 "Photo: Chelsy Lueth")
Hundreds filed into Bramlage Coliseum to welcome K-State's 13th president, Kirk Schulz. Members of the student body, faculty, staff, and friends and family of K-State filled the seats of Bramlage as they listened to Schulz be inaugurated into his new position as the President of K-State.
As people entered Bramlage, the K-State orchestra lightly played music from left of the stage. Photographers and cameramen gathered in front of the stage awaiting their chance to see the new president.
As the members of the inauguration party processed in they were lead by David Griffin Sr., assistant dean of the College of Education, who held the new ceremonial mace. Those seated on the main stage included members of the Kansas Board of Regents, dean of Student Life Pat Bosco, Gov. Mark Parkinson, Student Body President Dalton Henry, and president of the Graduate Student Council Kara Dillard.
Once the ceremony got underway, among the first to speak at the podium was Henry who had the job of greeting Schulz on behalf the student body of K-State.
"I didn't know exactly what to say or what people usually said at a university inauguration; after all, in 1986 - more than 23 years ago - the last time we did this, the majority of my classmates - including myself - weren't even alive yet. So I guess it goes without saying that this is a big day for our university," Henry said.
Henry went on to talk about how different things were two decades ago, but K-State was the same back then as it is now. The university has remained focused on student's success, and is a place where any student can find a quality education. He said Schulz will continue this trend and improve on this in the future, and that perhaps one of the greatest things about our new president is how the students relate to him and he relates to the student, especially through his utilization of Twitter.com.
Then Dillard stood up to take center stage and offer words to Schulz; words on behalf of the graduate students of K-State.
"The graduation student council is pleased to partner with you in supporting graduate students as we continue to fulfill the mission of Kansas State University," Dillard said. "We appreciate your honest desire in promoting quality graduate education and professional opportunities. On behalf of the graduate students of Kansas State University, welcome to the K-State family."
Preceding Schulz was the governor of Kansas, Mark Parkinson, who had words to say to Schulz and the entire room.
"To greet you from the state of Kansas would be a little redundant at this point," Parkinson said. "Because through your twittering and tweets you've probably already greetings back and fort from everyone in the state of Kansas."
Parkinson said Schulz is stepping a university that has much history. K-State was the very first university in Kansas, and it is no accident that the university has had hundreds of thousands of graduates who have gone on to do remarkable things that have shaped the country and the world. The university itself has experienced incredible accomplishments and feats throughout its tenure. The vision and goals of K-State started back at it's beginning in the early 1860s, and they continue today.
"There have been just 12 presidents, which is an amazing fact to me – just 12 presidents. Today president Schulz joins that elite group of presidents and I will tell you that I am completely convinced that he will succeed in moving the state and therefore moving the country and this university forward. I am completely convinced that he is the right person in the right place at the right time and I am very excited about this appointment," Parkinson said.
Shortly after Parkinson stepped down, the 13th president of K-State took the podium to thunderous applause rattling Bramlage as everyone stood up to help usher in President Schulz, as Jill Docking, the chair of the Kansas Board of Regents, delivered the investiture on the president.
"I've been asked why you would want to do this. Why would you want to become a President? Well, early in my career back even when I was a graduate student I talked about wanting to move into academic administration." Schulz said. "Over time after talking to my family, my wife and I decided we were looking for two things in a university."
"The first was we wanted to work for a land-grant school. Noel and I are both graduates at Virginia Tech and we had a great time there and a great education experience, and we come to value the role that a land grant university plays in the state of which it resides. We also, it may be a genetic deficiency, are big sports fans."
"So the second thing that we wanted was to be at a place that had a major division in athletics program. So in preparation for this I decided to count out how many universities fit those two criteria. There are only 31 out there. So, folks it is a real privilege to be able to serve the university that is my dream job."
Schulz then acknowledged the work, dedication, and accomplishments of presidents before him, especially noting the acknowledgments of the president before him, Jon Wefald, and then segued into his own goals for K-State.
Schultz said he had seven goals for his tenure here at K-State: he wants to recognize faculty excellence and encourage it, and he wants all presently enrolled and future students to have a wonderful educational experience. He also said that K-State needs to be a fun place to be at so it can be an institute that people dedicate themselves to, and he wants to continue to strengthen this so students are prepared for a world that is growing smaller by the day.
He said he wants to make sure that K-State is taking care of Kansans by always encouraging the schools affordability and accessibility, and he said that one of his ultimate goals is to have a higher education system placed in the full state of Kansas that is second to none. He also wants K-State to have a model intercollegiate athletics program, and finally, Schulz said he wants K-State to always be proud of itself.
"We always need to be proud of who we are," Schulz said.
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You will let Beth Mendenhall bash the dairy industry with a poorly written article lacking credible facts but you deny Jessica Hensley by not posting a true opinion article because it calls out the Collegian! Is the Kettle calling the pot black? In case you have forgotten the article is below:
The Column the Collegian Editor Doesn't Want You To ReadShare
Yesterday at 4:04pm
This Thursday you will not be reading my column in the Collegian, as the Editor-In-Chief has refused to print it. Don't worry though, you can still read it. Enjoy.All too often, I find myself irritated after reading the Collegian. Not in a productive, “I'm going to go out and change the world for the better because I've just read an informative article about a social injustice” way either. I find myself irritated because of the widespread lack of research put into the articles. From metro to sports to the Edge, there is a shortage of well researched articles and an abundance of poorly written ones. I'm annoyed. And via an informal poll (asking the people unlucky enough to sit near me in the library), I know that most of you are too.In Tuesday's paper there was an article in the Edge titled “College students often fail to dress to impress” which was written by Elena Buckner. The writing was good, the content was not. My first question upon coming across this article was, “who are you to tell me what not to wear?” Without establishing some sort of authority on which to base this list of “don'ts”, the article is nothing but a fashion opinion piece. One that fails to consider the demographic toward whom it is directed. Ms. Buckner writes that “While we are an agriculturally based school, it is not necessary to constantly dress like you’re about to wrangle some cattle...” Unless, of course, you're an Ag student that spends most of your day at the Cattle Unit. Fashion sometimes follows function in a work environment, and referring to this style of dress as a “don't” because you are a Secondary Education major is insulting to those that get dirty for a living.This trend of questionable reporting is not new to the Collegian either. On Monday, April 21, 2008, it was reported that the Kansas State Equestrian Team finished sixth at the Varsity Equestrian National Championships, ultimately falling to the Georgia Bulldogs. In reality, the Wildcats finished fifth and never faced Georgia. A correction was run in the Collegian the following day, outlining a list of seven major errors in the original article. This was almost two years ago, and the fact checking at the Collegian hasn't gotten much better. If you, as a writer, are assigned an article on an obscure sport, it is your responsibility to become familiar with said sport. It is insulting to the athletes who work hard for their achievements to have them diminished by reporters who don't take the time to educate themselves. Day after day, I pick up a copy of the Collegian only to be disappointed. It isn't enough that one article in ten is informative and well researched. They all need to be. We are lucky enough to attend one of the best public universities in the nation and we should strive for excellence in all areas, including our school newspaper. Articles need to be more in depth, and better researched. Reporters need to take the time to understand what they are writing about, because even if it isn't important to them, it is important to somebody. And we need more interesting coverage than football, condoms, and fashion. Then maybe, people would start reading the Collegian for the articles instead of for the Fourum. This is a true opinion article that should have been published but you can bash others but not yourself!