inside

page 8 page 6 page 4

No. 4 Women’s soccer team extends win streak over weekend

Read why students are responsible for actions during pledging

Business Services office introduces roadside assistance program

Abilene Christian University

Fresh Food FindsLocal growers sell produce downtown

As the religious makeup of the student body continues to diversify, the university has ex-perienced a steady decline in the enrollment of students with a Church of Christ heritage.

The percentage of students who report-ed having a background in Churches of Christ has dropped 13 percent from 2006 to 2010, according to the university’s an-nual report.

Students affiliated with the Church of Christ now make up just less than half of the student body, at 49 percent.

Lisa McCarty, assistant director and insti-tutional researcher, manages the statistics, which outline current enrollment and reli-gious stratification among the student body.

“The last five years show that we’ve gone down in Church of Christ students,” McCarty said. “But some of that can be caused by the different terminology. Many kids are going to churches that are now considered community churches, and they don’t know how to file that.”

McCarty said the category of “commu-

nity” church, or non-denominational, is an addition to the report. The new sub-cate-gory has increased in number every year since it began being tracked in 2003.

University representatives ask students to report their religious background dur-ing the application process. Although pre-dominately Church of Christ, some stu-dents reported membership to the Roman Catholic church, Church of Latter Day Saints and Jehovah’s Witness.

Doug Foster, professor of church his-tory, said he believes this trend reaches be-yond Church of Christ members.

“People don’t necessarily think in terms of Church of Christ or Methodist or Presby-terian,” Foster said. “They tend to think in more generic terms as Christians.”

Foster said it is common to see Christians loosening their ties to a particular church, especially when looking at a university.

“For those who not do not have a loy-alty to a specific group, they’re looking for a strong school,” Foster said. “A lot of folks are attracted to us because we do have high standards academically.”

Foster said the university has a very present Christian identity but visitors

and prospective students can be unaware of the university’s heritage.

“It’s not particularly negative when students don’t come here with a Church of Christ background,” Foster said. “There are just larger groups of people who are

various kinds of Christians. I’m sure we’ll see that trend continue.”

Featurespage 5

sports opinion news

see language page 4

acuoptimist.com

University combines health and counseling services in new facility

video

Data show increased religious diversityuniversity

christina burchmultimedia managing editor

The university is moving toward implementing a three-year-old requirement that students must take two semesters of a foreign lan-guage or show they can pass a standardized credit test.

This change in the for-eign language policy was approved back in 2008, along with other changes to ACU’s core classes.

As of now, the university requires students to have

taken two years of a foreign language in high school. If the student does not meet this prerequisite, they must take six hours of foreign lan-guage to complete this de-mand. The future require-ment will call for students to take six hours of a foreign language regardless of high school classes.

Dr. Gregory Straughn, assistant provost for general education, said the current requirement is not strong and does not help support the school’s mission to “ed-ucate students for Chris-

tian service and leadership throughout the world.”

“English is an important language for business and travel, but the world is much more rich and more com-plex than one language,” Straughn said. “By strength-ening the requirement to be a successful completion of elementary-level foreign language at ACU, students are exposed to the begin-nings of a second language and to an appreciation and understanding of culture that comes with language acquisition.”

Dr. Jeff Haseltine, asso-ciate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said he sees some problems with the current foreign lan-guage requirement and said the policy needs updating.

He said the current foreign language requirement does not produce the expected results. The changes voted on by faculty now being implemented will make sure students have an el-ementary proficiency of a language.

“We don’t kid ourselves too much about the level of proficiency that students have when they leave ACU,” Haseltine said.

He said the university does not want students to study a language simply as a mechanical device.

“We want a changed outlook on the world, to be aware of the culture and background of the people who speak that language,” Haseltine said. “We want it to be a positive part of the student’s education, not a burden or barrier.”

Haseltine said if at one point students get an el-ementary level understand-ing of a language they will be more able to continue learning on their own or to learn a new language depending on where they

Faculty moves forward with language requirementcurriculum

Meagan freemancontributing writer

Dr. Jeff HaseltineAssociate dean of the college of

arts and sciences

We want a changed outlook on the world, to be

aware of the culture and background of the people

who speak that language.”“

vol. 100, no. 12 wednesday, october 5, 2011 1 SECTION, 8 PAGES

Mandy Lambright staff Photographer

NuNus, pledges of the women’s social club Ko Jo Kai, Emily McLean, sophomore nursing major from Abilene, Emily Pybus, sophomore graphic design major from North Richland Hills, and Madelyn Walker, sophomore accounting major from Abilene, respect Kojie Park during one of their daily pledging rituals.

contact burch atclb10b@acu.edu

49% | Church of Christ

15% | Baptist

3.7% | Christian Church

3.8% | Roman Catholic

11.8% | Community Church

3.7% | Methodist

17% | Other

Illustration by Michael McCarty

Religious groupsrepresented on campus

This chart represents the religious a�liation of students as reported when entering the university.

05

28 43

06 07 08Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

6 p.m. Faculty vs. Student Wheelchair basketball game in Moody Coliseum

7 p.m. ACU volleyball at Midwestern State

7 p.m. Gamma Sigma Phi Grub

11:30 a.m. RCVCC’s 5th Annual Men of Strength and Style lun-cheon in the Hunter Welcome Center

4 p.m. ACU Women’s soccer vs. Midwestern

4 p.m. ACU Women’s soccer vs. Eastern New Mexico

6:30 p.m. Frater Sodalis Grub

7 p.m. Pi Kappa Grub

7 p.m. Sub T-16 Grub

7 p.m. Sigma Theta Chi Grub

2 p.m. ACU volleyball at Cameron

3 p.m. ACU football at Eastern New Mexico

6:30 Ko Jo Kai Grub

7 p.m. Alpha Kai Omega Grub; Delta Theta Grub

7:30 p.m. GATA Grub

Police Log

chapel checkup

@acuoptimist

The Optimist

optimist@acu.edu

Wednesday 10.05.11 2

announcements

The Faculty vs. Student Wheelchair basketball game will take place on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. in Moody Coliseum. Admis-sion is free. For more information con-tact Bryan Evens at bse08b@acu.edu.

The Homecoming Court will be announced Oct. 7 during Chapel in Moody Coliseum.

There will be a preview of the Home-coming Musical, The King and I, Oct. 12 at 11 a.m. in Moody Coliseum.

The ACU School of Nursing will present a Faith in Practice Series in the Campus Center Living Room on Oct. 12 from 6 - 7:30 p.m. Featured speaker will be Brad Gautney, a former missionary in Haiti who seeks to make a difference in the lives of mothers and children affected by HIV/AIDS.

A fundraiser for the Wildcat Hockey team will take place Oct. 12 from 6 - 8 p.m. at the Chick-Fil-A located at the

corner of Southwest Drive and Clack Street. A portion of the profits will be donated to the club to help them pre-pare for their upcoming season.

Omega Dance Company will have a Bake Sale Oct. 13 from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. in the Campus Center. All items will cost $1, and only cash or checks will be accepted.

An interest meeting for ACU for Fair Trade will take place in the Campus Center Living Room from 6 - 8 p.m. Oct. 13. The meeting will be come-and-go. Food and drinks will be provided. For details and questions contact Ian Rob-ertson at iwr09a@acu.edu.

The Homecoming Carnival will take place Oct. 14 on the Northeast Lawn of the Hunter Welcome Center from 5 - 8 p.m.

Jam Fest will take place Oct. 14 from 5:30 - 9 p.m. on the Hunter Welcome Center

East Lawn. There will be music, fun and fireworks. T-shirts will go on sale Oct. 10.

