BY JACOB UNRUH & AINSLEY SMYTH sports@thesunflower.com & news@thesunflower.com
Wichita State students watching the vice presidential debate live in the Rhatigan Student Center said the contest between Tim Walz and JD Vance on Tuesday night was far more respectful than the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump less than a month before.
Similarly, the students watching the debate were more quiet and attentive than the students during the presidential debate event.
“It's refreshing to see an actual debate going on,” said Harris/Walz supporter Christopher Montford, who also attended the presidential debate event. “They're a lot more friendly to each other than the presidential debate a couple of weeks ago.”
Sixty-five students — less than half of the attendance of the presidential debate watch party — came to the RSC for the event. While there were some visible and audible reactions to the mostly policy-focused debate, there was much less laughing and yelling compared to the presidential one.
The decorum reflected the behavior of the candidates on screen, who repeatedly made
a point of agreeing with each other and mostly refrained from name-calling.
AUDIENCE MAKEUP
The room was mostly filled with Harris/Walz supporters. Unlike the presidential debate, there was not a contingent of people wearing Make America Great Again merchandise. Still, some Trump supporters attended the watch party.
Ryan Whalen planned on voting for Trump before and after the debate. He said Tuesday’s VP debate was far more substantive than the presidential one.
“I really liked (Vance’s) policy discussions,” Whalen said. “Like, honestly, this is how I wish Trump had performed in the last debate.”
Like Whalen, Jeshae Taylor, a Harris/Walz supporter, said she had her mind made up before the debate.
Taylor, a freshman studying music performance, chose to go live on Instagram, encouraging her followers to vote for Kamala Harris.
“I just needed people to understand how important it just is to go out and vote and let their voices be heard,” Taylor said.
Taylor said one major reason she supports Harris is her stance on abortion, a topic that Harris and Walz were asked about during
their debates. “I just love that Kamala is basically saying that she's with us, the people, and that she cares about what we care about,” Taylor said. “And I just think that Trump doesn't care about anybody but himself and, like, the rich people.”
LIVE REACTIONS
While most students remained quiet, a few moments during the debate, like when the microphones of both candidates were muted during a discussion on immigration, were met with laughter.
“That part that was so laughable because it was like, ‘Y'all was disrespectful, so y'all on mute,’” Taylor said.
Some in the audience also laughed when the moderators brought up Trump saying he had “concepts” of a health care plan in the previous debate.
Walz ended his closing remarks by saying, “I humbly ask for your vote on Nov. 5 for Kamala Harris,” which received a round of applause. Vance’s closing remarks also received some scattered applause.
James Quinn, a student who repeatedly interjected against Vance during the debate, was shushed by peers each time he spoke.
He said he opposes the Trump/
Vance ticket in part because the campaign spreads false information such as Donald Trump’s claim about pets being eaten in Springfield, Illinois.
“It’s like blatant lying every time they speak,” Quinn said.
‘COMMON SENSE SOLUTIONS’
William Crawford, who sat with Whalen and supports Trump, said he was surprised by how much the candidates agreed during the debate — especially on economic and energy production issues.
“It just shows that, I mean, we're not as far divided as we are (portrayed), and that ultimately, I think people just want common sense solutions,” he said.
To Crawford, part of the reason he “got a lot more” out of this debate was because he said the moderators were less involved in fact-checking the candidates.
“In this debate, it was more fair,” he said. “It was a little better.”
Montford said while both candidates had “pretty strong performances,” the debate didn’t change his mind on the candidates. He said that will probably be the case for a lot of voters.
“I don't think the outcome (of the debate) will really matter,” Montford said. “It won't affect the election.”
‘I open my phone every day and I see a new person die’: Students speak at vigil for Lebanon
BY LOREN AMELUNKE loren.amelunke@outlook.com
Banine Haidar, a Wichita State Student, said her cousin Jawad Fadel was at the gym in his home city, Beirut, Lebanon, when it was bombarded by airstrikes.
“Because of that, my family will never see him again,” Haidar said.
Fadel was killed that day, one of more than 700 people since Sept. 22.
After recent Israeli air strikes on Lebanon, the Wichita State organization Students for Justice in Palestine held a vigil on Friday for the lives that were lost.
Instead of candles, students held red and white flowers. Combined with the green stem, the colors matched those of Lebanon’s flag: two horizontal red stripes with a white stripe in the middle, and a green tree on top of the white.
The flowers were placed next to a small memorial for Fadel.
Haidar said other members of her family fled as Israel “carpet bombed” Beirut.
“They (Israel) started carpet bombing my city — which is the suburbs of Beirut. And that’s when my mother, before I even woke up, left me a voice message telling me she doesn’t know if she’ll be alive when I wake up,” Haidar said. “Telling me that I need to take care of my dad and my sisters and to always take care of myself.”
Carpet bombing refers to indiscriminate explosions covering an entire area, similar in the way that carpet completely covers a floor.
Haidar said her family fled for their lives.
MISSION
“For any of you guys who are immigrants or second generation immigrants who have been to their home country, you would know how hard this would be,” she said.
Haidar paused and laughed a little.
“Because Lebanon, for me, is very, very nostalgic. I love everything about Lebanon.”
But she said her family had a few days to mourn the death of their loved one before they had to “pack up everything and run from the city that they were born and raised in.”
Haidar said her family is considered lucky even amid their loss.
Before the recent airstrikes, thousands of hand-held pagers and walkie-talkies exploded, “near simultaneously,” across Lebanon and Syria. The first wave of attacks killed at least
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nine people and injured several thousand. The next day, a second wave of pagers exploded, killing at least 20 people and injuring 450 people.
The attack was carried out by Israel in an attempt to target the pagers of Hezbollah, the Lebanese paramilitary group that has fought against Israel in support of Hamas.
“Nurses and doctors have pagers,” Haidar said. “So any of the explosives on pagers went to them as well. Or, to the children, who (thought), ‘Oh, Daddy’s pager is ringing; let me go pick it up for him’ — and they became casualties as well.”
