The Optimist Print Edition: 11.03.10

Tuesday was a big night for Republicans in the State of Texas and nationwide.

Texas voters re-elected incumbent governor Rick Perry for an unprecedent-ed third full term. Perry, who took over the gov-ernorship in 2000 when George W. Bush resigned to become U.S. president

is already Texas’ longest-serving governor.

Susan King, a Republi-can representing the 71st district in the Texas’ House of Representatives, was also elected for a third term.

Representative Randy Neugebauer, who represents Abilene’s district in the U.S. House of Representatives, earned of fourth term in the U.S. Congress, defeating Democrat Andy Wilson.

The GOP also saw ma-jor gains across the nation, winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

ACU College Democrats president Rebecca Dial, sophomore political sci-ence major from Lexington, S.C., said the losses were not a surprise in Texas or nationwide. She said the slow-recovering economy was to blame for the losses.

ACU Young Republicans

president Aaron Escobedo, senior history major from Lamesa, said the GOP victo-ries were a referendum on the Obama administration.

ACU pulled up its annual grade on its “Green Report Card” to D+ for 2011 from a D in 2010. The Sustainable En-dowments Institute has yet to give ACU a passing grade in environmental friendliness

Dr. Jim Cooke, professor of agriculture and environmen-tal science, said these grades have two interpretations.

“The first interpretation is that we have a long way to go,” Cooke said. “But we’re moving in the right direction.”

Cooke has helped coor-dinate ACU’s participation

in the College Sustainabil-ity Report Card for the past three years. He asked Sa-mantha Futrell, sophomore environmental science ma-jor from San Angelo, to fill out the Green Report Card survey this summer.

Futrell, with the support of President Schubert, went

to departments and staff across the university to get information on environmen-tal practices on campus. She recorded the university’s sus-tainability activities in nine categories, including food and recycling, administra-tion and student involve-ment. The information was

later verified by the Sustain-able Endowments Institute before it gave its final grade.

ACU’s food and recycling grade shot up to a B from last year’s D. Futrell said she was very impressed with the practices of the Food Ser-vices. It uses a chemical-free floor cleaning and a waste

food centrifuge, which spins off fluid from leftovers to go down the drain rather than in a landfill with solid wastes, Futrell said. The trayless program also reduces the amount of water used for cleaning.

Optimistthe

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

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weatherinside

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websitenewsStudents who are creative with a camera can enter ACU’s first 24 hour FilmFest on Saturday beginning at midnight.

page 4

opinionThe Editorial Board discusses the influence of celebrity input in the political spectrum.

video Construction has officially begun on the third floor of Brown Library to construct a new AT&T Learning Studio. 70° 47°

This spring, the Depart-ment of Political Science is offering a new class: POLS 488 – Iran and Nuclear Weapons. The class will fo-cus on Iran’s domestic pol-itics, religion, economy, culture and geography.

This special-topics course will give students an in-depth look at Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Dr. Neal Coates, associate professor of political sci-ence, is teaching the class which will be offered from 3:30 to 4:50 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays.

Coates said he encour-ages any student, political science major or not, to sign up for the course.

“For the last seven years, most countries of the world have been very concerned with whether Iran has acquired or de-veloped nuclear weapons, based on the idea that Iran is the world’s largest sup-porter and exporter of ter-rorism,” Coates said. “This class provides an entire semester to answer that question in depth.”

Coates challenges stu-dents to learn more about

University to offer nuclear weapons course

ACADEMICS

Christina BurchContributing Reporter

Wed. Fri.Thurs.

66° 39° 67° 41°

First in the Region, page 6

CAMPUS

Christianna LewisSenior Reporter

ACU improves to ‘D+’ on environmental report card

see COATES page 3

Digital Upgrade

GENNA DUNCAN // Chief Photographer

Treay Smith carefully removes the base of a wall on the third floor of Brown Library. The wall was recently torn down during the construction of the new AT&T Learning Center on Nov. 1.

Vol. 99, No. 21

DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer

Susan King, state representative, watches election coverage with supporters at the Cypress Street Station on Tuesday.

Abilene Christian University

Perry wins Texas, GOP gains HouseJeff Craig

Managing Editor

POLITICS

The construction of a large, white wall on the third floor of the Brown Library last week marked the beginning of construc-tion on the new AT&T Learning Studio.

The space between the Stanley Reading Room and the bay windows has been blocked off from the rest of the library and will remain separated until the AT&T Learning Studio’s grand opening in spring 2011.

Kyle Dickson, associate professor of Eng-lish and director of the AT&T Learning Studio, said construction should not interfere with other student study spaces in the library.

“We feel like working with the librarians and preserving quiet spaces while adding new capabilities is kind of key to the future successes of the library,” Dickson said.

All areas on the first and second floors are still open for use, and the Stanley Read-ing Room can still be accessed through the

Library construction underway for new AT&T Learning Studio

see AT&T page 3

Kelsi WilliamsonArts Editor

contact Craig [email protected]

acuoptimist.com

Find video, photos and an extended story about Abilene

election coverage.

GENNA DUNCAN // Staff Photographer

Old books are stacked into a pile and set aside as construc-tion begins on the AT&T Learning Center in Brown Library.

see ENVIRONMENT page 3

announcements

Wednesday 05Friday

The Christian Service Center needs volunteers interested in business or design to put together an informational brochure. The work could be done any weekday afternoon before the end of Novem-ber. Contact Jim Clark at 673-7531 or [email protected] for more information.

