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

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Sunday

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Online Poll : What do you feel about the SA

Congress spring budget?

a. It was unfair.b. They are very good stewards.c. My organization needs more cash.d. They did what with my money?

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Pg 2InsideThis Issue:

Student band competes in Dallas Battle of the Bands

Peculiar Pupils: Student enrolled in same class as her grandmother

ResLife Resident Assistant application deadline nears

Pg 4 Pg 5

Optimistthe

a product of theJMC networkPg. 8: Surprise Snap: ACU upsets Tarleton, breaks losing streak

Friday, January 30, 2009 :: Vol. 97, No. 32 :: 1 section, 8 pages :: www.acuoptimist.com

More from the Log onto www.acuoptimist.com or www.youtube.com/acuvideo to see weekly News casts and Sports casts from the JMC Network News Team and videos profiling various events and stories around campus and Abilene.

Jozie Sands :: staff photographer

Students’ Association Parliamentarian Caleb Archer, senior political science major from Southlake, and SA President Daniel Paul Watkins, senior political science major from Fredericksburg Va., discuss the spring semester budget during Wednesday’s SA Meeting in Hart Auditorium. The SA Congress voted to allocate more than $34,000 among 30 student organizations.

Clinic hires new staff, hopefulfor arrival

By Daniel Johnson-KimEditor in Chief

After examining several applications from across the nation, the Provost Search Committee is one step closer to finding ACU’s new chief academic officer.

The committee, which is comprised of a team of nine ACU faculty or staff chosen by the Faculty Senate, select-ed at least 10 submitted ap-plications to follow up on and is interviewing the handful of hopeful applicants.

Those applicants were chosen from the pile of people who applied or were nominated after the open position was advertised on ACU’s Web site and in the Christian Chronicle.

The committee plans to narrow the pool to three or five candidates who will be

SA divvies up more than $30K

By Kelline LintonChief Copy Editor

The 86th Students’ Asso-ciation Congress approved the Spring 2009 Budget, 35-0-1, allocating $34,412.96 among 30 student organiza-tions. This compares to the $37,366.99 granted to 46 student groups in fall 2008.

With a $25,000 roll-over from last semester and $35 per undergraduate student from the student activity fee, Congress’ total revenue

was $100,000.In addition

to the student organizat ion a l l o c a t i o n s , the appropria-tions commit-tee received $10,000, as well as an ad-ditional $205 that Congress cut from the student groups’ funds before the budget’s final approval. This commit-tee is set up where student

organizations that need ad-ditional resources for spe-cific events can request fi-nances from it.

T h e c o n g r e s -sional bud-get, com-prised of the project fund and student re-quest fund, o b t a i n e d a total $18,975.84.

Congress members use the project fund to finance various ventures; some past examples include free coffee during fi-

nals week, free bowling on Tuesdays and the support of the new disc golf course. The student request fund permits student organiza-tions to request money for trips. Last semester, Alpha Psi Omega, ACU’s nationally recognized honorary theatre society, received the largest allocated finances from this fund when Congress gave it more than $3,000 to help subsidize two trips.

Cancellations cause minimal effect

By Katie GagerStudent Reporter

The university plans to ren-ovate the campus medical clin-ic, and in doing so, has hired a new physician and nurse practitioner. Dr. Ellen Little (’92), daughter of the late Dr. John Little, professor emeritus of biology at ACU, was hired as a permanent physician and Michelle Drew, as a permanent nurse practitioner.

“We couldn’t have asked for a more incredible staff,” said Jean Noel-Thompson, dean of student life. “They are a star cast and a quality team.”

Little and Drew are pas-sionate about missions, Thompson said. Little is pres-ently working in Uganda on a medical mission and will begin her work at ACU in the summer. Drew also served in Africa on several medical mis-sion trips and will move from Vanderbilt School of Nursing in Tennessee to begin work on campus around March 1.

Due to experience in the mission field, the new staff hopes to become more service-oriented by implementing and providing students with pos-sible long-term mission trips during the summer.

In the meantime, starting Sunday, Dr. Sarah Trammel will work part-time on-cam-pus. Trammel recently moved

Committee narrowing search for new Provost

By Michael FreemanManaging Editor

Icy conditions around the Abilene area caused ACU of-ficials to cancel classes for a day and a half; however, Tues-day and Wednesday’s closures should not drastically alter class schedules.

“We’re early enough in the semester that professors can adapt their syllabuses,” said Jim Holmans, executive assis-tant to the president. “It’s not a big deal at this point in the semester. If we were at the end of the semester, it would be a big deal.”

An Arctic cold front rolled into the Big Country Mon-day, bringing with it sleet and freezing rain that caused hazardous conditions. Low temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday kept the roads

slippery and forced univer-sity officials to cancel classes Tuesday and delay classes un-til noon Wednesday. Wednes-day’s afternoon classes re-sumed as scheduled.

“The difference between Tuesday and Wednesday was

on Tuesday we knew the tem-peratures were not going to warm up at all,” said Jimmy Ellison, chief of the ACU Police Department. “And on Wednes-day, while it was icy and it was well below freezing, we had re-ports that as soon as the sun

got up above the horizon, it would quickly warm up into the 50s, so we knew that ev-erything would be thawed, and the streets would be melted and safe for travel.”

Jozie Sands :: staff photographer

Neal Tivis, sophomore undeclared major from Denton, reaches out and grabs Brandon King, sophomore political science major from Denver City, for support as the two slide on ice next to the Brown Library on Tuesday.

See Clinic page 7

See Effect page 4

Provost Hunters

Nine members of the ACU faculty and staff were selected by the Faculty Senate to be members of the Provost Search Committee:

n *Dr. MeLesa Breeding, dean of the College of Education and Human Services n Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communicationn Dr. Patricia Hernàndez, professor of biologyn Dr. Foy Mills, chair of the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciencesn Dr. Eric Gumm, assistant director of Academic Advising and the First-Year Programn Dr. Rick Lytle, chair of the College of Business Administrationn Dr. Gary McCaleb, vice president of the Universityn Dr. Mark Hamilton, associate professor of Old Testamentn Dr. Brent Reeves, assistant professor of management sciences

*Search Committee Chair

acuoptimist.com

See videos and a slideshow profiling life on campus during Tuesday’s wintry and icy weather

Model U.N.$100 requested$65 granted

ACU Swing Cats$12,453 requested$1,878 granted

Requested

Students’ Association Spring 2009 Budget

Alpha Epsilon Sigma$6,750 requested$4,625 granted

Mu Phi Epsilon$231.36 requested$29 granted

Granted

MOST

LEAST

See Search page 7

See Budget page 4

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Communities in Schools at Fan-nin Elementary School needs vol-unteers for one to two hours at 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Volunteers will give extra help to students in an after-school tutor-ing class. Come by the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center downstairs in the Campus Center for more information.

Abilene Hope Haven needs vol-unteers to provide childcare while parents are in a class. Volunteers are needed Monday through Thursday from 6:45- 8:15 p.m. For more information, contact Chris-tine Spillers at 437-0611.

Meals on Wheels is always looking for volunteers to deliver meals to some of the homebound members of the community. The commitment is once a week. Volunteers will pick up the meals from the Meals on Wheels build-ing and deliver them to people around Abilene. It takes one hour each week. Call Mitzi McAndrew at 672-5050 to volunteer. Remem-ber this project is approved as a Faith in Action Chapel exemption.

Pregnancy Counseling Services of Abilene needs volunteers to counsel women in crisis pregnancy. In addition to mandatory training, volunteers will help keep a dona-tion room clean, enter data from client intake sheets, market the center and help with mailouts.

Noah Project, a center for victims of family violence, needs volunteers to answer its hotline from 6-10 p.m. Training will be provided, and after completing training, volunteers can sign up for time slots. Volunteers can sign up as often as needed.

Hendrick Equine Rehabilita-tion Opportunities is looking for volunteers to assist riders with his or her tasks. Volunteers are needed Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1:30 - 5 p.m., and must volun-teer for at least an hour. Volunteers must attend a training session on March 3 at 4:30 p.m., or March 5, at 2:30 p.m.