Abdelkarim Jibril, the president of Students for Justice in Palestine, spoke next.
“It’s a horrible and disgusting thing what Israel is doing over there in South Lebanon and Beirut, and now they’re just
expanding everywhere,” Jibril said.
Hussein Sayegh, a Lebanese student at Wichita State, said he knew Jawad since he was little.
“And I’m really sorry, Banine, for your loss,” Sayegh said. “Lebanon’s getting flattened. Palestine’s gotten flattened. It needs to stop.”
Since Oct. 7, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war.
Health officials say the number of deaths could be thousands higher, as many people lie beneath the rubble of buildings crumbled by Israel’s airstrikes.
“I say, just pick up that phone. If you have anybody you know that lives in any of these countries, talk to them before it’s too late,” Sayegh said. “I open my phone everyday and I see a new person die and it’s tragic, really.”
BY MALEAH EVANS & AINSLEY SMYTH maleah.evans04@gmail.com &
From Greek life to academic organizations to clubs for just about everything, Wichita State has over 200 student organizations with varying levels of activity.
Each active club has a leadership team that runs meetings, organizes events and recruits students.
Donovan McClellan, the president of WSU’s Black Student Union (BSU), said it’s a “dream job” because of the possibility to “change people’s lives.”
“BSU just gave me that platform to do that because I’ve always wanted to help people who look like me and really anybody in general,” he said. While leaders of other Registered Student Organizations (RSO) echoed their passion for making positive change through their organizations, they said there are also challenges. On Sept. 27, club presidents and other executives gathered to discuss the ins and outs of running student organizations.
The annual event, previously called “Nuts and Bolts,” was renamed as the RSO Summit, a change that student organizations coordinator Clarence Albury said was strategic.
“We decided to call it a summit because really, it’s supposed to be a working style meeting,” Albury said. “It’s supposed to be a meeting where all these different people are coming together, (where) these different groups are coming together. It’s supposed to be a collaborative session.”
Albury, who works within the Office of Student Engagement and Belonging (SEB), said his office wants to help RSO leaders keep their organizations running. The summit is one way they can do that.
PLANNING, RECRUITING
RSO leaders did two activities designed to challenge skills they might use in leading their organizations.
One activity was an exercise in planning events. Groups, many made up of members of different organizations, were given a budget and two prompts with which they had to plan an event. They were asked to consider things like venue, food, activities and how to handle potential problems.
“We had some fun with it, like we were saying we could do skywriting for marketing, just stuff like that,” Vincent Farwell, an ambassador for Spectrum: LGBTQ & Allies, said. “But then there’s some real ones that, you know, really reflect the processes (of planning events).”
According to Jillian Belden, the student activities coordinator, event planning begins with passive planning, which is the brainstorming phase in which RSOs figure out where the event will be, who the desired audience is and if no other events are happening at the same time. organization
CONTACT US 019 Elliott Hall 1845
Illustration by Wren Johnson / The Sunflower
Chatbots, deep fakes and democracy: Panel examines AI’s growing role in modern elections
BY TALIYAH WINN podcast@thesunflower.com
The 2024 election is happening at a moment of rapid development in the field of artificial intelligence. A panel of Wichita State professors addressed some of the ways AI can be dangerous during an election season.
The panel featured Wichita State professors specializing in political science, machine learning and business analytics to address multiple angles of the AI industry.
AI CHATBOTS
Justin Keeler, director of the business analytics graduate program, told students what bias in chatbots can look like.
“AI and the technology, machine learning itself, doesn’t necessarily have a political bias,” Keeler said. “It’s the training data.”
Training data is the information used to teach AI models to make decisions or predictions. This data can contain both accurate and inaccurate information, as well as social biases.
To demonstrate the concept, Keeler developed a chatbot app, CivicMind, for the panel.
The chatbot greets users by saying, “I’m CivicMind, your AI personal assistant. My role is to be a resource to help you understand political views of candidates for the 2024 Presidential Election. I want you to be informed when
ENGAGEMENT FROM PAGE 2
“We do have some groups who have challenges with recruitment, and so for them, we’ve tried to help them, and we also, because of this, we’ve also created trainings for them each month in the semester to go over stuff like … how do you recruit?” Albury said. “How do you, you know, grow your organization? How do you keep your organization in active status?”
RSOs that have executive leaders, more than five members, update their information on ShockerSync and hold monthly meetings are considered active. If they fail to recruit enough members, they can eventually lose this status and some opportunities for funding from student government.
Another challenge is increasing engagement with the student body.
“And so it’s really trying to get them to see the benefits of planning and events and giving enough notice,” Albury said. “And so we have some groups that have just been slow to adapt those kinds of practices in their groups.”
casting your vote.”
The chatbot gives an example question like “Who should I vote for in the 2024 election, Harris or Trump?”
Keeler’s goal was to have students engage with the AI about the 2024 election, and ask questions that may reveal biases in the chatbot.
“I want you to tell me if it favors a particular candidate,” Keeler said to the crowd.
The results of the demonstration were inconclusive. Few students felt it favored a political candidate and most thought it demonstrated no bias toward a particular candidate.
Afterward, Keeler revealed the instructions he had given the chatbot beforehand.
“It was by default to understand where you are (politically), spend the first few minutes extracting a pattern of your engagement with it, and then try to convert you to the other side,” Keeler said. “Now, realistically, that’s not possible in five minutes because these are values; these are things very important to us.”
He said that the point he wanted to make to students was that underlying instructions can impact the responses that chatbots put out.
“This is how AI can be a part of you subtly, whether you know it or not, when you engage with different types of media and systems,” Keeler said.
We are making these things (AI) for our better future ... By using these we are depleting our resources, so I am working on the idea how to save our environment by using these things.”
GURINDER KAUR SANDHEO Data analyst
DEEP FAKES
Shruti Kshirsagar, an assistant computing professor, specializes in machine learning and local language processing — subfields of AI that improve computer and human interactions. The focus of her presentation was deep fakes.