Mesa Spring Healthcare Center needs volunteers from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. any day of the week to help with fun activities for the residents, including play-ing instruments, calling bingo and sitting and talk-ing with them. All help is appreciated. Contact Laura Reynolds at (325)692-8080 or [email protected].

The Center for Con-temporary Arts needs a gallery assistant to help with exhibit setup and preparation, as well as an administrative assistant.

The work can be done any time 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tuesday - Friday. Call (325) 677-8389 or e-mail [email protected] for more information.

The Dyess Youth Center needs help with a Ping Pong Exhibition from 4 to 6 p.m. every Friday. Vol-unteers will preside over tournaments and help with an exhibition for the students. Transportation will not be provided, nor can volunteers have any sexual assault charges or charges pending. For more information, con-tact Sheri Frisby at (325) 696-4797 or e-mail [email protected].

The Dyess Youth Cen-ter needs volunteers from 4 to 6 p.m. every Monday - Friday to assist students with homework in the areas of math, science, English and history. Transportation will not be provided, nor

can volunteers have any sexual assault charges or charges pending. For more information, contact Sheri Frisby at 696-4797 or e-mail [email protected].

Meals on Wheels needs volunteers to deliver noon meals to seniors and adults with disabili-ties. Routes are available 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Mon-day - Friday. Volunteers must be at least 18, with a valid driver’s license, auto insurance and a desire to serve. Training is provided. Students may be exempted from one Chapel per week if delivery time conflicts with Chapel. Contact Elizabeth Rodgers at [email protected].

Aimee’s Art Studio is seeking volunteers from 9-10 a.m. or 1:30-2:30 p.m. Tuesday to assist with ho-meschool fine arts classes. No formal art skills or training is required. The studio is a five minute walk from ACU’s campus. For more information, contact Aimee Williams at (325)672-9633 or [email protected].

The American Business Women’s Association is having a fundraiser for education Nov. 12-14.It needs volunteers to serve at the concession stand and prepare food from 5 to 9 p.m. Nov. 12, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 13, and 12 to 5 p.m. Nov. 14. For more information, contact Sydney Moore at (325) 692-2633 or (325) 428-1024 or e-mail her at [email protected]

The Oakridge Church of Christ needs volunteers from 1 to 5 p.m. Nov. 20 to organize grocery goods into boxes and deliver them to families. Volunteers need a vehicle and driver’s license, or may come with some-one who does. The event will take place at 3250 Beltway South. E-mail Emerald Lemmons at [email protected] if you would like to help. Contact him ahead of time so they know how many people to expect.

Ortiz Elementary School Library would like volun-teers Monday-Friday to help check in and shelve books, and help with some special projects. Contact Nancy Hartline at 325-671-4945.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

calendar & events

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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].

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

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

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volunteer opportunities

2Campus Day

Dallas White Rock Mara-thon Students wishing to run the Dallas White Rock Marathon or Half-Mara-thon can sign up with ACU to receive a $20 rebate, a free ACU running shirt and a free pre-race party. Regis-ter to run the race at www.runtherock.com and to participatewith ACU visit www.acu.edu/whiterock

Registration for spring classes opened at 3 p.m. Oct. 27 for Honors, Graduate School and study abroad students. It opened at 3 p.m. Nov. 1 for seniors. It will open at 3 p.m. Today for juniors, 3 p.m. Nov. 8 for sopho-mores and 3 p.m. Nov. 10 for Freshmen.

Mother Teresa is Dead the Department of Theatre’s cornerstone production will show at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16-20 in Fulks Theatre. For tick-eting information call (325) 647-2787 or visit www.acu.edu/theatre.

24-Hour Fall Film Fes-tival ACU’s first 24 Hour Film Festival will start at midnight on Nov. 7. Stu-dents will have a full day to create, film and edit an original short film. There is no entry fee. For more

information visit www.acufilmfest.tumblr.com

Flu shots are now avail-able in the ACU Medical Clinic in McKinzie Hall. Call (325) 674-2151 for more information.

Ethnos: The Culture Show The Culture Show begins at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 - 13. Tickets are $3 for students and $5 for general admission. Tickets will be sold in the Campus Center from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 8-12 and will also be avaliable at the door.

Spring Break Campaign Signups, Students who would like to attend a Spring Break Campaign may sign up from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Living Room of the Campus Center.

ACUltimate, the univer-sity’s ultimate frisbee club, meets at 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Interested students can contact Kyle Thaxton at [email protected].

FCA, the ACU chapter of the Fellowship of Chris-tian Atheletes, meets at 9 p.m. every Thursday in the Living Room of the Campus Center.

11 a.m. Chapel in Moody Coliseum

3 p.m. Registration opens for juniors

11 a.m. Small group Chapels meet around campus

5:30 - 8:30 p.m. SBC signups in the Living Room of the Campus Center

11 a.m. Praise Day in Moody Coliseum

6 p.m. Football game at West Texas A&M University

Warm winter ahead for Abilene

Abilene saw below-nor-mal temperatures and above-average snowfall last winter. This year, meteorologists expect a warmer winter for the Big Country.

Patrick McCullough, meteorologist at the Na-tional Weather Service in San Angelo, said the temperature is constantly monitored by satellites. He said oceanic weather patterns helped contrib-ute to last year’s extreme weather.

