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Overtime win sends ACU women’s soccer to Calif.
Is policing the internet the job of corporations?
Sponsor resignation leaves Delta Theta inactive
Abilene Christian University
Featurespage 5
sports opinion news
acuoptimist.com
ACU women’s soccer defeats MSU Sunday
photos
sing song
vol. 100, no. 24 wednesday, November 16, 2011 1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
Sing Song groups have chosen their themes and conducted their auditions for the traditional ACU musical performance set to take place Feb. 17-18, 2012.
In the Nov. 7 theme selection process, each Sing Song group director randomly drew a number to determine the order in which the groups would get to pick their desired theme. Tom Craig, direc-tor of student activities, said the themes showed a wide variety of ideas.
“The themes run the gamut of creativity,” Craig said. “It will be interesting to see what each group does with their individual theme and how they de-velop it.”
Craig, who has been involved with Sing Song for five years, said the 2012 production will bring
some changes that were found necessary after last spring’s production.
“We learn something every year,” he said. “We’re making several adjustments in the up-stage process, like in prop placement, new safety barriers and other new guidelines.”
Directors also conduct-ed auditions for the class performances last week. Nick Tatum, junior family studies major from Lub-bock and director of the junior class act, said he’s looking forward to next se-mester’s event.
“Nothing’s better than getting people from every club and organization to participate in our class’s act,” Tatum said. “I’m ex-cited for another opportu-nity this year to create an epic act while still having a blast by focusing on having the attitude we’re called to have as Christians.”
Annique Dentino, fresh-man psychology major
from Lubbock and Fresh-man Krewe choreogra-pher, said the opportunity to participate in more than just the freshman act arose from Freshman Follies.
“I did a lot of dance in Follies and was asked to direct the choreography for the finale,” Dentino said. “Then Nick Tatum asked me if I’d want to do Freshman Krewe. I’m ex-cited for the chance to do that.”
The Sing Song 2012 co-chairs are Amy Archer, se-nior nursing major from Austin; Cody Bowden, se-nior information systems major from Crowley; and Carly Branscum, junior
advertising and pub-lic relations major from Fort Worth. Adriana Cas-taneda was also selected at the end last semester but during the summer decided to not return to ACU. Bowden said having one less co-chair hasn’t been a problem for the rest of the production preparation.
“Not having her changed the plan a little bit, but we were able to split up her duties among us, so it didn’t become a big deal,” he said.
Bowden also said he’s looking forward to the next step of preparation.
“Hosts and hostesses just received the songs they will perform, and af-ter this week we’ll have a retreat for them,” he said. “When we get back we start practice. It’s going to be fun.”
Clubs, classes choose their themes
daniel gomez chief Photographer
Vietnam Veteran Terry Coffman from Clyde, former Marine Corps helicopter door gunner and Chaplain, raises his hand to the United States Flag during a ceremonial chapel honoring those in the Armed Forces.
campus
Despite an unusually quiet semester of crime, the ACU community has experienced a swell in motor vehicle burglar-ies since August, said ACUPD Chief of Police Jimmy Ellison.
A total of 16 burglaries of motor vehicles have oc-curred between Aug. 1 and Nov. 14, 10 of which were on-campus. At this time last year, only six had occurred.
“Students should be aware that car burglaries are not just a growing campus-wide problem but a citywide and statewide problem as
well,” Ellison said.The burglaries occurred
in the parking lots of Smith and Adams Halls, Morris Hall, University Park, Oliver Jackson Boulevard near the softball field and near Jacob’s Dream. Ellison said the ma-jority of the targeted vehicles are those that visibly contain valuable items or that are un-
locked. Stolen items include iPods, iPones, laptops and navigation systems.
“There are 5,000 cars parked on campus, and it is so easy for suspects to blend in,” Ellison said. “They can walk up to an unlocked car and rummage through a glove compart-ment in 20 seconds.”
Ellison said college cam-puses present a challenge because it is not uncommon for people to walk around at night. He said the vast major-ity of suspects are juveniles and unaffiliated with ACU.
“That’s why the ACUPD relies on the campus com-munity to report any suspi-cious activity,” Ellison said.
“You call it in, and we’ll check it out – what’s the harm?”
