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Kicking around some records Soccer team wins first home game, scores three goals, page 10 Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University Serving the ACU community since 1912 August 29, 2007 WEDNESDAY Vol. 96, No. 2 1 section, 10 pages www.acuoptimist.com THE Pulling Rank Rankings from U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review place ACU in high standing, page 7 Starry Show ‘Star-Spangled Girl’ depicts love triangle with southern girl, page 8 O PTIMIST By Mallory Edens PAGE 2 EDITOR Students were forced to stay in hotels last weekend after the Grove was not ready on move-in day. After being informed earlier this month that the Grove would have to push back its original open- ing date, Aug. 15, Grove resi- dents came ready to settle in on Saturday only to find that much of the apartment com- plex was in shambles. “It’s like we don’t even have a place to live,” said Kiera Edwards, junior bi- ology major from McKin- ney. “We gave them 10 ex- tra days. They should have been ready.” Edwards said her apart- ment was missing all furni- ture, mattresses and mirrors when she and her two room- mates got there Saturday. Their dishwasher was leaking, their toilets did not work and her sink was not fully mount- ed. There were two holes left in the door, the floors in the apartment were covered in dirt and the freshly painted walls were covered in grease- stained smudges. These are only some of the issues Ed- wards has encountered. “[These are] unfinished apartments that aren’t ready to be moved into, but we have to,” she said. “And everyone has a bad mood because it’s bad conditions. We don’t have cable or Internet, and we have to go to school. The sidewalks aren’t swept. We are walking on dirt. It’s like we are in the desert. It’s like, ‘That building that’s under construction? Residents move into the Grove By Kelsi Peace MANAGING EDITOR The Board of Trustees passed a resolution to downsize the number of members who serve and unanimously approved the final presentation of the university’s 21st Century Vision at a meeting Friday and Saturday. “The current situation in the country de- mands that the Board of Trustees be more ac- countable,” said Dr. Royce Money, president of the university. The resolution re- flects the effort to in- crease board members’ involvement and ac- countability and will downsize the board from more than 50 members to about 25 to 35 members within five years. Money said the mechanics of the down- sizing are still being developed. Money said a smaller board will allow members to be more involved and rely less heavily on the committee as the board does currently. The board, which is composed mainly of alumni, will be increasingly vis- ible at the university. Board of Trustees plan rearrangement By Lauren Sutton COPY EDITOR Monday, the school year was kicked off with the university’s Opening Day Ceremonies. This old tradition brought stu- dents, faculty, alumni and mem- bers of the Abilene community together for an hour of Scripture reading, devotional, motivational speeches from a number of indi- viduals as well as recognition for students and faculty members from an array of states and na- tions across the globe. “We couldn’t have been happi- er,” said Jennifer Ellison, univer- sity events manager. “Everything went over well on our end.” This year’s Opening Ceremo- nies began as always with the Big Purple playing the Olympic an- them as the faculty walked into Moody Coliseum dressed in their alma mater’s regalia. After being seated, the Parade of Flags be- gan, and students carrying flags from the 48 states and 54 coun- tries representing students and faculty at ACU marched around the coliseum. The Master of Ceremonies, Royce Money, president of the university, opened Chapel and commented on how the univer- sity eagerly anticipates the event each year. As is tradition, Acts 17 was read by Glenn Pemberton chair of the Department of Bible, Missions and Ministry, and “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” was lead by Odies Wright, pro- fessor of exercise science. Craig Churchill, assistant pro- fessor of library science, pre- sented a devotional from the faculty and charged students to expect a lot from this year by telling students to “expect to be challenged by the faculty, chal- lenged to learn and challenged to grow.” This was followed by a speech from Student’s Association Presi- ACU opens 102nd year By Rachel Davis OPINION EDITOR The faculty voted on new changes to the general education core in May that will take effect with the next one to three years. Those changes, developed throughout the past four years, involve the addition of five new classes and several revisions to all depart- mental curriculums, said Dr. Nancy Shankle, chair of the English department and co-chair of the committee that presented the plan. “We are very excited about these changes, and we think they fit in very nicely with the 21st Century Vision,” Shankle said. The first change is the replacement of Uni- versity Seminar with the new Cornerstone class, a three-hour class which will help stu- dents understand their liberal arts education. “The class will be about 60 percent uni- form and 40 percent teachers drawing on their own strengths,” Shankle said. “There will still be opportunities for teachers to tailor their class to the needs of the depart- ments and students.” Dr. Dwayne VanRheenen, provost of the university, said Cornerstone won’t be much like U100 at all. Instead of learning how to re- search at the library through workbook exer- cises, students will receive assignments that require them to learn through research. “In order to do well in the Cornerstone class, you’ll have to learn to go to the li- brary… there will be a lot more writing,” Van- Rheenen said. Also, three integrative courses will be re- quired, and freshmen, sophomores and juniors General education changes approved By Val Valle ONLINE EDITOR Changes for social clubs and pledging have been finalized. Last semester the Social Club Task Force revised pledging guidelines. The new guidelines will go into effect this semester for all clubs. The changes can be found in the new 33-page Social Club Handbook. “This might be the year to work out kinks,” said officer of Alpha Kai Omega, Karissa Mc- Coy, junior nutrition major from Austin. “Change is hard, but I think it’ll be a good change.” Some of the biggest changes pertain to pledging. Men wanting to pledge must attend at least one rush for at least three of the five clubs, and women must attend at least one rush for at least four of the seven clubs. Failure to do so will result in ineligibility to pledge. Pledging receiving new rules By Val Valle ONLINE EDITOR After nearly two years of probation, one of ACU’s oldest men’s social clubs will be re- turning to campus this year and is hoping to make a comeback. Disciplinary action was tak- en upon Sub T-16 in October of 2005. Mauri Westbrook, coordinator of student activi- ties and organizations, said she could not discuss the reason Sub T was removed from active status as a club, but that it was the result of the club making some poor decisions. Part of the disciplinary action required that the club do an ex- tensive self-study. Throughout the past year, members of the club have spent time talking to Sub T alumni to learn more about their club’s traditions and history. “The self study helped us figure out where Sub T needs to go to be a leader on cam- pus,” said club president Jacob Smith, graduate student in ac- countancy, from Tyler. “We were going in the wrong direction and changes needed to be made.” Though Sub T was removed from active status, which meant the club could not participate Social club Sub T-16 reinstated on campus KATIE GAGER CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Boxes of furniture line the sidewalks of the new Grove apartments on N. Judge Ely Boulevard and I-20 on Tuesday afternoon. KATIE GAGER CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Tate Stewart, freshman sociology major from Lubbock, waves his “WC” during the singing of the alma mater in the Opening Ceremonies Chapel on Monday in Moody Coliseum. Scheduled Board of Trustees meeting times for the coming year: n Nov. 16-17 n Feb. 15-16 n May 16-17 n Aug. 22-23 FUTURE MEETINGS See GROVE page 5 See SUB T page 7 See BOARD page 7 See CORE page 7 See CHAPEL page 3 See PLEDGING page 7
Transcript
Page 1: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

Kicking around some recordsSoccer team wins first home game, scores three goals, page 10

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University Serving the ACU community since 1912

August 29, 2007

WEDNESDAY

Vol. 96, No. 2

1 section, 10 pageswww.acuoptimist.com

THE

Pulling RankRankings from U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review place ACU in high standing, page 7

Starry Show‘Star-Spangled Girl’ depicts love triangle with southern girl, page 8

OPTIMIST

By Mallory EdensPage 2 editor

Students were forced to stay in hotels last weekend after the Grove was not ready on move-in day. After being informed earlier this month that the Grove would have to push back its original open-ing date, Aug. 15, Grove resi-dents came ready to settle in on Saturday only to find that

much of the apartment com-plex was in shambles.

“It’s like we don’t even have a place to live,” said Kiera Edwards, junior bi-ology major from McKin-ney. “We gave them 10 ex-tra days. They should have been ready.”

Edwards said her apart-ment was missing all furni-ture, mattresses and mirrors when she and her two room-

mates got there Saturday. Their dishwasher was leaking, their toilets did not work and her sink was not fully mount-ed. There were two holes left in the door, the floors in the apartment were covered in dirt and the freshly painted walls were covered in grease-stained smudges. These are only some of the issues Ed-wards has encountered.

“[These are] unfinished

apartments that aren’t ready to be moved into, but we have to,” she said. “And everyone has a bad mood because it’s bad conditions. We don’t have cable or Internet, and we have to go to school. The sidewalks aren’t swept. We are walking on dirt. It’s like we are in the desert. It’s like, ‘That building that’s under construction?

Residents move into the Grove

By Kelsi PeaceManaging editor

The Board of Trustees passed a resolution to downsize the number of members who serve and unanimously approved the final presentation of the university’s 21st Century Vision at a meeting Friday and Saturday.

“The current situation in the country de-mands that the Board of Trustees be more ac-countable,” said Dr. Royce Money, president of the university.

The resolution re-flects the effort to in-crease board members’ involvement and ac-countability and will downsize the board from more than 50 members to about 25 to 35 members within five years. Money said the mechanics of the down-sizing are still being developed.

Money said a smaller board will allow members to be more involved and rely less heavily on the committee as the board does currently. The board, which is composed mainly of alumni, will be increasingly vis-ible at the university.

Board of Trustees plan rearrangement

By Lauren SuttonCoPy editor

Monday, the school year was kicked off with the university’s Opening Day Ceremonies.

This old tradition brought stu-dents, faculty, alumni and mem-bers of the Abilene community together for an hour of Scripture reading, devotional, motivational speeches from a number of indi-viduals as well as recognition for students and faculty members from an array of states and na-tions across the globe.

“We couldn’t have been happi-er,” said Jennifer Ellison, univer-sity events manager. “Everything

went over well on our end.”This year’s Opening Ceremo-

nies began as always with the Big Purple playing the Olympic an-them as the faculty walked into Moody Coliseum dressed in their alma mater’s regalia. After being seated, the Parade of Flags be-gan, and students carrying flags from the 48 states and 54 coun-tries representing students and faculty at ACU marched around the coliseum.