“An El Nino weather pattern year is when the surface water of the Equa-torial Pacific Ocean is warmer and the jet stream pushes further south,” McCullough said. “This jet stream from the north brings more moisture and storms.”

McCullough said Abilene will experience La Nina conditions this win-ter, bringing warmer tem-peratures and less likeli-hood for snowfall.

“A La Nina weather pat-tern year is when the sur-face water of the Equato-rial Pacific Ocean is cooler and jet stream pushes fur-ther north,” McCullough said. “ This jet stream from the south brings dry-er, warmer weather.”

Matthew Groh, meteo-rologist at the National Weather Service in San Angelo said Abilene re-ceived 12 inches of snow last winter. For some stu-dents, last year’s snow was an anamoly from what they normally see.

Manki (Maggie) Kao, junior communications major from Hong Kong, said the weather in her home city is not as cool as Abilene, and she hopes

this winter is not as cold the last.

“Winter in Hong Kong is pretty cool but not very cold, sometimes it rains but it’s not as dry as Abilene,” Kao said. “I think the temperatures in Abilene change a lot dur-ing day time and night time.”

Kao said she felt colder last year because it snowed a lot in Abilene, but never snows in Hong Kong.

A l a i n - P i e r r e N t a -honkiriye junior account-ing major from Burundi, said he doesn’t know what

to expect for the weather because Abilene weather seems to change everyday.

“I don’t know what to expect. In the morn-ing I need a jacket, then at noon it will be so hot, and in the night it will be cold again,” Ntahonkiriye said. “Where I’m from it’s warm. Last year it was my second time to see snow; and I hope this year will be warmer, I don’t want to be cold, because I have to buy a lot of clothes.”

Meiqi ZhangContributing Reporter

WEATHER

This jet stream from the north brings more moisture and storms... This jet stream from the South brings dryer, warmer weather.

PATRICK McCullough//meteorologist for the National Weather Service‘‘ ’’

contact Zhang [email protected]

November 3, 2010 CAMPUS NEWS

Each year, the Graduate School of Theology invites an off-campus New Testa-ment scholar to speak at the Carmichael-Walling Lec-tures. This Thursday marks the 24th annual Lectures, and this year’s theme will fo-cus on the Gospel of John.

“There is an overarching theme of ‘Jesus as Friend’,” said Erica Berry, administra-tive coordinator for the Grad-uate School of Theology.

Berry explained that this year’s featured speaker is Dr. Gail R. O’Day, dean of the Wake Forest University’s

School of Divinity. Accord-ing to O’Day’s Emory Uni-versity’s faculty profile, she has extensively researched the Gospel of John, the re-lationship between the Old and New Testaments, and Biblical interpretation.

With a Ph.D. from Em-ory University, M.A. from Harvard University and B.A. from Brown Univer-sity, O’Day will share her wisdom with the ACU community. O’Day is scheduled to give two lec-tures, “Jesus as Friend in the Gospel of John” and “Sacraments of Friend-ship: Embodied Love in the Gospel of John.”

O’Day has written sever-al books and edited many religious publications, in-cluding her own: The Word Disclosed: John’s Story and Narrative Preaching and Revelation in the Fourth Gospel: Narrative Mode and Theological Claim.

The Graduate School of Theology organizes the an-nual Carmichael-Walling

Lectures. Dr. Jeff Childers, as-sistant professor of Bible and church history, has been the chief organizer since 2005. Childers finds it fulfilling to be a pivotal part of the lectures.

“I like bringing schol-ars of the New Testament and early Christianity to campus. Sometimes we feel isolated here in West Texas, but bringing in

noted scholars puts us in touch with the larger world of scholarship,” Childers said.

Childers also believes the visiting scholars offer a great opportunity for the students.

“It gives our students a chance to meet and dia-logue with authors they’ve been reading and to hear about their latest work,” Childers said.

Notable speakers of past Carmichael-Walling lectures are Dr. Wayne A. Meeks, Woolsey Professor of Biblical Studies Emeri-tus in the Department of Religious Studies of Yale

University and Dr. Abra-ham J. Malherbe, Bucking-ham Professor Emeritus of Yale University. Recently, popular lecture themes have been “Looking for Bi-ble Literalism” and “Living by the Bible.”

The Carmichael-Walling lectures will take place Nov. 4 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the On-stead-Packer Biblical Studies Building in room 114. The event is free and open to the public. For more information on the lectures, contact Erica Berry at 674-3730.

Carmichael-Walling to feature Wake Forest dean FACULTY

Meagan HernandezContributing Reporter

contact Hernandez [email protected]

Iran’s government, military and possible motivations Iran would have for devel-oping nuclear weapons.

“At the end of the day, students will come to their own conclusion as to whether Iran is developing nuclear weapons and what, if anything, should be done about it,” Coates said.

Coates regularly teaches Politics of the Middle East, but said he has never had the time to delve deeper into topics students want to know more about.

“Some students want to go into the military, some into intelligence agencies, while some will be interested in it for fu-

ture career purposes,” Coates said. “Others will want to know about Iran because of their interest in the Middle East, terror-ism, U.S. foreign policy or nuclear war in general.”

Connor Best, junior po-litical science major from Sacramento, Calif., said he will consider register-ing for the class.

“A lot of us don’t have a global awareness or a real understanding of how things work in the world,” Best said. “We need to stay updated on international affairs so we can be aware of how the world affects America.”