The International Rescue Com-mittee is looking for volunteers to help refugees, who recently moved to the U.S., with learning English, homework and mentoring.

The Grace Museum is always in need of volunteers. Volun-teers play a vital role in the daily operation of the museum. The minute visitors walk through the door, the experience in the mu-

seum relies on capable and trained volunteers. For more information about volunteer opportunities at The Grace Museum, call 673-4587.

Interested Citizens of Abilene North needs volunteers on Satur-day to help clean up a house that will be refurbished soon. Volunteers are needed from 9 a.m.-noon.

Love and Care Ministries needs volunteers to help with the clothing ministry in the facility’s dining room and at street feeds. Volunteers also will help maintain and clean the facility from either 9 a.m. or 1-5 p.m. For more information, contact Terry Davis at 670-0246.

Big Brothers Big Sisters always is looking for college students to be matched with a “little brother” or “little sister.” “Bigs” can eat lunch with “littles” once a week for 30 minutes at the child’s school for the Lunch Buddies program, or arrange activities with the child through Wildcat Kids or the Community-Based program. For more information, contact Jamie Bearden from Big Brothers Big Sisters at 677-7839.

The Center for Contemporary Arts needs volunteers to greet patrons, answer phones and help with gallery shows. Volunteers are needed Tuesday through Sat-urday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., or 5-8 p.m. For more information, call Saybra Giles at 677-8389.

The Access Learning Center needs volunteers to help elemen-tary school kids with homework, reading, computers and games. Call Bret Hines at 670-9727 to make an appointment and begin scheduling times to volunteer.

The Abilene Boys and Girls Club is looking for volunteers to help children of all ages with games, art, gym time, reading and computer skills. Volunteers are needed Monday through Friday from 3:30- 6 p.m. For more information, contact Mark Denman at 674-1712.

Find out volunteer opportunities by visiting the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center’s Web site at www.acu.edu/vslc and clicking on Volunteer Opportuni-ties. For more information or to sign up to help, contact the Vun-teer and Service-Learning Center in the Bean Sprout.

5:20 p.m.Super Bowl XLIII, featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, will be played in Tampa Bay, Fla.

6:30 p.m.A Black History Month opening service will take place at King Solomon Baptist Church.

7:30 p.m.Cooper High School will present High School Musical in the school’s auditorium.

11 a.m.A Black History parade will begin at the Woodson Community Center.

8 p.m.The Abilene Philharmonic will perform a classical concert at the Civic Center.

7:40 a.m.- 4 p.m.A Community Scholastic Book Fair will take place in the Comanche Middle School library.

Calendar and Events

Sunday30

Friday Saturday Monday

The Abilene Public Relations Organization will sponsor a business etiquette workshop at Hendrick Medical Center on Friday from 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. The workshop will feature business etiquette expert from Dallas, Colleen Rickenbacher. The workshop costs $75 at the door and includes breakfast and lunch.

Students who attended Monday’s Chapel will be rewarded a “Dean’s Credit” for good behavior, and all students will receive two credits for Tuesday and Wednesday’s Chapels that were

missed because of bad weather. These credits may take a few days to appear on student records.

School of Nursing applications are due in the Registrar’s Office by Sunday.

Summer 2009 registration dates have been changed to Feb. 25. All classifications will begin registering for classes at 3 p.m. The advising release codes will be the same ones used for spring registration. Talk to your adviser for more information or go to the Registrar’s Web site: http://www.

acu.edu/campusoffices/registrar/schedulebulletin/index.html.

Residence Director/Residence Assistant applications are due at the front desk of McDonald Hall by Friday at 5 p.m.

Mayor Norm Archibald will deliver the 2009 State of the City Address Feb. 5 in the Civic Center.

A Wii Super Bowl party will be in the Abilene Public Library’s main auditorium on Saturday from 3-5 p.m. It will include a Wii, Madden Football, snacks and table-top

finger football. The event is free.

Monday is the last day to withdrawal from a class for a 60 percent refund.

The second Wildcat Preview Day of the semester will be Friday. Prospective students and their parents will have the opportunity to experience student life, sit in classes and explore campus.

CreditedChapelsto date:

CreditedChapelsremaining:

Checkup

14 59Chapel

Friday, January 30, 2009

Campus Day2

acuoptimist.com

31 1 2

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 jmcnetwork@acu.edu or to the Page 2 Editor at sar06g@acu.edu.

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

Watch videos of the men and women’s bas-ketball from the LSC South Division contest.

Log on to www.youtube.com/acu-video to see videos of the snow day, pre-season baseball and a personali-ty profile of mail desk clerk, Nita King.

Online News Cast Webcast

About This Page

Volunteer Opportunities

By Katie HoffmanStudent Reporter

The deadline to become a lifeline is fast approaching. Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. marks the fi-nal date to submit resident assistant applications to the front desk of McDonald Hall.

Along with the applica-tion, two letters of reference, a thoughtful and well-written cover letter responding to listed questions and a résumé are required for consideration.

Applicants must meet cer-tain guidelines for acceptance,

including a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher, good standing with the university and a full-time student (12 hours or more) designation. They also must have lived in an ACU residence hall and completed 24 semes-ter hours at the university. Ap-plicants must be “familiar with hall emergency procedures and protocols” and willing to “limit outside activities during the pe-riod of employment to a maxi-mum of 20 hours per week and attend all training sessions and orientation meetings.”

An RA’s work-life balance is

only one of the many perks that prompted Alaina Love, fresh-man nursing major from Over-land Park, Kan., to apply. For Love, the job just made sense: she gets along well with young-er people and was a peer men-tor in the past. The compensa-tion also was appealing — the job’s benefits are a free, private room and a $1,280 stipend.

As Love can testify, RAs are important because they ensure all residents a stable friend-mentor relationship among the sometimes-tumultuous college experience. By planning bond-ing activities like gamenights, bonfires, movie nights and pancake nights, RAs bring residents together in a fun and safe environment where form-ing meaningful relationships is easy. They also do a lot be-hind the scenes, such as pray-ing for residents, resolving disputes, directing residents to appropriate resources and even initiating tough conversa-tions or disciplinary actions.

Lindsey Sobolik, se-nior art major from Dallas and RA, stressed the im-portance of forming com-munity in the sometimes impersonal residence halls.

“It’s been good to learn a whole lot about how to lead, how to create community and what community looks like,” she said. “Not just community like of family or friends, but commu-nity among a group of people.”

Through the experience, Sobolik said she has acquired all of the sought-after skills adver-tised in the RA job description: “Christ-centered leadership, communication (written and verbal), honesty and integrity, teamwork skills, a strong work ethic, flexibility and adaptabil-ity, interpersonal skills, organi-zational skills and creativity.”

Although Sobolik initially had doubts about her ability to han-dle the job, she said continuous prayer confirmed the calling.

She said to aspiring RAs, “If you really want to and have a heart for it, then you’ll have an awesome time and enjoy every minute of it.”

For a detailed RA job descrip-tion and application, visit http://www.acu.edu/campusoffices/residencelife/employment.html.

Announcements

Reslife job deadline fast approaching

E-mail Hoffman at: jmcnetwork@acu.edu

About This PageThe Optimist maintains

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

Groups may send announcements directly to jmcnetwork@acu.edu or to the Page 2 Editor at sar06g@acu.edu.

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.

Friday, January 30, 2009 Page 3CAMPUS NEWS

ACU employees begin move into new CenterBy Laura AcuffOpinion Page Editor

Offices should complete the move into the Bob and Shirley Hunter Welcome Center by Monday at the latest in preparation for its Feb. 21 dedication.

“I would say, it’s prob-ably pushing 30-40 percent moved in today,” said Kev-in Roberts, associate vice president of operations, on Thursday. “It’s just been a success all the way around.”

Offices began the move into the Welcome Center earlier this week, scheduled for specific days for maxi-mum efficiency.

“A lot of credit goes to Scott Colley, Kay Reeves and Yvonne Akens, all three worked really hard with the offices just kind of inter-viewing them,” Roberts said. “They were really diligent with each office to make an order that made a lot of sense, and it’s actually gone better than we’d hoped for. We’re actually way ahead of schedule.”