The Master of Ceremonies, Royce Money, president of the university, opened Chapel and commented on how the univer-sity eagerly anticipates the event each year. As is tradition, Acts

17 was read by Glenn Pemberton chair of the Department of Bible, Missions and Ministry, and “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” was lead by Odies Wright, pro-fessor of exercise science.

Craig Churchill, assistant pro-fessor of library science, pre-sented a devotional from the faculty and charged students to expect a lot from this year by telling students to “expect to be challenged by the faculty, chal-lenged to learn and challenged to grow.”

This was followed by a speech from Student’s Association Presi-

ACU opens 102nd year

By Rachel DavisoPinion editor

The faculty voted on new changes to the general education core in May that will take effect with the next one to three years.

Those changes, developed throughout the past four years, involve the addition of five new classes and several revisions to all depart-mental curriculums, said Dr. Nancy Shankle, chair of the English department and co-chair of the committee that presented the plan.

“We are very excited about these changes, and we think they fit in very nicely with the 21st Century Vision,” Shankle said.

The first change is the replacement of Uni-versity Seminar with the new Cornerstone class, a three-hour class which will help stu-dents understand their liberal arts education.

“The class will be about 60 percent uni-form and 40 percent teachers drawing on their own strengths,” Shankle said. “There will still be opportunities for teachers to tailor their class to the needs of the depart-ments and students.”

Dr. Dwayne VanRheenen, provost of the university, said Cornerstone won’t be much like U100 at all. Instead of learning how to re-search at the library through workbook exer-cises, students will receive assignments that require them to learn through research.

“In order to do well in the Cornerstone class, you’ll have to learn to go to the li-brary… there will be a lot more writing,” Van-Rheenen said.

Also, three integrative courses will be re-quired, and freshmen, sophomores and juniors

General education changes approved

By Val Valleonline editor

Changes for social clubs and pledging have been finalized.

Last semester the Social Club Task Force revised pledging guidelines. The new guidelines will go into effect this semester for all clubs.

The changes can be found in the new 33-page Social Club Handbook.

“This might be the year to work out kinks,” said officer of Alpha Kai Omega, Karissa Mc-Coy, junior nutrition major from Austin. “Change is hard, but I think it’ll be a good change.”

Some of the biggest changes pertain to pledging.

Men wanting to pledge must attend at least one rush for at least three of the five clubs, and women must attend at least one rush for at least four of the seven clubs. Failure to do so will result in ineligibility to pledge.

Pledging receiving new rules

By Val Valleonline editor

After nearly two years of probation, one of ACU’s oldest men’s social clubs will be re-turning to campus this year and is hoping to make a comeback.

Disciplinary action was tak-en upon Sub T-16 in October of 2005. Mauri Westbrook, coordinator of student activi-ties and organizations, said she could not discuss the reason Sub T was removed from active status as a club, but that it was the result of the club making some poor decisions.

Part of the disciplinary action required that the club do an ex-tensive self-study. Throughout the past year, members of the club have spent time talking to Sub T alumni to learn more about their club’s traditions and history.

“The self study helped us figure out where Sub T needs to go to be a leader on cam-pus,” said club president Jacob Smith, graduate student in ac-countancy, from Tyler.

“We were going in the wrong direction and changes needed to be made.”

Though Sub T was removed from active status, which meant the club could not participate

Social club Sub T-16 reinstated on campus

Katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Boxes of furniture line the sidewalks of the new Grove apartments on N. Judge Ely Boulevard and I-20 on Tuesday afternoon.

Katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Tate Stewart, freshman sociology major from Lubbock, waves his “WC” during the singing of the alma mater in the Opening Ceremonies Chapel on Monday in Moody Coliseum.

Scheduled Board of Trustees meeting times for the coming year:

n Nov. 16-17

n Feb. 15-16

n May 16-17

n Aug. 22-23

FUTUre MeeTingS

See grOVe page 5

See SUB T page 7

See BOArD page 7

See COre page 7 See CHAPeL page 3 See PLeDging page 7

Page 2: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

Electronic check-in closes

Last day to register for classes.

Last day to withdraw from a class for a complete refund.

6:45 p.m.Dinner begins for Fall Dinner Theatre. Tickets for dinner and the show, ‘Star Spangled Girl,’ are $25.

8 p.m.‘Star Spangled Girl’ will be performed in Fulks Theatre. Tickets for the show only are $12. For tickets, call (325) 674-2787.

Electronic check-in open

11 a.m.Freshman Follies sign-ups will be held in the Campus Center until 3 p.m. Students can sign up to participate in specialty acts, residence hall acts, dance troupe, large chorus, production staff, video segments and co-chairs.

Electronic check-in open

11 a.m.Freshman Follies sign-ups will be held in the Campus Center until 1 p.m.

6 p.m.Welcome to Abilene, hosted by the Students’ Association, allows all freshman and transfer students to come to Teague Special Events Center to meet local restaurants, businesses, churches and entertainment venues. Free food, giveaways and prizes will be offered.

7 a.m.A garage sale will be held at 1310 Piedmont Drive to benefit the Little Hands Big Hearts organization in Honduras to help finish building a perimeter around its building.

6:45 p.m.Dinner begins for Fall Dinner Theatre. Tickets for dinner and the show, ‘Star Spangled Girl,’ are $25.

8 p.m.‘Star Spangled Girl’ will be performed in Fulks Theatre. Tickets for the show only are $12. For tickets, call (325) 674-2787.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Calendar Events&

The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities.

Groups may send announcements directly to [email protected] or to the Page 2 Editor at [email protected].

To ensure that an item will appear on time, the announcement should be sent at least 10 days before. The Optimist may edit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifications of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

About This Page

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Announcements

Volunteer Opportunities

31 Friday29 Wednesday 30 Thursday 01 Saturday

Don’t forget to electronically check in this week. Any stu-dent who fails to do this will be dropped from all classes they are signed up for. Electronic check-in will close Friday.

Any student interested in pledging a social club must regis-ter by Friday at noon. Go to www.acu.edu/social clubs to register. Stu-dents must be in their second year and meet eligibility requirements listed on the Web site to register.

Join the new outdoor exercise classes. Forever Fit includes class-es focusing on cardio workouts, yoga, pilates and core strength. Classes for the fall are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 to 7 a.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. These classes cost $25 per month for either the 6 a.m. or the 5:30 p.m. classes, or $35 a month for access to all classes. Nutritional counseling and

wellness services are also avail-able. Visit  www.foreverfitabilene.blogspot.com for more information.

Seekers of the Word will hold an interest meeting Sept. 3 at 9 p.m. in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building Room 130. Attendees will be given free food and information about the drama ministry group. Students who are interested are encouraged to come meet current members and make new friends.

Sign up to play in a new ACU orchestra ensemble. The ensem-ble, the ACU Camerata, is headed up by the music department this year. The Camerata will play cham-ber orchestra literature and will per-form one concert per semester. The class meets Fridays from 2 to 2:50 p.m. Students who are interested in being a part of this group should contact Steven Ward at [email protected] as soon as possible.

The annual Ben Richey Boys Ranch Chili Super Bowl needs help Saturday and Sunday selling tickets and working in the kids area.

Texas Family Institute needs volunteers Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. at various locations beginning Sept. 15 to help baby sit for families who have a parent deployed to Iraq.

A Teen Conference will be held

at the Abilene Civic Center Sept. 15 between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Vol-unteers are needed to assist with classes and cleanup.

The Office of Ministry Events needs volunteer ushers at Lecture-ship Sept. 16 through 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. to help guests find seats and help elderly or disabled guests with the stairs.

CreditedChapelsto date:

CreditedChapelsremaining:

Chapel Checkup0264

Area car burglaries are on the rise. Make sure you park in a lighted area, lock your vehicle and place all valuables out of sight.Report all suspicious activity to the ACU Police Department at (325) 674-2305.

Monday 08/20/20071:35 a.m. Parking violation on 1900 Campus Court 3:24 p.m. Vehicle hit and run accident at McKinzie Lot10 p.m. Parking violation at Barret Lot10:05 p.m. Report of suspicious subject in Gardner Lot, unable to locate

Tuesday 08/21/2007 12:39 a.m. Report of suspicious subject at 2400 Campus Court, con-tacted female making phone call 1:50 a.m. Subject reported hear-ing an argument in the alley of 600 EN 16th, checked area did not hear any noises 1:53 a.m. Loud party at 1400 EN 14th, contacted resident and advised them of complaint, did move inside the house 8:42 a.m. Vehicle hit and run at Smith Lot1 p.m. Report of carpet rem-nants in the roadway, moved out of the way 1:01 p.m. Report of suspicious subject on Oliver Jackson Blvd, contacted female all okay

Wednesday 08/22/207 7:20 a.m. Burglary of motor ve-hicle report at South Parking Lot1:56 p.m. Traffic stop at EN 18th and Campus Court for disre-garding city barricades 2:12 p.m. Traffic stop at Ambler and Campus Court for speeding 2:34 p.m. Traffic stop at EN 18th and Campus Court for disre-garding stop sign

3:45 p.m. Incident report in refer-ence to possible boyfriend stalking 7:40 p.m. Vehicle accident at EN 16th and Campus Court11:05 p.m. Contacted students swimming in the ACU pond, advised no swimming policy, left area 11:45 p.m. Theft report at Gard-ner Hall

Thursday 08/23/2007 10:25 a.m. Contacted subject placing signs on vehicle on ACU Drive North, subject did remove the signs 11 a.m. Assisted Abilene PD with locating student involved in vehicle hit and run accident 7:15 p.m. Vehicle accident at Campus Court and EN 18th

Friday 08/24/2007 12:40 a.m. Report of smelling smoke inside Gardner Hall, no fire, RD will contact maintenance 7:57 a.m. Traffic stop at EN 18th and Campus Court for disre-garding stop sign

Saturday 08/25/2007 12:44 a.m. Report of students on the roof of the Sherrod Building and Don Morris Center8:39 a.m. Criminal Mischief at the Campus Center

Sunday 08/26/2007 12:41 a.m. Loud party at 600 EN 23rd, resident was warned 7:01 p.m. Report of suspicious subject at University Church of Christ, unable to locate

Police LogEdited for space

ACU Police Tip of the Week

Page 3: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Page 3CAMPUS NEWS/FROM THE FRONT PAGE

Matt and the singing of the alma mater led by Texas State Representa-tive Bob Hunter.

