Advance-Titan-Dec. 5, 2019
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The Independent Advance-Titan Student Newspaper of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Campuses Vol. 125, No. 12 Dec. 5, 2019 advancetitan.com Titans 4-2 A-T History Accessibility Excels Student Rapper Stay Connected The Advance-Titan cele- Chris Jewson discusses @theadvancetitan brates its 125th birthday his lyrical themes and his with a look back at its past upcoming project @titan or @atitansports @theadvancetitan [email protected] Page 14 Page 3 Page 11 Page 19 Police fail to solve mystery By Bethanie Gengler [email protected] Final Let us This series includes inter- part of views with the late Stephen Kappell’s best friend, sisters a series “ and the Oshkosh Police De- have some partment. The case files and Seniors say goodbye evidence were unable to be located or were destroyed by peace. By Advance-Titan authorities. Numerous news [email protected] articles as well as autopsy and crime lab reports were The graduating seniors of the UW Oshkosh in- examined to gather informa- Shed dependent student newspaper are saying goodbye. tion. Join copy chief Cody Wiesner, opinion editor Leo Costello and editor-in-chief Jack Tierney on pages On an afternoon more than 56 years ago, the some light 17 & 18 to read what they have to say. body of an 18-year-old UW Oshkosh college freshman was found floating in Lake Winnebago at Menominee Park. “ The man was found nude and beaten, with his on this hands and knees bound and a 30-pound rock at- tached to his feet. A coroner’s inquest could not determine whether the man had died by suicide horrific or homicide. Over half a century later, the victim’s family still hasn’t received any answers to who or what caused the violent death of Stephen Kappell. death. See Cold Case / Page 4 - Martha Kemp, Stephen Kappell’s sister Hate speech or big misunderstanding? By Joseph Schulz [email protected] A Brown County Circuit Court judge recently or- dered the release of public records investigating a UW Oshkosh English professor for possible gender identity discrimination. A May 2017 student complaint alleged that as- sociate English professor James “Duke” Pesta dis- criminated against them based on their political identity and used hate speech in class. See Bias Report/ Page 7 Joseph Schulz / Advance-Titan Roughly 75 law enforcement officers respond to an incident at Oshkosh West High School. Incident at West High injures 2 By Cody Barnes resource officer who then shot threatening injuries, although about other possible incidents [email protected] the 16-year-old student on the nature of their injuries was being planned at area schools. Tuesday. unclear. “The Oshkosh Police De- Oshkosh public schools Both the student and offi- OPD Administrative Bu- partment places the utmost A look back on a decade full of technological were closed Wednesday after cer, who is with the Oshkosh reau Capt. Kelly A. Kent said importance on the safety of growth, political change, conflict throughout the an Oshkosh West High School Police Department, were police are continuing to in- students, and all informa- world, shifting economic powers and more. student stabbed the school’s transported to the hospital vestigate information being See Shooting / Page 9 See The decade in review / Page 20 with injuries that weren’t life reported through social media 2 | AdvanceTitan.com Dec. 5, 2019 News The Advance-Titan Phone: 920-424-3048 Email: [email protected] Website: www.advancetitan.com Editor in Chief Jack Tierney [email protected] Ad Manager Collin Tuchalski [email protected] 262-391-8452 Ad Representatives: Danielle Beck, Sam Fassl, Patrick Hebl and Gwen Nichols Managing Editor Joseph Schulz [email protected] News Editor Amber Brockman [email protected] Opinion Editor Leo Costello [email protected] Arts & Entertainment Editor Ethan Uslabar [email protected] Sports Editor Neal Hogden [email protected] Asst. Sports Editor Lydia Westedt [email protected] Joseph Schulz / Advance-Titan Copy Desk Chief Cody Wiesner Oshkosh North High School student journalist Brock Doemel published an article that was removed by the school in March. [email protected] Photo Editor Hannah Preissner North student wins censorship battle [email protected] Asst. Photo Editor Allison By Bethanie Gengler After an April listening session, he said. He also asked for an apol- “How is it possible that a news- Russotto [email protected] the district released a statement ogy. paper at what is allegedly a top [email protected] saying they will not pursue disci- “Mrs. Kiffmeyer and Dr. Cart- journalism school would apolo- An article written by Oshkosh plinary action against Doemel or wright owe a sincere apology to gize for the basics of reporting?” Web Editor Sami Fassl North High School student jour- the newspaper adviser and they the people of this community for Washington Post columnist Glenn [email protected] nalists that was pulled from The will not pursue the identification their actions to