and work study

Asian. “Federal aid is the Pell Grants, student loans and the work study program. We do have some state aid, and we have institutional aid, scholarships would be institutional or state. What most students relate to federal aid is pell grants and student loans, and then state aid would be Texas grants and then institutional grants and scholarships,” Browning said.

see Award pg. 3

$33.8 Million from student loans

2 | April 17, 2019| S TAF F E DI T O R I A L

Conference changes may cause problems OUR VIEW: The Wichitan staff believes that conference changes may cause trouble for student athletes.

ALBUM RE V I E W

Khalids ‘Free Spirit’ is a prelude to the summer

resident Suzanne Shipley said, “The athletic changes are that our Lone Star Conference is doubling in size.” With the Lone Star Conference adding seven teams for next years line-up, student athletes are preparing to have plenty of traveling games. This will make it harder on some teams. Softball in particular will have almost double the amount of away games as they had this year. Mark Ryal, head softball coach, said, “We had five trips this year and next year you are looking at possibly nine to ten trips.” Because of these trips students will be missing more school and will have to try and keep up with course work outside of class. “You’re going to ask your team to play a doubleheader on Sunday, you will pull out of there at seven o’clock at night,” Ryal said. “Now you are going to have 10 to 11-hour drive coming back on Sunday night so they won’t get here until Monday morning at 5 a.m.” For softball some of the teams being added are teams they see at tournaments like the one at Oklahoma Christian University. There could be a silver lining to adding seven teams into the Lone Star Conference. This could give the teams the wins that they want or need to make it.

CORRECTIONS In last weeks editorial the Mavericks Day of Service events name was incorrect. The Wichitan regrets this error.

PHOTO COURTESY BY KHALIDOFFICIAL.COM

Free Spirit - Khalid

halid Robinson or Khalid as he is known, released his sophomore album “Free Spirit” this past Friday and if not for its release date, “Free Spirit” would be an absolute contender for the album of the summer. Khalid collaborated with dozens of producers including Disclosure, Stargate & Murda Beatz to bring together the vision for this new album. Christian He is even quoted as saying that he wrote Evans a majority of the songs for “Free Spirit” back when he was 17 and that to be able to execute the album the way he felt was best and work with some of the people, producers and music artists he did was truly a blessing for him. The album itself feels like a prelude to the summer time and the good times that are associated in those long summer months. Khalid’s voice flows beautifully, and every song transition, master pieced with the unique savvy flow that Khalid is known for blossoms with the foreshadowing of greater days and times that are coming, even if they don’t seem that way. Every time I play this album, I can’t stop listening to it until it’s finished; like a good film. On the song “Talk”, Disclosure’s tech

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beat prowess mixes with Khalid’s melodious and great singing voice to help create an infectious song. The songs “Don’t Pretend” and “Paradise” are very chill songs that I personally look forward to playing non-stop when I study for upcoming exams as this semester comes into its final chapter. The cool climax of the album “Outta My Head” features John Mayer in a song where Khalid sings about his passionate feelings about a girl he can’t stop thinking about. Even if you are not listening to the words Khalid is saying, the song sounds so amazing with the vibrant overall mood of the song and the beats. Next, the song “Self”, my absolute favorite song on the album that was also released as a single produced by Hitboy, has Khalid doing a self-reflection in relation to his anxieties: his fear of failing and the fact that he has succeeded so much that he feels he does not know how to handle failure and how he is working to make himself a better man. The album ends with the calm soothing “Saturday Nights”, which serves as a kind of filler and the perfect crests scene song to an album four-to-five years in the making.

EDITORS: Alyssa Mitchell, Chloe Phillips

COPY EDITOR: Bridget Reilly

First copy free. Additional copies 25¢ each.