Although ice kept the university closed Tuesday and Wednesday morning, Roberts said weather failed to delay the Welcome Cen-ter’s progress. Most of the remaining work involved small details inside.

“Anytime you’re building a building of this size, there are always a thousand last-min-ute details,” Roberts said.

Although the new office spaces sport new furniture, moving offices still needed to pack up personal items and computers along with files and documents, Roberts said.

Despite any current in-

convenience from moving, Roberts said the center will provide benefits unique to its location.

“It’s just an exciting place to be, I think, given the of-fices that are over here are given high visibility for our campus guests,” Roberts said. “It’s exciting to have such a beautiful location to welcome our guests to cam-pus. It’s a great message to our campus visitors on how much we value them and wel-come them to our campus.”

Bruce Evans, executive vice president for ACU Founda-tion, also said the new loca-tion should benefit his office, which works primarily with the university’s endowment and gifts to the university.

“I think we’ll have much better access for visitors on the campus, particularly people being able to find a place to park near our facili-ties,” Evans said. “It’s going to be a wonderful change for us; we’ve had cramped space both for personnel and for files and documents that we maintain and no real meeting place for guests who come to the campus.”

Additionally, Evans said he looks forward to the con-glomeration of offices, previ-ously spread across campus, moving into the center and sharing closer quarters.

The ACU Foundation, Evans said, began packing its offices before Christmas break, when officials still anticipated mov-ing in prior to students’ re-turn for the spring semester.

“It’s been interesting,” Evans said. “We’ve been able to ac-commodate that, but of course, when you pack anticipating a move, and then it’s delayed, there are always things you

need that are packed, so we find ourselves frequently sort-ing through boxes.”

Regardless, Evans said his experience with the move has been positive without any major setbacks.

“It’s gone well,” Roberts said. “It’s just a testimony to the community here at ACU and how they’ve worked to-gether. It’s not fun to move, but people were prepared. It’s gone pretty smoothly.”

UP, Grove to target football fans with Super Bowl extravaganzas By Scott AdrianStudent Reporter

The Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers are gear-ing up for the 43rd Super Bowl game Sunday night. The kickoff is scheduled for 5:20 p.m., and students can find several places around campus where they can watch every second of the big game’s action.

The Grove apartment complex has an event that begins at 10 a.m.

“The event is open for all the community,” said Jenna Boruff, the Assistant General Manager of The Grove apartments.

The open invitation should allow all ACU students to feel welcome in coming to The Grove, and will encour-age them to bring any friends that wish to enjoy a great time, Boruff said.

“The game room that we have will be split in half for the two teams and have

elaborate decorations for both sides — the Cardinals and the Steelers,” Boruff said. “There will be food, drinks and prizes for those involved in cheering on their teams and also all the ame-nities in the game room.”

Some of the amenities students will be able to use include a pool table and poker table.

For students looking for an event closer to campus, one should head to the Uni-versity Park clubhouse.

“The event starts at 5 p.m. and lasts the whole game long. There will be tons of food and drinks, and it’s open to everybody,” said Stephanie Stryhal, a resident assistant at the University Park apartments. “There will be plenty of rooting for the teams during the game, but during halftime, games will be played. You can find the festivities in the University

Park clubhouse.” As for residence halls,

many students have reserved the lobbies in preparation for the event. Two lobbies reserved for the Super Bowl include Edwards Hall and Gardner Hall.

The game will be broadcast on NBC, which is Channel 5 on the ACU cable system.

Whether you are cheer-ing for the Cardinals or the Steelers or just wanting to watch the commercials, there should be no trouble finding a place to eat, play games and watch the big event.

New foreign language to be offered at ACUBy Linda BaileyStudent Reporter

The Department of For-eign Languages will offer two yet undecided lan-guage classes for the Fall 2009 semester based on student input.

Harland Rall, associate chair of the Department of Foreign Language, said the new classes are part of a special language program called, “Dialektos.”

This two-year program is used in other universities throughout the country, and now the department is adapting the program to ACU. Rall said it works with a supervising professor who creates learning objectives, but the bulk of the learning process is based on native speakers interacting with the students.

“We don’t have to hire a professor for every lan-guage,” Rall said. “It changes how we can do language.”

Paul Roggendorff, ad-junct professor of Spanish, said the classes would be different from the tradition-al foreign language class.

“It’s not the teacher up front directing everybody,” Roggendorff said. “It is much more; the students are in charge of learning and mastering, but with the student[s] in charge, they are also empowered to be able to learn what they want to a little bit more.”

Beginning last semester, the department offered a Mandarin Chinese class to act as a pilot course for the program. The class had five students and two faculty

members, including Rall. The supervising professor was in Beijing, and two na-tive speakers directed class-room practice sessions. Af-ter recognizing the success of this class, Rall said the department was ready to add two more languages to the available curriculum.

The department currently provides two years of French, German and Latin, as well as Spanish as a major.

“We think we can expand, keep Mandarin and add two more languages next fall,” Rall said. “We would like for the ACU student body to be a part of helping us decide what language it would be.”

Rall said the courses only would allow five students per class, making an appli-cation process necessary.

“In this application pro-cess, we would try to group five students with a similar major because as the class developed, early on they could bring vocabulary into it that is more specific to their major,” Rall said.

Because of the untradi-tional format for the class-es, Rall said the department was looking for highly moti-vated students.

“It requires a special kind of student,” he said. “You are developing an ability to go abroad and, minimally at least, converse in a lan-guage. It takes a lot of study and preparation before you come to the practice ses-sions to do well.”

E-mail Adrian at: jmcnetwork@acu.edu

Zak Zeinert :: chief photographer

Hayley Webb, director of admissions, unloads boxes into her new office at the Hunter Welcome Center on Thursday.

A WArm WElcomE

The new offices that will relocate into the new Bob and Shirley Hunter Welcome Center:

n The ACU Foundationn Admissions and Recruitingn Alumni Relationsn Campus Recruitingn Career Centern Developmentn Enrollmentn Graduate Recruitingn Investment Servicesn Multi-Cultural Recruitingn Scout Recruitingn University Relationsn Vice Chancelor officen Vice President of the University

E-mail Bailey at: jmcnetwork@acu.eduE-mail Acuff at: lka06a@acu.edu

By Tanner AndersonPage Designer

Lucy Fullerton is a senior ap-plied studies major from Irving. She has one more class to pass before walking across the stage to receive her diploma in May, and she is taking that class with her granddaughter.

After finishing two on-line courses last semester, Lucy needed one more credit in order to receive her applied studies degree; it was by coin-cidence that her granddaughter Cara Fullerton, junior market-ing major from Abilene, was enrolled in the same Nutrition and Wellness class.

“I went to class and saw her there. I had no idea that she was enrolled in that class. After our names were called,

the teacher stopped taking at-tendance and asked, ‘Are y’all related?’” Cara said.

The family was fully aware of Lucy’s plans, and so were her three grandchildren, who currently are ACU students. They just did not know which class she was taking, and it was a surprise to both Cara and her grandmother to see each other once class began.

The 74-year-old student wanted to complete her degree for some time and decided this year was her chance to achieve her goal.

“I’ve always had the thought that it would be fun to go back to ACU and receive my degree; and all of our family has de-grees from ACU,” Lucy said.

Now every Tuesday, Lucy and her husband Tom make

the two-and-a-half hour jour-ney from Irving to Abilene. While Tom drives, Lucy stud-ies and reads her curriculum to her husband, preparing for her class.

“I think it’s great what she’s doing, and after all this time, I still enjoy carrying her books and walking her to class,” Tom said.

After the completion of this course, Lucy will fulfill a goal that began 55 years ago: gradu-ating with a college degree.

Lucy was three years old when she was placed in the care of Boles Children’s Home, a fa-cility that provides care for chil-dren and single parent families. After high school Lucy received a scholarship to attend ACC. During that time, she studied to become a teacher and met

Tom, her husband of 54 years.She now is the first wom-

an on the board of directors for Boles Children’s Home and wants to use her future degree to benefit the non-profit cooperation.