This year’s keynote speaker was CE “Doc” Cornutt, chair of the Board of Trustees. Cor-nutt challenged students to pursue excellence in all arenas of life.

“I am a product of the ACU experience and proud of it, Cornutt said. “Without it I don’t think I would have achieved as much with my life,”

Opening Ceremonies is an event that celebrates ACU’s heritage and pre-pares students for the coming year.

“Opening Ceremony shows our new students and reminds old students

and faculty about the mis-sion of ACU,” said Ellison. “It’s a great way to kick

off the year.”

Chapel: Moody full once againContinued from page 1

E-mail Sutton at: [email protected]

By Denton JoseyFeatures editor

In addition to the physical renovations on campus over the summer, the department of residence life made some changes. There are three new staff members, including the new Director of Residence Life, Education and Housing, John Delony.

Delony comes to ACU from Lubbock Christian University where he was the Dean of Stu-dent Life. He also did his un-dergraduate work there, while getting his master’s from Texas Tech University. He is currently working on his doctorate from TTU as well.

Two more new staff in the residence life department are Ashley Hansen, the new resi-dence hall director for Morris Hall, and Chris Windsor, the new residence hall director for Mabee Hall. Also, Angela Bearden is now at Barret Hall, and Michelle Lessly is the new residence hall director for Sikes Hall.

“I inherited a killer staff; they are smokin’,” Delony said. “They are making my transi-tion incredible.” Delony said they are reexamining student life on campus. “Working on community building is a big

deal to me.”Not only did personnel

change occur, but even the practices of residence life are being looked at.

Delony said everything from policies to living arrange-ments and halls is being exam-ined. He said the department is looking to build on the legacy built before and make certain it coincides with the new cen-tury vision. “We’re going to re-ally focus on getting involved and promoting campus com-munity,” he said.

Delony said the training for residence hall directors is more focused now. “They’re real intentional about seeking out relationships with the resi-dents,” he said.

Ashley Hansen, the RD for Morris Hall, is a 2006 Fam-ily Studies graduate from ACU and is currently working on her master’s in higher educa-tion. She said one of her goals is to work with the residence assistants and assistant direc-tor to build relationships and foster community in the resi-dence halls.

One of the ways residence life is improving the social aspect of on-campus living is to make more time for sopho-mores to be together. This year the sophomore residence hall

lobbies will be open 24/7 in order to allow for more study time and hang out time for coed groups, as opposed to year past when the lobbies would close even though soph-omores don’t have curfew.

Hansen said residence life tries to get to know people on a deeper level so they can help them, not to be intrusive or come across as trying to police the activity.

Hansen said her goal is to help her residents as much as possible and make sure that “they grow not only aca-demically but spiritually and emotionally as well.” Delony also said, “the same commu-nity my RD’s build in their resi-dence halls, we want to build across this campus,” Delony said. “Build a campus culture of community.”

Reslife renovates campus

E-mail Josey at: [email protected]

Katie GaGer CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Jenifer Arnel, senior biology major from Grandbury, plays the saxophone with Big Purple during Opening Chapel on Monday.

Page 4: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

By Lauren SuttonCopy Editor

The label, a Silence Pro-duction is not only gaining recognition across campus but throughout Abilene.

What began as a Webzine and pet project of music aficionado Dustin Reid has evolved into a corporately owned production company that is associated with a va-riety of undertakings. Reid’s endeavors include ACU’s Fair Trade clothing line, Heartbeat; Abilene’s first film festival, 24 Frames Per Second; and Silence Sessions, a booking agency that contacts and schedules musicians to play shows at lo-cal venues in town.

Though Reid, senior elec-tronic media major from Rockwall, had been respon-sible for booking occasional

shows in Abilene, his partner-ship with alumni Ryan Feere (‘05) in the spring of 2006 ultimately led to the creation of a Silence Production.

Eventually, other co-own-ers Ben Hernandez, Kyle Trafton, Paul Bryan and Matt Worthington joined forces and contributed different talents to further establish a Silence Production.

“It’s more than music,” said Kyle Trafton, senior marketing major from Ama-rillo. “It gives us a chance to stretch in our field be-cause all of us have a hand in that somehow. Dustin is an amazing videographer. Ben is a phenomenal graphic de-signer. Ryan is an awesome illustrator, and Paul’s pho-tography is amazing. It gives us a chance, without teaming up with other people, to help

artists further their name.” As well as producing music

for a collection of bands and overseeing local shows of art-ists like The Album Leaf, The Winston Jazz Routine and Peter and the Wolf, a Silence Production is working on a soundtrack to accompany

Feere’s upcoming children’s book, “Thy Old Murkville For-rest” and features musicians including Denison Witmer, Anathallo and Page France.

“Murkville is a world that Ryan created in which he has illustrated all these creatures and characters,” Reid said.

While Heartbeat is a proj-ect headed up by Students’ Association president Matt Worthington, a Silence Pro-duction is doing a lot of the necessary legwork to make Heartbeat happen.

And film festival 24 fps is yet another project a Silence Production is working with. On Oct. 26-27, the Paramount

Theatre will host 24fps, and a Silence Production will cre-ate posters for event as well as T.V. commericials.

“At times I think it’s too much, but I trust Dustin and Ryan because they are just as busy as I am with their other jobs. It always seems to work out,” Trafton said.

Students can look for-ward to multiple shows this year at Monk’s coffee shop.

a Silence Production man-ages booking shows, includ-ing musicians like Peter and the Wolf, Final Fantasy, (which includes the violinist from the Arcade Fire) and Lymbyc System.

While a Silence Produc-tion may be gaining popular-ity, owners say they want to keep their base in Abilene.

“We’re not going to aban-don Abilene,” Reid said. “Even when I’m gone I’ll be booking shows for Monk’s.”

Reid encourages students to find out more about a Si-lence Production and partici-pate in upcoming events.

“The more you participate and support the scene the better it gets because even if it’s not what you want it to be now, bands want to come to towns where kids are excited,” Reid said. “The more notorious we are for a supportive scene, the eas-ier it is for bands to come and play.”

a Silence Production tries new things, gains popularity

E-mail Sutton at: [email protected]

Bands performing at Monk’s coffee shop during the fall semester.

n Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. - Peter and the Wolf, listenlisten, Sabra Laval, Kissing Cousins

n Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. - Homer Hiccolm & the Rocketboys (CD release party)

n Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. - Final Fantasy, Cadence Weapon

Upcoming EvEntS

Page 4 Wednesday, August 29, 2007cAmpUS nEWS

By Rachel Davisopinion Editor

During the summer, for-mer ACU employee Kendall Massey was asked to re-sign, causing a flurry of ru-mors on Facebook.com and on campus.

One such rumor was that Massey, former director of student productions, was asked to leave because the shows were becoming too “edgy” for ACU’s campus.

“The shows weren’t edgy,” Massey said. “If anything, I believe we had more Jesus in them. There are also rumors that the shows won’t be as good anymore, and that’s not true. All I did was facili-tate the shows; the students

did the rest of the work.”

Tom Craig, the new direc-tor of student productions, said, “Every product ion has its own gu ide l ines , and they are all designed to fit within the ideals of the university.”

Craig added he didn’t know much about Massey’s leaving, but he wanted to keep a lot of the same things Massey in-cluded in the productions.

Massey said he only knew that the administration asked him to leave because of some poor student evaluations.

“There were some stu-

dents who didn’t think I was going in a good direction, so the administration said, ‘Let’s go in a different direction,’” Massey said. “But I’m OK with that—I’m actually really happy. I just want to spend my days learning about God and learning about what he wants me to be.”

Massey said he asked an unnamed administrator for further explanation, but the administrator told him, “Sometimes we will never find the real reasons; you just have to let it go and move on.”

Dr. Royce Money, presi-dent of the university, said he couldn’t comment on Massey’s resignation be-cause of privacy issues.

“I’d just like to let the students know that the thing I’ll miss the most is the relationships I’ve built,” Massey said. “The most im-portant thing about the job wasn’t the money, it was the students who were involved. The reason I’m not at ACU anymore is because God doesn’t want me to be.”

While he was at the uni-versity, Massey was in charge of Sing Song and Freshman Follies, and he brought the

SHADES Step Show and Eth-nos under the wing of stu-dent productions.

“I think Sing Song is ready to go in a different di-rection.” Massey said. “Stu-dents who were from multi-cultural backgrounds didn’t feel like they could be a part of Sing Song and that was something I felt really chal-lenged by. I just hope that the SHADES show continues after I’m gone.”

Massey said he hopes to

find a job with music or ministry, and he said he would continue to love the students he worked with and encourages them to keep in touch with him.

“I just wanted a chance to say goodbye and thanks. It’s great to realize that you’re part of something bigger than yourself.

“Feelings towards me or the administration don’t matter. Keep treating each other with love. And they’d better make the shows good this year because I’m com-ing back.”

Poor student evaluations cause resignation

E-mail Davis at: [email protected]

massey

By Sara SnelsonArts Editor

Students gathered Mon-day night at the Beauchamp Amphitheater to “pray for reign” in the world, in ACU and in others.

The Spiritual Life Core pro-vided a somber atmosphere for students to come sing, re-flect and pray with each other or by themselves.

“I think everyone needs to go on their own personal journey of prayer and find out how you personally pray best,” said Josh Alkire, sopho-more Christian ministry and English major from Abilene.

Students made their way to the front and back of the am-phitheater to pray personally for what was on their hearts and minds.