DESIGNER: Brittni Vilandre ISSUE STAFF: Arianna Davis, Hunter Tyler, Christian Evans, Brian Lang, Kyla Budgewater, Francisco Martinez, Alana Earle, Joseph Rader, Andrew Murray, Peyton Alonzo, Aquila Freeney, Taylor Anderson

ADVISER: Bradley Wilson

The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, faculty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before intended publication. Letters should be brief (250 words or fewer) and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a email address, telephone number and address.

| April 17, 2019 | 3 SERIES REVIEW

Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer in Killing Eve (2018).

from AWARD pg. 1

PHOTO CURTESY IMBD

‘Kil ing Eve’ thril s with espionage and assassins “Killing Eve” starts with a murder that just doesn’t add up. A Russian operative dies minutes after being stabbed, and there’s not a single scrap of evidence to build an investigation on. The perpetrator, Villanelle (Jodie Comer), is a special breed of assassin who creatively kills her targets with glee; but Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), the MI5 agent tasked with finding her, reBrian fuses to back down. Lang Villanelle’s kills become increasingly creative and shocking, which only makes Eve more infatuated with her target as she tries to think and reason like her as she digs into Villanelle’s past to try to figure her out. The two orbit each other throughout the series, ratcheting up the tension as the deadly game of cat-and-mouse inches towards its conclusion. “Killing Eve” is one of the best new shows on television right now. It’s filled with all the traditional espionage tropes like exciting European locales and clever disguises, but it also turns the whole idea of spy thrillers on its head with its two incredible female characters. Eve and Villanelle are as similar as night and day, which is to say not at all. Eve is an awkward but determined desk agent who is constantly underestimated by her bosses. Villanelle, on the other hand, is a stylish and skilled sociopathic serial killer that is tired of playing by the rules and more than willing to show off as Eve chases her down. It makes for a riveting drama. The show is anchored by two fantastic actresses who take what could be simply another spy show and transform it into a fascinating character drama. The two leading ladies are wonderful when they’re on their own, but give a sharp sizzle when put in the same scenes, especially in the season finale.

Comer’s turn as the slippery Villanelle is so fun to watch. She plays the character as smart, stubborn and selfish, but not without a heart. It’s hard to root against her when she makes killing look so fun. Comer is adept at using accents and her facial expressions to morph into the different characters that Villanelle must become and plays the role of a psychopath with perfect restraint. It’s easy to see why Eve is so enraptured with this assassin. Sandra Oh returns to the small screen after her iconic role as Dr. Christina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy” with a splash. Eve is just as determined as Dr. Yang, but Oh allows Eve’s vulnerabilities to seep through the cracks more. She’s frumpy and aloof but becomes gradually more sure of herself as she learns the intricacies of the world and politics of spy-craft. Despite the tense moments and wonderful espionage elements of “Killing Eve,” it’s still filled with plenty of funny moments thanks to wonderful writing by producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The dialogue is smart and fast and WalterBridge’s iconic dry humor keeps the show’s sometimes dark subject matter from being too bleak. “Killing Eve” wastes no time setting up, but instead gives the audience what it wants: a scintillating kill in the first episode. The show rarely slows down after that as Eve and Villanelle traipse across the European stage while constantly surprising and ignoring their superiors. The two are easy to cheer for and both make it hard to pick a winning side. So if you’re looking for a new show to binge over Easter break, look no further than “Killing Eve.” It’s full of the best television has to offer with outstanding performances, a gripping plot, and plenty of twists to keep you glued to your seat. Season 1 is currently streaming on Hulu.