“Deep fake is nothing but the method of manipulating someone by using audio text and image data,” Kshirsagar said. “So, it replaces someone’s likeness with someone else.”
Kshirsagar is currently working on developing AI that can help determine whether audio is real or fake. She also has a research lab where students in master’s and doctoral programs focus on different applications of AI.
“You have to rely on AI to determine whether this content is from AI or not, similar to ChatGPT,” Kshirsagar said.
She compared deep fakes to
“The
more traditional forms of photo manipulation, but without the human factor.
“For example, if we have any film or video, we can change the videos and photos into digital formats,” Kshirsagar said. “So, the only difference is that initially we had some person who will be doing this manipulation. But now we have AI systems which will use its networking methods to make this kind of manipulation.”
Kshirsagar gave the example of “Synthesizing Obama,” a deep fake that spread around the internet in 2017. She showed a BBC YouTube video about the phenomena. It explained how deep fakes are used and the progress of the technology in a short period of time.
STUDENT RESPONSE
After their presentations, the panelists then gave the floor to the audience for questions. Many students questioned how AI will impact the future.
Keeler said that though AI is useful, he’s “on the negative side” about it. He recognizes that for students to be competitive, they have to be more valuable than AI.
“You’re up against a whole ’nother force than we were when we were in your seat,” Keeler said. “You have to legitimize your skill set more now than ever because you’re competing with AI.”
Another ethical concern about AI is its impact on the
environment. Training a single AI model can consume energy equivalent to hundreds of American households and takes a significant amount of water to cool.
“We do need more policing of how it is used and fed to us, the user, and to minimize … the bad effects,” Keeler said. “So I would say more regulation, unfortunately, is what we need.”
Pursuing her doctorate in artificial intelligence, Gurinder Kaur Sandheo said that her biggest concern is the environmental impacts. Currently, she is studying under Kshirsagar and said that her goal is to use AI to help the environment.
“We are making these things (AI) for our better future,” Sandheo said. “And by using these we are depleting our resources, so I am working on the idea how to save our environment by using these things so that instead of cons we get more pros.”
Some students had concerns about the ethics involved in using AI.
Currently, Kansas does not have any AI regulation in place, and federally, there is no comprehensive legislation that specifically limits the use or development of AI. This means that the responsibility for ethical use often lies upon the individual.
“AI is a tool and a technique that can be misused, unfortunately,” Keeler said. “Right now, it’s kind of the Wild West.”
A group of students put the finishing touches on their tower during an activity at the RSO Summit on Sept. 27. The event was open to members of Recognized Student Organizations, and hosted by the Office of Student Engagement and Belonging. | Photo by Zachary Ruth / The Sunflower
Illustration by Wren Johnson / The Sunflower
SPORTS
‘PART OF BEING A SHOCKER’
BY OWEN PROTHRO owenprothro@gmail.com
Nearly 100 Wichita State University student-athletes turned out to the Memorial ‘70 service on Wednesday morning.
The service was held to honor the victims of the plane crash on Oct. 2, 1970. The former WSU football team was flying to Logan, Utah, in two planes — the “Gold” and “Black” plane — to play against Utah State University.
The “Gold” plane crashed near Silver Plume, Colorado, claiming the lives of 31 football players, university staff, boosters and flight crew members. Eight people survived.
John Potts, a WSU freshman at the time of the crash, said the memorial isn’t always so well attended.
“For a few years, it was just our group, basically the 1970 team and family and friends … it’s impacted a lot of people,” he said. “It helps us (for) the younger generation to maybe spread the word on campus that this did happen. This is part of the university. This is part of being a Shocker.”
Mike Green had several friends from the football team and was a student at the time of the crash. He said the support at the memorial
We’re all one family. It means a lot (for them to show up).”
CALVIN HERRILL Former student trainer
service was “fantastic.”
“It shows good school spirit and also respect for people that have lost their loved ones,” Green said. “I think it’s really nice of them to show (up). It was a pleasant surprise, to tell you the truth.”
Calvin Herrill was a student trainer at the time of the crash. He said, while choking up, that the support of the student-athletes was like a “brotherhood.”
“We’re all one family,” Herrill said. “It means a lot (for them to show up).”
Kingston Selmon was one of the only current, non-student athletes in the crowd. He said current students “just don’t know” about the memorial, which is why more didn’t show up.
“I feel like definitely underclassmen probably don’t know,” Selmon said. “Being new to the campus is something that you got to kind of do research on and maybe come over to the memorial
and see for yourself.”
Selmon’s grandfather is Rick Stephens, one of the survivors of the plane crash.
“You know my grandpa, I see him all the time,” Selmon said. “He tells me about it all the time, and it matters to me how close to home it hits. I think it should matter to other people because (of) the effect that it had on so many people’s lives.”
For students who didn’t make it to the memorial or don’t know what it’s for, Potts said to “look into the history of your school.”
“Understand what happened here on that day; it’s really important,” Potts said. “I’ve traveled across the country in my professional career, and it’s amazing how many people know about this and understand it. Once they hear that I played for that team … they instantly remember that day.”
Potts said the university needs to keep the memorial going because “it’s part of the soul of the university.”
“We need to keep honoring it and its history to the school and students going forward need to understand what happened on that day.”
Delvin McGilbray and Shirley McGilbray attend the memorial services in honor of Delvin’s brother-in-law, Jackson.
Wichita State student athletes attend the memorial service dedicated to honor those who lost their lives in the 1970 plane crash. The plane crash took lives of 31 people.
Rick Dvorak and Alan Young place a flower garland to honor the people who lost their lives in the place crash on Oct. 2, 1970. Families and WSU affiliates attended the 54th annual ceremony on Wednesday morning. | Photos by Garima Thapa / The Sunflower
Wichita State University President Rick Muma speaks at the 54th memorial ceremony of the plane crash. The crash took 31 lives and had only eight survivors.