Best said although many political science courses are based on the-ory and logistics, this Iran

and Nuclear Weapons class seems to be more pertinent to the current global discussion about ridding the world of nu-clear weapons.

Jaclyn Woolf, instructor of political science, said she believes the class will receive special attention from students interested in social justice or the eth-ics of war.

“Government is going to affect you in more ways than you possibly realize,” Woolf said. “It’s important to know how government works simply because you are going to be subject to a lot of it.”

Student involvement fell to a D from a C. Futrell said this was because the En-vironmental Society – of which she is president – had just been created and did not have a chance to ac-complish anything.

Now several clubs are involved in a recycling cam-paign that has been educat-ing students on the impact their choices make on the environment. The Recy-cling Raid the ACU Envi-ronmental Society recently developed and executed has attracted attention from

other universities and will be used on other campuses, such as Texas Tech.

Cooke said that in addi-tion to student involvement, ACU needs to centralize staff and faculty efforts with an office or position devot-ed to sustainability, though the creation of the Environ-mental Task Force has im-proved this. The task force contributed to a raise in the administration’s grade from a D to a C.

Initiatives can be more effective and maintained much longer when prac-ticed at an administrative level, Cooke said.

“We need all of it,” Cooke said. “We need administra-tion from the top down and students and faculty from the bottom up.”

ACU has received an F in both endowment trans-parency and shareholder involvement for the past three years, according to www.greenreportcard.org. Under these areas the website reported that the Abilene Christian Univer-sity Foundation “has no known policy of disclosure of endowment holdings or its shareholder voting re-cord,” and “has not made any public statements

about active ownership or a proxy voting policy.”

Futrell said the survey’s questions on these topics were more formatted for public schools than private schools, which invest their funds differ-ently. Because of this, Invest-ment Services chose not to answer any of the questions.

“ACU has a history of keeping its financial infor-mation private,” Futrell said.

Private educational in-stitutes Texas Christian University and Baylor Uni-versity made three Cs and a D between them in these two categories in their 2011 report cards, according to

www.greenreportcard.org. Futrell said this may be because they attempted to answer the questions.

Cooke said he did not know why ACU chose to leave that part of the sur-vey unanswered, but the two Fs had a very nega-tive effect on the univer-sity’s overall grade, which weighs each of the nine categories equally.

Futrell said the way to raise the grades in any area on the report card would be for students to express con-cern in that area. She said she hoped the recycling ini-tiatives the Students’ Associ-

ation and clubs are develop-ing would raise ACU’s green grade to a C+ next year.

“At the end of the day the administrators work for the students – students are the driving force behind these kinds of changes on campus,” Futrell said. “The more stu-dent involvement we have, the more likely it will be that our recycling campaign will have a long-lasting effect.”

For the full report card of ACU and other universi-ties students can visit www.greenreportcard.org.

contact Lewis [email protected]

Continued from page 1

Environment: Student groups hope to improve low gradeCAMPUS

contact Burch [email protected]

Coates: Class to study IranACADEMICS


contact Williamson [email protected]

AT&T: Construction begins on new library learning area

CONSTRUCTION


I like bringing scholars of the New Testament and early Christianity to campus.

DR. JEFF CHILDERS // assistant professor of Bible‘‘ ’’

MEAGAN HERNANDEZ // Staff Photographer

Eric Gumm, director of the First Year Program, places a medal around his neck after completing the race Marathoning for Miracles at the Taylor County Expo Center on Oct. 30.

Running the RaceStudents to race clock for 24-Hour FilmFest

The ACU FilmFest organi-zation will host a 24-Hour FilmFest for the first time Saturday. The rules for the competition will be posted on the organiza-tion’s blog, acufilmfest.tumblr.com, at midnight Saturday. All entries must be posted to the blog by 11:59 p.m. the same day.

The event encourages spontaneity, creativity and entries from students across campus. Co-chair Sandra Amstutz, senior electronic media major from La Feria, says the com-mittee hopes to see lots of variety and creativity.

“We really just want people to be creative and see what they can do in 24 hours,” said Amstutz.

There is no entry fee for the event, no theme or time limit, no budget guidelines, and only a few

control elements the video must include. Details on these instructions will be posted on the blog. The only rules for the videos state that films must not violate university rules.

Senior Rob Rogers, electronic media major from Houston, plans to enter the contest.

“I am excited about the event because I have no idea of what I’m going to do or how I’m going to do it, but within 24 hours I know my friends and I can piece together something,” Rogers said.

The films will be judged by the ACU community Nov. 8-12. Any student can go to the blog and vote on the best video during the week. The winner will re-ceive $50 and a free entry to the ACU FilmFest event in the spring, worth $45.

The films do not have to be long or elaborate. Am-stutz said they would rath-

er see fun thirty-second entries with a message, than five minute-long films without direction. Her advice for students planning to enter is: work in a team; pick a storyline and stick with it; feel free to improvise and make the most of props and re-sources on hand.

Co-chairs have hosted two workshops already this semester, focused on direct-ing and screenwriting. The organization normally hosts mini-events and workshops leading up to the highly-competitive FilmFest event in the spring, but it has in-creased its number of fall programs this year.

“I’m excited to see the variety of videos we’re going to get, commer-cials, music videos, satire, animation, parodies and more,” said Amstutz.

Laura GasvodaStaff Reporter

STUDENT GROUPS

contact Gasvoda [email protected]

atrium staircase on the sec-ond floor.