“With a degree, my word will have more validity and value. I’ll be able to be more involved at Boles, so we can make impor-tant differences,” Lucy said.

On May 19, Lucy’s family and friends will add their cheers to the crowds attending the grad-uation ceremonies.

“It’s really fun to see how people react when I tell them I’m finishing my degree,” Lucy said. “My husband Tom and family are supportive 100 percent.”

The executive officer student initiative fund received $3,000; this fund was created last year to allow the Cabinet to finance projects for its constituents.

Each class obtained $500 to be handled by the class sena-tors. Spencer Hemphill, trea-surer of SA Congress, said the money could be used by the class Sing Song directors.

Hemphill said Congress “should not pay for one specific Sing Song act,” but participants in group acts should pay a fee like social club members al-ready do. Keeping to this view-point, neither Hispanos Unidos nor the International Students Association received requested funds for Sing Song.

The student group that ob-tained the most funds was Al-pha Epsilon Sigma, an organiza-tion geared toward agriculture and environmental science ma-jors. Congress granted it $4,625

out of its requested $6,750. The student group that received the least funds was Mu Phi Epsilon, an international music frater-nity; Congress allocated it $29 out of its requested $231.36.

Debates and Amendments

The most heated budget dis-pute among SA Congress mem-bers was whether to approve allocations for food or drinks.

“We need to look at the big picture; what is its purpose?” Hemphill said. “Clubs that are around a long time do not need food at interest meetings, but a new club might. It really just depends on the situation.”

Some members said groups should not receive money for food and drinks at meetings.

Kyle Moore, off-campus rep., said, “I don’t agree on feeding people at their own meetings. If they need dinner, they should find their own din-ner. I don’t think weekly meet-ings are SA’s business.”

Congress discussed the dis-tinction between interest meet-ings and weekly meetings, and Jordan Hancock, Hardin Ad-ministration Building rep., said they could not make exceptions for certain groups, or everyone would want free food.

But Hemphill said, “If you start making general rules across the board without see-ing the whole picture, it does not make it fair.”

After discussion, debate and the passing of one amendment, two student groups — Chinese Christian Fellowship and Fel-lowship of Christian Athletes — were given funds for refresh-ments at their meetings.

Hemphill said FCA reaches a specific niche of people who do not always participate in other groups. He said because athlet-ics are a big deal at ACU and the athletes practice a lot, they usually do not have the time to connect to other people on campus. Besides a retreat, the

refreshments at FCA’s weekly meetings were the only evi-dence the athletes would see of their student activity fees.

“Look at the whole picture,” Hemphill cautioned. “Who par-ticipates in these groups? Is this the only return they see on their fees?”

Congress gave the alloca-tions to Chinese Christian Fellowship under similar circumstances.

“You might say they can write to the Christians in China and ask for funds,” Byron Mar-tin, senior senator, said. “They can’t, and for us to be stingy about this is ridiculous.”

The amendment to give CCF $250 for food and drinks at its weekly meet-ings passed 21-4-2.

The last amendment to the budget, which passed 17-6-4, reduced the amount of money given to ACU Swing Cats.

Originally, the budget al-located $250 for the group to

purchase an iPod to use as a backup system for all its music files. Congress voted to reduce the $250 to $75.

Aaron Escobedo, Education Building rep., argued the group did not need an iPod. “They can get a lower cost mp3 player that gets the job done just as well.”

Hemphill said he was im-pressed with the smoothness of the SA meeting and felt the budget process went well.

“I’m happy with how Con-gress feels that it’s important to hash out details,” he said. “I think it is good that Congress is calling student groups to be frugal.”

Amendments Revisited

Besides approving the budget, Congress also re-voted on two amendments to the By-Laws.

The Elections Committee amendment, which Congress passed last week, technically was unconstitutional.

An amendment about of-fice hours, which passed in 2006-07, also was unconstitu-tional. Both rewrote sections of the By-Laws.

Article VIII, Section 2 of SA Congress’ Constitution states amendments to the By-Laws must be listed at the end of the By-Laws as an addition. The ac-tual text of the By-Laws cannot be changed, similar to the U.S. Constitution where amend-ments can contradict each oth-er, but instead of completely removing a previous amend-ment from the document, of-ficials just refer to the latest approved amendment.

To rectify the situation, SA Congress passed the amend-ments again with a 34-0-0 vote and added them to the end of the By-Laws.

The next SA Congress meet-ing is Wednesday at 5:10 p.m. in Hart Auditorium.

Friday, January 30, 2009Page 4 FROM THE FRONT / CAMPUS NEWS

Grandmother learns alongside granddaughter

Budget: SA Congress debates, votes on budget amendmentsContinued from page 1

Effect: Classes resume

Wednesday’s high tem-perature reached 50 de-grees, while the low temper-ature was 11 degrees — one degree higher than record for that day, which was set in 1895, according to The Weather Channel.

University officials had originally decided to resume classes at 10 a.m. Wednesday, but pushed the start time to 12 p.m. after low tempera-tures did not melt the icy roads Wednesday morning.

“It took about an hour and a half longer to really get to the point where it was safe for students to travel, so we went ahead and bumped it up until noon just to err on the side of caution,” Ellison said.

The police department sent 3,300 text messages on the ACU ALERT system Wednesday morning — 400 more than Tuesday. Chief Ellison said he was encour-aged that students had signed up for the emergen-cy message system since Tuesday’s closure. He said he was also glad that the only incidents reported during the two days were minor traffic accidents and nothing serious.

Tuesday and Wednesday’s closures marked the first time the university has canceled classes because of weather since the beginning of the spring semester in 2007.

Continued from page 1

E-mail Linton at: krl04b@acu.edu

E-mail Freeman at: mxf04b@acu.eduE-mail Anderson at: tsa04a@acu.edu

Page 5January 30, 2008

ArtsFridayACU’s own favorite punk

rock band, Swing The Lead, battled it out last

Saturday night with eight other Texas bands to see which could muster the most fans and win the grand prize. Although Swing The Lead did not go home with the grand prize, the band played superbly and took full advantage of the opportu-nity to show off its stuff.

Even amid set-up chaos and pre-performance nerves, Stephen Munoz, junior busi-ness major from Escondido, Calif., said he and the other band members were “totally excited and ready to perform” and had practiced every day for the last few weeks.

“Now it just depends on how many of our fans show, but I think it’s gonna be a decent turnout,” Munoz said.

Decent turnout it was. The members of Swing The Lead, who began performing around Abilene only last fall, were ex-pecting about 30 people to show, which for a new band performing out of town is a pretty OK number. However, at least 45 friends and fans made the drive to Dallas to support the band.

Four days later, Munoz still is riding the highs of a good time and a great performance.

“I thought we played re-ally well, and we all had a lot of fun,” Munoz said. “There were a lot of people there, and I thought it went great. There were a lot of other good bands playing, and we really had a good time, so yeah, it was fun.”

The eight bands that com-peted had already performed in a preliminary round. The majority of the bands were heavy-metal inspired and tended to scream and roar incoherently a good deal,

though one, Altair, sounded less amateur than the rest. Coincidentally, this is the band that brought the most fans and also received the grand prize.

Despite the prevalence of metal bands, The Door com-

petition also offered some diverse genre picks. The opening band, Because I Love You, was a pop/punk-styled band that featured wildly energetic music paired with bright, bouncy lyrics, and got the crowd energized and

ready for a deafening night of driving beats.

Two others that stuck out from the metal crowd was a high school-aged reggae band, The Regs, which mixed alter-native rock rhythms with fun reggae-style lyrics, beats and

an incongruous Jamaican ac-cent from the lead singer. The band that played seventh was a bit too much like a Red Hot Chili Peppers’ cover band, in sound and name. Although its lead guitarist played remark-ably well, it was not enough

to cover for the weak vocals of its lead singer.