‘More
than religion’: WSU Cricket Club provides home away from home for international students
BY AVERY GATHRIGHT averygathright@outlook.com
Honing their skills over hours of practice each week, the Wichita State Cricket Club, consisting of 120 members, plays the sport both in a competitive league and recreationally. The club is open to players of all backgrounds and skill levels and always welcomes newcomers.
According to Sai Karthik Garnepudi, president of the club, cricket can be a major incentive for many international students to attend WSU, especially now that the team’s new cricket ground is less than five minutes from campus.
“Cricket is something more than religion for people in India, for many countries that play cricket, so this is a major aspect of life,” Garnepudi said. “And since WSU is thinking about that, and you know, we are having our own ground, it makes things easy for students who are traveling from
India to choose WSU over some other university.”
As president of the club, Garnepudi has communicated with international students from countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, teaching them about the team. Although the team is largely made up of students from Asian countries, Garnepudi hopes to help more students from other continents join.
“We are trying to find students from African countries, mainly, (as well as) Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom,” Garnepudi said. “I don’t know how many students (actually travel) from these places, but even if we have a smaller population come, I still wanted to give them the idea that we still play cricket here, and there are facilities for them to play.”
According to club member Phani Teja Palakodety, the cricket team players are “more like brothers than teammates.”
“We don’t treat them as players; we are like brothers when we
Before Friday night, Wichita State volleyball had never lost a set against Temple University in Charles Koch Arena.
That streak of sweeps has ended, but the Shockers still came away with a 3-1 win (25-20), (2025), (25-16), (27-25). Wichita State improved its American Athletic Conference (AAC) record to 2-0 and evened its season record at 7-7, while Temple lost its first conference game and dropped to 6-7 overall. The win was WSU’s sixth straight against the Owls.
“I think we’re just starting to click as a team,” redshirt freshman outside hitter Alyssa Gonzales said.
Offensive production, which had been a concern for Wichita State throughout non-conference play, has improved in the first two AAC games. The Shockers went 11 straight games without hitting above .300, but have done so in the first two games of conference play, including a .302 mark vs. Temple.
The Owls, meanwhile, struggled offensively, hitting just .169 for the game and under .100 in two sets. Four Wichita State players ended with more than 10 digs.
Wichita State head coach Chris Lamb said despite the improvements on offense, he wants to see the team finish more on their first kill attempt rather than win on long rallies.
“We’ve got firepower, but we need first-ball firepower,” he said. “We are winning in rallies, but we’ve got to terminate more off-service. So this is why we are making things closer than what (the box score) would suggest.”
Wichita State opened the game with a 6-0 run, with much of the damage being self-inflicted by Temple. The Owls looked discombobulated early, but recovered to chip away at the Shocker margin. A 6-1 rally cut the lead to 3 points, 20-17, but Wichita State was able to recover and win the set.
“You usually feel like you can demoralize some people, but hats off to Temple,” Lamb said. “They didn’t go away.”
The Shockers took an early lead again in the second set and kept Temple at bay most of the way. The home team got a little sloppy while retaining a narrow advantage, like a pompous parent playing with their child. But sometimes, the kid wins.
“I feel like we got way too comfortable,” sophomore middle blocker Maddie Wilson said. “Because the first set we were like … dominating them … (We were) a little too confident, and probably made some stupid errors we could have kept down.”
An 8-1 run from the Owls gave them a 19-16 lead. An emphatic kill from Wilson ended the bleeding, but after a back-andforth, Temple ended on a 4-0 run to win the set.
Wichita State came out with
are on the field,” Palakodety said. “Every player has their own strength. Every player tries to approach other players to gain some knowledge about their batting style or bowling style, so that it’ll be better for me or any other player in the team to improve themselves.”
Club member Sreekanth Chalasani explained that although the team is close, the dynamic also changes frequently as members graduate.
“We always try to help the new guys (learn) how to communicate,” Chalasani said. “Like, how to learn the American lifestyle. Then, the best thing … is once we are inside the team and we know each other … we will be outside the field, like we catch up every weekend; we go out together as a team.”
Palakodety says he enjoys being on the team and playing cricket to relieve stress.
“It just (makes me) break free of all my tensions and headaches,” Palakodety said. “And then you
also get a lot of enjoyment playing the sport, and then you get to meet new people. (There’s) a lot of emotions and adrenaline rush during this game.”
While the team is currently playing games in the league, it is open to all players and skill levels
and hopes to teach new members the game. Anyone interested in the club can learn more by following the team at @wsucc_official Instagram or joining practices on Friday evenings at Dr. Glen Dey Park on Hillside and 28th Street.
noticeably more energy in the third frame, jumping out to an 11-4 lead after a 5-0 run. Temple never cut the margin within four from there, as the Shockers ran away with the set. Wichita State hit .450 during the period compared to Temple’s .033.
Neither team could find an advantage in a fourth set, which featured numerous lengthy rallies. With Wichita State down 9-8, the team pulled off multiple difficult digs to extend the point. Gonzales finished with a kill to tie the game.
The fourth set also featured a few lengthy challenges from both teams. After an unsuccessful challenge by Temple, the Shockers went on a 6-1 run to take the lead, 22-20.
Temple had set point, 24-23, but
a service error sent the game to extra points. Then, it was Temple’s turn to fend off match point, doing so once before kills by Gonzales and Wilson closed the game.
Four Wichita State players finished the game with more than 10 kills. Gonzales led the way with a career-high of 17, while junior outside hitters Emerson Wilford and Brooklyn Leggett had 13 and 12, respectively. Senior middle blocker Morgan Stout was the last entrant into the double-digit club with 10 kills.
Gonzales celebrated her career-day in front of her parents and brothers, who made the more than five hour drive from Texas to watch the game, yell in support and wave big signs in the crowd.
“When I walked out and I saw
the sign, I had the biggest smile on my face,” Gonzales said. “And I just love my family, so I’m just excited to go out tonight with them.”
Wilson added eight kills and four blocks, although her actual impact on the court seemed to outnumber her statistical output.
“I personally think I bring a lot of energy, regardless if it’s just me scoring, and so I feel like I bring that big presence on the court,” Wilson said. “And even when I do score, everyone gets pretty hyped about it.”