“I found it hard to talk to God personally, and ACU has already been a tough adjust-ment for me, so I wanted to

come tonight for the oppor-tunity to pray and to be with others who felt the way I did. Tonight was a great experi-ence,” said Colleen Ashley, freshman English major from American Samoa.

As the night went on, Al-kire would pray out loud for numerous things and then al-lowed a time of silence for the students to pray themselves.

“I always get caught up in everything that surrounds me, and this one-on-one de-votion time with God was a refresher and much needed experience for me,” said Sam Palomares, freshman accounting major from Mis-sion. “It was very personal, and I liked the small setting we were in.”

“The last thing that was prayed over was ACU,” Al-kire said.

He said the campus was prayed for last because ACU would be the first place students encountered after they left the Pray for Reign prayer time.

“I was very excited about how tonight went and blessed by it,” Alkire said.

Spiritual Life Core is think-ing of planning a weekly event similar to Pray for Reign that would take place Thursday night at Jacobs Dream. Alkire said this would be a place to come and experience ways to pray differently.

Students pray for ACU and world

E-mail Snelson at: [email protected]

“There were some students who didn’t think I was going in a good direction, so the administration

said, ‘let’s go in a different direction’.”

Kendall Massey, former director of student productions

“This one-on-one devotion time with God was a refresher.”

Sam Palomare, freshman accounting major from Mission

“It gives us a chance to stretch in our field because all of us have a hand in that somehow.”

Kyle Trafton, senior marketing major from Amarillo

Page 5: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

Yeah, I live there…’”Some tenants had Ed-

wards’ problems; others had different things to deal with. Residents in Building 4 had broken air conditioners, and some from other build-ings found their plumbing inoperable, even flooding in a few rooms.

Edwards said Grove work-ers had promised them mul-tiple times they would get their mattresses and furni-ture Saturday, but when 9 p.m. rolled around they were still sitting on the floor with nowhere to sleep. They re-sorted to getting a hotel for the night, and it wasn’t un-til Sunday after she and her roommates returned from church that they found mat-tresses—and mattresses only—had been put in their apartment.

“I’ve never been so happy to have a mattress,” Edwards said. “They [kept] telling us we [would] get [our furni-ture] We were promised we would have them [Saturday], but we didn’t. We [kept] get-ting promised, and they’re not following through.”

Shelley Paxton, junior psychology, pre-physical therapy major from Dim-mitt, echoed Edward’s feel-ings. She said she got many mixed messages from the Grove staff and no concrete answers.

“[Saturday] was chaotic and horrible,” Paxton said. “No one has given anyone a direct answer or taken charge. I don’t know who is in charge here or what is go-ing to happen. I was just re-ally shocked and confused [Saturday]. I think everyone felt that way. Everyone is stressed out.”

Paxton tried to find out when they could get mattresses, and she said the answers she got all conflicted with each other.

“We talked to some of the workers. They said [the mattresses] were in a ware-house, and they couldn’t get to it,” she said. “Mike [Spell] said they were bringing mat-tresses in from Houston and didn’t think we would have them until later this week. Then a worker said, ‘Mike doesn’t know what’s going on. We’ll have all your furni-ture today by 5 p.m.’”

Confused as ever, Paxton and her roommates were left with neither furniture nor answers. She said the person she most expect-

ed to have answers, Mike Spell, director of the Grove, seemed just as lost as ev-eryone else.

“Mike just kept walking in and out of the office,” Pax-ton said. “He really did seem like he didn’t know what to do. He just looked like he was in disbelief. I was like, ‘I thought you were supposed to be in charge and know what was going on.’”

Mike Spell was not avail-able for comment.

Other administrators gave vague answers to in-quiries Paxton asked.

“I asked the lady who was [setting up] the hotels when the gym was going to be done, and she just smiled really big and didn’t give me any answers,” Paxton said. “She just said ‘Y’all are just going to love it when it’s done.’ And I thought, ‘It was supposed to have already been done by now…’”

Gym or not, Paxton said she is making do with what she has.

These issues and encoun-ters have decreased many of the residents’ patience and optimism, and Paxton said some are resorting to more than just complaints.

“Some girls are trying to get lawyers because [the Grove] is in breach of con-tract,” she said. “[My hopes] aren’t really high right now. I hope they can get up and running. I hoped they would give us a huge discount.”

While some tenants had bad experiences on Saturday, others like Randy Woods, a junior electronic media ma-

jor from Falls Church, Va., did not have as many issues moving in. Woods said that while he had no furniture expect a bed and a dresser, only a few issues existed in his apartment when he got there.

“There were minor things wrong like under the kitchen sink it was not closed off, and it wasn’t finished, and there were white things dried in the floor,” Woods said. “It was fairly clean. There were some trouble spots from tools and open plastic and boxes laying around.”

Woods said from where he was staying, in Build-ing 2, it looked like a lot of people stayed in the Grove Saturday night like he did. He said most people around him had beds. This differs from the side of the Grove where Edwards and Paxton live in Building 11.

Woods said, though, that having no furniture has up-set him.

“What really bothers me is

my computer and clothes are in bags, and I can’t do much with them with just a closet and a bed,” he said. “I can put some in the dresser, but I can only do so much now.”

Woods has had more con-struction occur in his apart-ment since Saturday. He said he wasn’t sure what it was being done for, and he wasn’t really told.

“They put two huge holes in my wall in my bathroom,” Woods said. “I think the air conditioner is outside my room. Mike told me they were working on the air con-ditioner. I’m assuming it’s for my building and people couldn’t get air condition-ing yet.”

Edwards said while many things were wrong, not ev-erything was negative.

“I almost want to say it’s not worth it, but it is,” she said. “It could be a lot worse. Everything’s not negative. There are a lot of hot guys. It’s nice inside. The locks work; I feel safe at least.”

However, some do not feel that way and are threatening to pull out of their lease to go elsewhere. Patricia Hail-Jackson, director of Univer-sity Park Apartments, said she has had inquiries from concerned parents of Grove residents since the move-in delay and this weekend’s transpirations. She said UP does not have much room for people wanting to trans-fer apartments, though.

“We are sitting at 93-to 94-percent [full] right now,” Hail-Jackson said. “I don’t think they have hurt us as much as we first thought.”

Hail-Jackson also said University Park has worked to compete with the Grove.

“Anywhere you go, you will have competition,” she said. “We came back and tried to get as competitive as possible. The hardest thing was the Grove hav-

ing washers and dryers, so now our residents will have free laundry. [The Grove’s] square footage is a little bigger, and we don’t have a pool. They are advertising they will have tanning beds and a weight room. Those are things we are not really in competition with them.”

She said there are things with which the Grove just can’t compete, though.

“We are in partnership with ACU; they pay a portion of stu-dents’ rent when they live over here,” Hail-Jackson said. “ACU has stood behind us. So, when they get [new] athletes and international students, ACU sends them over here.”

Hail-Jackson said there are also other perks to ACU stu-

dents that exist with living at UP over the Grove, such as rent and distance.

“The Grove only allows 12 month rent. UP allows nine and 12 months rent,” she said. “And they can’t compete with the proximity we have to [the ACU] campus. In reality, the Grove isn’t in walking distance, but we are.”

While some students are looking into UP as an alterna-tive to the Grove, others have decided to stay at the Grove and wait for their issues to be resolved. Edwards, Paxton and Woods are still waiting for their furniture to show up at their door.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Page 5CAMPUS NEWS

Grove: Moving delays incite frustration and confusionContinued from page 1

“I was just really shocked and confused [Satur-day]. I think everyone felt that way. Everyone is

stressed out.”

Shelley Paxton, junior psychology and pre-physical therapy major from Dimmitt

Katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Grove Apartments, scheduled to be finished by Aug. 15, is still awaiting landscaping.

Katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Jessica Rodriguez, junior elementary education major from Kyle, and Steph Ballard, junior education major from Duncanville, move into the Grove Apartments on N. Judge Ely and I-20.

E-mail Edens at: [email protected]

Page 6: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

ViewswednesdayOptimistPage 6 Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.

The Optimist encourages reader response through letters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing personal

attacks, obscenity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy.

Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.

Address letters to:ACU Box 27892

Abilene, TX 79699

E-mail letters to: [email protected]

Editorial and letter policy

Published by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

Newsroom:(325) 674-2439

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Subscriptions ($40/academic year):(325) 674-2296.

Online:www.acuoptimist.com

Editorial and Management Board

Jared FieldsEditor in Chief

Kelsi PeaceManaging Editor

Lauren SuttonCopy Editor

Rachel DavisOpinion Editor

Katie GagerChief Photographer

Denton JoseyFeatures Editor

Daniel JohnsonSports Editor

Sara SnelsonArts Editor

Camille TurnerVideo Editor

Christi StarkAdvertising Manager

Kenneth PybusAdviser

Val Valle Online Editor

In Your WordsDo you think U100 was a good class?

Casey LubyFreshman nutrition major from Dallas.

The first day of my U100 was good; I think it will be a good class.

It wasn’t really that beneficial, but it was good to have a place to ask questions.

Ashley MusickSophomore social work major from Nashville.

I think it was a great way to meet new people and make good friends.

Isaac VazquezSenior graphic design major from Houston.

The problem:A new Cornerstone class will replace U100 in a year or two.

Our view:The Optimist agrees the replacement of U100 is a good idea because of inconsistencies and lack of academic challenges.

The solution:We think the new class should be implemented as soon as a smooth transition to the new curriculum can be accomplished.

U100 replacement class long overdueAll students at ACU must

take University Seminar, an introductory class that al-lows freshman and transfer students to become accli-mated to the campus, fosters community and teaches new students a consortium of things including the history of the university.

It provides students a way to learn about ACU in a relatively stress-free environ-ment, but many things about the class lack consistency and challenges.

The inconsistency of U100 is part of why the faculty vot-ed in May to change the U100 class. A committee created new education changes that should be implemented in one to three years, including a new three-hour Cornerstone class that offers a new inte-

grative and global view on current issues and campus life and replaces the U100 class.