Ellison said the ACU com-munity needs to become more comfortable with re-porting any activity they be-lieve is suspicious. He said students commonly are re-luctant to notify the police department because
Christina burchmultimedia managing Editor
Vehicle burglaries more than double for fall semester
see crime page 4
contact smith [email protected]
Mark Smithmanaging Editor
Nick Tatumjunior family studies major from lubbock
Nothing’s better than getting people from
every club and organization to participate in our
class’s act.”“2012 Sing Song themes
GalaxyKnightsDirector: Keith Carroll
SophomoresTarzan & JaneDirector: Kelti Rippenhagen
Sub T-16Police DepartmentDirector: Sam Shelton
SeniorsBobble HeadsDirectors: Kimmy McNiece & Erin Daugherty
Gamma Sigma PhiHerculesDirector: Spencer Goddeau
JuniorsMoses & the PlaguesDirector: Nick Tatum
Sigma Theta ChiFireworksDirector: Meredith Morgan
GATAShowgirlsDirector: Hannah Beth Davis
IEHZoo KeepersDirector: Rebekah Hernandez
Alpha Kai OmegaPaper DollsDirector: Leah Cameron
FreshmenBearsDirector: Andrew Tate
Frater SodalisWorkout instructorsDirector: Gavin Lane
Ko Jo KaiLightning BugsDirector: Lauren Ash & Eden Norris
Ko Jo KaiLightning BugsDirector: Lauren Ash & Eden Norris
TrojansGhostbustersDirector: Matt Bowden
Culture on DisplayEthnos offers
entertainment to students
16
57 14
17 18 19Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
11 a.m. Small Group Chapels
3 p.m. Peace Corps information session in the Campus Center Living Room
7 p.m. Private Eyes in Fulks Theatre
11 a.m. Come to the Qui-et in Moody Coliseum
11 a.m. Interest meeting for Study Abroad: China in COBA room 301
7 p.m. Private Eyes in Fulks Theatre
Last day to withdraw from a course
11 a.m. Praise Day in Moody Coliseum
7 p.m. Private Eyes in Fulks Theatre
9:30 p.m. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hal-lows Part 2 in Cullen Auditorium
2 p.m. Private Eyes in Fulks Theatre
7 p.m. Private Eyes in Fulks Theatre
Police Log
Chapel checkup
@acuoptimist
The Optimist
Wednesday 11.16.11 2
Announcements
The ACU Theatre Department will show Private Eyes today through Saturday in Fulks Theatre. Tickets will cost $15 and can be purchased at the box office in the Williams Performing Arts Center, or online at www.acu.edu/theatre.
Spring-colored ACU T-shirts will be available in the Campus Store for $6 through Friday.
An interest meeting for Study Abroad China will take place Wednesday at 11 a.m. in COBA 301. Students who study abroad in China will spend 14 days in Hong Kong and seven days in Beijing. The purpose of the program is to accel-erate global competence, integrate faith with business, expand cultural horizons and develop knowledge through experi-ence of local business and culture.
An interest meeting for COBA Study Abroad Summer 2012 in Honduras will take place Wednesday at 5 p.m. in COBA room 301.
Sign-ups for the Gingerbread House-Building Competition will take place in the Campus Center through Thurs-day. The competition will take place Nov. 29 from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. There will be an entry fee of $12 per team with up to four people per team. Proceeds will help fund a home renovation project in Abilene. The event is sponsored by the Student Chapter of the American Soci-ety of Interior Designers. An information session for students inter-ested in the Peace Corps will take place Thursday from 3 - 4 p.m. in the Campus Center Living Room. Participants will learn how they can serve as volunteers in agriculture, education, forestry or en-vironment. For more information, or to register, call 325-674-2473.
A fashion show benefiting The Hope Fund will take place Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Teague Special Events Center. Tickets will be sold in the Campus Cen-ter from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. through Thurs-
day and are $5. The fashion show will feature several different types of Korean and Asian clothing styles. The clothes will be on sale after the fashion show.
Open Mic Night, hosted by University Park and BSA, will take place Friday in the Campus Center Living Room from 8 - 10 p.m. For more information, or to sign up, email [email protected] or [email protected].
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will be shown in Cullen Audito-rium Friday at 9:30 p.m. Admission will be free. The Campus Activities Board will put on this event.
The Manhattan Piano Trio will perform a concert Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the William Performing Arts Center Recital Hall. Admission will be free.
Frontier Texas! will be accepting applications for the Miss Frontier Texas Scholarship Competition through Nov. 21. For more in-formation visit www.missfrontiertexas.com.
A Zumbathon will take place Dec. 3 from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. in the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Tickets can be purchased in the Campus Center. The Zumbathon will feature seven instructors from around Abilene. The Zumbathon is a fundraiser for the ACU Student Dietetic Association.
Flu shots will be available in the Medi-cal & Counseling Care Center for $15. The Medical & Counseling Care Center is located at the northeast entrance of the Royce and Pam Money Student Rec-reation and Wellness Center.
Students who have registered for class-es for Spring 2012 can begin reserv-ing their textbooks. There is no extra charge, and students will receive a free bag with their order. Students must or-der before Dec. 31. Books will be avail-able for pick up the week before spring semester classes begin. For more infor-mation visit the Campus Store web site.