The Shockers will look to continue their winning run in the conference on Friday, Oct. 4, when they travel to the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The first serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Sai Charan Reddy prepares to hit the ball delivered by a fellow teammate. He is one of more than 100 members on Wichita State’s Cricket Club team. | Photos by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower
Phani Teja Palakodety and Rohan Varma Dantuluri joke together during Cricket Club practice on Friday, Sept. 27.
Sophomore Reagan Anderson digs the ball in the fourth set. Anderson made 10 digs in the Sept. 27 game against Temple, which ended in a win for Wichita State. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower
OPINION
Students deserve to know about decisions that affect them — bring back Student Government livestreams
For any democracy to fulfill its sworn duty, its government must be accessible. From meeting minutes to open forums, every good government owes its constituents an opportunity to engage with it and make their voices heard.
Earlier this month, Wichita State’s Student Government Association announced that it would suspend live-streaming services for Student Senate meetings, citing increased prices of livestreaming and captioning.
This move would save SGA $20,000 for the year.
In light of this recent development, why is accessibility within Student Government approached with an all-or-nothing mentality? Is transparency worth the associated price? In this case, SGA chose to cut costs.
As a governmental body of the university, SGA has an obligation to provide both accessible and equal opportunities for constituents to observe or participate in meetings.
It’s the price of democracy for an informed and engaged citizenry. But pricing and attendance concerns have realigned the priorities of these
STAFF
EDITORIAL
representative forums.
The Student Government Association abides by a policy requiring livestreams to be captioned for accessibility purposes.
When the university-contracted livestreaming service increased its fees, SGA chose to suspend business with the company and, subsequently, livestreaming as a whole. But should an increase in captioning prices result in the elimination of some students’ only means to actively participate in student affairs?
Student government leaders and advisers said that the choice made the most sense financially. SGA continues to record its meetings and post them on YouTube the following day, but it is not enough to ensure students have access to information that affects them — information they need immediately.
Moreover, livestreams are the only way to provide a record of the meeting as it happened, and
prevent any potential manipulation or cutting of the video the following day.
In the case of the Student Government Association, financial limitations within the body are a reasonable concern, but there are many alternative options rather than completely scrapping an invaluable resource.
And It’s difficult to imagine an already absent student body — now with even less access and opportunity to become informed — engaging with its government.
SGA isn’t the only governmental body on campus questioning its digital availability.
Both Faculty and Staff Senate members pitched earlier this month that Zoom and Teams calling services should be scrapped.
Many said that doing away with virtual means of attendance would encourage faculty and staff to attend meetings in person.
Instead, an attempt to put more butts in chairs could result in even
less interaction between members of the body and those it aims to serve.
This is incredibly inconsiderate given that many faculty, staff and students can have legitimate reasons to not show up in person, such as health concerns, caregiving responsibilities or simply a conflicting schedule that prevents them from attending a live meeting.
Not attending a meeting does not necessarily mean that people do not care and taking away a needed service does not automatically add up to more in-person attendees.
Removing virtual access effectively excludes some students from participating in important discussions and decisionmaking processes, continuously diminishing the inclusivity and transparency of campus governance. Regardless of the scale or size of the governing body, accessibility takes precedence.
Livestreams are just one reasonable way to provide such a reassurance, and, if the reward is democracy, it seems a fair price to pay.
Campus resources are rarely properly advertised
The Shocker Financial Wellness Team is hosting a scholarship raffle, which, when concluded, will pay for a student’s spring tuition, excluding student fees.
There is a high chance that you didn’t know this, because it’s not being advertised. Wichita State has a lot of resources for students, like discounted Adobe prices and free software for students with learning difficulties. Yet, students rarely know these exist, and if they do, they don’t know how to access them. Most campus resources are advertised in two ways: Shocker Blasts and posters around campus.
Shocker Blasts are a convenient way to learn about weekly campus events, but it’s scattered in what it advertises and doesn’t cover student-specific interests. Not every student is going to scroll through more than 25 messages for something of interest.
There are also numerous posters around campus, which are often eye-catching and can spread info to a diverse range of students. But you can’t guarantee students will pause and look through the variety of posters often clustered together, or that they will see these posters in time for planned events. Posters are also often hung in interest specific buildings.
For example, the only posters for Communication Week, an event that has offered a range of advice from creating a podcast to Hispanic journalism in Wichita, is only advertised in Elliott Hall, not leaving room for other students to learn and join. Recently, I had to guide a student considering minoring in French to the La Papote, WSU’s online French language club. It’s only been advertised in Jardine Hall — somewhere the student has never had classes. This doesn’t leave much of a chance for students who don’t visit these buildings to learn about these events and clubs.
This failure to advertise leads to these services and activities becoming under-utilized. In the worst cases, that could lead them to become underfunded or removed, taking valuable resources away before they can ever be fully realized and expanded upon.
The most effective way to get information to students is an email service students could sign up for that would allow them to choose areas of interest (i.e. disability services, SEB events) to be emailed about. I’d also suggest marketing these services and groups, such as on social media. College students
Wichita State University promotes itself as a leader in innovation, boasting about technological advancements like NIAR and state-of-the-art business building Woolsey Hall. Yet, despite these claims, the university’s Wi-Fi remains infamously unreliable. This is not a minor inconvenience — it’s a persistent problem that affects every student, especially those living on campus.
At least once a semester, the Wi-Fi mysteriously fails, causing students to lose connection mid-assignment or study session. This has become so routine that most of us aren’t even shocked by it anymore.
For students living in the dorms, this is particularly frustrating. We pay thousands of dollars per semester for the convenience of living on campus, with the expectation that we can access the resources we need within walking distance.
But when the Wi-Fi is down — and it’s usually down for more than just a day — everything grinds to a halt. For those of us living on campus, the dorms are our workspaces, our entertainment hubs and our homes. We write papers, attend virtual classes, watch shows, play games and unwind — all of which require a stable internet connection.
