Shepard: Election has ‘incited a notion of fear’; ‘We need to act’
File photo – Manny De Los Santos
During Wichita State Student Government Association’s 59th Session State of the Student Body Address, Student Body President Joseph Shepard addressed what he sees as a “feeling of uncertainty” created by the election of President-elect Donald Trump, particularly in regards to undocumented and LGBTQA students, faculty and staff.
Shepard said it is SGA’s job to work with administration to “establish a protocol” that supports and protects undocumented and LGBTQA individuals.
Shepard said that regardless of individuals’ stances on the election, “we must remove the emotion from the situation and look at the facts.”
“There have been some things said that have truly incited a notion of fear in certain students,” Shepard said.
Shepard said it is SGA’s job to stand with these students in times of distress, fear and uncertainty.
“There are some Shockers who leave their home in the morning not knowing if they will return the same way they left, or return home at all,” Shepard said. “Let that sink in.”
Shepard said many Shockers, including himself, have the privilege of knowing they won’t be deported.
“I won’t be asked to leave,” Shepard said. “But there are some Shockers on this campus who people want gone.
“We need to act immediately. We need to act immediately. Let me say that one more time. We need to act immediately and not wait for something to happen in order to establish a protocol which protects our undocumented students, faculty and staff from unfair investigation, intimidation and deportation.”
Shepard said that while WSU’s LGBTQA support has “come a long way,” the LGBTQA community as a whole is under attack.
“Often times, because it is the LGBTQA community, those attacks go unnoticed, they go unheard of, and they go unsolved and unaddressed,” Shepard said. “No more. We need to make sure when they step foot on campus, they feel safe.
“We have a long way to go. They need us.”
Shepard also addressed recruitment and retention at Wichita State and the letters members of SGA sent to the Kansas Board of Regents addressing concerns they felt about WSU administration. The full State of the Student Body Address is available for streaming on SGA’s Facebook page.
Andrew Linnabary was the 2018-2019 Digital Managing Editor of The Sunflower. He studied journalism and minored in English. Linnabary is from Wichita, Kansas.
Sick of It Part2 • Nov 30, 2016 at 5:41 pm
I remain anonymous in expectation of foul treatment for going against the grain.
Now that I am at home and not in class I will give a proper response to the student body president’s rhetoric. His arguments are an argumentum ad populum, if not straw man. I ask the reader of my comment to use critical thought and not just go with the standard quo of “everyone else says.” I fear that the world around us hears the accepted view and starts running with it, giving little thought. This is dangerous behavior. What is your education for? To be taught what to think? Or how? So, here are my replies and questions to this overall propagandist article.
Shepard said that regardless of individuals’ stances on the election, “we must remove the emotion from the situation and look at the facts.”
What facts do you speak of? Your words are facts because you say so? Because everyone else does?
“There have been some things said that have truly incited a notion of fear in certain students,” Shepard said.
Are these legitimate fears? Why is it our problem? Why do their fears deserve to be protected, while the rest of the population is taught self-responsibility of taking care of their own?
I assert these fears are formed from words being said out of opposition, not from the mouths you fear, but from the side you believe you are on. If you are even on anyone’s side at all and not seeking prestige and reputation, Mr. Student Body President. If you want to calm these people’s fears, tell them that the liberal media is exaggerating the consequences of the election. Tell them that they are fine and not all conservatives are evil, rednecks, or neo-Nazis. Tell them that while there are evil dumb people in the world, they have not been let out of some sort of prison for EDP since the election, and that they are no more in danger than they were before the election.
“There are some Shockers who leave their home in the morning not knowing if they will return the same way they left, or return home at all,” Shepard said. “Let that sink in.”
Really!?!? That is absurd. If it is true get them mental health services, or stop fear mongering to them as I stated before. What are these fears based on? Why do we not teach this group to be realistic in the way they think, instead of protecting them as victims? Teach them to stand on their own two feet!
Let that sink in? Powerful, propaganda, stabbing period.
“I won’t be asked to leave,” Shepard said. “But there are some Shockers on this campus who people want gone.
Are these people in large groups? Do they have the power to remove the students? Has there been a national hotline to report illegals? Here is the thing, if they are here illegally and a law is passed to deport them how do you propose anyone putting a stop to that? Do you think the students or the school has the ability to put that to rest?
“Often times, because it is the LGBTQA community, those attacks go unnoticed, they go unheard of, and they go unsolved and unaddressed,” Shepard said. “No more. We need to make sure when they step foot on campus, they feel safe.
This is the dumbest argument of your generation. You cannot prove that to be true, and it cannot be argued against. It is not a fact due to not being supported by numbers. No one reported, no numbers. It is a theory.
Mr. Student Body President,
I find it great that you care about those around you, if you do, but I feel you spray foolish uncritical words. I fear that you lead our student government. Not because you care, but because you lack logic. You also break protocol and seem to be seeking attention.
How do we know you really care? I personally think that you do not, that you are saying the popular thing to grant yourself notoriety and a step up. You want to be noticed. Be noticed for the right reasons, not for being a moron.
Sick of It • Nov 30, 2016 at 10:15 am
Enough with your child minded fear mongering. Not all students at WSU are liberal, let alone bleeding heart. You fools act as if we all think like you, and education equals liberal. I bet you fools think liberal arts stands for liberal politics. We stay silent in fear of exposure and foul treatment. Ironic, those who pretend to protect the so called weak against the same behavior, systematically deploy it against those who do not agree with them. Show me the piles of lbgt bodies, and we will discuss the fears. Otherwise it is their problem to handle their fears, not ours.