ACU’s homecoming musical, The King and I, will be shown Oct. 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. in the Abilene Civic Center. Tickets can be purchased by calling 325-674-2787 or online at acu.edu/theatre.

The Homecoming Parade will take place on Oct. 15 from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. The pa-rade will begin on EN 16th Street.

Homecoming Chapel will take place Oct. 15 from 10:45 - 11: 30 a.m. in Moody Coliseum.

Ring and graduation announcement sales will take place Oct. 24 - 26 in the Campus Store.

The Me Addiction Tour, featuring come-dian Bob Smiley, speaker Reg Cox and

worship leader Phil Joel, will take place in the Hunter Welcome Center on Oct. 28.

ACU Upward Bound is now hiring tu-tors to serve the students of AISD. Con-tact the Academic Development Ad-viser at 325-674-2514 or visit the office located in the Brown Library. Tutors will be paid. For more information visit www.acu.edu/upward_bound.

Flu shots will be available in the Medi-cal & Counseling Care Center for $15.

Makeover Mondays will take place in the Campus Store every Monday from 2 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Students can stop by to try new beauty products or consult with the staff members.

Blood, Sex, Sweat & Dirt, a Chapel Forum by the ACU Social Justice Clubs, will take place in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Build-ing Room 144 Tuesdays at 11 a.m.

Volunteer Opp0rtunities

Wildcats for Sustainability, in conjunction with Keep Abilene Beautiful, needs volunteers to help with an Adopt-A-Creek clean up on Oct. 5 from noon to 3 p.m. This will take place at the creek on S. 14 and Elmwood streets. Volunteers need to wear shoes and clothes that they won’t mind getting dirty. For more information contact Samantha Sal-divar at 325-514-1127, or email saf09a@acu.edu.

Cancer Services Network needs volunteers on Oct. 6 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. to help unpack chair covers, confirm number with packing list, place covers on 540 chairs, unload auction items and help with other tasks for their auction event. This will take place at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. 6th St. Contact Nancy Estes, 325-672-0040 or email nancyestes@cancerservicesnetwork.org.

Jane Long Elementary is looking for volunteers to help on Oct. 13 in preparation for their Fall Festival. They need help setting up air castles and other items from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. They also need help during the festival from 3:30 - 7 p.m. serving food, manning booths and air castles, face painting, etc. For more information contact Nina Leija at 325-671-4920, ex-tension 8937 or email nina.leija@abileneisd.org.

The AISD Early Childhood Program needs vol-unteers to work in the children’s area Oct. 13 from 3:30 - 7 p.m. This includes air castle supervision, face painting, etc. The Program will be at the Abilene Civic Center located at 1100 N. 6th St. For more information contact Mary Mcleod at 325-794-1368 or email mary.mcleod@abileneisd.org.

University Park Apartments is looking for artistic volunteers on Oct. 15 from 10:45 a.m. - 12 p.m. to decorate cars for Homecoming. Volunteers may start a volleyball game as well as interact with the apartment community. For more information con-tact Melanie Kirkland or Jodi Hatcher at 325-738-4600 or email melanie.kirkland@clvusa.com.

Volunteers are needed to help the Abilene Volun-teer Weatherization Program on Oct. 22 from 8 or 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. The group winterizes homes of 40 -50 elderly, disabled or low income families. Many tasks are associated with this project. No experience is necessary. Contact Stacia Ellison at 325-668-2062 and leave a message or email stacia.ellison@dads.state.tx.us.

The Oakridge Church of Christ is looking for volunteers to pass out flyers to their neighbors on Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. to spread the word

about their Trunk-Or-Treat. Volunteers will meet at the church building located at 3250 Beltway South for coffee and hot chocolate. Heph’s Burgers will provide lunch. The church is also looking for volunteers to help with Trunk-Or-Treat on Oct. 29 from 6 - 9 p.m. at the church building located at 3250 Beltway South. Volunteers will help with set-ting up booths, working the booths, face painting, and running games for the kids. To help with either event contact Emerald Lemmons at 325-370-1327 or email emeraldlemmons@gmail.com.

Rescue The Animals is looking for volunteers anytime between 1-5 p.m., Monday through Friday afternoons. They need help around the adoption center with general cleaning, socialization of the animals, helping potential adopters and other tasks. Contact Mindi Qualls at 325-698-7722 or email rescuetheanimalsvolunteers@yahoo.com The center is located at 5933 S. 1st Street.

Meals on Wheels Plus needs volunteer drivers to deliver afternoon meals to seniors and adults with disabilities Mondays - Fridays between 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years-old and have a valid drivers license. Training is provided. A Cha-pel exemption is available if delivery time conflicts with Chapel. Contact Jessica Stewart at 325-672-5050 or email volunteer@mealsonwheelsplus.com.

The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Lit-erature is looking for volunteers to work Tuesday - Saturday from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. or 1 - 3 p.m. Volun-teers will greet patrons, assist with art activities, sell books and make visitors feel welcome. Help is also needed for special events like exhibit openings. The Center is located at 102 Cedar St. For more information contact Debby Lillick at 325-673-4586 or visit the NCCIL website.

Noah Project Inc. needs volunteers to help answer hotlines and do other office work any weekday at any time depending on the volunteers’ schedule. Training will be provided. For more information contact Yvonne Myers at 325-676-7101.

Breakfast on Beech Street is looking for volunteers to help set up and prepare and serve breakfast to homeless or lower-income visitors any weekday. Event begins at 5:30 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 5 a.m. on Tuesdays. Serv-ing time is 6:30 - 7:15 a.m. B.O.B.S is located at First Christian Church on N. 3rd Street and Beech Street in Downtown Abilene. For more information visit the First Christian Church website.

The Abilene Zoo is looking for volunteers to help with general labor such as grounds cleanup and painting any weekday at any time between noon to 4 p.m. The Zoo is located at 2070 Zoo Ln. Contact Joy Harsh at 325-676-6487 for more information.

The House That Kerry Built is looking for volunteers to assist in the day care of medically fragile children any day Monday - Friday from 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Contact Dave Kraly at 325-676-3104 or email medi-calmoose@sbcglobal.net for more infomation.

The Betty Hardwick Center is looking for volunteers to participate in Special Olympics by helping mentally/physically challenged people play games such as bas-ketball, track, and/or bowling Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. The Center is located at 801 Cypress St. Contact Angel Seca at 325-690-5235 for more information.

The Salvation Army is looking for volunteers for a variety of needs including sorting items in the thrift store, helping in the kitchen and/or doing yard work. Time is flexible, and help is needed Monday - Saturday. The Salvation Army is located at 1726 Butternut St. For more information contact J.D. Alonzo at 325-677-1408 or visit www.satruck.com.

Abilene Hope Haven Inc. needs volunteers to pro-vide childcare while parents are in class, any evening Monday - Thursday from 6:45 - 8:15 p.m. Abilene Hope Haven is located at 801 S. Treadaway Blvd. For more information contact Kathy Reppart at 325-677-4673 or visit the Abilene Hope Haven website.

Abilene Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has vari-ous opportunities for volunteers ranging from visit-ing with residents to helping with Bingo. Volunteers are needed Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday from 2 - 3 p.m. The center is located at 2630 Old Anson Road. For more information contact Rita Raymond at 325-673-5101 or email cameron.grad@hotmail.com.

The Food Bank of West Central Texas needs volunteers to help sort and stock food and other items any weekday Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. The Food Bank is located at 5505 N. 1st St. For more information contact Janice Serrault at 325-695-6311 or abfoodbk@camalott.com.

The Abilene Boys and Girls Club needs help any weekday between 3:30 - 6 p.m. helping children of all ages with games, art, gym time, reading and com-puter skills. Locations are 4610 N. 10th Street or 1902 Shelton Street. Contact Mark Denman at 325-672-1712 for more information.