A majority of teachers decide the connection issues are not their problem and still expect class work to be done.
Faculty often suggest students go to Starbucks or an off-campus location to complete their work as their combating argument. This advice is not only impractical but inconsiderate.
Many students, myself included, can’t afford to regularly spend money at a coffee shop just to access reliable Wi-Fi. And taking up space without making a purchase feels disrespectful to the business.
Additionally, not every student owns a car or can easily navigate bus schedules to get offcampus, adding even more stress. It also adds to the argument of why students may be living on campus in the first place: because they don’t have a car.
Students should not be expected to constantly adjust to the lack of attention given to the Wi-Fi quality. WSU should be expected to adjust based on the recurring pattern.
As a journalism student, I rely on Wi-Fi for writing articles, conducting interviews and meeting deadlines. When WSU’s connection falters, it affects not just my academic life but my entire routine. I’m left scrambling, missing deadlines and constantly refreshing my screen in frustration.
This is not a new problem. Since my freshman year in 2021, the Wi-Fi has been notoriously unreliable. It’s now almost 2025, and the situation hasn’t improved. The connection is still sluggish, unreliable, and leaves students in the lurch.
spend between one to two hours on social media a day, creating an account with the soul purpose of campus groups advertising their events, would allow students a passive, but effective, way to learn this information.
These would both allow students to receive information important to them, and allow these student services that rarely get proper advertising to reach their audience and help students. Until then, try and keep up with Shocker Blasts and talk to staff across campus. There are resources available that may be the deciding factor between failing or flourishing.
The irony? Classes that cost hundreds of dollars per credit hour are sometimes canceled because the Wi-Fi can’t handle the load. Blackboard announcements go unnoticed because the network can’t perform the most basic function of keeping students connected.
WSU needs to take this issue seriously. If the university can invest in shiny new buildings and cutting-edge research, it can surely invest in a reliable Wi-Fi network for the students who are paying to be here.
For a school that prides itself on innovation, it’s embarrassing that such a basic service is lagging so far behind.
Illustration by Wren Johnson / The Sunflower
Illustration by Preston Caylor / The Sunflower
ARTS & CULTURE
ALL ABOARD WSU’S ‘EXPRESS’
Monique Bever monibever@gmail.com REVIEW
A humble staging of office chairs is transformed before the sold-out audience’s eyes into the heart of a lively New York train — at least for a moment — as Wichita State’s production of “Express” meets the end of the night.
Written by New York-based collaborators Janine McGuire and Wichita native Arri Lawton Simon, the musical follows three generations of women, Katherine, her daughter Jane, and Jane’s daughter Joey, as New York evolves around them.
The story jumps across 1945, 1964, 1989 and 2001 as each historical event — World War II, the civil rights movement and 9/11 — continually reshapes the city’s identity.
Alongside navigating the defining events of each era, the characters’ personal conflicts paralleled each other, sharing universal struggles such as maintaining a work-life balance, pursuing risky romantic and entrepreneurial endeavors and remaining open to accepting new perspectives.
The scenes set prior to 2001 in the musical are narrated by Jane to her daughter Joey, seamlessly set in between flashbacks of Jane and Katherine as young women.
A central conflict in the narrative is Katherine’s apprehension to racial integration, such as initially disapproving of Jane’s interracial
Wichita’s
relationship with Joey’s father, a Black man. Characterizing Katherine as well-intentioned in her initial intolerance could be chalked up to streamlining her redemption arc, as she was written to be antiquated. Her general ignorance about the modern world was played up for laughs, and the show appeared to operate under the optimistic note that anyone can improve themselves with the willingness to adapt.
Tackling racism alongside post-9/11 Islamophobia and jumping between four decades in a 70-minute runtime seemed quite an ambitious venture.
The musical’s delivery could have been severely mishandled, but a balancing act of sorts was managed, such as microaggressions followed by a quick condemnation. Making the bolder choice to acknowledge the uncomfortable realities represented in “Express” paid off in delivering its promise of being a transportive experience.
Despite the show’s minimalistic set, the cast succeeded in transporting a Wichita audience to the largerthan-life New York. Moving chairs and an alternating cast of somewhat cartoonish train conductors — alongside near-constant references to landmarks painfully baked into the script — effectively signified a start of a new era within the play.
Additionally, the lack of costume, simple set and minimalistic decor lent a massive responsibility onto its performers, who fortunately drew in every bit of the audience’s attention.
Francie Robu’s performance as Katherine brought a perfectly
understated quality to what was supposed to be an unintentionally humorous character. Lexye Collins’ vocal performance as young Jane transferred the animated qualities of the character into the songs in a coherent and entertaining manner and was especially notable.
One of the strongest scenes was the 1945 meeting between Katherine and Joe, played by Jacob Crabtree. Following an endearing song about missed connections on trains, their romance unfolds based upon Katherine and Joe’s shared love for the city, with him successfully convincing her to stay and see a show with him.
The songs throughout the show, directed by Dacia Brown, were adequate enough.
The music was performed beautifully and emphasized the tone of the scenes, but for the most part they lacked a memorable quality besides just sounding nice.
The standout song would be MC Trax’s rap in the 1989 storyline, performed by Jyavon Hill. It was a cutesyrap that played a narrative role in describing a girl on the train the character was working up the courage to pursue, with corny wordplay like, “Feelings with a capital F” that garnered a laugh out of the audience.
Receiving a standing ovation as it reached its conclusion, “Express” was many things: a crowd pleaser, a heartwarming story in the face of adversity and apprehension, relevant.
Most importantly, though, it was full of unrealized potential, highlighting a theatre department outputting quality product beyond its means, ripe to flourish when given the opportunity.
autumn drink menus leave me wanting all the fall
BY PIPER PINNETTI
opinion@thesunflower.com
As October ushers in cooler temperatures, coffee shops across Wichita are rolling out their fall menus, inviting customers to cozy up with new seasonal offerings.