Swing The Lead played fourth, after the fun but un-remarkable reggae band, and quickly energized the crowd with its opening song, Kids from the Underground. The band members followed with the smug anthem I Won’t Be There and Connie and Gee. Af-ter a terrific performance of the rousing Welcome to the World We Live In, Swing The Lead fin-ished with what is arguably its best song, the cocky, driving Your Boat Shoes Got Nothing on Me, even getting the fans in the audience to sing along.

Munoz said he felt the night was a success, despite the fact Altair was pronounced the winner.

“I talked to a lot of people in the audience afterwards; a lot of people said they really liked us, and we got a lot of new MyS-pace friends, and the next few days after, we’ve gotten over a hundred or so plays,” Munoz said. “We sold five T-shirts for 10 bucks each and a few of our three song EPs.”

An opportunity like this, to play in what Munoz called “a pretty legit venue,” is a great chance, especially for a student band. Swing The Lead played, in my opinion, its best perfor-mance yet, made a slew of new fans and probably converted a few metal-heads.

E-mail Melby at: lgm05e@acu.edu

Clockwise from top left: Swing The Lead performs at The Door in Dallas. Swing The Lead is comprised of four ACU students: Zak Zeinert on lead guitar, Matt Tate on bass, Stephen Munoz on vocals and rhythm guitar and Andy Munoz on drums.

Swing the Lead battles in Dallas

Jozie Sands :: staff photographer

By Lydia MelbyArts Editor

ViewsFridayPage 6

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

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Editorial and Management Board

Daniel Johnson-KimEditor in Chief

Michael FreemanManaging Editor

Sommerly SimserMult. Managing Editor

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Zak ZeinertChief Photographer

Grant AbstonSports Editor

Lydia MelbyArts Editor

January 30, 2009

Multimedia desk:(325) 674-2463

Optimistthe

I love the feeling of being on time. It means my day is going according to plan with no sur-prises. It feels good. However,

this feeling shatters into a million little pieces the moment I discover that my flight has been delayed. Even worse, when I book it to my 8 a.m. class when, God knows, I’d rather be at home

drinking unhealthy amounts of coffee and watching The X-files, and discover that my professor is running a tad late.

The first and the worst are airports — breeding ground for delayed activity worldwide. Ev-eryone has a dreadful airport story to make listeners cringe.

I recently sat in a Greek airport for 10 hours, waiting for a flight that was delayed for “technical reasons.” Once the plane arrived and all the passengers were lined up like sleepy, furious cattle, I looked out the window to see an en-gine dangling out the side of the plane. A few maintenance men were shining flashlights on it and looking at each other with blank stares.

A delayed flight is some-thing I cannot control. I can, however, control the time I ar-rive to catch that flight. I will then accept the consequences resulting from my timeliness or tardiness.

One of the few times a flight of mine has left on time was the only time I’ve ever been late for one. It was probably my fault for buying a ticket for a 7 a.m. flight to visit a friend in New Jersey, but I wanted to get the most time out of my visit, so I

booked it. My alarm clock and I suffered some sort of miscom-munication, and I woke up at 6 a.m. I live about 55 miles from the airport, and once the math and airport regulations were factored in, it was clear that I would not make this flight; I was late.

As a result, I hung out in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport for six hours on stand-by. I finally got on a flight to Chicago, hung out in that airport for another three hours, then finally made it to LaGuardia a whopping 12 hours late. This traumatized me and taught me a valuable life lesson: be on time.

There is lateness that comes from something we can’t con-trol, like a flight. Not that a delayed flight annoys me any less; I just get a little peace in the fact that there’s nothing I can do about it. But if there is something I can do about it, wouldn’t I?

For example, why not do my part to ensure that class will start and end on time?

We are in college, which means that we’re known for dragging our sleepy selves into class five minutes late. In real-ity, being in college means ev-ery day we’re coming closer to entering the real world, where being late can affect more than an attendance record.

Until my peers can get their acts together and quit be-ing late, consider something a teacher told me in high school: if you’re 10 minutes early, you’re on time. If you’re on time, you’re already late. If you’re late, don’t even bother.

Unfortunately this motto won’t stop flights from being delayed, but maybe it will keep you from hanging out in air-ports across the nation for 12 hours because you were late.

When I moved into Univer-sity Park Apartments two years ago, I enjoyed the free Internet access but not its limited avail-

ability. One Ethernet port, a short Ether-net cord and lack of wire-less Internet f rus t ra ted me. Several days into this predicament, I powered up my laptop and sniffed the air for Wi-Fi sig-

nals. Against all hope, I found them — delectable data ready for plucking. As I connected to an unsecure network, I became more than a nuisance for one of my neighbors. I became a criminal, forced into an illegal action by a backwater, techno-logically crippled system.

Mooching another person’s Wi-Fi does constitute a crimi-nal act; it violates Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 47 of the Unit-ed States Code, which covers anybody who “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds au-thorized access.” Of course, this law was passed in 1986, the same year I was born, but it actually still applies.

Last year a man in Cedar Springs, Mich., was fined $400 after a police officer spotted him stealing someone’s Wi-Fi from inside his car, accord-ing to Time magazine.

But the threat of fines could not stop me. Through-out the school year, I curled up on my living room couch and got online via the unse-cured wireless networks of my neighbors. Although leav-ing networks open can put the owners’ personal data at risk, I only wanted their band-width. And while my brows-ing periodically may have slowed down my neighbors’ connection, I was desperate for the Net’s sweet nectar.

UP policy states residents cannot use routers, but my apartment building was chock-full of wireless net-works with names like WiiFi, Belkin54g and linksys. And I took full advantage of the home networks from people who did not bother to pass-word-protect them.

While stealing bandwidth did not give me the best In-ternet, my connection to the World Wide Web was just as reliable as UP’s land lines.

Both would vanish and reap-pear without much notice, causing me to throw on my shoes and drive to Sharky’s Burrito Co. or Arby’s for their free Wi-Fi (unfortunately, nei-ther one is open 24 hours).

The periodic loss of Wi-Fi connectivity was understand-able because it operates on an unlicensed frequency that deals with interference like microwave ovens and cord-less phones; its signals also had to pass through several concrete walls before reach-

ing my laptop. UP’s land In-ternet had no such excuses.

UP provides its residents Internet through an out-of-date structure. The cabling is old, inefficient, unreliable and too expensive to replace, according to several Team 55 employees in response to my numerous phone complaints over the last two years. While UP and ACU share the same Internet services, the two have different systems — one includes Wi-Fi and relatively strong signals; the other does not. I happen to deal with the former on a daily basis.

So while I recently joined the straight world and stopped my Wi-Fi pilfering, I understand the allure of free wireless Internet and cannot blame the other criminals who inhabit my apartment building. I hope UP will one day emerge from the Dark Ages to provide its residents the Wi-Fi they crave. For if UP can build a new barbecue area complete with fire pit, grill and seating, surely it can af-ford to broadcast its Internet signals to its tenants through its own wireless network.

President Barack Obama was sworn into of-fice Tuesday, but we know this. Parties were

thrown, T-shirts were made, classes were released early and some students even made the trip to Washington, D.C., to witness history, but we know this, too.

What most of us do not know is that only five days before the parties began and history was made, 295 Dyess airmen were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

These men will bring the number of Dyess servicemen deployed to 745, said Tech. Sgt. A.C. Eggman, public af-fairs for Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene.

Two hundred more men are expected to leave with-in the next couple months,

bringing the total close to 1,000 from Dyess.

Many students have a per-sonal reason to care about the troops. If not, consider the fact that Dyess Air Force base is 13.9 miles from our campus, meaning the men and women who are sent overseas are part of our community. We see them at church, we stand behind them in line at Wal-Mart and we even take classes with them. Their deployment in-evitably hits close to home

for the ACU community.We need to remember

this. We need to remember this while we’re living our lives in the “Abilene bubble” and our main concern is re-hearsing for Sing Song.

We need to add the deploy-ments to the list of prayer requests in Chapel and put as much energy, passion and support toward them as we did the election.

These men and women should be on our lips as much as President Obama

and his plan to end the war in Iraq and bring troops home within 16 months.

Both Obama and military personnel are eagerly and vol-untarily facing international controversy from a nation di-vided in its political views.