Oct. 05

The Regional Crime Victim Crisis Center’s 5th Annual Men of Strength and Style luncheon will take place in the Hunter Welcome Center at Abilene Christian University. Admission is $25 per person.

7 p.m. The HSU Women’s vol-leyball team will play McMury University at Hardin Simmons University. Admission is free.

Oct. 06

6:30 p.m. Fashions for the Cure will take place at the Abilene Civic Center. There will be a silent auction, hor d’eouvres and a cash bar. The style show will begin at 7:15. Admission is $30 in advance, $40 at the door.

7:30 p.m. Hardin-Simmons University Theatre will pres-ent God of Carnage at Van El-lis Theater. Admission varies.

Oct. 07

7:30 p.m. Hardin-Simmons University Theatre will pres-ent God of Carnage at Van El-lis Theater. Admission varies.

7:30 p.m. North by Northwest will be shown at the Para-mount Theatre as part of the Classic Film Series. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for students, seniors, military, and children.

Oct. 08

1 p.m. HSU football will play Howard Payne University at Hardin-Simmons University. Tickets cost $5-$10 per person.

7 p.m. Ghost Tours will take place at Buffalo Gap Historic Village at dusk. Tour is family friendly. Admission is $10.

7:30 p.m. Hardin-Simmons University Theatre will pres-ent God of Carnage at Van El-lis Theater. Admission varies.

Around Abilene

wednesday 10.05.113 campus news

Drought directs butterflies to campus

In the midst of this year’s exceptional drought, ACU’s well-watered cam-pus attracted an unusu-ally large flock of monarch butterflies traveling south for the winter.

The butterflies’ annual 3,000-mile migration car-ries them east out of the Rockies through Abilene in route to Mexico in search of warmer weather, said Dr. Michael Nicode-mus, assistant professor of agricultural and envi-ronmental sciences. Nico-

demus said the butterflies only stay between one snd two weeks.

“I took my Cornerstone class out by Sewell [The-atre] under a pecan tree for class last Wednesday,” Nicodemus said. “Class was not terribly productive in the usual sense, but I think they enjoyed seeing the butterflies.”

Briana Love, junior psy-chology major from Roa-noke, said she enjoyed the sudden change in cam-pus scenery the butterflies brought.

“The butterflies are beautiful, and they make campus seem like a dream,”

Love said. “It’s relaxing”Emily Schuster, sopho-

more animal science major from Red Oak, said the but-terflies’ pilgrimage to the Big Country was a special time for the campus.

“They are so amazing,” Schuster said. “It’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime oppor-tunity to be walking around completely surrounded by butterflies.”

Rachel Easley, sopho-more pre-dental major from Belton, said the atmosphere of the butterflies serves as a spiritual reminder.

“The butterflies make me so happy,” Easley said. “What an awesome re-

minder that not only is God all-powerful but He creates and loves beautiful things.”

Humans do not view

butterflies as nutritional delicacies, so many stu-dents are not aware that monarchs are poisonous.

However, mammals that choose to take a bite out of the monarch soon feel their effects.

“Birds will tend to avoid them [after the first time they eat one] since the poi-son will make them sick,” Nicodemus said.

Nicodemus said the monarchs’ migration through Abilene has peaked and students should see less of the butterflies in the next week as they continue on their way to their final destination.

campus

Bethany Morganstudent reporter

contact morgan atbem09a@acu.edu

Alumni Office abandons theme for homecoming

The Alumni Office has de-cided to not have a Home-coming theme but will keep one for the Homecoming parade – I Heart ACU.

Samantha Adkins, se-nior alumni relations offi-cer, said the Alumni Office decision was made for a number of reasons.

“We don’t really like to theme the Homecoming dinners because it can get a little hokey,” Adkins said. “It makes it a little bit classier, especially for reunions.”

Adkins said finding a theme to work for both a creative parade and pro-fessional dinners for vis-iting alumni has proven to be difficult in the past. A successful theme is dif-

ficult to create because the goal is to please the alumni, but alumni usu-ally don’t have any input on the theme, Adkins said. The office has relied on itself and has gone to the student body for ideas for themes.

This is the first year the Alumni Office made the decision to cut the overall theme of Homecoming and reserve it only for the pa-rade. Jonathan Garner (’10) said the decision to omit Homecoming theme is dif-ferent but logical.

“I can understand why they wouldn’t want clowns or cowboys hanging out while they are trying to impress the alumni who support the school, but I am glad they kept a theme for the parade,” Garner said. “There needs to al-

ways be a little bit of crazy in Homecoming.”

Adkins said there has been little response to the decision to not have a theme. In the past, themes have generated both posi-tive and negative response.

“I don’t think people are concerned one way or the other whether there is a theme or not,” Adkins said.

However, the parade theme is expected to re-main for a long time, Adkins said. The crowd comes to see entertaining floats, clubs that are a part of their past, and the tradi-tions of ACU.

“I think that people come to the parade no matter what,” Adkins said.

local

curtis christianstudent reporter

contact christian atcpc08a@acu.edu

destiny hagood Staff Photographer

Judith Duran, freshman exercise science major from Zacatecas, Mexico, gets to know one of our new neighbors from the North.

Campus sees change of scenery during pledging

Mondays may no longer be so mundane for ACU stu-dents. The Campus Store has begun offering free makeovers on Mondays from 2:30 to 4 p.m., using the Bare Escentuals make-up and skin care lines.

Makeovers take any-where from five to 10 min-utes. Face-only makeovers take about five minutes, and eye shadow adds an additional five minutes. The Campus Store staff is prepared to help with any makeup questions or needs. One such staff member is Laura Quilé, customer service repre-

sentative and senior el-ementary education major from Trophy Club.

“A Bare Minerals rep-resentative came in and showed us every single product, and we had a four-hour training ses-sion where she taught us about the foundations, to the blush, to the eye shad-ows, to the skin care line,” Quilé said. “From there we practiced on each other—matching and doing full makeovers.”

The training was not a one-time event, though. Every 30 days, the ACU Bare Escentuals representative comes to Abilene to update the staff on the latest prod-ucts and makeup tips.

Thanks to a photo an-

nouncement released on the Campus Store Twit-ter and Facebook account, Bare Escentuals and Make-over Mondays on the ACU campus have been thriving, said Anthony Williams, chief business services officer.

“From a retail stand-point, we measure our suc-cess in dollars and cents,” Williams said. “We have certain targets, and we have doubled those targets.”

Bare Escentuals wasn’t accepting additional mer-chant partners when the idea of bringing them to the ACU campus was presented. But Williams spent a month making phone calls during the summer and eventually landed a call with a regional representative.

“I suppose in the end, we were persuasive enough to get them to change their mind and allow us to be their partner,” Williams said.

Bare Escentuals is a top contender in mineral makeup lines. The compa-ny was featured last month in Shape and Allure maga-zines. Quilé said its prod-ucts go a long way in mak-ing Mondays special for the students she makes over.

“I just love giving make-overs—period,” Quilé said. “I like seeing the people’s re-actions … seeing them hap-py and satisfied and feeling good about themselves.”

social Clubs

bailey nealstaff reporter

contact neal atbmn07a@acu.edu

Makeovers enhance Mondays

A significant portion of ACU students have undergone a dramatic change of ward-robe over the past week. Pledging for social clubs has commenced since Bid Night, which means skirts and ties are back in fashion, and shouting can be heard from every corner of cam-pus.

Mark Jackson, associate director of student organi-zations and programs, said overall pledging increased 9 percent this year with a 24 percent increase in pledg-ing for men’s social clubs. The number of women pledging is the same this year as last year at 205. The number of men pledging increased by 32 from last year to 166 this year.