While Wichita is the home to plenty of coffee shops, there are not many businesses that hold enchanting fall drink menus. It was a game of trick-or-treat when walking through doors to see who had the tastiest and fall flavors, diverse drink options and if these treats were at a decent price.
COFFEE DAZE
Take Coffee Daze, for instance. Known for its calm atmosphere. With plants and art covering the walls, this shop captures the autumn essence in its new menu. The menu is surprisingly not available online, but can be found on their Facebook. When I visited recently, I immediately knew what I wanted: Witches Brew. The creation is a mocha and ube latte blend. The root vegetable made the coffee purple and resemble a vibrant witches’ brew. It created a balanced sweetness with the ube in contrast with delicious coffee. This concoction holds the spirit of the autumn season.
GROW GIESEN PLANT SHOP
Similarly, GROW Plant Bar — which offers more than just plants — has a fall menu. In this menu, cocktails and coffee power together (separately) to offer a magical autumn experience. GROW’s fall crazed coffee menu features Oh, Honey! — a blend of espresso, milk, honey, turmeric and black pepper that adds an autumn twist with its spice-forward profile.
The shop’s Pumpkin Patch drink is the average pumpkin spice latte: a go-to, comforting fall drink, but this one has nutmeg as well maple spice whipped cream that pulls everything together. It also makes GROW’s pumpkin spice latte the best I have had, by far. Gone Picking takes me back to my childhood, apple picking on the East Coast. The apple flavor
is strong and delicious and the aroma of apples is immediately present when handed the cup.
While I love their coffee, I, a 21-year-old, have especially enjoyed their espresso martinis. Espresso tinis in themselves are a dessert. GROW decided that they can do one (or three) better with new flavors: Pumpkin-tini, Dirty Chai-tini, and The How You Doin.
The adult drinks feature Reverie espresso that completely level up the spirit in your fall cocktail experience. This is perfect for a cold and typically windy Wichita evening to capture immaculate fall feels while participating in a fun DIY event with your friends.
IL PRIMO
Il Primo, one of the closest coffee spots to campus, offers one of the best autumn drink menus in Wichita.
As someone who has explored various fall menus since September, I initially found myself disappointed in the lack of fall drinks, especially outside of the typical pumpkin spice latte — until I visited Il Primo.
After trying multiple of their seasonal creations, I can confidently say that their offerings surpassed my expectations — I have yet to taste a drink I didn’t enjoy.
Il Primo’s fall menu features 14 selections, and I’ve tried five so far. One standout is Casper’s Cappuccino, a delightful blend of white chocolate, marshmallow, espresso and milk.
This drink is perfect for those who aren’t fans of traditional pumpkin spice or cinnamon-heavy flavors. It’s sweet and creamy with just enough coffee flavor to please espresso lovers without overwhelming them. The smooth, foamy texture adds to its appeal, making it a comforting and reliable choice.
For apple lovers, the Apple Crisp Latte is a must-try. With its mix of apple, brown sugar, espresso, milk and cinnamon sprinkles, it tastes just like a slice of apple pie but without the messy texture of baked apples. The brown sugar enhances the apple’s sweetness without making
the drink overly sugary, creating a comforting, pie-like experience.
This apple creation is tied for first with GROW’s apple coffee mix, but ultimately whichever one I end up getting depends on which location I am closer to or how broke I am.
Il Primo also offers the Autumn a la Mode, a chai-based drink with vanilla, pumpkin spice, milk and cinnamon sprinkles. This is a fantastic coffee alternative, perfect for when you want the warmth of autumn flavors without the caffeine.
The chai’s blend of cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, combined with the pumpkin spice, feels like a cozy embrace, especially during midterm season at Wichita State.
For those looking for non-coffee options, Il Primo offers unique drinks like the Black Cat Spritzer, made with blackberry, vanilla, oat milk and raspberry. If you’re still seeking an energy boost, just without the coffee, the Vampire’s Blood Spritzer, featuring cherry, pineapple and Red Bull, is another option.
While the drinks aren’t the cheapest, starting at just over $5, they’re worth every penny and not the most expensive option in Wichita.
In my opinion, the money spent on Il Primo’s fall menu, or their menu in general, is a worthy investment while GROW is a place for a fun night out or participating in events with a fall drink or two.
From cocktails to mocktails or a choice of coffees and teas, each business offers multiple experiences for an autumn night.
Game design student hired on ‘monster movie’ project out of California
BY LILY BANN arts@thesunflower.com
Out in Burbank, California, a Wichita State University alumna is working on a multi-million dollar “monster movie” project, utilizing new technology at Shocker Studios.
Shocker Studios’ new LED volume wall will be used to shoot synthetic scenes for the film, and it’s not the only WSU tie the alumna is utilizing — a student has signed onto the project as well.
Senior game design student
Luke Samuelson said he was hired because of his role as the student technician for the LED volume wall. Samuelson is responsible for all aspects of the LED room, from coordinating synthetic scenes and managing all the technical moving parts to developing and designing the scenes themselves.
The LED volume wall can be compared to a green screen, but instead of the scene being created in post-production, an LED paneled wall surrounds the set where the actors can see and interact with their synthetic environment in real-time.
Although a recent invention, the technology has gained traction through its application on sets such as Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” DC’s “The Batman” and Marvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
Samuelson referred to the offer as a “lightning striking.” The last experience that resembled this offer was his work last semester with Ballet Wichita when he motion-captured dancer movements in real-time.
Now, Samuelson is working alongside industry professionals, including a tech director for the fifth season of “Stranger Things.”
“It’s a little jarring, going from just being a student here at Wichita State and now kind of being thrown into the industry,” Samuelson said. “Now, it’s kind of like the big sink or swim moment.”
Justin Rorabaugh is the director of the School of Digital
Arts and Shocker Studios. He said the partnership swiftly began after an alumna, who did not disclose their name, learned of the new tech and expressed interest in working with the WSU studio.
“She had heard what all we were doing with the School of Digital Arts, and so she wanted to learn more about it,” Rorabaugh said. “And she came here for a tour, and as she toured through and saw our capabilities … she (was) like, ‘Okay, so, I’m working on this project … is this something you guys could possibly partner with us on?’”
