The student newspaper says its staff regularly covers campus life—attending classes, reporting sports from games, and working to “uplift community voices”—but that university officials have made it harder to talk with people and obtain documents in recent years. The editorial describes students as “scared” to speak and some faculty as declining to comment due to concerns about retaliation, while reporters say they’re often directed through the university’s public relations process.
The editorial also details how record access has changed: it says open records requests are now routed through the Office of General Counsel, rather than the specific university departments that previously handled those requests. It cites the Kansas open records requirement that a public institution respond within three business days, and says The Sunflower “rarely” receives requested documents within that timeframe and that requests are often denied. As examples, it mentions an Aug. 3 incident where police directed reporters to the university’s director of strategic communications, and a prior open records request for student athletes’ exit surveys denied under FERPA—contrasting that with a similar request granted seven years earlier.
The editorial concludes by urging Wichita State to choose transparency for the student body and frames the newspaper’s continuing reporting as a way to “record the first draft of history” at the university. It also asks readers to donate to support student journalists.