Jackson said a larger number of men showed in-terest in being involved in social clubs before pledg-ing this year.

“I don’t know that there was one strong contribut-ing factor,” Jackson said. “We did have certain clubs that had numbers of rushes that were larger than usual, and I think all the rushes were strong, but I really

feel that there were more guys than usual wanting to be a participant and be in a social club.”

As is the case every year,

some men and women who rushed and attended Bid Night ended up de-pledg-ing at some point during the pledging process.

“We probably had any-where from eight to 10 people de-pledge for a number of reasons,” Jack-son said. “For health rea-sons or time reasons, they felt that they just couldn’t handle the commitment of the pledging process, so they de-pledged once they realized they didn’t have enough time or weren’t well enough to fully com-mit to the whole thing.”

Morgan Myer, senior psychology major from Richardson and GATA president, said GATA pledges and current club members have all enjoyed the pledging process so far. She said she is not worried about the number of GATA pledges.

“We have been praying for this pledge class since last spring and know that the number of girls we got are the exact girls that be-long in GATA,” Myer said.

Myer said she cannot wait to give the new mem-ber the support and wel-come she’s received from the club.

“Our club is a very tight-knit group of girls that have gone through a lot together,” Myer said. “I really do consider GATA my family as they have got-

ten me through many ups and downs the past couple of years.”

Myer said one of the rea-sons GATA’s tradition and club secrets are important to her is that it is the lon-gest continuously running club on campus.

“Knowing that some of the activities we do now were founded in 1920 is a crazy feeling, and it’s so ex-citing to welcome these girls and see them go through what myself and so many other women have gone through for years and years before them,” Myer said.

Jackson said club

presidents and their of-ficer teams are to be com-mended for the extremely smooth-running bid nights for all clubs.

“We drove around, sat back and encouraged where we needed to encour-age, but I was really, really pleased with how the night went,” Jackson said. “There were no curfew violations. That night all the pledges have to be back at 5 a.m., and they did, and that’s re-ally important to us.”

campus

Julie coppedgestudent reporter

contact coppedge atjac08b@acu.edu

Mandy lambright Staff Photographer

Matt Vela, sophomore mathematics major from Arlington, carries his burden with pride as part of pledging Trojans.

wednesday 10.05.11 4news

Business Services office offers new, affordable roadside assistance

ACU Business Services is now offering Cars on Cam-pus, a new service for road-side assistance for students, faculty, staff and alumni.

The service includes tow-ing, lockouts, travel and re-tail discounts, jump starts, flat tire replacement and more, said Anthony Wil-liams, chief business servic-es officer. Members can take advantage of the nationwide service, which is provided by

Campus Auto Care, for $19 per semester or $30 a year.

Williams said the pro-gram is part of an effort to add more student services through the information desk. It is designed to meet students’ everyday needs.

“Cars on Campus is really a part of a larger conversa-tion,” Williams said. “There have been a number of things we recently brought to the floor with regards to business services.”

A few of the new busi-ness services on campus are Bare Essentials and

Vera Bradley, which offer students products and ac-cessories, Williams said. Students also now have ac-cess to laundry services in their dorms through iClean. Cars on Campus is a con-tinuation of the university’s effort to stay in touch with students, Williams said.

Cars on Campus is a di-rect result of student feed-back, Williams said.

“It stems from surveys we administered last year to identify the needs and desires of the student body,” he said.

Service benefits are lim-

ited to $100 per occurrence, according to ACU’s Campus Store’s website. Should the incident cost exceed that price, the member will be billed the difference. There is also a limit of three claims per semester or year, de-pending on contract period.

“This is almost exact-ly like AAA service, but cheaper,” said Montana Anderson, executive as-sistant in the business ser-vices office. “My parents use AAA, and it costs them over $300 a year for four people. As soon as my con-

tract with them expires I’m switching to this service.”

The program was devel-oped, established and add-ed to the available student services in a short amount of time. The university first advertised Cars on Campus about a month after the be-ginning of the fall semester. Less than a dozen students have signed up since then. Williams said the low re-sponse isn’t surprising be-cause the marketing plan to push the service has not been set yet.

“We didn’t have a chance

to get the agreement done until after school started,” Williams said. “We didn’t have a monetary expecta-tion for this year because we got things done in Sep-tember. The idea is next year we will have a better marketing plan.”

For more information on Cars on Campus or any oth-er offerings from Business Services, visit campusstore.acu.edu.

Student services

Mark Smithmanaging editor

contact smith atmds10a@acu.edu

curriculum

Language: Requirement stalled by Core coursesmove on to.

“A third language is easi-er to learn than second lan-guage,” Haseltine said.

Changes in the general education policy are a joint effort of two groups: The University General Educa-tion Council and The Uni-

versity Undergraduate Aca-demic Council.

The groups meet to up-date the general education policy every three years, with this last vote taken in 2008.

“Any substantial changes that are made to the Gener-al Education curriculum are approved by both councils, then sent to a vote of the full

faculty,” Straughn said.The general curriculum

must be reorganized to fit the new requirements before the foreign language chang-es can be implemented.

Haseltine said ACU does not want to add more classes to the core curriculum. The councils will examine classes and

see where changes need to be made to make the new requirements fit. This process will take some time, and the changes will not be implemented for a couple of years, Haseltine said.

“The new core roll-out is happening in small steps,” Haseltine said.

“The other part is taking longer, but we are not giv-ing up on it.”

Straughn said students are being taken into con-sideration during the dis-cussions. He said making changes to the policy with-out considering the effect on the number of degree hours will not be received

well by students.“Students will see that

faculty understands the pressures of completing the highest quality degree both efficiently and successfully,” Straughn said.

contact freeman atmkh05a@acu.edu

Ethnos auditions prep for November performancesOrganizations

Meiqi Zhangstudent reporter

Ethnos performers con-ducted their first audition on Monday. The second au-dition will be on Oct.17. Stu-dents are working hard on their performances, which will run on Nov. 11-12.

Veronica Whitt, Interna-tional Student Association president, said ISA puts on Ethnos every fall, ISA’s biggest

production. After much prac-tice and a series of auditions, students perform dances from their own culture or show off other talents.

“We have three types of auditions for the acts. For the first one they have to have 30 percent to 50 per-cent of the dance, and the second one they have to have 50 percent to 70 per-cent or 100 percent, and the last one they have to be able to show everything,” Whitt

said. “We want to see their progress and make sure we know they are practicing.”

A simple plot provides continuity for the play. Short acts break up the perfor-mances. The theme of this year’s Ethnos transition acts is a family visiting a travel agency to decide where to go for a family vacation.

This year ISA will have an audition for actors. Last year ISA did not conduct the audition because the

Department of Theatre partnered with the club and ran the auditions.

Whitt said the actors’ au-dition is partially based on people’s accents and how clearly they speak English.

“If they can’t speak Eng-lish very well we might have to say that won’t do this time,” Whitt said. “We have to let the audience under-stand the dialogue.”

To get ready for the show, the transition performance

group is already starting to practice their act, and producers are busy making sure everything is on track.

Students interested in being part of the show can do so in various ways: act-ing, performing talent or working backstage.

Lucius Patenaude, co-producer, said everyone can be part of Ethnos. ISA leaders can help students develop their performance.

“International students

and regular students can be part of Ethnos through be-ing one of the actors, being part of the transition shows and especially being part of the back stage crew,” Pat-enaude said.