Samuelson became attached to the project in part because the LED studio relies on students to run it.
Founded in 2019, the space has established itself as a bridge to professional opportunities for students, specifically by “getting their work in the hands and eyes of industry professionals,” Rorabaugh said.
Rorabaugh said that student partnership with a major commercial industry project, as rare as it is, has been built into the studio’s design.
“There’s over 150 different partners and clients that we’ve done work with in the time we’ve been here,” Rorabaugh said. “This is just the latest installment of the type of stuff that we do.”
Although Shocker Studios has had success working on advertisements with smaller companies, Samuelson said that the previous projects have been “nothing of this creative scope.”
Samuelson and other WSU graduates will work to develop scenes in-house at Shocker Studios.
Filming is set to begin at the start of next year.
“It’s definitely kind of going to push Shocker Studios in a great place for creative minds,” Samuelson said. “And allow a lot more unique and creative projects that we haven’t been able to do, especially in the film section.”
Espresso pumpkin martini from GROW Giesen Plant Bar. | Photo by Piper Pinnetti / The Sunflower
Alyssa Watson and Zoie Dangerfield sit together during a song in “Express.” The 70 minute production was hosted at the Eugene M. Hughes Metropolitan Complex on Sept. 28. | Photos by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower
Frances Robu tugs at her props before taking the spotlight for a song. The “Express” musical was presented by Wichita State’s School of Performing Arts.
SPARK OF THE SEASON
Shocktoberfest kicks off with a blaze
UPCOMING EVENTS
ARTIST TALK: LISA ORR
THURSDAY, OCT. 3
Reception at 3:30 p.m., program at 4 p.m.
Ulrich Museum
Wichita Ceramic National’s featured artist, Lisa Orr, will speak on her works inspired by Mexican earthenware. This event is conjuction with Empty Bowls Wichita.
SHOCKER CORN ROAST
THURSDAY, OCT. 3
4 - 6 p.m.
Heskett Center lawn Part of Shocktoberfest, Student Engagement & Belonging’s Shocker Corn Roast will feature flavored butters, an elote station and popcorn as well as music and games.
PATIO PARTY
FRIDAY, OCT. 4
5 - 7 p.m.
Braeburn Square
The Patio Party kicks off Shocktoberfest weekend with Cheezepanzee and Funky Monkey Munchies food trucks, special deals from Braeburn vendors and the Shocker Store, and free Kona Ice Sno Kones.
OPENING RECEPTION: ‘ASIAN INFLUENCE IN CONTEMPORARY WESTERN ART’
FRIDAY, OCT. 4
5 - 9 p.m.
Harvester Arts at The Lux
120 E. 1st St. N.
Explore the marks of Asian culture in Western art, ranging from negative space to bright color and flat perspectives. This exhibition features media forms such as collage and printmaking.
OUTDOOR MOVIE: DISNEY’S ‘CARS’
FRIDAY, OCT. 4
8 p.m.
Cessna Stadium
Bring a blanket and a lawn chair to watch “Cars” under the stars at historic Cessna Stadium. Cars is part of Shocktoberfest, sponsored by the Student Activities Council with the support of the Shocktoberfest Steering Committee.
ENTREPRENEUR MARKET
SATURDAY, OCT. 5
9 a.m. - noon
Woolsey Hall
Browse market stalls in Woolsey Hall and support local small businesses operated by alumni, students and friends of Wichita State.
BREW GARDEN + FAN FEST
SATURDAY, OCT. 5
2 - 6 p.m.
Parking lots 2E and 2K, east of Charles Koch Arena
Local vendors are offered beverages to accompany food trucks and family activities as a part of Shocktoberfest.
SHOCKTOBERFEST PARADE
SATURDAY, OCT. 5
4 - 5 p.m.
Parking lots 2E and 2K, east of Charles Koch Arena
Student organizations created custom floats for this event, with music from Shocker Sound Machine. Student athletes and WuShock will make an appearance in the parade.
SHOCKER MADNESS
SATURDAY, OCT. 5
6:30 p.m.
Charles Koch Arena
This free event includes a sneak peek of Shocker men’s and women’s basketball teams at the annual kickoff event. The event will include announcements for Shocktoberfest awards and the winner of the overall trophy. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. No tickets are required.
HAVE AN EVENT YOU WOULD LIKE LISTED? CONTACT THE ARTS EDITOR: arts@thesunflower.com CONTACT THE NEWS EDITOR: news@thesunflower.com
Diasha Patrick Jr., a member of the SAC Traditions Committee, looks through the props before getting her picture taken at the kickoff on Monday, Sept. 30. | Photo by Joselyn Steele / The Sunflower
Chris Lathem helps his son’s fraternity run a Smoothie King booth while dressed as a banana at the Shocktoberfest kickoff on Sept. 30. | Photo by Joselyn Steele / The Sunflower
IMC senior Cynthia Hermosillo checks in for the Shocktoberfest kickoff. Participants had to check in to participate at events. | Photo by Joselyn Steele / The Sunflower
Selin Sabuncu and Chinyereugo Okafor pose for the photo booth. The photo booth was popular amongst students, with many waiting in long lines before getting a chance to use it. | Photo by Joselyn Steele / The Sunflower
WSU students gather around the bonfire to kick off Shocktoberfest on Sept. 30. |
Photo by Aubri Baker / The Sunflower
Aerospace engineering students Fatima Renteria and Enrique Sanchez wait in line for the photo booth at the Shocktoberfest kickoff. | Photo by Joselyn Steele / The Sunflower
Amidst talking about “tea,” Aubany Russell and Katie Mayes sang to the DJ’s set as waiting for their turn in the photo booth. | Photo by Joselyn Steele / The Sunflower
WSU mascot WuShock warms up by the Shocktoberfest bonfire. Wichita State’s annual fall tradition, Shocktoberfest, has celebrated school pride since 1991. | Photo by Aubri Baker / The Sunflower