Plans for the studio were finalized three weeks ago, and demolition began last week. Much of the work includes making room for several new and innovative spaces in the AT&T Learning Studio.

These spaces include “multiple collaboration” – or “whiteboard” – rooms, which will allow students to meet in groups for both personal and school projects.

Kyle Trafton, media spe-cialist in the new studio, says he hopes these spaces will prompt students to explore

their passions inside and outside the classroom.

Trafton’s goal echoes the overarching hopes for the new studio. Dickson said initial planning for the new space last spring made it clear that renovations need-ed to provide a creative space that would benefit students of all skill levels.

“Students often just need a place to get started,” Dick-son said. “We want the Digital Media Center as it moves up-stairs to be a way to combine both their private passions, as well as new approaches to using media and learning.”

Collaboration rooms, a larger and more open re-

cording space, a high-def-inition recording studio, a speaking center, and an im-proved area for the library’s media collections are a few of the new features set to be unveiled this spring.

Dickson said construc-tion is on schedule, and he did not anticipate any major setbacks to delay the predict-ed opening date.

An update of the con-struction process, along with an overview of the AT&T Learning Studio, can be found at blogs.acu.edu/learningstudio.

“I’m gonna say something really important, but re-ally quick. I’m not gonna preach to you, but we need something really special this year,” hip-hop artist Jay-Z says to a cheering crowd in a new “Vote Again 2010” pub-lic service announcement.

The announcement en-courages young voters to hit the polls again this year and be the force of change they were in the 2008 elections. His message does not en-dorse a particular candidate or party agenda, but it does raise the question of what role celebrities should play when it comes to politics.

In 2008, a more partisan music video, “Yes We Can,” featured more than 30 ce-lebrities endorsing Obama’s campaign, including Kanye

West, John Legend, Common and Scarlett Johansson.

We’ve also seen George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, John Voight, Bar-bara Streisand, Oprah Win-frey and Clint Eastwood vocalize their own political views over the years (for and against both parties).

Celebrities have the same right as anyone to voice their opinions and support a par-ticular candidate or party. The problem, however, is they tend to attract quite a bit more attention when they speak from the red carpet than an office worker does when he debates in the lunchroom with his co-workers.

More than that, there is a tendency to receive celeb-rities as greater authorities when it comes to opinions

and political endorsements — even though they are of-ten no more informed than the average citizen.

After all, being a celebrity doesn’t translate into keen political insight. Playing the role of a political figure in a film doesn’t make an actor any more an expert on poli-tics than wearing an Armani suit makes the President an expert on fashion.

Beyond that, politics are outside most celebrities’ ar-eas of expertise. If we would hesitate to consider Condo-leezza Rice an authority on the latest fashion, we should also be reluctant to make George Clooney an authority on the latest political issue.

This isn’t to dismiss ce-lebrities as ignorant or inca-pable of making thoughtful,

educated decisions. Ronald Reagan, after all, went from Hollywood to a successful presidency, Schwarzeneg-ger went on to a governor-ship, and we should also remember that many ce-lebrities have used their in-fluence to campaign for is-sues like ending the Darfur crisis, supporting Haiti in the aftermath of the earth-quake, and furthering other humanitarian causes.

But when it comes to choosing the next President, it just doesn’t make sense to look to celebrities any more (or any less) than we would someone else. We might also be more wary of the opinions of someone sitting in the back of a limousine and watch-ing elections from a house in Malibu or a loft in New York

City, since we just have to wonder how much they can even relate to pressing social issues and national concerns for the average citizen.

Fortunately, a recent study by North Carolina State University titled, “Seeing Stars: are young voters influenced by ce-lebrity endorsements of candidates?”, suggests the impact of celebrity en-dorsements is probably quite minimal. At the same time, it says, their influ-ence is still worth noting.

So with this year’s elec-tion recently concluded, we’ll just have to wait for the tally to see how many young voters hit the polls. While a large number would be a good thing, a 30-second Jay-Z an-nouncement will hope-fully have had little to do with it — since Washing-ton, D.C. and Hollywood are rightly situated on opposite coasts.

Opinion November 3, 2010

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]

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Optimistthe

Star support shouldn’t predict politicsEDITORIAL

I liked candlelight devo because it was cool to see all of the lights and listen to the speaker.TYLER PINKERTFreshman business management major from Red Oak

I liked the service project. I got to know a lot of people and my group and I had a blast.

Familiarity can inhibit change

COLUMN

BarbarossaBy Matthew Woodrow

My family tends to hold on to things till we can’t get any more use out of them.

Our last minivan had n e a r l y 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 miles on it, shook when it got past 45 miles per hour and l o o k e d like a step down from the Flint-stones car.

The only reason we gave it away was because members of our church said they were praying daily that we would come to our senses and get a new one before departing on a 5,000 mile road trip.

Growing up, we used the TV my father had in his childhood. It was so old that when we plugged in our brand new Xbox (through the VCR) we realized the TV was so old it could only show our video games in black and white. We ended up asking my dad if we could get a new TV instead of eating out for a year.

We all grow accustomed to the familiar, and many of us don’t like change, or in my case, are too lazy to make the change.

Going into college I had a pair of shoes that I bought my junior year of high school. I marched in the band, played street basketball, ran in them – I had those shoes broken-in perfectly.

But then I kept on wearing them.

There comes a point in every pair of shoes’ life when they pass be-ing “broke-in” and be-come just “broke.”