Both Obama and military personnel have pledged al-legiance to a term of service and are undoubtedly wres-tling with fear, anticipation and anxiety, but Obama has been the one receiving the en-tire nation’s attention.

It is our obligation as a student body to remember those from Abilene who were deployed less than a week ago — facing dangers most of us declined in favor of college. It is our obliga-tion as citizens to humble ourselves, accept our dif-

fering political stances and respect the fact that Barack Obama is the president.

It is our obligation to be mindful that we may have a new president, but that does not mean those troops can come home now, or that we can stop praying for them. A new plan

does not change the situation for those hundreds of people leaving Abilene this month.

The election hype is over, and it is time for us to look around and notice the faces missing from Abilene.

University Park lacks satisfactory Internet

New presidency should not minimize concern for troops

All settings benefit from timeliness of individuals

E-mail Linton at: krl04b@acu.edu

E-mail the Optimist at: jmcnetwork@acu.edu

The issue:While President Barack Obama’s administration promises change, troops cannot be summoned home overnight.

Our view:Although the era ushered in by our newly elected president offers excitement, we must not forget our troops overseas. The solution:While Americans should observe Obama’s historical election with appropriate interest, we should take care not to neglect or reduce our concern for troops overseas, especially when those soon-to-be deployed may be our neighbors at Dyess AFB.

Colter HettichFeatures Editor

Kelline LintonChief Copy Editor

Cody VetetoChief Videographer

DeLaina ParkerBroadcast Manager

Sondra RodriguezPage 2 Editor

Kenneth PybusAdviser

Cade WhiteAdviser

Christi StarkAdvertising Manager

This editorial reminds me a lot of the one written last se-mester about the attendance policy and how it should be removed. Except I agree with this editorial.

I have worked as a desk worker in freshman dorms for two years now, and my shifts have always been around the time curfew hap-

pened, either before or after, and invariably there is some-one who tries to convince me that curfew is stupid, and should be removed. My response to them is always: “you knew this was a rule. It’s not going to change this year. Deal with it.”

I’ll admit to doing my share of Chapel whining.

But, like the author of this editorial, most of my whin-ing is about the content of Chapel, rather than the en-forced nature of it.

We’re adults, and we make decisions and have to accept the consequences thereof. It boils down to this: you, the student, chose ACU for a reason. It was probably a reason important enough to make you choose ACU over other, cheaper, less restric-tive schools. Maybe it was the strength of the program, maybe it was your financial

aid packages, maybe it was your family’s history at ACU. Whatever the reason, you chose it with full knowledge that Chapel is a requirement. If not going to Chapel is more important to you than get-ting an excellent education in business, biology, music, or what have you, then go to another school.

Letter to the Editor

Eric Wyattjunior music education major

StamfordIn response to the column, ‘Optional

attendance may check Chapel chatter’

Chapel obligations minimal

E-mail Rodriguez at: sar06g@acu.edu

acuoptimist.com

Log online to hear Linton podcast

her column.

...I was desperate for the Net’s sweet nectar.

“”

“We see them at church, we stand behind them in line at Wal-Mart and we even take classes with them. Their deployment inevitably hits close to home...

”

By Kelline Linton

Got Your Grammar Talk

By Sondra Rodriguez

Please Be On Time

Friday, January 30, 2009 Page 7FROM THE FRONT / SPORT JUMPS

and 3.1 rebounds per game.“They have a high-powered

offense led by Nolan Richard-son,” Copeland said. “We are really going to have to get back in transition and play good defense.”

The Wildcats will face a tough road situation as the Mustangs have only lost one game at home and remain unbeaten at home during conference play. Midwestern will be looking to improve its 9-1 home record and continue to battle for the top seed in the conference.

This will be the last of the Wildcats’ conference oppo-nents before they turn around and play every one of them again. ACU is looking for a win to improve to .500 at the half-way mark of conference play.

Softball: All four infielders return

same this spring.”Last season, Gregoire went

7-5 with a 3.46 ERA, while White posted a 10-6 record and a 4.36 ERA.

The team returns all four in-fielders from last year, includ-ing its two middle infielders, seniors Jackie Gentile and Me-lissa Rodriguez. They turned 11 double plays together in 2008. Gentile earned second team all-LSC South Division honors, and Rodriguez was named to both the LSC and NCAA regional all-tournament teams.

“As far as expectations, we are like every other team that wants to win its conference and region and get to nationals,” Wilson said. “But we just want to play our best every day and put together a strong seven in-nings every day.”

The Wildcats will begin this season playing in three consec-utive weekend tournaments. Following the St. Mary’s Tourna-ment, the team returns home to host the CBS Insurance Classic at Wells Field Feb. 12-14. The following weekend, the team travels to Durant, Okla., for the South Central Shootout.

“Compared to these tourna-ments, conference series are a lot more emotionally draining,” Wilson said. “The tournaments get them prepared where they have to win every inning in-stead of looking at the next game. We get to play five games in a weekend and see what is working and what is not before conference starts.”

The Wildcats will begin con-ference play on Feb. 27 against West Texas A&M.

Baseball: New pitchers hold key to success in 2009 year,” Bonneau said. “Jordan Schmitt is going to be a huge impact for us this year, and Uechi has started the last two years at shortstop, and Thomas Bumpass is in cen-terfield and has been with me for four years.”

Bumpass took over cen-terfield in 2008 after an injury and will return full-time in 2009, joining trans-fers Ruben Perez and Travis Latz in the outfield. Three-year starter Uechi finished third on the team with a .373 batting average and second on the team in hits (87) in 2008 and will join Watten as the only returning start-

ers in the infield. Former Cooper High School player Chris Hall will join Watten and Uechi in the infield at second base after transfer-ring from Texas Tech. Hall started all 55 games his sophomore year at Tech in 2008 and was third on the team with a .318 batting av-erage while adding 38 RBI.

“A big transfer, Chris Hall, came in at semester and to have the opportunity to coach this kid is exciting,” Bonneau said. “[Chris] makes the mid-dle of infield one of the best in the nation.”

One of the biggest ques-tion marks entering this sea-son will be the pitching staff. In 2008, ACU lost three of

its top pitchers in Wildcat history. Pitcher Trey Watten earned first team all-Amer-ica honors as a designated hitter and was named LSC Pitcher of the Year before being drafted by the Milwau-kee Brewers in the seventh round of the Major League Baseball draft. Watten fin-ished his junior season with a 10-3 record and posted a team-high 2.56 ERA and 113 strikeouts. The Wildcats also lost senior pitchers Ben Maynard and Chris Wiman, two of the winningest pitch-ers in school history. Wiman set the single-season record for wins (13) and ended his ACU career with 32 victories, one behind Maynard who fin-

ished his career as the ACU and LSC all-time leader in wins with 33.

Vancil (6-2, 5.40 ERA) is ACU’s only returning starter and will be joined by return-ing relievers Matt Sullivan (2-0, 9.15 ERA) and Kevin Justice (0-1, 6.75 ERA). Two transfers, Cameron Aspass from Palomar College and Cooper Page from Tyler Junior College, will look to provide depth to the rota-tion and will be key to the Wildcats’ success.

“Most of the guys lack ex-perience, but overall most of the guys coming in are from ‘Juco’ and have come college experience,” Schmitt said. “We need consistency

from three to four starting pitchers. We have one to two solid starters but we’re looking for the third or fourth guy to step up.”

With a majority of their home games at the beginning of the season, the Wildcats will use the first part of the season to solidify the start-ing lineup and find different roles for a team loaded with depth. Despite the losses, the Wildcats know what it takes and are ready to put themselves in a position to win a LSC championship and make a postseason run.

“We want to get off on the right foot and coach Bonneau has been harping on us that we have a bunch

of home games during the first half, and during the second half we have some road games against some hard teams,” Uechi said. “It’s important to get off to good start and win at home, and we know from experi-ence how one or two games can affect a bid to regionals, so we don’t want to take any for granted.”

The Wildcats’ first game will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. against Incarnate Word in San Antonio before coming back home for their next eight games, beginning with New Mexico Highlands on Feb. 6 at 4 p.m.