The show includes many students. “It’s a showcase of talents from different parts of the world,” Whitt said.

contact zhang atmkz07a@acu.edu

continued from page 1

wednesday 10.05.115 featureS

Local growers offer fresh produce at farmers market

Three times a week, local farmers take over a little lot off of North First Street, lining up tables and pick-up truck beds brimming with fresh produce. They create a space where the community can gather to purchase healthy alterna-tives to grocery store pro-duce while supporting the local farming scene.

Farmer David Bordovsky contributes his own variety of produce to the market, with vegetables such as yel-low mushroom peppers, cubanelle peppers and no-heat jalapeños that he grows at his farm in Merkel.

For Bordovsky the mar-ket is a social occasion, es-pecially on Saturdays, and he likes being able to visit with people.

Often, people will come to Bordovsky with ques-tions about their own per-sonal gardens. He said he is able to pass on his knowl-edge to teach them how to grow their own vegetables.

Ernest Burson, anoth-er regular to the farmers market, said the organic produce he sold to cus-tomers was purchased at a price that he believed was a little cheaper than what the grocery stores have to offer. Many of the farmers’ prices stay competitive with store prices.

“People feel like ours is fresher, and we don’t use

any pesticides; it’s strictly organic stuff which makes a richer flavor,” Burson said.

Burson said he greatly appreciates all the people who come out and buy and who ask for tips about growing their own food.

“Quite a few people who have gardens come out here, and they want to know how to do this and that,” Burson said. “A lot of young people don’t cook much.”

Kathy Ingram, whose most abundant produce on a recent Saturday was watermelon, described the market as a lively place where she is able to get on a first-name basis with customers.

“It’s like a family; you get to meet a lot of people,” Ingram said. “Sometimes I bring my grandkids and teach them how to social-ize and count change.”

Ingram said a variety of people shop there, but most of the vendors are older. She said she would like to see more young farmers come out and try their hand in growing their own stuff. She said the current vendors will, over time, be quitting and will be looking for a younger group to step up and con-tinue the work. Otherwise, it will become a lost trade.

“It is very rewarding to get out and pick your own fresh vegetables,” Ingram said. “I say every year that I’m going to quit, but spring comes around,

and I’m back out here. It gets in your blood; it got in mine.”

Kerry Hedges, owner of Slow Poke Farm, said the most rewarding thing about farming is the in-teractions he has with people who come to buy his food.

“You have no idea what it means when people come to you the next week and say, ‘Your food is so good,’” Hedges said. “It’s just amazing; how can you live a more rewarding life than that?”

Hedges used to work in computer networking before he became a farm-er. He said manual labor is typically looked down upon in society, but it is the most rewarding work he has ever done.

“People ask why I would want to come out here and work so hard be-cause it is physical hard work, but my worst day is better than any day I spent working in front of a com-puter,” Hedges said.

Hedges said farming is one of the most compli-

cated things he has ever done. The more he learns about it, the more he sees himself as a conductor, just moving things and animals around so they can do the work.

“The system is beauti-fully designed and set up if we’ll only leave it alone,” Hedges said.

Hedges said that larger corporate farms are known to push animals to maxi-mum capacity in a way that is harmful to the animals.

“If you treat creation like that, to me it’s sin,”

Hedges said. “But the peo-ple perpetuating this are not the guys treating them this way, it’s us-we’re the ones making that possible by what we purchase.”

The farmers market is open from 8 to 11 a.m. ev-ery Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday downtown across from Frontier Texas.

MARKET

HOM

E GR

OWN PART 2

DANIEL GOMEZ CHIEF Photographer

Farmer Ernest Burson sits on the tailgate of his truck while chatting with customers at the market.

DANIEL GOMEZ CHIEF Photographer

Produce for sale at the farmers market includes everything from yellow peppers to no-heat jalapeños.

samantha sutherlandfeatures editor

contact SUTHERLAND atSNS08A@acu.edu

DAZE

Here at ACU, we are among the leaders of a mobile initiative.

Students walk around campus with their head down, eyes glued to their phones, with no aware-ness of where they are go-ing as they narrowly miss getting hit by an oncom-ing bike or as they trip on one of the many uneven sidewalk ledges.

If it’s not a phone that has captured their at-tention, it’s an iTouch, blocking all external sounds from penetrating their heads. They stare forward and pass straight by people who are try-ing unsuccessfully to say hello to them or who are yelling to warn them their backpack is open.

When people find themselves standing awkwardly alone, the de-fault is to pull out their phones and pretend to

talk to someone. I’ll admit that I’ve had times when I’ve held up my phone to my ear and talked into to a dead screen to avoid an awkward exchange of words with a stranger nearby. Sad, I know.

In the past, it was com-mon for individuals to be happy talking to and spending time with the people they were with. When phones and other personal devices were in-troduced into the picture, suddenly people who weren’t present could be present, offering a way for people to check out of their current location and enter into a conversation half a world away.

Now we are responsible for maintaining relation-ships with those that live next door as well as those that live back home and everywhere else we’ve ever been. It’s a huge net-

work to maintain and, if done faithfully, can be incredibly demanding of time and attention. The reality is, however, that we have a certain respon-sibility to those we live near, to interact and to have fellowship together.

Often, when I am tex-ting, Facebooking and FaceTiming, I feel like I’m being social. How-ever, I’m disregarding the fact that I am completely ignoring the people who are physically surround-ing me. How social am I really being if my face is buried in my phone as life is happening all around me? I’m preventing my-self from participating in my own community.

Our generation is far-ther removed from their reality than ever before, and modern relation-ships are among the least affected by geographic location.

So, my challenge to our generation is to be en-gaged in your surround-ings. It’s tempting to network with people all across the world through our little handheld por-

tal, but we can’t ignore those who God put us with right now.

Find a balance between nurturing long distance relationships and giv-ing attention to the per-son beside you, because they are the ones who are sharing life with you. They are here.

Oh Dear, Christian College Ben miller

the issuePledging makes students uniformly part of a club and dulls their individuality.

our takePledges should take responsibility to respect other students and protect their individuality.

Pledging not worth blind allegiance

Hannah barneseditor in chief

Mark smithmanaging editor

jozie sandsopinion page editor

marissa fergusononline editor

christina burchmultimedia editor

daniel gomezchief photographer

david ian singer arts editor

samantha sutherlandfeatures editor

austin gwinsports director

bryson shakesports editor

john edward isaacsassistant sports editor

ellen smithcopy editor

christianna lewiscopy editor

ben miller cartoonist

melany coxpage 2 editor

amanda lambrightstaff photogrpaher

destiny hagoodstaff photographer

adrian patenaudestaff photographer

marcus bowenvideo project editor

kyle kramervideographer

philip miranda videographer

lucius patenaudevideographer

farron salleynews producer/anchor

taylor langstonsports producer/anchor

kristen goodspeedsports producer/anchor

blane singletaryaudio broadcast reporter

cade whitefaculty adviser

kenneth pybusfaculty adviser

cara lee cranfordadvertising

newsroom

(325) 674-2439

sports desk

(325) 674-2684

photo department

(325) 674-2499

advertising office

(325) 674-2463

multimedia desk

(325) 674-2463

subscriptions ($40/Year)

(325) 674-2296

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the uni-versity 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 let-ters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing

personal attacks, obscen-ity, 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 27892Abilene, TX 79609

E-mail letters to: optimist@acu.edu

published by the

department of journalism

and mass communication

editorial and

management board

editorial and Letter Policy

As people we have an in-tense desire to belong and an insatiable need to justify our actions. We love even the things that make us suffer because of that longing. Our de-sire to belong leads us to do crazy, painful and sometimes stupid things so our friends won’t shun us. This is peer pressure, that need to think our ac-tions are not wasted or out of line that leads us to justify the actions.