A few years pass and I go to Oxford with Study

Abroad. Anyone who has spent a semester across the pond knows there’s a lot of walking. One mile to the grocery store, two to your favor-ite restaurant and three to the Church of Christ. And there I was walking around in those raggedy old shoes.

My parents came to visit after two months, and the first thing my mother did, after giving me a hug, was scream at my shoes.

She couldn’t believe I was parading around in the motherland with my big toe poking out of a hole and giving the Wood-row family a bad name.

Her solution was to rip my shoes off, then rip my fathers shoes off and put them on me.

They were some really nice shoes!

I had got mine at Costco for $16. These cost over five times that, and were made for walk-ing in comfort. My feet hadn’t known what they were missing. I didn’t know how sore my feet had been at night until they no longer hurt.

So while I could have gone the rest of the year and most of the year after that without a new pair of shoes, I was instead pam-pered by new footwear.

I know many of us tolerate, but why should we? If God has blessed us with the capabilities to change things and make ourselves happy why don’t we more often?

A new pair of shoes is relatively small, but what are some other things that we can fix in order to make life a little better for us all?

contact the Optimist [email protected]

Woodrow

contact Woodrow [email protected]

letter to the editor

Why on God’s green Earth would someone feel the need to shout out “Red Robin” in the middle of Chapel? I understand Abilene is not the greenest place God cre-ated, but the point still remains — a certain level of respect is due to Chapel, and lately we, the student body, have fallen short.

In Chapel last week, a student melodiously shouted out, “Red Robin” when the audience was quiet between songs.

Most students on campus are required to get 55 Chapel cred-its every semester. For some of those students, Chapel is mere-ly a social time. Some students relax and listen to music while

others just go to sleep. But, (as if this should be a surprise) there are some students that actually enjoy the quick time to assemble for reflection, growth and praise.

Wednesday was “Come to the Quiet”, and someone clearly mis-understood what that meant. Al-low me to help. It means that we get 30 minutes to exhale from life. We get to sing praises to our Sav-ior. We get to pray and join others in prayer. We get to meditate.

I’ll be honest, I too sometimes giggle if the song leader obvi-ously missed a note. I too some-times read a quick text message. And yes, I may even ask the per-

son next to me what they’re hav-ing for lunch. But for Heaven’s sake, I wouldn’t lower the pitch of my voice to shout out “What-a-burger!” And although they make burgers just like I like it, I also like Chapel. I love Chapel.

Between 11 and 11:30 am Moody Coliseum is more than just a gym to me, it is a place of worship; it is Chapel. If you don’t share in that sentiment, okay. But please, don’t ruin it for the rest of us. We all have to draw the line for what is too far, or what is too disrespectful. We all see where the person who shouted out “Red Robin” draws their line, where do you draw yours?

Farron Salley junior advertising and public relations major from Fort Worth

Students fail to respect “Come to the Quiet”

By Morgan DavisThe Funny Funnies

the issueCelebrities are backing political candidates in very public and very vocal ways.

our takeEndorsements from Hollywood aren’t necessarily more insightful than others.

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Shootout: Gale betters chances at Harlon Hill

11-yard run. CJ Akins was named State Farm Player of the Game for Angelo; he finished the contest with seven receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown.

ACU’s next possession, which spilled into the second quarter, was all Mitchell Gale, who went three for three on the drive including a 24-yard rush. Gale found Emery Dudens-ing on the sideline, who took it into the end zone. Dudensing scored twice in the game for his fifth and sixth touchdowns of both the season and his career.

Gale would find Ray-mond Radway just before the end of the half to put the Wildcats up 16-7 head-ing into the break.

ACU went three and out on their first possession of the second half and ASU took advantage. The Rams embarked on a 9-play drive that spanned just over four minutes to pull within three at 16-13.

The Wildcats would not allow the Rams to get

any closer. Later in the third quarter Gale found Dudensing again for the second time in the game. ACU went up 23-13.

Another score by each team would seal the deal as the Wildcats moved to 9-0 with the win.

“I’m real proud of our guys, they played hard to the end,” Thomsen said.

The Wildcats again proved they are for real by beating arguably one of the best 3-4 teams in the coun-try. Of the four losses the Rams had coming into the game, three were against top-25 teams, and they lost by a combined total of 31 points. Although that seems like a lot, the points were mostly late and in the fourth quarter.

ACU has been no strang-er to the big game this season, and they showed it once again after being down early in the game. It seemed that Angelo may have had ACU’s number on Saturday after scoring an early touchdown from the Wildcat formation, but Coach Thomsen kept

his team poised as he has all season.

The Wildcats also learned they might have a Harlon Hill candidate on their hands this season in quarterback Mitchell Gale. Gale has been the epitome of a leader this season, completing passes under pressure, directing traffic in an offense with numer-ous sets, and making much better decisions when the ball is in his hands. His stats are amongst the top in the nation in every cat-egory for a quarterback. Gale ranks fourth in pass-ing efficiency, ninth in to-tal yards, eleventh in yards per game, and first in fewest interceptions and in interception to touch-down ratio.

If Gale can have a game like he did against Wash-burn, Kingsville, Midwest-ern, and Angelo against West Texas, he will be in serious contention for the award given to the nation’s top Div. II football player.

FOOTBALL

contact Tripp [email protected]


Wide receiver Edmund Gates finishes a 55 yard catch and run for a touchdown Saturday against Angelo State. Gates’ touchdown was his 11th on the year, which ranks first in the LSC.