Browning also discussed the upcoming 2 percent increase in tuition and fees for the next academic year and how that may effect the financial aid process for students. “It [increase in tuition] doesn’t effect the amount of aid but it effects the students cost of attendance. Every year we come up with an anticipated cost of attendance based on components such as tuition and fees, books, room and board, transportation, and miscellaneous. So that cost of attendance fluctuates from year to year because tuition and fees are gonna go up,” Browning said. Browning said they’re trying to cover you for up to your cost of attendance. If you’re eligible for any federal or state grants, they award that. And then once they give you as much free money as possible they can start tipping into the student loans. So there’s potential for you to get more aid depending on how high your cost of attendance is. Browning further explained the financial aid process and provided some advice for students when applying for aid. “Apply early. Every year the FAFSA application is available Oct. 1, students need to be out on the FAFSA website submitting their application as early as Oct. 1, no later than the end of October. Another tip is that if we ask to get paperwork in, then get it in. Don’t wait around. We’re not asking you for anything that the feds wouldn’t be requiring.” Browning stressed the importance of applying early, stating that the later you wait to apply the less aid will be available to students. “That puts you in line for when we start awarding our students. You wanna have all your stuff ready and be in line to award. Our priority deadline is March 1, so anything after that date you’re going to be very limited on what you can be eligible to get after that. Student loans you can always get, some scholarships will be available, but the majority of the grant money we have will be done by March 1.” Applying for financial aid can certainly be a stressful process with all of the paperwork, but the financial aid office is an available resource for students who may be confused or frustrated with the process. “Sometimes students will get overwhelmed with the financial aid process. I always tell the students our job is to help them through the paperwork, their job is to go to class and make good grades. So if a student is getting confused or frustrated with the process than they need to come in and get help with the process,” Browning said.

4 | April 17, 2019| A DAY IN THE LIFE

PHOTOS CURTESY OF SYREETA GREEN | FRANCISCO MARTINEZ| BRIDGET REILLY | THE WICHITAN

Omega Delta Phi members show off their step routine at Mustang Madness, Oct 25. | Alonzo Burris at the NASPA conference in Los Angeles. March 10. | Alonzo Burris Jr., exercise physiology senior, reads life works of Martin Luther King Jr. for the 50th anniversary of the assassination of King outside of the CSC, Wednesday, April 4, 2018.

ALONZO BURRIS

‘We need that more, especially in the coming years’ KYLA BUDGEWATER REPORTER

ith graduation slowly approaching Uncle Zo has a jam-packed schedule as his days in Wichita Falls are coming to an end. Alonzo Burris, exercise physiology senior has a lot on his plate as he is finishing off his final semester. “After I graduate it’s going to be weird because my schedule won’t be as hectic and won’t have anything to do besides going to work,” Burris said. Burris has two on-campus jobs, the Office of Student Transitions Services and the Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Affairs. There are days where Burris has to work both jobs on top of classes and meetings for his different organizations. “I work in the EIMA office and I am on the executive board of NAACP with Zo. He juggles a lot at a time, but manages to keep his grades up and stays so involved on campus,” Jamilah Kangudja, exercise physiology junior, said. Burris is the president of the student chap-

ter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Burris has a meeting for the NAACP every Monday whether it is an executive meeting or a general meeting. “The NAACP is an organization that focuses on being an ally for students and making sure that when things happen on campus that is terrible or handled poorly, we will say something. I’m in the NAACP because we need leaders on this campus who don’t mind getting their hands dirty plus not a lot of men are involved, and we need that more, especially in the coming years,” Burris said. Every other Monday, Burris and the EIMA office members hold a meeting called Barbershop Talks. Burris may lead the Barbershop Talks meetings, but he also uses them as a stress reliever. Burris said having talks with other male students and male barbers from the community helps him a lot. If he is going through something, he knows Barbershop Talks is where he can ease his mind. Every Thursday night, his fraternity, Ome-

ga Delta Phi has a meeting. “Although I am about to graduate, I still attend every meeting to provide support and guidance to my bros,” Burris said. Burris’s actions on campus have inspired those around him like Michael Gonzales, criminal justice junior, and a member of ODPhi. Gonzales said, “I look up to Zo. He has always been so involved on campus,”said Gonzales Burris held the position of Head Orientation Leader for the past two summers. He met the incoming students and his big personality left an impression on the students until they were back that fall. Zyon Jones, business management freshman, said, “I first met Zo at orientation. I noticed that he was the only black male Orientation Leader, so I knew he was doing something right.” Since orientation, Jones and Burris have kept a tight friendship as Jones has noticed the effort and time Burris has put into this