While U100 may teach stu-dents how to use the library and provide free food at pro-fessors’ homes, the new edu-cation changes that replace this class are overdue.

Every student feels differ-ently about his or her U100 class. Some love the class; oth-ers hate it. Everyone can agree the class is inconsistent. We feel that if it is offered as an introductory course, it should be similar from class to class rather than a class that might as well be several different classes without standardized curriculums. U100 should be used to the benefit of the

respective departments, but professors shouldn’t have freedom to stray from the cur-riculum as much as they do to make every class section completely different.

When the committee cre-ating the new Cornerstone class works out the details of the class’s curriculum, we hope they consider the U100 curriculum was ill de-fined. It touches many top-ics but never focuses on one topic for more than a day. To truly orient someone to this campus, it’s important to focus on topics for lon-ger than a day.

The new class will have more extensive readings

and will give students a more de-manding in-t roduct ion

into university life. That is a necessary addition to the curriculum.

The new Cornerstone class is supposed to give students the opportunity to learn with a more global view, and that’s something the U100 class lacks. It has a narrow ACU focus and doesn’t really teach how students are af-fected globally.

The ACU Web site states that U100 is supposed to “help build community, pro-vide academic and personal advice, introduce students to the campus and local culture, explore ACU’s Christian mis-sion and heritage, teach study

and interpersonal skills, and help students confirm or de-cide on a major.”

How can students choose a major when they don’t know how they truly can “change the world?”

The new class is also sup-posed to focus more on current issues and their effects. We feel that is something U100 doesn’t have much of and we hope that the Cornerstone class is effec-tive in that aspect.

While the editorial board does disagree with many of the current U100 policies, we hope that the free food at pro-fessors’ homes will continue with the implementation of the new class.

E-mail the Optimist at: [email protected]

Alex YorkLebensgefahr

Technology and communi-cation have always interested

me. When my

brother and I were kids, we had voice-acti-vated headset walkie-talk-ies. We would put them on, ride our bikes and talk to each other to see where the other was.

I was fas-cinated by

how I could talk to some-one over a distance (though it was just a block or two) without the use of wires.

In high school I saved all my summer’s earnings to buy an XM Radio when it was first released. I explored all

genres of music, and this new radio could not have been more perfect.

Now, ACU is researching ways Apple’s new iPhone can be integrated in the cur-riculum. I can’t be more ex-cited. And it’s the perfect thing for me and our gen-eration of students.

I grew up intrigued by all of the rapidly developing technology of the past 20 years, as did most people my age. Add to that our want —no need—to stay in con-tact with people, and it’s no wonder ACU is trying to get iPhones for the students.

I believe it will happen. Imagine every student,

faculty and staff member carrying an iPhone. The ap-plications in the classroom and among friends are countless. Maps to class-rooms and professor offices can be displayed. Everyday announcements from Cha-pel to a Bean menu can ar-rive in the phone. You might not even need a computer anymore because you could Facebook on the phone.

I can’t wait to see the day everyone on campus gets an iPhone. Unfortunately, as a senior, the odds of being a

part of this are slim. I am somewhat envious of future students who will get to use the iPhone in such a way.

People are working, think-ing, texting and e-mailing constantly on campus to see that students get the best education possible. I just wish I could be part of that educational model.

Because of my excite-ment for this possibility, you may think I waited in line for hours to get one. But I didn’t.

Why not? I didn’t want to change services.

I have a two-year contract with Sprint.

iPhones generate new, exciting possibilities

Fields ofDreamsJaredFields

E-mail Fields at: [email protected], [email protected]

Babies: Please, don’t leave home with ’em

FeelingOptimisticDentonJosey

Babies are probably crucial for survival and all that—but it doesn’t mean I have

to like them.

Nothing ruins a good day for me faster than a baby.

I’m terri-fied of them. Is there a phobia for that?

T u r n s out there is. Paedopho-bia. Splen-d i d — t h i s means I’m not alone.

For real, the entire process in-volved with

babies is rather bizarre, if you really think about it. But I try not to. What I’m talking about is once they get here.

Recently, a friend told me quite earnestly how he would rather mutilate him-self than have a baby. Now, while I see that as a bit ex-treme, I can most certainly understand the sentiment.

It seems babies don’t bring a lot to the table. A short list of baby abili-ties includes making bad s m e l l s , throwing up and making loud noises. Not a lot of marketabil-ity there. Ba-sically, I love babies like PETA loves Mi-chael Vick; it just isn’t hap-pening. The chances are greater that Lindsay Lohan will become a DARE spokes-person than anyone seeing me hold a baby.

Now, while it’s a scien-tific fact that babies are the No. 1 cause for global warming, there are more subtle ways in which in-fants mess with the world’s balance, more personal things—awkward things.

Because babies run ram-pant in society—they have no checks and balances like the rest of us—the stage is constantly set for uncom-fortable situations. For instance, the classic “Are you pregnant?” question to a non-pregnant woman is horrible and beyond re-demption, but what about sitting next to a mother who, because the baby is hungry, nurses in public?

It’s situations like that which necessitate a solution.

This is my proposal: If babies weren’t allowed in public it would be a great

deal. Just make them stay at home until, oh, maybe when they are no longer mostly cartilaginous. Be-cause when infants are taken into the world before they can fend for themselves it is downright dangerous.

At a concert recently, there was a mother with a newborn, all inactive and helpless like babies are. That baby came so close to getting hit by concert-goers and swinging doors, not to mention the hearing damage that probably took place. That’s why babies should be on house arrest for at least a year. They are simply way too fragile. That “soft spot” is creepy—I’ve never seen a baby wearing a helmet despite the ob-vious need. Plus, holding them requires a gymnast’s balance, especially while going up or down stairs or when they develop the use-less but dangerous ability to wiggle.

This is why I’ve devel-oped a personal plan. Ba-

sically, I at-tempt to keep

an ocean’s distance be-tween me and any girl I might find myself at-tracted to. I

realize some people may ask, “Wait, I thought he was talking about babies, what’s this girl stuff?” Well, comrades, I did some research and, historically, girls are al-ways having babies. It’s just what they do. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but they do.

Also, I’m thinking about reverting to some old hab-its I had as a kid to be pro-active and not just on the defense. Back when I played little league I was pretty small and my hat didn’t fit, even on the smallest set-ting. So I had to staple it together. I also wore some very conspicuous goggles. Yeah, goggles and cloth-ing that is stapled together discourages a lot of inter-action with the females—it sure did in fifth grade.

When it comes down to it, babies are probably crucial for survival and all that—but it doesn’t mean I have to like them.

E-mail Josey at: [email protected], [email protected]

I grew up intrigued by all of the rapidly developing technology of the past 20 years, as did most people my

age... imagine every student, faculty and staff member carrying an iPhone.

Some love the class; others hate it. Everyone can agree the class is inconsistent.

Page 7: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Page 7CAMPUS NEWS / FROM THE FRONT

on campus. They helped work security at Sing Song, and they helped out with Homecoming activities.

“It was important to them that they were still able to show the ACU com-munity that they cared,” Westbrook said.

The number of members has declined throughout the course of time because they are not allowed to participate in rushing and pledging activities.

“We still met as a club and held devotionals to keep the motivation up,” Smith said.

Smith said that being on probation has been a bit of

a set back for Sub T, howev-er, he remains hopeful for the future.

“Everyone is going to have to make changes this year with all the new pledging rules, but I feel like we got a head start on it. The microscope is going to be on us, but it’s a great op-portunity to show others how we’ve changed.”

For those interested in pledging Sub T this semes-ter, the club’s first rush will be a dodge ball rush Sept 3. at 9 p.m. The location is to be determined. In the fol-lowing weeks, signs will be up in the Campus Center for more information.

Sub T: Club prepares to show changesContinued from page 1

E-mail Valle at: [email protected]

Pledging: Process split into phasesContinued from page 1

In order to pledge, stu-dents must have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher. This is different from current mem-bers who pledged before fall of 2007, who had to maintain a 2.0 GPA or higher.

Pledging will be split into two phases and will last five and a half weeks.

The first phase will last two weeks. During that time, pledges will have activities, pledge-class meetings and will spend time building uni-ty among other pledge class-es and their club. The club should provide a sense of tra-dition and history to pledges.

The second phase will last three and a half weeks, and pledges will be considered provisional members. Pro-visional member’s activities will include getting visits, go-ing to intramurals and build-

ing the Homecoming float. This part of pledging should focus on overall club unity and community building

Two years ago at the rec-ommendation of the Board of Trustees, the Task Force was formed to evaluate so-cial clubs and to ensure clubs were not violating rules or hazing pledges.

“Social clubs were evalu-ated, not just because of pledging—that’s a big mis-conception—but to evalu-ate social clubs as a whole,” Westbrook said.

Those wanting to pledge a social club have to register online at www.acu.edu/so-cialclubs by noon on Friday. Teas for women’s social clubs will take place Sept 2. Rushes for both men’s and women’s social clubs begin Sept. 3.

E-mail Valle at: [email protected]

“We want them to be more involved in the campus,” Money said.

C.E. “Doc” C o r n u t t , the board’s c h a i r m a n , plans to visit campus dur-ing a regular school day and audit classes to increase his involvement, Money said.

The board will also meet quarterly instead of semi-an-nually, again in an effort to increase members’ aware-ness of campus.

The board’s planned structural changes came with the implementation of the 21st Century Vi-sion, which Money and Phil Schubert, executive vice president, presented in final form last weekend. Money said the board supported the changes “unanimously

and enthusiastically,” leav-ing the university to ask

what the full support of the board means for the vision.

Schubert said the board’s support moves its focus from determining whether or not the direction of the vision is direct to deciding how to implement it.

Schubert said he will pres-ent a more detailed vision to the board at the meeting Nov. 16 and 17, with recommended investments prioritized—or possibly selected. Investments the university is considering include the proposed Health and Fitness Center and pro-

posed adjustments to the core curriculum. The investments, Schubert said, are intended to support the four imperatives included in the vision, which strive to make ACU “become the premier institution for the education of Christ-centered global leaders.”