Test: Winner of match will host tournament

feel we are more prepared for them than we’ve ever been. This match is just another roadblock in the way of the goals we want to accomplish.”

Although a loss would not shatter the Wildcat’s season, it would most likely make Thursday ACU’s last home game of the season.

The match is also be-ing billed to fans as Senior Night. The seniors playing for the Wildcats this year are Hines, Moronu and Jor-dan Schilling. Combined, they have 9 years of ex-perience for the Wildcats and will be missed by fans, coaches and players alike, as those three women have been key pieces to the Wild-cat’s recent success.

Fans coming to the game are encouraged to “Purple Rush” the Lady Buffs, and the first 250 will receive rally towels to support the Wildcats. The match will be played at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum.

VOLLEYBALL

contact Gwin [email protected]


Kalynne Allen serves a point in a match earlier this year.



I went online like everyone else to buy my tickets for the ALDS. And sat in stunned disbelief as they threw away two winnable games, in games three and four of the series. Then I watched on pins and needles as Cliff Lee saved everyone in game 5. I again had tickets for games one and two of the ALCS, and again watched in disbelief as

the Ranger bullpen did their best imitation of the Titanic. But, as they’ve done all year, they battled back in game two to make a series of it.

Two butt-kickings in New York made me think this might actually happen. After game three, five friends and I bought tickets for game six of the ALCS.

After Vladdy’s double and Nelly’s HR in the fifth, it started to occur to me the

collapse wasn’t coming. For the next four innings, a lot of memories flooded my memory bank from games I’d seen at that ballpark.

I can’t believe how far the Rangers came. Watching 50,000-plus fans going nuts on the verge of a World Se-ries birth was a far cry from past seasons

Series: Looking backCOLUMN

contact Bacon [email protected]


Record: Year sets markof the ACU soccer pro-gram since its inaugural season four years ago, this season really has meant something special.

“From going, to not qualifying for the tourna-ment freshman year, to earning a bye senior year just goes to show our re-siliency as a team,” Craig said. “It’s definitely an ex-citing time for our team.”

Going into last week-end, the Cats’ were ranked No. 23 in the nation and second in the region. They needed to win both

games and pray for a Mid-western loss to host the conference tournament.

Texas A&M-Commerce hosted ACU Friday night and beat the Wildcat in a tight game, 1-0. The loss snapped the Cats’ eight-game winning streak and marked the first time ACU has finished a game with a goose egg on the score-board. Commerce goalie Randi Hafele had eight saves, and Megan Mon-roe scored the game’s only goal.

ACU played at Texas Women’s University on Sunday and got back on

track. Freshman superstar Andrea Carpenter record-ed her second hat trick of the season in the Cats’ 3-2 victory. The win secured a second seed in the con-ference tournament and marked the program’s highest ever win total for a season.

The Wildcats (14-3, 9-2) received a first round bye in the LSC tournament and will play the winner of the Angelo State-Com-merce game at 5 p.m. Fri-day in Wichita Falls.

SOCCER

contact Shake [email protected]


pre-match comparisonWest Texas A&M Abilene Christian

• 22-8, 12-0 • 24-3, 12-0• 11-7 away record • 7-0 home record• 13 sweeps • 15 sweeps• 1-3 against top 25 • 1-1 against top 25• 2-0 against ACU in ‘09 • 0-2 against WT in ‘09

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SportsStandings

Briefs

n The Wildcat football team moved up to No. 2 nationally in the lat-est American Football Coaches’ Association Poll released Monday. The Lone Star Confer-ence has four teams in the in the poll, includ-ing two in the top ten. ACU is also ranked No. 1 in the latest NCAA regional poll.

n The ACU golf team won their final tourna-ment of the fall on Tuesday. The Wildcats won the tournament by 19 strokes at the famous TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course. Alex Carpenter took the individual title by seven strokes. It is his fourth-straight victory this fall.

PlayerProfile

n Emery Dudens-ing, senior fullback from Rule, had a breakout game last week against Angelo State. Dudensing caught two touch-down passes of nine and seven yards from quarterback Mitchell Gale. Dudensing is a three-year starter for the Wildcats, and is having a stand-out year statistically. He has caught nine passes for 94 yards and six touchdowns, while rushing 10 times for 39 yards and one touchdown this year.

Upcoming

n ACU volleyball (24-3, 12-0) will host rival West Texas A&M Thursday at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum.

n Cross Country will compete in the Lone Star Conference Cross Country Champion-ship Saturday at Sher-rod Park.

n The No. 2 ACU football team will travel to take on WTAMU Saturday at 6 p.m.

November 3, 2010

Undefeated WT visits Moody, Thursday

The one match the Wildcat volleyball team circled on their calendar is finally here, and there is more at stake than most people thought.

On Thursday, ACU will take on perennial vol-leyball powerhouse West Texas A&M in a match that will decide the number one seed and host of the LSC postseason tournament.

“We are just ready to play them and prove we are

the number one team in the conference,” said senior setter Ijeoma Moronu. “Just like any other game, we will take it a point at time till we come out on top.”

The Wildcats have won all 12 of their LSC games, including two more last weekend to gain their cur-rent position.

Last Thursday ACU swept a weak Texas A&M-Kingsville team en route to a 3-0 win. The first game of the three was close, with the Wildcats closing

out a 25-21 win after three straight Kingsville errors. ACU dominated the second set 25-16 before Kingsville fought back to make the third set tight, 25-23.