Sports teams, military boot camps and social clubs tap into these two

elements of our human-ity to build camaraderie and a love for the organi-zation. Drills, push-ups and yellow lunch boxes tear down the boundar-ies between individuals to form seamless teams. The bonds made in the pledging process are good for the ACU community as a whole; they knit the people on our campus closer together.

But, as we have seen this year, loyalty can quickly turn to blind al-legiance.

Pledges collecting ACU

usernames and pass-words as part of a Home-coming Queen racket is not a safe practice and doesn’t build a stronger community.

Also, clubs claim to seek a Christian broth-erhood, but lewd acts by pledges do not further that mission.

These are things that only pledges can stop. Problems arise when peo-ple forget what is right, when the individual be-comes fully lost in group-think. Mindless devotion leaves students unaware

of how far is too far.We shouldn’t need

pledging rules and haz-ing laws to tell us where to stop. The rules won’t prevent anything. Pledg-es have to know when to say no – whether it is in the interest of protecting their personal informa-tion, safety or morals.

No matter what hazing laws the state enacts, stu-dents will always spend time “training for a mar-athon.” No matter what regulations ACU puts on pledging, students will go to “dinner and a mov-

ie.” And no matter how many people complain, students will continue “watching TV and pick-ing daisies.”

To a certain extent this suffering is good. It cre-ates a sense of community on campus and provides a sense of belonging. Even

so, students have to be re-sponsible for themselves and think about how far they are willing to go for membership in a club.

Editorial

contact the optimist atjmcnetwork@acu.edu

hashtagACUI salute you, man in ham-mock in the middle of campus. That’s #excep-tionalinnovativeandreal #theACUdifference #ACU

From now on, #ACU freshmen will be known as ACU 3G, Sopho-mores - ACU 3GS, Juniors - ACU 4, and Seniors - ACU 4S. Apple Christian University!

@em_brynn@bdill12 @ThaPunkMonk @overheardACU @austin_fleet@ymaeriam

12:42 p.m. Sept. 2710:09 p.m. Oct. 2

1:22 p.m. Oct. 1

10:53 a.m. Sept. 307:11 p.m. Oct. 3

2:18 p.m. Oct. 4

This time of year for the past 7 years I have the uncontrollable urge to disrespect Kojie Park #ACU

Freshman in the SRWC “I heard that if your room-mate dies you automati-cally get a 4.0”

Chicken E student special went up to 6.50! Whyyyy?!

@overheardACU fresh-man in library: “am I not supposed to write papers in 1st person?” “guys, I used wikipedia” “how do you do works cited?”

Send your tweets @acuoptimist, or #ACU, to get your tweets printed in the Optimist.

If it’s not a phone that has captured their

attention, it’s an iTouch, blocking all external

sounds from penetrating their heads. They stare

forward and pass straight by people who

are trying unsuccessfully to say hello.”

“

A sitcom childhood: Cosby v. Good Times

Mediated chats don’t build bonds

Sometimes my life is a TV sitcom. Family-friendly comedies constructed my middle-class childhood, but they were nothing like the ones that air new epi-sodes today. The shows that remind me most of my own life are not the ones with all the main-stream glitz and glamour.

Like sitcoms, family re-unions have brought out the best and worst of us. I’ll never forget the 2000 reunion where I realized that my branch of the family tree was a rerun of Good Times and my cous-ins were the reality show version of The Cosby Show. They say the apple never falls too far from the tree, but you can’t compare ap-ples to oranges.

My grandfather was one of seven children, half of whom moved north in the 1970’s for better job opportunities. That decision is still reaping benefits. Yes, there’s re-ally a physician married to a lawyer in my fam-ily, up North. I know the gene pool is similar, but vast differences arose be-tween the southern and the northern halves. The southern branches of the family have elementary campus security guards married to middle school teachers.

Job titles don’t diminish the respect I have for my side of the family whatso-ever. All branches of our tree distinguish ourselves through morality, integ-rity and Christ-centered-ness. But, it was always a plus to practice my George Jefferson strut when we were “moving on up.” I walked with my head so high in the sky after my mom’s completion of her master’s degree from TCU, I almost tripped.

Even though “we final-ly got a piece of the pie,”

our series wasn’t can-celled yet. In 2008 there was another variety show reunion that brought me back down to Earth. One cousin had just finished his bachelor’s degree from Harvard, and my closest distant relative (as contradictory as that sounds) was about to en-ter pre-med at the Uni-versity of Michigan. Did I mention she’s a Wolverine cheerleader, too? Oh well, I would attend school in the West to study jour-nalism – because we all know there’s high paying jobs there. Not.

The day I came to ACU, I knew I was in foreign territory. Welcome Week was like stepping into a scene from Happy Days, and my potluck room-mate was nothing short of a Richie Cunningham. We didn’t blend as well as the Brady Bunch, but as the Good Times theme song goes, “keepin’ your head above water, makin’ a wave when you can”; that’s exactly what I do. The next line is “tempo-rary lay offs” and as a stu-dent working on campus I go through that, too. But nonetheless, “ain’t we lucky we got ‘em? Good times.”

column

column

contact the sutherland atsns08a@acu.edu

contact salley atfls08a@acu.edu

Wednesday 10.05.11 6opinion

VagabondageSAMAnThA SUTherlAnd

Farron heightFArrOn SAlley

Welcome Week was like stepping into a scene

from Happy Days, and my potluck roommate was

nothing short of a Richie Cunningham.”

“

wednesday 10.05.117 sports Jumps

Wildcats topple top 25 team in Kansas

The ACU volleyball team went .500 both days of the Washburn Regional Cross-over Tournament in Tope-ka, KS on Friday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 1.

Head Coach Kellen Mock was happy with how her team played this past weekend.

“We did a wonderful job of overcoming our past mental toughness prob-lems. They played at a level I hadn’t seen yet this year.”

Senior Kelsie Edwards said the team played well as a unit.

“We had a good week-end. It felt like we clicked for the first time. The matu-rity we’ve gained from play-ing each week showed.”

Friday, the Wildcats began the tournament with a four-

set win against the Univer-sity of Nebraska at Omaha (25-13, 25-20, 23-25, 25-13).

The ‘Cats had 13 blocks, limiting the Mavericks to an .057 hitting percentage. Omaha recorded a multitude of errors, 30 attack errors and nine receiving errors.

Senior Jennie Hutt led the Wildcats with 19 kills and 14 digs, freshman Sara Oxford had 12 kills and two blocks, and sophomore Neely Borg-er had 11 kills, three blocks, and four service aces.

Mock told her team before the match against Omaha that they must con-trol the intensity on their side of the court.

“We dictated our own in-tensity level against Nebras-ka-Omaha. The girls also con-tinued this trend throughout the rest of the tournament, and that was good.”

ACU followed up the win with a three-set loss to No.

5 Washburn University (25-17, 25-13, 25-18).

The Wildcats could only muster a .019 hitting percentage as a team and had 19 errors. Hutt led the team in kills with eight.

On Saturday, the ‘Cats shook up the top 25 rank-ings when they beat No. 25 Emporia State University in comeback fashion.

ACU was destroyed dur-ing the first set, 25-8, but pulled together to win the second 25-19.

The third set was a nail- bitter that ESU won 25-23, and the Wildcats won the final

two frames were taken by the Wildcats, 25-18 and 15-10.

Mock said ACU almost forgot how to play volley-ball in the first set of the match against ESU.

“We pretty much had a complete breakdown of our ability to play vol-leyball in the big loss. The girls started over however and played to their abilities in the rest of the match.”

“Emporia State was fun to watch. Everything came together after the first set. The girls were always in the right place at the right time, and everyone did their job.”

The upset win over Emporia gave Edwards a feeling of excitement.

“It was a huge accom-plishment. The younger girls hadn’t experienced a win versus a ranked team before, so I was happy for them.”