campus. “It is good to see Zo being involved on campus since I am a freshman. When I first got here he was the only representation that I saw,” Jones said. Besides the work Burris does on campus, he also takes time out of his schedule to volunteer with the youth of the community. He volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club and at Young Knights. At Young Knights, he gives lessons on either hygiene, bullying, teamwork or he helps them with their homework. “It’s important to give back to the community. We got to continue the cycle process. It means nothing if you don’t bring up those with you,” Burris said. On the weekend Burris likes to chill at home playing his Play Station 4 or go to the Wellness Center to play basketball. Burris said he is an only child and since he is around a lot of people during the week, on the weekend he looks forward to the time to himself. He looks at it as “me-time.”

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| April 17, 2019 | 5

PHOTO BY ALANA EARLE | THE WICHITAN

Richard Simpson, computer science professor, speaks to a room full of students, faculty, and staff, about the lessons he learned throughout his 39 years of teaching. April 15.

The Last Lecture: Dr. Richard Simpson ALANA EARLE REPORTER

n September 2007 Randy Pausch, former computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University gave a speech affectionately titled, “The Last Lecture”. In which, he spoke about his time as a professor and reflected on life lessons after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Since then, campuses all over the nation have followed in his footsteps to honor retiring professors. Richard Park Simpson, also a computer science professor, gave his “last lecture”, ‘It’s not about you’, April 15, to a full room of colleagues, students, friends and family in Legacy Hall multipurpose room. While introducing the professor, Steve Hilton, visual arts professor, said, “His students seem to love to hate him.” In the beginning of his speech Simpson reflected on some silly memories from when he was growing up. He made light of when he injured himself as a young child, his sister Jackie being born and stealing the lime-light and when he was asked to speak at his elementary graduation but ultimately chickened-out. Simpson said, “I really thought I was the man,” speaking of his times as an adolescent that he said he thought highly of himself and his abilities. His father was in the military so their family moved from Tennyson, Texas then to Waco and finally to Houston in 1964. During the last move Simpson’s family made, he became very shy and reserved. “Almost immediately I was no longer cool,” said Simpson. In high school, Simpson became very studious and honed in on his hobbies, he read all

34 “Tarzan” novels by Edgar Rice Burrough. “I was the nerd that played football,” said Simpson. He talked about his least favorite book that he read during high school, one of Agatha Christie’s famous novels. Fifteen years later while searching through boxes, he found the same book and fell in love with it. Simpson said, “I thought to myself, I’ll never let a teacher or an environment I was in burn down a whole field of knowledge again.” In college Simpson originally majored in chemistry until after taking organic chemistry and realizing it wasn’t his calling. He switched to mathematics and said he felt that was where he belonged. Regardless of the advice one high school counselor had given him: ‘don’t major in math.’ Simpson’s alma mater, Sam Houston State University is where he met his mentor, Dan Reeves. Simpson said, “[He] taught me that I really wanted to be a teacher. He taught me the beauty that is in mathematics as well as the history of this wonderful field. He said I don’t care if you’re in physics, chemistry or geology, you’re standing on the shoulders of giants and [we] must pay our respects...much of my teaching style I owe to Dan. Passion is the key.” While studying mathematics Simpson said he found his favorite things in the world, the archimedean solids, “magic squares” and icosahedron graphics, which he would later use in his teaching. After a failed attempt to lecture to a class of students for the first time, Simpson said he realized it wasn’t about him anymore, it was about the subject he loved so much. Simpson’s wife sent in some of his work to

a conference of people who loved it and they invited him to teach kids in Australia for two years. He said this is where his students loved to

hate him. Simpson said many times he would get letters or a phone call from former students ‘who had gone on to do big things’ after graduating.