The support marks of the beginning of implementation and analysis, Money said.

“It’s a process; it’s never ending,” Money said. “It’s con-stant quality improvement.”

Board: Changes to boost member accountability

Continued from page 1

E-mail Davis at: [email protected]

will take one each year. They will progressively become harder and can’t be taken out of order, Shankle said.

“They’re interdisciplinary and will teach the students a different way of thinking and learning in the world when they leave college and go to work,” Shankle said.

Seniors will finish off with the Capstone class, which will basically be one more chance for them to draw on what they’ve learned in their major and really engage the faith and learning they’ve experienced throughout the course of their education. Some departments already have a class similar to this, but Shankle said these changes would require every department to have a Cap-stone class.

Other departments will have revisions made to their curriculums as well. The Bi-

ble, missions and ministry department, social sciences, humanities, English, commu-nications and exercise sci-ence departments’ curricu-lums will all be revised.

“The Biblical Studies pro-gram will be revised exten-sively,” VanRheenen said. “The emphasis on connect-ing faith and learning will be stronger than it’s ever been, and there will be deeper dis-cussions in other disciplines about faith.”

A significant change in the foreign language depart-ment is the addition of a competency exam. Students will be tested to measure how well they actually know

the language they took in high school, and if they don’t do well enough, they will take a foreign language class at ACU.

VanRheenen also said that as a part of this new curricu-lum, more Study Abroad op-portunities will be available. The locations haven’t been determined yet, but Van-Rheenen said he and his team are excited about implement-ing the changes.

“It’s definitely the center-piece for the academic area of the 21st Century Vision,” Van-Rheenen said.

Core: Vision spurs curriculum changes

Continued from page 1

E-mail Peace at: [email protected]

katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Flags represent the nations ACU students hail from in the Pa-rade of Flags. Students also carried flags to represent states in the United States at Monday’s Opening Chapel ceremony.

By Jared Fields Editor in ChiEf

The U.S. News & World Re-port and the Princeton Review recently ranked ACU among some of the best schools in the region and nation.

In U.S. News & World Report, ACU received the No. 17 rank-ing of 116 universities in the West region to move up eight spots from last year.

ACU was also named the 10th best value as a “Great School at a Great Price.”

The Princeton Review named ACU one of the “Best in the West.” ACU received the recognition as one of 123

schools in the 15-state west-ern region.

“Taken all together they probably help parents get a snapshot of how they rank among other colleges,” said Michelle Morris, vice president for university relations.

However, Morris said no ranking uses all the criteria the school does.

“When we look across the various rankings and lists we’d like to see the perfect one that has our values and qualities,” Morris said.

The U.S. News & World Re-port uses peer assessment ratings on a 5.0 scale from presidents, provosts and ad-

missions directors in the West region. ACU scored a 3.2 on that scale and is one of four schools in Texas (St. Mary’s, Trinity University and the University of Dallas) to rank in the top 20 in the West.

Other factors used are graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, stu-dent selectivity, financial re-sources and alumni giving.

The Princeton Review is different in some aspects of its rankings. It does not use a mathematical formula but rather a selection team looks at standards of academic excellence in the region and student surveys.

While the U.S. News & World Report ranking is the highest in ACU’s history, the university doesn’t feel it is a tell-all for what the school is about.

“Because we know the time of year it comes out we keep an eye out for it. It’s ex-citing to move up the list,” Morris said.

“They don’t always get it right but they make a shot at it,” Phil Schubert, execu-tive vice president said. “Do they measure everything we want to measure? No, not by any stretch.”

‘U.S. News’ ranks university No. 17

E-mail Fields at: [email protected]

“The emphasis on connecting faith and learning will be strong than it’s ever been, and there will be deeper discussion in other disciplines about faith.”

Dr. Dwayne Vanrheenen, provost of the university

Schubert

Hold it high

Page 8: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

Page 8 Wednesday, August 29, 2007CAMPUS NEWS

By Kelsi PeaceManaging Editor

A plethora of new faces have appeared on campus — and not all of them stu-dents’. With eight new ad-ministrative appointments, eight new staff appoint-ments and 29 new faculty in the College of Arts and Sci-ences alone, the university has seen a lot of change this fall.

“When you have new staff, each person brings a new set of eyes, ears and experiences to this com-munity,” said Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, newly appoint-ed Vice President and Dean of Student Life.

Thompson started his po-sition July 1, doing much of the transition work via phone as he was in Grove City, Pa. at Grove City College. Since arriving, he has filled sever-al positions including Direc-tor of Residence Life, Direc-tor of Student Multicultural Enrichment, Director of Ju-dicial Affairs and Resident

Director positions.He approaches his posi-

tion with a determination to bring focus to the student life office.

“We need to have stabil-ity and a team,” he said.

Along with that goal, Thompson said he will also strive to learn about the ACU culture — and work on bridging the sub-com-munities he said he has ob-served.

Thompson began his po-sition shortly after the uni-versity launched its 21st Century Vision, and he said as he works to blend the vi-sion and the direction of the university, he expects to re-evaluate frequently.

But he won’t be assessing through many surveys.

“Sometimes, we can just survey the mess out of stu-dents,” Thompson said.

Instead, he said he plans to shift feedback to focus groups, tapping various stu-dent groups for face-to-face input. Thompson also cited the Sept. 19 student forum

for feedback and sugges-tions on the planned Fitness and Health Recreation Cen-ter, as well as the student-driven McGlothlin Campus Center renovation as proof of the new approach.

“This is probably one of the most exciting times to

be at ACU,” Thompson said. Dr. Jeanine Varner, newly

appointed Dean of the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences said she is also excited about the opportunities of the coming year, especially after meeting with faculty and staff during Welcome Week.

“I think at the beginning of each new year ... we need to be reminded of our grand vision,” Varner said.

Varner has spent 34 years as an educator and admin-istrator, 20 of which were spent at Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City.

She began her position with enthusiasm, dress-ing up and providing beach balls to accompany the theme, ‘Surf’s up in the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences’ at the college’s orientation during Welcome Week.

“We wanted to have fun,” she said.

Varner’s enthusiasm car-ries over to the faculty and staff she oversees – includ-ing 29 new faculty members.

“With each new faculty hire, the planets always re-align themselves,” Varner said, laughing. “This is a no-table group of people.”

While all new faculty and staff members do have to assimilate to university life, Varner said they also bring excitement.

Varner said she is devel-oping a stronger sense of image and identity for the College of Arts and Sciences — the only college on cam-pus to include departments as different from one another as Computer Science and English.

Last week, Varner met with department heads to develop those identities and look for common threads between the departments. She said the college might develop a logo to help en-force unity.

Varner said she has two main goals for her inaugu-ral year: to know that the college taught students well and to work on “celebrat-ing, cultivating and commu-nicating” within the college. The first goal, she said, is simple but vital.

“We could have all the new buildings in the world, but if we failed at that one, we failed,” she said.

New faculty bring experience, vision to university

By Denton Josey FEaturEs Editor

Last year, Team 55 handled 35,000 phone calls from stu-dents and faculty requesting computer and technology as-sistance. Include the walk-in cli-ents and that number is closer to 40,000.

Kay Reeves, director of tech-nology support services and customer services, said “a good number of those we resolved on that first phone call.” Despite such a high volume of calls and people seeking help every year, Team 55 is working hard to add even more technology to stu-dents and faculty. Behind Team 55 is about 50 student workers and 10 software and hardware technicians, said Josh Tooley, manager of Team 55, Copy Cat and Help Desk. Reeves said over the summer, Team 55 and the Help Desk, historically sep-arate entities, merged together. This means students and facul-ty will now go to the same place for information and assistance with campus technology.

“There’s a lot of things, from a customer-service perspective, that we go way beyond other universities,” Tooley said.

Last year, Team 55 intro-duced a live chat system for us-ers to contact Team 55 and get live help via the Internet. This year they’ve implemented a sys-tem that allows a Team 55 tech-nician to actually see what is on someone’s computer screen, with their consent, and the abil-ity to then remotely control the computer if necessary.

“It gives us a whole level of support above what we could do before,” Tooley said. “It al-lows us to control their ma-chines and observe them.”

Also, Tooley said there is a variety of self-help available on-line, and some computer issues can be resolved without even needing to contact Team 55. Currently, they are work-ing on a video that serves as

an introduction to campus technology for new students and users. While Team 55 answers the phone calls for computer related issues, it is not in charge of all technol-ogy on campus as some call-ers sometimes believe.

“We’re basically the technol-ogy liaisons between the stu-dents, faculty and staff, and the full-time staff that works on campus,” Tooley said. “We’re the gateway.”

In addition to looking for new ways to resolve computer problems, the technology sup-port at ACU also stays alert for new technology and innovation that could be used on campus.

“Our development peo-ple spend their lives looking around for ways to improve,” Reeves said. “They like noth-ing more than looking for the next thing.” She notes that ACU was one of the first universi-ties to switch to Google mail, which features Google docu-ments. Google documents al-low multiple users to work on a singular document at the same time. Also, the new myACU was a project that was completed right before classes began this fall. It has more user-friendly features that allow individual users more control over what they see on their myACU page.

Another change that took place over the summer was with Information Services, a department Team 55 is associ-ated with. It changed the regis-tration system for computers on campus and under the new system all the computers are on the same registration, whereas before there were two different registries for regular and wire-less connections.

“That’s one thing about ACU, we’re always trying to stay on the cutting edge in-stead of waiting to see what other schools do,” Tooley said.

Team 55 secures support for students

By Sara SnelsonArts Editor

“Star Spangled Girl” is ACU’s first theatrical performance of the school year. Written by Neil Simon, “Star Spangled Girl” is a comedy involving a love trian-gle between a patriotic south-ern girl and two leftist and po-litically convicted men living in San Francisco.

The play is performed by only three students: Tabitha Ray, senior theatre major from Plano; Jeremy Varner, sophomore theatre major from Abilene; and Ben McLemore, sophomore theatre and educa-tion major from Weatherford.