cover up the truth,” Kessler said in a tweet. “This is a Asst. Web Editor Lauren North Star website an hour after of the article’s source. Doemel said. travesty and an embarrassment.” Reidinger publication was factually accu- Nelson sought a court injunc- In June, the OASD revised its Also in November, government [email protected] rate, leading to allegations of jour- tion to prevent the release of re- policies regarding student pub- officials in Lafayette County, Wis- nalism censorship, according to cords related to his dismissal, but lications which designate The consin received harsh criticism Social Media Manager Gwen Nichols documents. was denied. Documents obtained North Star as a limited-purpose from free-speech proponents after [email protected] In March, student journalists by the student journalists in an public forum. proposing a resolution to prose- published a story on The North open-records request confirm the “The board authorized the ad- cute journalists for not reporting Asst. Social Media Manager Star website about missing As- information in their article was ministration to engage in prior re- press releases regarding water Victor Alabi [email protected] sistant Principal Hans Nelson and factual. The documents includ- view and restraint of school-spon- quality in its entirety. tied his absence to an earlier inci- ed a letter Nelson received Feb. sored publications and productions The resolution was recommend- Graphic Designer Susan Lor dent in which school bathrooms 25 placing him on administrative to prevent the publication or per- ed by county officials who were [email protected] were locked in response to van- leave “pending further investiga- formance of unprotected speech,” upset about media reports regard- dalism. tion into the North High School the policy said. ing the contamination of private Graphic Designer Tatum Spevacek The student journalists reported bathroom closure matter.” School administrators can re- wells in Lafayette, Grant and Iowa [email protected] Nelson’s office was empty and the The documents also include strict articles that have poor gram- counties. Journalists reported 35 nameplate above the door “was emails showing Kiffmeyer played mar or writing, articles that are wells were contaminated by hu- Distribution Mgr. A.J. Berg removed after his purported resig- a part in the bathroom closures not age appropriate, articles that man and livestock sources and 32 [email protected] nation” due to “unilaterally” lock- and had instructed Nelson to lock contain matters beyond the limit- of the 35 continued to have con- Copy Editors: Heidi Docter, ing the restrooms. The students them after two toilet paper dis- ed scope of the forum or materials tamination. Kate Sawyer, Honore Schmidt, attributed the information to an pensers were broken and toilets that contain unprotected speech. The Milwaukee Journal Senti- Kaitlyn Scoville, Gregory Sense, unnamed school administrator. were filled with trash and full rolls The Oshkosh North High nel reported Lafayette County res- Meg Wiesner and Karina Huec- The school removed the arti- of toilet paper. School student journalism censor- idents spoke out against the pro- kman. cle from The North Star website The Appleton Post-Crescent ship issue seems to follow a trend posal at a Nov. 12 board meeting News Reporters: Bethanie shortly after publication and Prin- reported that Kiffmeyer emailed in American news reporting. and expressed concerns the coun- Gengler, Megan Behnke, Lexi cipal Jacquelyn Kiffmeyer issued Nelson on Feb. 14 saying, “If we On Nov. 10, editors at Illinois ty was trying to hide information Wojcik-Kretchmer and Sophia a statement saying the article con- need to lock, have kids come to Northwestern University news- regarding water quality. County Voight tained “inaccurate and unverified the office; we unlock and check.” paper The Daily Northwestern officials opted to shelve the pro- Sports Reporters: Josh Wool- content.” She sent Nelson another email lat- issued an apology to the commu- posal and discuss water quality wine, Cory Sparks, Greg Sense Oshkosh North senior Brock er that day saying, “Please com- nity for their media coverage after reporting issues at another time. and Dakota Zanin Doemel, who has since graduated, municate with staff and lock these sending a reporter and photogra- Ongoing journalism censor- said he was pulled out of class on doors.” pher to cover protesters during a ship attempts throughout the U.S. Faculty Adviser Barb Benish multiple occasions and pressured The Post-Crescent reported speech by former Attorney Gener- leave some concerned about the [email protected] to reveal the confidential source Kiffmeyer denied her involve- al Jeff Sessions. future of news reporting, UW Os- About the Newspaper he used in the article. ment in the bathroom closures. “We recognize that we contrib- hkosh journalism professor Vin- The Advance-Titan is an When Doemel and another stu- “Nelson acted independently uted to the harm students experi- cent Filak said.