Statistically the Wildcats were led by Shawna Hines, who posted nine kills with a .389 hitting percentage.

Moronu added her 13th double double of the sea-son in the Wildcats 15th sweep of the year.

Saturday featured more of the same from the ’Cats. Although they lost the first set, ACU bounced back to win the next three for a victory over the struggling

Incarnate Word Cardinals.West Texas will be quite

a different monster than the Wildcats have seen so far in the LSC this season. Although the Lady Buffs have eight losses on the year, the number that re-ally matters is the zero in the conference loss col-umn. Both teams will have that number going into the match.

“We have waited all season for this game,” said

Austin GwinSports Editor

VOLLEYBALL

FOOTBALLTeam Div. Ovrl.ACUTAMU-KWTAMUE. CentralMSUENMUTarleton StAngelo St.UIW

5-04-14.-14-14-13-21-41-50-5

9-08-17-24-57-24-52-73-52-7

VOLLEYBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.ACUWTAMUAngelo St.Tarleton St.MSUTAMU-K

12-012-011-17-57-54-8

24-322-816-1021-813-1310-14

WOMEN’S SOCCERTeam Div. Ovrl.MSUACUCen. Okla.WTAMUNE St.ENMU E. Central

10-1-09-2-06-4-14-6-13-5-32-9-01-9-1

15-2-014-3-010-7-18-7-37-6-55-13-05-11-2

Wildcats sidestep Angelo

The ACU Wildcats became the first-ever winners of the State Farm Big Coun-try-Concho Valley Shoot-out on Saturday with a 33 to 20 victory over rival An-gelo State.

Mitchell Gale was named the State Farm play-er of the game. Gale com-pleted 27 of 41 passes for 377 yards and four touch-downs. He has thrown at least three touchdowns in his last five games, and still has thrown only one interception.

Edmund Gates also had his fifth straight 100-yard receiving game.

“They have played ev-erybody tough like they just played us,” said ACU head coach Chris Thoms-en. “I think they’re a really good team.”

It was a slow start to a

game that finished with 50-plus points scored.

The Wildcats managed, on their first drive, just a field goal attempt by Mor-gan Lineberry. Lineberry hit the 49-yard attempt but left the game immediately following the kick after re-injuring his back.

Angelo State would fire back toward the end of the first quarter. Quarterback Josh Neiswander hit CJ Akins twice on the drive for 68 yards. Garrett Tidwell capped the drive from the Wildcat formation with an

Brandon Tripp Sports Director

FOOTBALL


Kendrick Johnson, a do-it-all running back, jukes a defender during a punt return Saturday against Angelo State. The Wildcats took the game for a 33-20 win to move to 9-0 on the season. Quarterback Mitchell Gale was named the State Farm Player of the Game, throwing for four touchdowns in the victory.

Game six win stirs memoryGuest ColumnMichael Bacon

For my almost 21 years on this earth, the Rang-ers have been something of a joke. No matter what happened, how great the proverbial June winning streak was, I and all Ranger fans waited for the inevita-ble post-All Star break col-lapse. It didn’t matter that they would hit 200-plus home runs a year, because the pitching staff would give up that many too.

Names like Juan Gonza-lez, Pudge, Rafael Palmeiro, Will Clark, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, Sammy Sosa, Hank Blalock, Mark Teixeira came and went with a lot of stats and fire-works and few meaningful wins. Yes, three division ti-tles should count for some-thing. But when those three teams combine for one postseason victory, they aren’t quite as sweet.

Once again, after a long June winning streak this year, the Rangers went into the All-Star break limping after a four-game sweep at the hands of the mighty Baltimore Orioles. And the “here we go again” head rolls began across Texas and the Metroplex.

For my summer vaca-tion, my mom took me to see the Rangers take three out of four from the Sox. Maybe the ultimate sign this season would be dif-ferent came in the second game of the series when Benji Molina, the slowest man in baseball, legged out a triple on a rain-soaked Fenway field to complete the most unlikely cycle in baseball history.

I had a feeling after seeing them play in Boston there might not be a collapse this year. Still, I can’t begin to say I expected a run like this.

COLUMN

ACU grabs second seed

Records have been broken, players have stepped up this season, and victories have been plentiful. That’s the formula for one great season from the ACU soccer team.

And the fun isn’t over yet. The Wildcats have clinched the second seed for the Lone Star Confer-ence Tournament, which

will take place this Thurs-day, Friday, and Sunday at Midwestern State Univer-sity in Wichita Falls.

This is the highest seed-ing ACU has received since the soccer program began four years ago. Head coach Casey Wilson said he is ex-cited for the chance this gives the team to add even more pages to what is al-ready a season for the re-cord books.

“Our first year in exis-tence, we didn’t make the tournament, and the sec-ond and third years we were knocked out in the first round,” Wilson said. “We’ve been climbing the ladder each year, and we’re excited for what the rest of this year will bring.”

For players like Bree Craig who have been a part

Bryson Shake Assistant Sports Editor

SOCCER

MEAGAN HERNANDEZ // Staff Photographer

Katherine Garner, sophomore from Arlington, fights for a ball in a match against West Texas.

We are just ready to play them and prove we are the number one team...

IJEOMA MORONU // senior setter from Fort Worth‘‘ ’’

see SHOOTOUT page 5

see RECORD page 5see SERIES page 5

see TEST page 5

The Optimist Print Edition: 11.03.10

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