Basketball: Cats now 7-2 in Moody

career double-double along the wasy. Forward Kristee David-son came off the bench early in the first half and provided the intensity the Wildcats needed to penetrate the TexAnns’ full-court press. Davidson scored 15 points off the bench, more than the entire Tarleton bench combined. Coach Lavender described Davidson as having played one of her best games of the season and played a vital role in the victory.

“Kristee was just great,” Lav-ender said. “She hit big shots, played great defense and ran the floor very well.”

With 3:17 left in the first half, Audrey Maxwell-Lively grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw by Jody Meyer and put it back in giving ACU a lead that it

would never lose. Towards the end of the half, the Wildcats seemed to pick up their intensi-ty, while Tarleton State seemed to tire after having pressed for the entire half, which led to the Wildcats taking a slim 35-32 lead to the halftime.

In the second half, Kristee Davidson continued her tre-mendous play, making a layup with 7:31 remaining and nail-ing a mid-range jumper a min-ute later to give ACU a 10-point lead. In the game’s final minute, point guard Kat Kundmueller took the game over. With just 58 seconds remaining Kundm-ueller grabbed an offensive re-bound and nailed a long-jump shot from just inside the left three-point line. Kundmueller would score five points in the final minute, helping the Wild-cats edge the TexAnns 77-71.

Coach Lavender praised the clutch play of her point guard as she quarterbacked her team to another victory.

“Kat hit some big shots for us in the second half,” Laven-der said. “She really did a great job for us near the end.”

The Wildcats are now 7-2 this season within the friendly confines of Moody Coliseum, where students cheered on their team to victory. Students helped with loud cheers, chants and even one Wookie call dur-ing the game. Students’ next opportunity to see the women’s basketball team at Moody will be Feb. 7 against Texas Perm-ian-Basin. ACU’s next game will be on the road in Wichita Falls against Midwestern State Satur-day at 6 p.m.

Continued from page 8

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E-mail Abston at: gda04b@acu.edu

E-mail Craig at: jmcnetwork@acu.edu

Search: Committee seeks new Provost

invited to visit the campus by March. Dr. Royce Mon-ey, president of the univer-sity, will then interview the applicants, and the appli-cants will make a presenta-tion and answer questions from the faculty and other groups across campus.

“We are looking for that person who is going to rise up in the crowd,” said committee member Dr. Foy Mills, chair of the Department of Agricul-ture and Environmental Sciences. “The candidates that are coming in all have great credentials, are fine professors and are aca-demic leaders in their own right. But we are looking for a person who fits the ACU environment.”

The Provost is the chief academic officer of the uni-versity; he reports to the president and serves as a vice president. In addition to serving as leader of the faculty and academic sup-port staff, the Provost is responsible for the scholar-ship, education and service sections of the university, according to the position’s description in the job post-ing on ACU’s Web site.

The committee formed and began searching for a Provost after the current Provost, Dr. Dwayne Van-Rheenen, announced in Oc-tober his plans to retire from his position at ACU, move to the Northwest and spend more time with family.

“Dwayne VanRheenen was a tremendous Provost, probably one of the best Provosts in the history of the school,” said Search Committee member Dr. Rick Lytle, chair of the College of Business Administration.

Lytle said the commit-tee is carefully analyzing

each application and is not taking its role lightly.

“To me, the Provost is the CEO of the academic unit of Abilene Christian Uni-versity,” Lytle said. “That is where our product is, and that is where our product is developed. People don’t come to ACU because we have a great operations group, even though it is very important.”

Mills said the committee is searching for a person who must have vision and must adjust that vision to the context of the Universi-ty’s 21st Century Vision to transform ACU into a pre-mier university for the ed-ucation of Christ-centered, global leaders by 2020.

“Whoever the person is, they will have to be able to make good decisions,” Mills said. “The next Pro-vost must be someone who is willing to listen to input from other people not only in leadership circles, but also from the faculty.”

The chair of the Search Committee is MeLesa Breeding, dean of the Col-lege of Education and Hu-man Services. In addition to Mills and Lytle, the com-mittee members are Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication; Dr. Patricia Hernandez, professor of biology; Dr. Eric Gumm, assistant di-rector of Academic Advis-ing and the First-Year Pro-gram; Dr. Gary McCaleb, vice president of the Uni-versity; Dr. Mark Hamilton, associate professor of Old Testament, and Dr. Brent Reeves, assistant professor of management sciences.

Clinic: Dr. Thompson confident in medical staff

to Abilene from Dallas and wants to work as a contracted physician before she begins her own private practice, said Kathy Stokes, ACU Health Ser-vices office manager.

After Dr. Tony Rector, ACU medical clinic physician, left to continue his medical work in Guatemala, the university contracted Dr. Jeff Jackson of Dr. J’s Express Care for the fall semester.

“Dr. Jackson was not able to renew his contract with us for the spring semester be-cause of other commitments,” said Stokes. “It was wonder-ful to have him and his group with us for the fall. They were used to the environment of lots of people with lots of dif-ferent illnesses.”

The Health Clinic will also experience a partial “face-lift” during spring break. The clinic will have some re-tiling and re-carpeting work done. In addition, renova-tion will be done on the clin-ic during the summer break, creating a more accessible entrance and a cleaner and more professional environ-ment, said Thompson.

Thompson said hiring a new staff was a lengthy and sometimes difficult process. “We realized that we were under-staffed and it was dif-ficult to be proactive on well-ness and education when you are under-staffed. Part of our frustration was not being able to get the right person at the right time. However, I am fully confident in the staff we have chosen.”

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

Wildcats: Mustangs await ACU men

E-mail Gager at: jmcnetwork@acu.edu

E-mail Cantrell at: jmcnetwork@acu.edu

E-mail Harris at: tch05f@acu.edu E-mail Johnson-Kim at: djj04a@acu.edu

High Expectations

By Grant AbstonSports Editor

Despite losing two all-America players and perhaps one of the best pitching staffs in ACU’s history in 2008, the Wildcat baseball team will look to build off last year’s success, which saw ACU win the Lone Star Conference regular-season championship as well as earn a bid back to the South Central Regional Tournament.

After adding a number of freshmen and transfers for the 2009 season, the Wildcats, ranked No. 11 in Collegiate Baseball magazine’s Division II pre-season poll, will rely on a powerful offense to help an inexperienced pitching staff that returns only one starter from last season. But with added depth, the Wildcats will have a good shot to reach the World Series as well as win their first LSC postseason championship since 2002.

“The thing we need to work on is getting out there and play-ing together and going through a season and developing our roles as a player and accepting those roles,” said head coach Britt Bonneau. “The sooner we accept those roles, we will be able to achieve a lot more.”

The Wildcats finished 44-17 last season, falling one game short of a LSC postseason championship after losing to sixth-seeded Texas A&M-Kings-ville. However, ACU is favored to repeat as LSC regular-season champion after receiving 19 of the 28 first-place votes in the LSC preseason poll. Catcher Jordan Schmitt, shortstop Wil-lie Uechi, centerfielder Thomas Bumpass and third baseman Cameron Watten will join pitcher Preston Vancil as the only returning starters from the 2008 season.

“We have good senior leadership and have some guys coming back from last

n Seven more Wildcats were honored as d2football.com selected Bernard Scott, Sam Collins, Tony Washington, Billy Malone, Johnny Knox, Joseph Thompson and Matt Adams as NCAA Division II All-America. Scott, Collins and Washington were all first-team selections, while Malone, Knox and Thompson earned second-team honors and Adams received honor-able mention.

By Jeff CraigSports Writer

The tandem of Audrey Maxwell-Lively and Jody Meyer combined for 38 points and 32 rebounds, as the Wildcats held off an upset-minded Tarleton State 77-71 at Moody Coliseum Wednesday night.

The Wildcats have now won four of their last five games and have a record of 12-7 overall after starting the season win-ning only two of their first five games. The win over the Tex-Anns also improved the team’s conference record to 4-1, which ranks second in the Lone Star Conference South Division be-hind only West Texas A&M.