In the final set of the match the ‘Cats hit .500.

The team jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never lost it. The Wildcats scored four of the last five points, and Oxford finished with 16 kills, one less than Hutt’s match high of 17.

ACU began to pull away from Emporia State in the fourth set following an 11-11 tie. The team won eight of the next nine points to lead 19-12.

The Hornets added to its woes by posting seven errors in this set and a .133 hitting percentage.

On the other hand, the ‘Cats hit .261 in the fourth, and five players contribut-ed with 3 or more kills.

The Wildcats ended the match with a .230 hitting percentage and received contributions from nu-merous players.

Four teammates had 10 or more kills including Ka-lynne Allen and Borger.

Setter Haley Rhoads

recorded 60 assists along with 16 digs.

ACU ended the Wash-burn tournament on a low note, losing to Truman State 25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 25-18.

Hutt was a team leader for the ‘Cats with 19 kills. Allen, Oxford, and Borger were not far behind with double-digit kills also.

In the Wildcats’ second set victory, the team had to fight back from three six-point deficits. ACU didn’t contain the lead until it was 20-19. A couple of errors from Tru-man State and a kill by Ox-ford ended the second.

ACU returns to play in the Lone Star Conference on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. The Wildcats face Midwestern State Univer-sity in Wichita Falls.

edward isaacsassistant sports editor

contact isaacs atjei08a@acu.edu

volleyball

kellen mockhead coach

acu volleyball

The team played at a level I hadn’t seen yet

this year.”“

Wins: ’Cats play with ‘chip-on-shoulder’ attitude against Commercedid not take a shot on goal in the second half, and senior goalkeeper Elliott London improved her sea-son record to 7-0.

Sunday, the Wildcats had vengeance on their mind in their game against Texas-A&M Commerce, who was the last Lone Star Conference team to beat the Wildcats before their 15-game winning streak.

With the help of Carpen-ter and sophomore mid-fielder Ashley Craig, ACU thumped Commerce 4-1.

Carpenter scored two goals, and Craig provided two assists coming off the bench for the Wildcats.

“In the locker room be-fore the game, we talked about how the game last

year didn’t have the out-come we wanted, and how we were going to come out with a chip-on-our-shoul-der attitude,” Carpenter said. “Commerce came out playing Commerce-style soccer, and we expected that and were ready.”

Despite the Lions’ strat-egy of dropping nine play-ers back on defense to con-tain the ACU offense, the Wildcats remained patient and scored four times off of crosses and clean passes.

“Our strategy is to cre-ate enough opportunities so that we have chances to put the ball in the back of the net, and we did that well,” Wilson said.

Carpenter’s first goal came off a pass from Lind-holm before booting the ball over goalkeeper Randi Hafele in the 13th minute.

Her second goal came off an assist from Coppedge that Carpenter tapped into the goal.

“My second goal came off of a cross from Julie, and she sent me the perfect ball,” she said. “I was lucky enough to get a leg on it and kick it in the right direction.”

Ashley Craig came in off the bench and immediately made her presence known.

Craig found freshman Me-gan Turner in the 36th min-

ute, who headed it in the net.Craig then found junior

Krysta Grimm in the 79th minute, who beat Hafele with a header, making the score 4-1.

“Ashley had a great week-end,” Wilson said. “She comes in and immediately makes an impact on the game.”

Craig said the players around her make her job easy.

“Both of my crosses were me crossing it in. Thank good-ness the forwards were there to finish,” Craig said. “Our for-wards are great at finishing.”

The Wildcats will con-tinue their homestand Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Midwestern State at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch.

contact shake atbxs09a@acu.edu

soccer

Destiny hagood staff Photographer

Junior Katherine Garner advances the ball up the field.

andrea carpentersophomore forward

acu soccer team

I was lucky enough to get a leg on the ball and kick it in the right direction.”“

from page 8

Gale: ACU sacks WOU

the ACU secondary. The Wolves threw

for 387 yards and three touchdowns with their two-quarterback system against the ACU defen-sive unit.

In two weeks, the Wildcats have allowed over 800 passing yards and five touchdowns, which is cause for con-cern among Wildcat fans and coaches.

The defense had its moments though on Sat-urday night.

The Wildcat defense got to the Wolves’ quarter-backs four times behind the line of scrimmage.

Linebacker Derek Ode-lusi accounted for two of the four Wolves’ sacks.

“We have been getting real close all season to sacking the quarterback,” Odelusi said. “The whole time I am running toward him I’m like, ‘don’t throw it, don’t throw it.’ The process of getting a sack is all about securing the tackle and cel-ebrating with the team af-ter the play is made.”

A game-changing play by the defense happened early on in the game.

On the Wolves’ third play from scrimmage, quarterback Evan Moz-zochi hit receiver Josh Mc-Farland on a short pass.

While the ACU defense was getting Mozzochi to the ground, defen-sive back Richard Havins knocked the ball out.

The fumble was recov-ered by Donald Moore and set up ACU to score their first touchdown of the game on a Brown one yard plunge into the end zone.

The Wolves immedi-ately came back and tied the game on their next drive, however.

Scoring took the Wild-cats a few drives, but the team finally got back on the board again when Richardson ran a sweep to to the ACU sideline.

The elusive running back, Richardson, made several Wolves’ defenders miss and scampered 22 yards to give

ACU the lead back.Again, WOU tied it up

quickly on Mozzochi’s first passing TD of the game.

With under two min-utes left, Gale and the of-fense got the ball back and executed the two-minute drill to perfection.

Gale rushed into the end zone from seven yards out with 25 seconds left in the half to put ACU ahead going into the locker room 21-14.

One more big time per-former for the ‘Cats was kicker Morgan Lineberry.

All six of Lineberry’s extra points were pure and well-kicked, and he also added three field goals on the night.

Two of Lineberry’s three field goals account-ed for all of the Wildcats’ fourth quarter points as the defense shut down the Wolves in the final 15 minutes of the game.

ACU (3-1, 2-0) will travel to Portales, NM next weekend to play the Eastern New Mexico Grey-hounds (1-4, 1-2).

Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Mountain Time and 4 p.m. local time.

Football

from page 8

taylor gabrielWIDE RECEIVERACU FOOTBALL

I got some great blocks on that return. It wasn’t even

me; it was my blockers.”“

contact gwin atagg07a@acu.edu

Read the Optimiston your

ipad

iphone

online

The No. 4 Wildcats contin-ued their winning ways, outscoring Texas Woman’s and Texas A&M-Commerce 8-3 in a pair of games at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch.

The wins extend the team’s current unbeaten streak to 15 games while in the middle of a five-game home stand that will continue Wednesday.

The Wildcats (9-0-1, 5-0-1) overcame a 2-1 defi-cit against Texas Woman’s on Friday with three sec-ond-half goals en route to trumping the Pioneers 4-2.

Sophomore Andrea Car-penter found the back of the net twice in the contest and said the comeback win was integral for the team.

“This win was good for our team because if they all come easy, sometimes you don’t always know how to come back,” Carpenter said. “This result remind-ed us that we’re capable of winning even if we’re down one or two goals.”

The Pioneers’ record fell to 0-7-2 despite giving Head Coach Casey Wil-son and his team reason to worry by their perfor-mance in the first half.

“Texas Woman’s came out and executed their game

plan to perfection against us,” he said. “I wasn’t wor-ried, but I could tell our girls were frustrated.”

Carpenter said she felt the apprehension on the field.

“It was nerve-racking at halftime, but we quickly calmed down,” Carpen-ter said. “For myself, I was mad, and I made it a point

to put it all out there on the field.”

The contest started out favorably for the Wildcats.