“The show at its heart is a comedy, but at the same time, there are so many different un-dercurrents and themes that

root from the humor and give the show depth that you would not want to miss,” said Varner.

The dinner theatre is being held at Fulks Theatre.

The play will run August 23-25, 31 and September 1, 7 to 8. The show costs $12 or is $25 with dinner. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. for dinner, and the play starts at 8 p.m.

‘Star Spangled’ play presents patriotism

By Val ValleonlinE Editor

Students part of the Study Abroad Program left early Wednesday morning for Eu-rope and Latin America.

Thirty–six students will be traveling to Oxford and 22 students will be going to Mon-tevideo for the fall semester.

It is more difficult to re-cruit students for the Study Abroad Program for the fall semester because stu-dents usually do not want to leave during the semes-

ter pledging takes place said Lauren Graham, Study Abroad coordinator.

But sometimes, it doesn’t take much to recruit stu-dents. For Bryce Powell, se-nior interdisciplinary stud-ies major from Abilene, this semester will be his second time studying abroad at ACU. His sophomore year he traveled to Montevideo in the spring, and this fall he will be in Oxford.

“The first time I studied abroad, it was great,” said Powell.

Powell has worked closely with Dan McVey, missions coordinator for Africa, who will be one of the professors teaching in Oxford this fall.

“He’s helped me out a lot with my major, and when I found out he was going, I talked to him about it, and decided I wanted to study abroad again,” said Powell.

Those studying abroad had a three-day check- in session from Monday through Wednesday.

Tuesday during Chapel, Dr. Royce Money, president

of the university, acknowl-edged the students study-ing abroad and prayed a blessing over them.

Dr. Rhonda Collier, on-site director, and Dr. Au-tumn Sutherlain, assistant professor of chemistry, will be teaching in Latin America. Dr. Ron Morgan, resident director, and his wife, will be joining McVey to teach students traveling abroad to Europe.

Students depart for foreign studies

The university filled 15 offices this summer, bringing some new faces to campus and putting others in different positions.

New Administrative Appointments:

n Mimi Barnard, Director of Faculty Enrichment and Assistant Professor of Higher Education

n Joe Bell, Chair of Exercise Science and Health

n Brady Bryce, Director of Ministry Events

n Jamie Goff, Clinic Director, Marriage and Family Therapy

n Oscar Ramos, Director of McNair Scholars (TRIO)

n Scott Self, Director of Alpha Academic Services (TRIO)

n Jean-Noel Thompson, VP and Dean for Student Life

n Jeanine Varner, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences

New Staff:

n Executive VP - Phil Schubert

n Director of Multicultural Enrichment - George Pendergrass

n Director of Residence Life Education and Housing - John Delony

n Director of Judicial Affairs - Rachel Slaymaker

n Dean of College of Arts and Sciences - Jeanine Varner

n Chief Financial Officer - Kelly Young

n Chief Information Officer - Kevin Roberts

n Registrar - Bart Herridge

NEW FACES oN CAMPUS

Katie GaGer CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Tabitha Ray, senior theatre major from Plano, plays Sophie, and Jeremy Varner, sophmore theatre major from Abilene, plays Norm in “Star Spangled Girl.”

E-mail Peace at: [email protected]

E-mail Josey at: [email protected]

“There are so many different undercurrents

and themes.”

Jeremy Varner, sophomore theatre major from abilene

E-mail Snelson at: [email protected]

E-mail Valle at: [email protected]

Page 9: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Page 13SPORTS JUMPS

brian schmidt CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sophomore middle blocker Michelle Bacon, one of eight returning to the Wildcats in 2007, spikes a ball during practice Tuesday.

teams lack. We have a chemistry that transcends from the court to off the court. Our girls are friends with each other. It’s not just volleyball, but life in general that they’re con-nected with one another.”

Two players that have been playing together for awhile are the captains, Lowry and senior libero Liz Snoddy. Both played on the 2005 team, which went 31-4, and they said this year’s team is quicker despite being smaller. Al-though this year’s volley-ball team is strong in dif-ferent areas from previous years, the team realizes it still has to work hard in order to be successful, Snoddy said.

“We can’t take anything for granted. We can’t take any days off. We have to come out and work hard ev-ery day at practice. We have to come out and play every game hard,” Snoddy said. “I think we can definitely get to the national tournament if we set our minds to it.”

After starting the sea-son 0-4, the Wildcats are confident they can reach the national tournament; however, a tough road schedule awaits them. West Texas A&M, ranked

No. 14 in the nation, is set to play ACU on the road on Sept. 29. And, Central Okla-homa, who already has a 3-1 record on the season, will face the Wildcats on Oct. 25 in Edmond, Okla.

Another team that is off to a hot 3-1 start is Tarleton State.

“I think the dark horse of our conference is Tar-leton State,” Mock said. “They’re the ones that we’re really going to have to watch out for. If they get on a roll, they’re going to be hard to stop.”

Tarleton State has sev-eral returning players and a few Division I and II transfer players, but ACU will not have to play them on the road. On Sept. 20, the Wildcats will host the TexAnns in Moody Colise-um, where ACU feels most comfortable.

“We need the fans to come out here and sup-port us as much as possi-ble while we are at home,” Mock said. “Because we need to win those home matches, and then, we’re just going to have to buckle down and do our very best out there on the road.”

Heart: Cats looking to improve results

Continued from page 10

completed. The renovation nearly doubled the square footage of the building, which was originally 4,800 square feet. Along with the added space, new weight equipment, new paint and new flooring were all installed. Last year, students may have been dis-couraged from going inside of Powell due to the lack of space, Mosley said. But, the renovations can change that.

“It’ll allow us to handle more of the student body that wants to come and work out in that facility,” Mosley said. “It won’t be near as cramped with student-ath-letes just because we have more space to utilize and better handle what we need to do.”

The Powell Fitness Center was not the only place that re-ceived a make-over. The football practice field was resurfaced with field turf on a regulation

width, 60-yard field complete with an end zone and goalpost. The new field turf product is the same surface that is used at Shotwell Stadium.

“We wanted to have a sur-face that we could utilize in in-clement weather to where we could still get out and work,” Mosley said. “But also to have a surface that we could prac-tice on that’s similar to what we play on each week.”

The only projects left for the field are the installation of rod-iron fencing that will run from the Powell Fitness Center to Ambler St. Lights will also be installed to illuminate the field and the parking lot of A.B. Mor-ris Hall. Both projects are sched-uled to be completed within the next six to eight weeks.

A couple of other minor renovations included new paint for offices in the Teague Special Events Center and new carpet-ing in some of Moody Colise-um’s locker rooms. But, an-other major renovation was the

tennis courts at the Eager Ten-nis Pavilion. Although no new courts were added, the courts were resurfaced using a post-tension concrete system, which will require less maintenance in the future. The renovation also added more viewing area for fans. The courts should be completed by Sept. 1.

“It’s just a big improvement for the whole university,” John Walker, assistant head coach of the tennis teams, said. “It’s great. Any improvements like this are just big for the school and for the athletic program.”

Another renovation that is still in its planning phase is a soccer and softball fieldhouse. ACU is currently collecting do-nations for the project, which is estimated to cost between $800,000 and $1 million. The new facility would house both soccer and softball offices, locker rooms, team meeting rooms and fan restrooms. And depending on the speed of when donations are received,

construction may begin as early as one year from now.

“I think from the athletic standpoint, it provides our stu-dent-athletes with first class fa-cilities to train and develop and just further better themselves in their competitive arena,” Mosley said.

Makeover: Additions for everyone Continued from page 1

After taking a two-goal lead, ACU seemed to be fin-ished scoring until sopho-more midfielder Jordan Re-ese capped of the victory with a blast from outside the goalie box that soared

into the top right corner of the goal in the 87th minute.

Freshman goalkeeper Paige Farmer recorded her second shutout of the sea-son after posting seven saves against the Falcons.

“It’s not easy playing at two o’clock at 90 plus de-

grees with thick grass,” Wil-son said. “They stuck it out.”

Now 2-0, Wilson is pleased with his team’s performance thus far, but agrees that ev-ery game his team needs to improve.

“Right now, [they’re] learn-ing from their mistakes

they’ve made,” Wilson said. He added that from now on every game they play the com-petition will only get tougher.

Farmer agreed that ACU has come far but still has room to improve.

“As a team, for one thing, conditioning, we need to

improve on fitness,” Farmer said. “I’m just surprised how well we did. We’re getting better together as a team and learning each other’s playing styles.”

ACU’s first home game attracted more than 200 fans that cheered the Wild-

cats on to victory. ACU’s next game will be

on the road against Saint Mary’s on Friday.

Soccer: Women’s soccer begins undefeated in inaugural seasonContinued from page 1

Young said. “If you missed you were gonna get called out on it and even made fun of a little bit.”

And because of that ac-countability, the summer was a success.

“I never saw so much ac-

countability,” the junior left tackle said. “It’s the looks; it’s always the looks you get.”

What motivated Raesner, who will be playing his last season as a Wildcat, was the fact that this season will be his last shot to contribute to the Wildcats.

“Before the spring started,

I was talking to my sister on the phone and she was like, ‘You know, this is the last spring you’ll ever have to go through,’ and she kinda looked at it as a good thing,” the senior right tackle said. “And I started thinking this is the last spring I’m ever gonna have to go through, this is the last summer work-out I’m ever gonna have to go through, this is the last of ev-erything for us seniors so we want to go out with a bang.”

And for Savage it was meeting the expectations of his fellow linemen.

“For me it was not want-ing to let the rest of the of-fensive linemen down,” the junior center said.

But whatever motivation for their choosing to stay in town, the result was the same: a cohesive and stron-ger offensive line.

“When the five of us are in we click so well,” Raesner said. “I mean it’s like no wor-ries; we know each other and are gonna get the job done.”

