Rex

Once upon a time, school was considered a reasonably safe place for people to spend eight or more hours of their day. Not so much these days.

What has changed is that now we know that knowing what to do in a crisis can save lives. The Newtown, Conn. shooting wasn’t as bad as it could have been because the students and staff had training to prepare them for exactly that kind of event. Today, students need a plan of action, not an opportunity for reaction.

But a Google search for “school shootings in the United States” provides a list that is long and begins in 1764. It seems things haven’t changed all that much.

At Emporia State, we have been told that we have policies in place and a great crisis alert system. What happens when the Rave System for mobile texting isn’t accessible?

Believe it or not, some students can’t afford a phone. What if a student left their phone at home? In the case of the Boston Marathon bombing, cell phones were turned off because of concerns that mobile devices were being used as remote detonators. Just having a warning system isn’t good enough.

Some people have told me to follow the crowd. Back in February when gunshots were fired near campus, the trusted Rave system wasn’t utilized at all. I immediately started walking in the opposite direction while all the other students I saw that night seemed oblivious and behaved as if nothing had happened. Following students that don’t know what’s going on and don’t know what to do isn’t a plan at all.

I am a big advocate for knowing your options, planning ahead and taking responsibility for yourself. I encourage students to find out what exactly they should do in various emergency situations.

There are signs locating emergency fire exits and pointing out tornado shelters. But what do you do when something out of the ordinary happens? I haven’t found any kind of directions for cases like the earthquake aftershocks we felt in 2011, nor can I find information on what to actually do if there is a gunman on campus.

A basic search of the ESU website came up empty. Dependence on a warning system that has, thus far, failed us and isn’t accessible to every single student, is an inadequate plan at best and a recipe for disaster at worst.

I urge our administrators to give students the tools to plan ahead and save our lives.

Smith

Beyond falling into patterns of de facto segregation on campus, there are rumors of exclusion of students from racial minority backgrounds during both Greek and P.R.I.D.E. Week that should cause us some concern. It is emblematic of a nation-wide ignorance about race.

Although my heart goes out to those affected by the violence in Boston, American media’s struggle to celebrate difference points to a larger issue we avoid on a daily basis – race.

The media’s bias in reporting the bombing suffered from racial bias we refuse to discuss. Initial reports about a non-white extremist were soon replaced by one of a white male who suffered from mental illness but who didn’t practice an “evil” religion.

Instead of meeting it head-on, people like to run away from the topic and speak for greater inclusion without looking for the reason people felt left out in the first place. Even though we’d prefer to be exempt from responsibility, this pattern has been seen on campus in the past few weeks.

In response to an important topic, Emporia State needs to hold a forum for students with targeted identities where they are given the chance to address their concerns to our administration. The necessity for greater input from students about their racial identity and treatment on campus should not be seen as a negative but a step in the right direction. We’ve found the wound that has been pestering us for the last 400 years and what better time than now to treat it?

A few years ago, Attorney General Eric Holder was criticized widely for calling Americans “cowards” when it came to race issues, but ESU students are up for the challenge of creating a new discourse on campus that precedes the changes in effective policies.

This is not a criticism of any particular members of the student body. All members are responsible for the conditions of our community. All change comes one person at a time. The conversation of race so close to home is hard to deal with, but I’m eager to see a result that invested members of the student body, faculty and staff are capable of producing.

I’d love to tell you what was said at the meeting between Gov. Sam Brownback and university leaders last Friday in Cremer Hall, but I can’t.

I wasn’t allowed in.

Neither was anybody else who wasn’t invited – no press, no students, no faculty.

When The Bulletin received word a few weeks ago that the governor would be on campus to talk about his alleged support for higher education, we assumed, as student journalists on a public campus, that we’d hear what he had to say.

We were wrong.

I received an email last Thursday afternoon from Gwen Larson, assistant director of Marketing and Media Relations, letting me know the meeting with Brownback was “private” but that media could attend a press conference immediately after to ask questions for five to 10 minutes before Brownback had to be whisked away to his next engagement.

Immediately, I questioned whether or not the meeting could, under Kansas law, indeed be a private one. I asked Larson to cite the exemption under the Kansas Open Meetings Act that the university was invoking to close the meeting. The next morning, I was informed that the meeting was not, in Larson’s opinion, subject to KOMA. An hour later, Kevin Johnson, university council, echoed Larson’s response. Neither the offices of Attorney General Derek Schmidt or Lyon County Attorney Marc Goodman returned my calls.

On Friday, I waited with the other press outside the meeting room in Cremer Hall. Inside, behind closed doors, were President Michael Shonrock, Regent Mildred Edwards, the President’s Executive Cabinet, all the deans and a handful of other campus leaders – 26 attendees altogether.

At the press conference after the meeting, I expressed to Brownback my concerns about KOMA and the meeting and asked why it needed to be private. Without even a pause, Sara Belfry, Brownback’s deputy communications director, said she would be happy to answer my question after the conference. As much as I hate to admit it, I was effectively silenced by a Brownback lackey.

Regardless of the legality of the meeting, I have to ask – what was so “private” that it had to be said behind closed doors? What did our governor – and our university – have to hide?