Carpenter found a wide-open Whitley Lind-holm, midfielder, a mere two minutes into the game to put the ’Cats up 1-0.

Carpenter followed Lindholm’s lead as she

scored in the 51st minute to knot the score at 2 off a pass from junior midfield-er Lexi Stirling.

She scored again 10 minutes later off a deflec-tion by TWU goalkeeper Beatrice Soto.

Lindholm scored for a second time in the 79th minute off a crisp pass from

midfielder Julie Coppedge.Coppedge slotted the

ball on a straight line in-side the 6-yard box, and Lindholm slid forward to poke it past Soto.

The Wildcats finished the match with a 34-6 shot advantage. Texas Woman’s

Former ACU running back Wilbert Montgomery was elected to the Philadel-phia Sports Hall of Fame last month and will be in-ducted this November.

The former ACU Wild-cat advanced his playing career after his tenure at ACU to a nine-year career in the NFL, playing eight seasons with the Philadel-phia Eagles and one year with the New York Giants in 1985.

Montgomery’s record-breaking career at ACU in-cluded setting the NAIA ca-

reer touchdown record at 76 and scored the most touch-downs in a single season at 31 during his heyday.

Montgomery’s first season with the Wildcats, under Coach Wally Bul-lington, ended with ACU’s first national title in 1973.

“It’s very unusual for a player at any level to score that many touchdowns in one season,” Bulling-ton said. “With so many schools playing across the nation, it’s a real tribute to him as an athlete.”

Garner Roberts, former sports information direc-tor, said he remembers Montgomery fondly.

“To receive the awards

he did and have the suc-cess he did really validates his athleticism,” said Rob-erts. “They are tangible ways of proving how good he truly was as an ath-lete.”

In his professional career, Montgomery amassed 6,789 rush-ing yards and scored 45 touchdowns.

He still holds the Ea-gles’ record for most rush-ing yards with 6,538 and carries with 1,465.

Bullington said he had little to do with Mont-gomery’s success.

“The secret is to have good players. Good play-ers make good coaches,” Bullington said.

After his playing ca-reer, Montgomery be-came a coach.

After two years for Detroit and nine seasons at St. Louis, where he assisted two Super Bowl appearances and one win in Super Bowl XXXIV, Montgomery now resides in Baltimore as the running backs coach for the Ravens.

Montgomery will add this award to a trophy shelf that includes ACU Sports Hall of Fame, the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor, the Philadelphia Eagles’ Honor Roll and the College Football Hall of Fame.

“Montgomery is in the ACU Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame, Lone Star Conference Hall of Fame and now his in-duction to the Philadel-phia Hall of Fame – I think one of these years he’ll be in the NFL Hall of Fame.” Bullington said.

wednesday 10.5.11 8sports

TeamMSUWTAMUACUTAMU-KENMUTSUUIWASUCommerce

Div.3-03-02-01-21-21-21-20-20-2

Ovrl.4-03-13-13-22-31-41-43-20-4

TeamASUWTAMUTSUCameronACUUIWTWUTAMU-KMSU

Div.7-17-15-14-34-35-43-43-62-5

Ovrl.18-216-211-710-610-99-75-117-610-6

TeamACUASUMSUWTAMUUIWENMUCommerceTWU

Div.5-03-23-23-32-22-22-30-6

Ovrl.9-04-55-26-44-24-44-60-8

The ACU football team moved back into the No. 10 spot in the American Football Coaches’ Association Top 25 released on Monday. The Wildcats are 3-1 on the season after beating Western Oregon.

Sophomore wide receiver Taylor Gabriel was named the LSC Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday for his play in the 51-35 win on Saturday. Gabriel returned a punt for a 55-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.

Senior Jennie Hutt was named an LSC Top Performer of the Week Tuesday for her performance last weekend. Hutt had 71 points in the team’s tournament.

Chicago Bears wide receiver Johnny Knox had three receptions for 48 yards and no touchdowns in the Bears 34-29 win versus the Panthers on Sunday, Oct. 2. Knox now has 12 receptions for 237 yards and zero touchdowns for the season.

Bengals running back Bernard Scott rushed for 13 yards on five carries in the team’s win against the Bills on Sunday, Oct. 2. Cincinnati won 23-20.

Danieal Manning, Texans safety, recorded five solo tackles on Sunday, Oct. 2 versus the Steelers. This season, Manning has 17 total tackles, no sacks, and one interception. Houston won the game 17-10.

The volleyball team travels to Wichita Falls on Thursday, Oct. 6 to play LSC opponent Midwestern State at 7 p.m.

Women’s soccer faces Midwestern State at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. The team then hosts Eastern New Mexico on Friday, Oct. 7.

Football goes up against LSC foe Eastern New Mexico in Portales, N.M. at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8.

football

volleyball

Women’s Soccer

standings

briefings

EX- FACTOR

Upcoming

mandy lambright staff Photographer

Quarterback Mitchell Gale scans the field before throwing the ball to one of his re-ceivers running down the field. Gale threw for 356 yards in the ’Cats 51-35 game.

’Cats display offensive show

It took four games, but Mitchell Gale and his of-fense are finally clicking on all cylinders.

Gale threw for 356 yards and two touchdowns as the Wildcats exploded for a 51-35 victory over the Western Oregon Wolves on Saturday at Shotwell Stadium.

The Wildcats sealed the victory in a 24-point third quarter that saw ACU gen-erate three highlight reel plays for touchdowns.

With the Wildcats up 24-21, and the game still hanging in the balance, Gale lofted a pass to re-ceiver Darian Hogg on a deep corner route. Hogg won the jumpball with a Wolves defender, and came down in the end zone for a 47-yard touchdown.

The ACU defense forced a punt from the Wolves of-fense. Ten seconds and 55 yards later, Taylor Gabriel was standing in the end zone with his second career return touchdown to give the Wildcats a 38-21 lead.

After the Wolves an-swered with a touchdown of their own, Gale found Darrell Cantu-Harkless on a short pass.

Cantu-Harkless fin-ished the drive as he ran 61 yards to the end zone,

opening the score back up to 45-28.

Those touchdowns are the three longest scores for the Wildcats this sea-son, who have been con-servative with some new pieces in their offense.

One of those new piec-es is transfer receiver Ja-maine Sherman.

Sherman is tabbed to be the Wildcats’ deep threat this season, but hasn’t seen a lot of on-field action.

Although Sherman didn’t put up big numbers (six catches for 48 yards), he was involved in the of-fensive scheme, a good sign for the future.

One receiver who did put up big numbers for the second consecutive week was Gabriel. Other than the return touch-down, Gabriel had six catches for 90 yards.

“I some great blocks on that return,” Gabriel said. “It wasn’t even me; it was my blockers. I was cramp-ing up during the run. I was just trying to get to the end zone.”

Running back Daryl Richardson finally broke the century mark in rush-ing yards in the victory.

Richardson’s 15 carry 105 yard game is the first time this season that a Wildcat running back has broken the 100-yard barrier.

Richardson, Gale, and Reggie Brown all had rush-ing touchdowns against the Wolves.

Something that should still worry Wildcat fans is

FOOTBALL

Gale, offense finally find their groove

taylor langstonsports reporter

contact langston atltl10a@acu.edu

Former player elected to Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fameathletics

wally bullingtonformer ACU football

hEad COach

I think one of these years he’ll be in the NFL

Hall of Fame.”“

destiny hagood staff Photographer

Sophomore midfielder Ashley Craig dribbles past a Texas Woman’s defender Friday at ACU’s Wildcat Soccer Pitch.

soccer

No. 4 Wildcats extend win streakbryson ShakeSports Editor

see gale page 7

see wins page 7

austin gwinsports director