When the linemen weren’t bench-pressing they were team building. Three of the seven roomed together at a house near campus, and the group took trips to make sure its entire summer wasn’t

spent in Powell Fitness Cen-ter. Whether it was waiting in line at Schlitterbahn Wa-ter Park in New Braunfels or camping at the Abilene State Park in Buffalo Gap, fun was had. In fact, the linemen said they piled into a car at 5:30 a.m.. to make the trip to New Braunfels and once at Schlit-terbahn, it wasn’t your ordi-nary trip to a water park.

“Imagine a whole bunch of 300-pounders walk-ing around a water park,” Young said.

While camping, they made personal and team goals, played Monopoly and even ate the American classic camping dessert: s’mores

“We got fat on s’mores,” Young said.

After the summer ended and preseason preparation be-gan, the success of their sum-mer may be seen on the field. But Raesnar said that isn’t the most important product.

“Wins and champion-ships are really nice, but the thing I’m gonna take from this season is just the rela-tionships we built really,” Raesnar said.

Line: Accountability reason for success

Continued from page 1

E-mail Freeman at: [email protected]

brian schmidt CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Senior right guard Nathan Young pushes back a teammate during blocking drills on Thursday at Shotwell Stadium.

E-mail Johnson at: [email protected] E-mail Freeman at: [email protected]

Four ACU sports facilities were renovated in the past year.

n Powell Fitness Center - new weight equipment, new paint, new flooring, space added n Tennis courts at Eager Tennis Pavilion - resurfaced post-tensioned concrete foundation, fencing.

n Football practice field - new field turf, goalposts, lights and fencing.

n Teague offices and Moody locker rooms - new paint and carpeting

FaCiliTy REnOvaTiOnS

E-mail Johnson at: [email protected]

“For me it was not wanting to let the rest of the of-fensive lineman down.”

sam collins, junior center

Page 10: The Optimist Print Edition 08.29.2007

Optimist

spOrtsWednesdayAugust 29, 2007

By Michael FreemanAssistAnt sports Editor

To senior outside hitter Abbie Lowry, height does not matter much on the volleyball court, but heart does. And al-though this year’s Wildcat vol-leyball team is not as tall as in years’ past, it’s the heart that will bring success this season.

“Two years ago, we were a big team. We had a lot of re-ally tall people,” Lowry said. “This year, we only have two girls over six foot. I don’t think that will make that big of a difference. I think that the fight and everybody’s drive to win will make up for the lack in size.”

This ACU team is hungry to not only improve upon last year’s 18-11 record but to ad-vance far into the NCAA Divi-sion II national tournament.

“Last year we performed well. We made it to the na-tional tournament, but I don’t think we competed as long or as hard as we would’ve liked to,” said head coach Kellen Mock. “We want to be back at a high national level.”

Mock is entering her sec-ond year as head coach of the Wildcats, and she is optimis-tic this year’s team can be bet-ter than last year’s. Last year, ACU fell in the first round of the national tournament to West Texas A&M.

“I feel like we’ve got a ton of potential to be a great team this year,” Mock said. “We could be an amazing team. We could go very far in the play-offs. And I would not hesitate to say my goal is to go to the national tournament.”

Part of what fuels Mock’s optimism is the camaraderie of the Wildcat players. All but two of the players from last year’s squad have returned. The team reported to Abilene at the beginning of August to begin practicing twice a day for this season.

“We have great chemistry,” Mock said. “The heart of our line-up has returned. Plus, I think we have what a lot of

Heart, not height, advantage in ‘07

By Daniel Johnsonsports Editor

Their names aren’t on a stat sheet, and they’re not the players usually quoted in the paper, but without its offensive linemen the ACU football team wouldn’t gain a yard.

And after a summer of Schlitterbahn, s’mores and 7 a.m. workout sessions, starters Nathan Young, Cody Savage, Matt Raesner, Joseph Thompson and Sam Collins say they’re ready for the upcoming season.

“This is our year,” Savage said. “This is gonna be my sixth year here, and this is the closest I’ve ever been to my teammates.”

Although they weren’t required to, the starters and two backups, sophomores Haskell Hall and Adam Meyer, spent most of their summer strengthening their friendships and bodies to make sure that if ACU loses this season, it isn’t because of an unprepared line.

“We just met at the end of the year in the spring and decided we were gonna get up and work out at 7 in the morning, every morning,” Young said.

The plan was to work out, but the result was more than improved weight totals—it was a summer they say they wouldn’t trade for anything.

“I don’t think I should have done anything else this summer,” Thompson said. “If I would have done something else I would have

regretted it.” ACU’s 8-3 record was

one of the best the Wildcats have had in almost 30 years. And thanks to last season’s success and a long list of returning starters, ACU is picked to win the Lone Star Conference South Divi-sion in 2007 and is ranked

No. 11 in the nation by the American Football Coaches Association. But the line-men say there is still work

to be done. “A lot of people see it

as we won eight games or whatever,” Savage said.

“But our mindset is that we also lost three.”

The linemen lifted, ran and even flipped tires; the work paid off. They improved their average lift total to around 420 pounds from 370 pounds, a feat they said they would have had a hard time doing on their own.

Summer with the line

By Daniel Johnsonsports Editor

The ACU women’s soccer team made another mark in ACU history Tuesday; it won its first home game.

The Wildcats defeated Texas-Permian Basin 3-0 after out-shooting and out-playing its second NCAA Division II opponent. ACU out-shot Tex-as Permian Basin 32-13 with 15 of those shots on frame.

ACU is now 2-0 in its inau-gural season, undefeated at home and has not conceded a goal this season.

“I’m really proud and pleased with the team we have,” said head coach

Casey Wilson. “It makes the first year a lot easier having a team that plays with a lot of heart.”

Junior midfielder Jackie Gentile scored the first goal of the game with an assist from freshman midfielder Bree Craig in the 17th minute. Gentile brought down Craig’s pass in the air from the right side of the field and put it past Falcons’ goalkeeper Stephanie Ward putting ACU up 1-0.

After the half, ACU ex-tended its lead to 2-0 when freshman midfielder Lyndsey

Womack placed a pass from freshman midfielder Court-ney Wilson in the bottom right corner of the Falcon’s goal in the 67th minute. The goal was Womack’s second goal of the season; Womack scored in the Wildcats’ first game against Texas Wesleyan.

Cats win first home game

By Michael FreemanAssistAnt sports Editor

With new and renovated athletic facilities, the Wildcat teams, along with students, can look forward to using some of the best facilities available this year. The Pow-ell Fitness Center, the football practice field and the courts at the Eager Tennis Pavilion are just a few of the restorations that the Athletics Department has been working on recently.

“It’s something that’s go-ing to benefit not only our student athletes, but just the overall atmosphere that ACU students and fans will get to experience,” said Jared Mos-ley, athletics director.

Before the fall semester be-gan, a $450,000 renovation to the Powell Fitness Center was

Athletics improves facilities over break

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Senior forward Denise Morgan dribbles past Texas-Permian Basin forward Cecilia Kellar during the ACU women’s soccer team first home game Tuesday.

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Sophomore defensive specialist Amy Wilson spikes a ball during practice on Tuesday while head coach Kellen Mock watches in the background.

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Junior center Sam Collins pushes back a teammate during blocking drills on Thursday during a team scrimmage at Shotwell Stadium. Collins is one of seven offensive lineman that stayed in Abilene over the summer to work out in preparation for the upcoming season.

See MAKEOVER page 9See HEART page 9

O-line grows stronger, builds unity during summer break

Soccer

Football

Volleyball

“I don’t think I should have done anything else this summer.”

Joseph thompson, junior left tackle

See a video about ACU’s women’s soccer team and its

first home game against Texas-Permian Basin on Tuesday.

Friday

WOMEN’S SOCCERACU at St. Mary’s, 5 p.m.

VOLLEYBALLACU at Incarnate Word, 7 p.m.

Saturday

CROSS COUNTRYACU Cross Country Classic, 10 a.m.

VOLLEYBALLACU at Trinity, 2 p.m. ACU at Texas A&M International, 6 p.m.

FOOTBALLACU at Central Oklahoma, 6 p.m.

Sunday

WOMEN’S SOCCERACU v.s. College of the Southwest, 2 p.m.

n Home games listed in italics

SCOREBOARd

Standings

Upcoming

Tuesday

WOMEN’S SOCCERACU 1, Texas Wesleyan 0

FootballTeam Div. OverallENMUMSU Tarleton St.ACU Angelo St.

TAMU-K

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

1-01-01-00-00-00-0

WTAMU 0-0 0-0

VolleyballTeam Div. OverallWTAMUTarleton St.TAMU-KENMUAngelo St.

ACU

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

4-13-13-12-20-40-4

Women’s SoccerTeam Div. OverallMSUWTAMUACUTAMU-CEast Central

Central Okla.

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

2-02-01-01-01-0-10-0-1

Angelo St. 0-0 0-0NE St. 0-0 0-1ENMU 0-0 0-2SW Okla. 0-0 0-2TX Woman’s 0-0 0-2

Upcomingn The intramural schedule seen on the Optimist Scoreboard is not the final schedule and is subject to change. Any last-minute changes can be viewed on the intramural bulletin board in Moody Coliseum.

Scores

Fall sports

FLAG FOOTBALLStarts: Monday, Sept. 10Sign-up Deadline: Thursday, Sept. 6Cost: $275 per team

SOFTBALLStarts: Monday, Nov. 5Sign-up Deadline: Thursday, Nov. 1Cost: $150 per team

WATERBALLStarts: Friday, Nov. 30Sign-up Deadline: Thursday, Nov. 29Cost: $100 per team

BriefsLowry awarded Co-offensive

Player of the Weekn Senior outside hitter Abbie Lowry was named Lone Star Conference Co-offensive Player of the Week after racking up 72 kills and a .202 hitting percentage during the Florida Southern Invitational in Lakeland, Fla.

Scoreboard as of Tuesday

INTRAMURAL ROUNd-UP

See LINE page 9

See SOCCER page 9

On the Webwww.acuoptimist.com


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