6 | April 17, 2019|

PHOTOS BY JOSEPH RADER | THE WICHITAN

Theater freshman Emma Hart, theater junior Tyler Masters and theater sophomore Brea Solis bow to the crowd to close the night with the last act of “Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Remain Unhappy.” April 13. | Mass communication senior Samuel Eric Mitchell and theater education sophomore, Ilka Leigh Megee performing in the opening act of “A Spy With A View.”

Theater students produce one-act plays JOSEPH RADER REPORTER

t the Bea Wood Studio Theater on April 13, at 7:30 p.m. students from theater were performing six different plays. Tickets for the showing were $5. Once you bought a ticket, a program of the night was handed out. Then you seated yourself and waited for the show to begin. Fifty-four members of the community attended the show. “I thought tonight went really well it was one of our best shows, it went very smooth,”

said Steven Kintner, technical theater freshman. The plays lasted three hours from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. “We auditioned before Christmas break and started rehearsing after spring break,” said Rebekah Gardner, theater freshman. Except for a few, most people have directed or acted in plays before. “This was my first time doing something like this and I enjoyed doing it,” said Nicole Smalls, theater junior, who was also the di-

rector of the last play called ‘Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy.’ There were 17 actors in total. “Just being in a show that has so many different shows that has so many people which makes the rehearsal process and the dressing room process more fun because, I’m with all of my friends,” Kintner said. Spring Musical Revue, ‘Love Is In The Air’ on April 26. Putting something like this together involves not just directors and actors. There

were more than 40 people contributing to this, whether it was production, stage manager or poster design all in order to put on a show for the audience. There was nothing but positivity from the audience after each play. “I thought they did a wonderful job my favorite act was ‘The Actor’s Nightmare’ because it was realistic but also had a very humorous side to it making me laugh through most of it,” said Mariela Portugal, social work sophomore.

LONE STAR CONFERENCE CHANGES cause budget troubles for softball ANDREW MURRAY REPORTER

even new teams will be joining the Lone Star Conference this fall which spells budget trouble for some teams- not in terms of challenge level, but in terms of cost. With the new schools coming into the conference, only six of them have softball teams. This change only causes more expenses, than new competition though. This is because the softball team usually sees these teams at other competitions like Oklahoma Christian University. “For us, we usually see those teams periodically in a tournament somewhere,” Mark Ryal, head coach of softball, said. Ryal said he is still worried about the new changes to the conference. “The biggest problem the new tournament

289,389 Dollar budget

is going to possess, is that they don’t have the final schedule finalized because there are still some glitches to the way they have it set up,” Ryal said. He sees this becoming a problem because in the schedule that he has seen, the softball team starts playing the third week in Jan. a problem since they usually have January off to coincide with travel partners Tarleton State University. “Our conference is usually set up where we have the whole month of January off and the first week of March is off because of Tarleton is what is called our travel partners,” Ryal said. Further, Ryal sees problem in this plan because of the lack of money and transportation. “Financially there is going to be more bus trips, more hotel expenses and we already

Teams will be added

have a problem with not just us but other schools have a problem finding bus drivers,” Ryal said. Looking at how much it is going to cost, he does not think it is a smart plan. Ryal also talked about that in this new schedule they propose there will be no time to move up or back games that might get rained out. “We were supposed to play Friday and Saturday this weekend and there is bad weather coming in on Saturday and so we had to move the games up to today and tomorrow. In the new scheduling you can’t do that,” Ryal said. He also had a problem with the number of times athletes would miss classes. “You are going to have to leave on Wednesday, You play a doubleheader on Thursday then you travel to your next destination on Friday. So they are going to miss Wednesday,

234,989 Dollars coming from fees

Thursday and Friday classes,” Ryal said. These new changes will cause some major impact on students’ lives in juggling their sports and academic life. If they are far away and have to come back on a Sunday night then they would be coming back Monday morning and have to immediately jump into classes which would cause more stress. “You’re going to ask your team to play a doubleheader on Sunday, you will pull out of there at seven o’clock at night,” Ryal said. “Now you are going to have 10 to 11-hour drive coming back on Sunday night so they won’t get here until Monday morning at 5 a.m.”