Head coach Shawna Lavender was pleased with her squad’s overall performance against Tarleton, particularly in the area

of rebounding. “I think one

of the keys to tonight’s game was on the boards,” Lavender said. “We held them to only four offensive re-bounds, which

allowed us to eliminate their second chances.”

The Wildcats are the LSC South Division’s top-rebound-

ing team and they proved it by dominating the TexAnns on the glass. ACU outrebounded TSU 49-24, with 16 of those 49 rebounds coming on the offensive end.

The TexAnns came out of the gate in a full-court press and grabbed an early lead on a D’Anna Dingler three-point shot. ACU Maxwell-Lively re-sponded 20 seconds later with the first of her team-high 20 points, coming via an interior layup. Lively would spend the remainder of the first half fighting through intense contact from the Tex-Anns and collecting her 35th

By Chandler Harris Assistant Sports Editor

The Wildcat softball sea-son will begin Thursday at the St. Mary’s Tournament in San Antonio. The team will play five games in three days against Rollins, Texas A&M-International, Wash-burn, Cameron and Mid-western State.

The team looks to build on a solid 2008 season in which it finished 34-17 and ad-vanced to the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament.

“Last season, we went through some ups and downs but ended with three come-from-behind wins in the conference tournament, before the regional tour-nament,” said head coach Chantiel Wilson. “The re-turnees have really stressed

about how important it is to stay level all season and not get too down or too up. We want to maintain that same level all season.”

The Wildcats are return-ing multiple starters, includ-ing the 2008 NCAA Division II Catcher of the Year, senior Jessica Shiery. Shiery also was named to the NCAA Divi-sion II first team all-America. Shiery hit .440 with 12 home runs and a team-high 44 RBI.

“Jessica was really key for us in the No. 3 spot of our lineup,” Wilson said. “We are returning two pitchers who were freshmen last year, Jacque Gregoire and Kim White. They both have had a solid fall and look to do the

SportsFridayPage 8 January 30, 2009

Standings

SCOREBOARD

Friday

Track and FieldHouston Indoor Invitational & Multis, 9 a.m.

Saturday

Women’s BasketballACU at Midwestern State, 6 p.m.

Men’s BasketballACU at Midwestern State, 8 p.m.

Sunday

Men’s TennisACU vs. Northern Arizona, 9 a.m.ACU vs. New Mexico State, 2 p.m.

Women’s TennisACU vs. Lee College, noonACU vs. Sam Houston State, 4 p.m.

Monday

Women’s TennisACU vs. SE Oklahoma St., 10 a.m.

Men’s TennisACU vs. SMU, 6 p.m.

:: Home games listed in italics

Upcoming

Wednesday

Women’s BasketballACU 77, Tarleton State 71

Men’s BasketballACU 73, Tarleton State 70

Scores

Wildcats win third-straight, remain second in LSC

Cats snap three-game losing skid By Ryan CantrellSports Writer

The Wildcats broke a 15-game losing streak against Tarleton State with a 73-70 victory over the Texans Wednesday night. The last time they were able to beat the Texans goes all the way back to Feb. 7, 1999. The win brings the Wildcats’ record to 8-10 overall and 2-3 in conference.

The Wildcats were led by center Kendrick John-son who scored a season-high 14 points and added six rebounds. ACU shot 8-13 beyond the arc and had 13 steals that allowed the Cats to hold on to a three-point victory.

“We came out and played good,” said head coach Jason Copeland. “We got into a rhythm, and Kendrick played his best game of the season and was able to make a difference in the game.”

ACU led by 12 with just under 12 minutes to play. The Texans slowly came back and got within two points with 1:25 left. The Wildcats were able to score on the next posses-sion to give them a four-point lead. The Wildcats would play strong defense and made enough of their free throws to pull out the victory. Sencanski led the team with 17 points, fol-lowed by Johnson and Ad-ams who scored 14 apiece.

The Wildcats will contin-ue on to play Midwestern State in Wichita Falls Satur-day at 8 p.m. The Mustangs are exceeding expectations with a 14-5 overall record and 3-1 in conference play. Nolan Richardson leads the Mustangs, averaging 19.5 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per game. Craig Green is second on the team with 12.3 points

ACU begins season ranked No. 11 in Division II

Basketball

See Basketball page 7

See Softball page 7

See Baseball page 7 See Wildcats page 7

Softball

Men’s BasketballTeam Div. OverallAngelo St.MSUTAMU-KWTAMUACUTarleton St.ENMU

3-13-13-13-12-31-40-4

15-414-513-613-68-1013-74-15

Women’s BasketballTeam Div. OverallWTAMUACUTAMU-KMSUAngelo St.Tarleton St.ENMU

4-04-13-12-21-31-40-4

16-312-713-67-1110-910-109-13

Softball team looks to return to regionals

n The following are the cur-rent club intramural point standings:

Men’s Division:n Gamma Sigma Phi- 540n Galaxy- 345n Frater Sodalis- 70n Pi Kappa- 60n Trojans- 50n Sub T-16- 40

Women’s Divisionn Ko Jo Kai- 405n Sigma Theta Chi-265n Delta Theta- 265n Alpha Kai Omega- 215n GATA- 20

Intramurals

Briefs

Heather Leiphart :: staff photographer

Jackie Gentile makes a throw during practice Wednesday. The softball team will begin its season Thursday at the St. Mary’s Tournament in San Antonio.

Zak Zeinert :: chief photographer

Forward Kristee Davidson drives to the basket Wednesday in ACU’s 77-71 win over Tarleton State. The Wildcats remain in second place in the LSC.

Todd Piersall :: file photo

Shortstop Willie Uechi batted .372 with 44 RBI and 57 R in 2008.

2009 Key Returning Players

Third-year starter, shortstop Uechi, was one of two players in 2008 who started all 61 games.

Senior catcher Schmitt was second on team in HR (8) in 2008 and had a .990 fielding percentage.

Senior Bumpass will return full-time to centerfield in 2009, joining two transfers, Perez and Latz.

:: 2008 statistics and team ranking in parenthesis

n .373 AVG (3)n 233 AB (2)n 87 H (2)n 57 R (4)n 44 RBI (6)n .447 OBP (5)n 106 TB (4)

n .350 AVG (6)n 200 AB (6)n 70 H (5)n 59 R (3)n 48 RBI (3)n .455 OBP (T2)n 119 TB (2)

n .340 AVG (7)n 215 AB (3)n 73 H (4)n 54 R (5)n 52 RBI (2)n 6 3B (T1)n 97 TB (5)

Thomas BumpassJordan SchmittWillie Uechi

acuoptimist.com

Go online to see highlights from

the ACU men and women’s basket-ball teams’ wins

Wednesday night.

Zak Zeinert :: chief photographer

Guard Dante Adams shoots a jump shot in ACU’s 73-70 win over Tarleton State on Wednesday.

Lavender

2009 SchedULe

The first 30 games of the Wildcat baseball team’s 2009 season

n Incarnate Word- Feb. 3 @ 2 p.m.n NM Highland- Feb. 6 @ 4 p.m.n NM Highland- Feb. 7 @ 2 p.m.n NM Highland- Feb. 8 @ noonn SW Okla. St.- Feb. 12 @ 6 p.m.n SW Okla. St.- Feb. 13 @ 4 p.m.n SW Okla. St.- Feb. 14 @ noonn Central Okla.- Feb. 20 @ 2 p.m.n Central Okla.- Feb. 21 @ noonn Central Okla.- Feb. 22 @ 1 p.m.n St. Mary’s- Feb. 24 @ 4 p.m.n Texas A&M-K- Feb. 27 @ 4 p.m.n Texas A&M-K- Feb. 28 @ 1 p.m.n Texas Wes.- March 4 @ 3 p.m.n WTAMU- March 6 @ 4 p.m.n WTAMU- March 7 @ 1 p.m.n Marietta C- March 10 @ 1 p.m.n USW- March 10 @ 7 p.m.n USW- March 11 @ 1 p.m.n East Central- March 13 @ 1 p.m.n East Central- March 14 @ 1 p.m.

:: Home games listed in bold:: Doubleheaders listed in italics