Why on earth would anyone allow a meeting regarding the future of students to take place anywhere but in a public forum? And why is everyone so afraid to stand up for our right to know?

Brownback’s plan for higher education is a priority for us. Receiving the information through a filtered press conference, where Brownback could tailor it to his own, questionable agenda, is not acceptable.

Emporia State owes its students more than that. Allowing our university to be bullied into Brownback’s own terms when he visits our campus is a cowardly and shameful act.

For the most part, I’ve been proud to be a Hornet for the last three years. Our university fosters award-winning creativity and research. And yet, what kind of message has our administration sent by submitting to “the big bad wolf” once again?

I can only hope that the next time Brownback steps foot on this campus, we tap into our inner Hornet and refuse to remain the silent masses. If we don’t, we deserve whatever government we get, including secret meetings.

Rex

Our country stands at a crossroads. The current debate between equal rights and morality creates a polarizing effect on our country. The tides are turning, but the direction is still questionable.

We have been at a crossroads like this before. Recognizing equal rights of black Americans and women started at state and local levels before becoming national issues that influenced our country’s identity. Because the United States was founded on a desire for religious freedom, the right to personal belief is ingrained in our national psyche. In each of those instances we, as a nation, chose equality over personal beliefs.

The recent bill passed by the Texas A&M student senate, allows students to opt out of school fees that go against their religious beliefs. Because of the original intent to cut funding to the university’s LGBT Resource Center, the bill was later vetoed by the student president.

The repercussions of the creation and passing of such a bill are indicative of the current state of our country. The student body has been divided between its LGBT community and its religious community, between its student body and its student government.

At Emporia State, we are fortunate enough to be a uniquely diverse group working within the mainframe of a conservative state. We have large religious and Gender and Sexual Minorities (GSM) communities that appear to work together. In order to maintain the peace we currently enjoy, I ask students to consider what is right for everyone, rather than what is right for select groups of people.

I support equal rights but not at the expense of personal beliefs. Equal rights mean little if we lose the liberty to act on behalf of our convictions. To be equal, we must advocate the rights of minorities and also accept the rights of majorities.

I don’t think anyone should be forced to pay into something that they don’t believe in, but I also don’t think that any given belief system should set the standard of rights. Diversity is not about making everyone the same but about enjoying and accepting our differences.

Smith

In times of crisis, mental health services are often the last line of defense for students who feel like they don’t have anyone to turn to. With all of the concern Emporia State shows for the student body, it’s disappointing that there isn’t a push for more visibility and use of the services that are offered.

College is a rough and messy transition for a lot of students. We have to deal with becoming more than teenagers but less responsible than adults. It almost seems unmanageable when coupled with tons of newfound freedom and exploring who we are and even who we want to be among a much longer list in the complex process of growing up.

After three months of living in Emporia, I have only heard two students mention the availability of psychological services for students, and I haven’t seen the welcoming arms of any of the counselors.

I grew up in a single-parent household and after learning about the death of my mother from a Facebook message during a lecture, someone I consider both a mentor and a friend took me directly to a professional who had the skills and the training to deal with a student in crisis.

It was scary to enter the office where “those people” go while summoning every caricature of a shrink that demanded I spill my deepest darkest secrets, but to my surprise, they made sure I knew my level of access to those services and that my disclosure, whatever the depth, would always be mediated by what was best for me.

With the stigma attached to mental illness, it is extremely brave to seek access to resources. But many students don’t know what or where those resources are, let alone which face to pick out of the crowd in a moment of need.

With the start of an athletic season, the immanency of final exams, graduation and students returning home for the summer, we are looking at a phenomenal moment to legitimize mental health services by ensuring students know there is always someone to turn to at ESU.

Potter

I occasionally find Kansas doing something to draw more attention than outdated “Wizard of Oz” references or speaking of the insane weather patterns we experience. Proposing absolutely crazy pieces of legislation appears to be the strategy du jour.

For example, a recent Kansas bill advocates the cutting of all state funds that would somehow assist, either directly or indirectly, sustainable development. That our state funds could be used on something beyond sustainable development for the time being might be considered a worthy idea, although somewhat misguided.

But to say that no means should be used to even advocate for sustainable development is ridiculous. Why not introduce a law mandating that we have to burn the ground after we walk on it?

Now there is even talk of a proposed bill placing new quarantine restrictions on those with communicable diseases to keep first responders safe from contracting said diseases, and many say it will further HIV/AIDS discrimination by quarantining those who are HIV positive.

Proponents of the measure claim, however, that it appears discriminatory if you focus on one portion of the bill, which is intended to help the greater populace, adding to national interest of Kansas. The idea still appears very draconian.

The proposed funding cuts to education further complicate matters and draw just as much criticism to this state as the previously mentioned bills, yet it is the one that seems to affect those of us here at Emporia State the most.

And while these are all pending legislation, they still bring about criticism to this state, which we need to overcome. We need to give the rest of the nation something positive to talk about, not just these radical, ridiculous concepts.

Our debate team doing something more than extraordinary places us on the right track, with more articles being published about them, and ESU in general, every day. We now need to find better ways to bring more positive attention here. We need to work with what we have.

Of course, we could simply continue this track of attention by passing a bill for a tax on flying monkeys. That would get people talking.