Volunteer Opp0rtunities
Mission: Thanksgiving will take place through Thursday from 12 - 6 p.m. as a part of Season of Car-ing. Donations of food and household items will be accepted at the drop-off truck in the south parking lot of the Williams Performing Arts Center. To vol-unteer at the drop-off truck, or for more information visit www.facebook.com/seasonofcaring.
Season of Caring is working with with Taylor Ele-mentary School to help feed 75 low-income families. Donations will be accepted through Saturday. Vol-unteers are also needed to put meal boxes together Sunday or deliver meals Monday. Money can be do-nated through Facebook or at the information desk in the Campus Center. For more information or to sign up visit www.facebook.com/seasonofcaring.
Adopt-an-Angel will take place through Tuesday as a part of Season of Caring. Volunteers are needed to donate gifts to children by picking up a paper angel from the Campus Center. For more information visit www.facebook.com/seasonofcaring.
Volunteers are needed for Christmas on the Streets, a part of Season of Caring. Christmas on the Streets partners with Love and Care ministries to bring toys to Abilene children. Volunteers will bring new toys to the Campus Center, help wrap toys in the President’s Dining Room or help deliver toys during Christmas on the Streets. For more information or to sign up visit www.facebook.com/seasonofcaring.
The International Rescue Committee is collecting coats, hats, jackets, gloves and blankets for refugees in Abilene who came to the U.S. with few posses-sions and who will need warm clothing. Donations can be dropped off daily from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. at 3303 N. 3rd St., Suite D. For more information contact Aly Shanks at 325-675-5673 ext. 19 or email [email protected].
Oakridge Church of Christ needs volunteers to help with a children’s Bible class. The class will take place every Wednesday night until Dec. 21 from 7 - 8 p.m. Volunteers will help with singing Bible songs, sanitizing toys and playing with kids. Free dinner is included with the service. For more information contact Emerald Lemmons at 325-370-1327 or email [email protected].
The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is looking for volunteers to participate in Lunch Buddies. Bigs and Littles will enjoy lunch together at the child’s
school once a week. Students can earn Chapel credit for each visit. Big Brothers Big Sisters is also looking for volunteers for its Community Based pro-gram. Bigs are matched with Littles in a one-on-one relationship and spend four to six hours per month together in the community. To sign up or learn more visit www.bbbstx.org or call 325-674-3113.
Rescue The Animals is looking for volunteers any-time between 1-5 p.m., Monday-Friday. They need help around the adoption center with general clean-ing, socialization of the animals, helping potential adopters and other tasks. Contact Mindi Qualls at 325-698-7722 or email [email protected]. The center is located at 5933 S. 1st St.
ACU Treadaway Kids is looking for volunteers to work with underprivileged kids Thursday evenings from 6 - 7:30 p.m. at the University Church of Christ. For more information contact Samantha Manski at 325-674-2828.
Meals on Wheels Plus needs volunteer drivers to deliver afternoon meals to seniors and adults with disabilities Monday-Fridays between 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years old and have a valid driver’s 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 [email protected].
The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Litera-ture is looking for volunteers to work Tuesday - Saturday from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. or 1 - 3 p.m. Volunteers 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 Lil-lick at 325-673-4586 or visit the NCCIL website.
Breakfast on Beech Street is looking for volun-teers to help set up, prepare and serve breakfast to homeless or lower-income visitors any weekday. The event begins at 5:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 5 a.m. on Tuesday. Serving 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.
Habitat for Humanity needs volunteers to help with various construction tasks including carpentry, paint-ing, cleaning up, installing cabinets and other tasks. Volunteers are needed any day Monday - Saturday any-
time from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Contact Steven Legget at 325-670-0489 or email [email protected].
Young Life Ministries needs volunteers Mondays, Tuesdays and weekends from 6 - 9 p.m. Volunteers will hang out with kids, experience leadership roles, serve others and introduce kids to Christ. Young Life is located at 1917 S. 6th St. For more in-formation contact Chuck Rodgers at 325-676-1211 or email [email protected].
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. Times are 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 provide 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.
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 [email protected].
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 computer skills. Locations are 4610 N. 10th St. or 1902 Shelton St. Contact Mark Denman at 325-672-1712 for more information.
Medical Care Mission is looking for volunteers to assist medical or dental staff with patients any weekday from 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. For more information contact Dave Kraly at 325-676-3104 or email [email protected].
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 [email protected].
Nov. 16
12 p.m. The Center for Con-temporary Arts will present a Mid-Month Movie Mati-nee featuring The View from the Edge, a documentary about the rise and fall of the modern art movement. Admission will be free.
Nov. 17
7:30 p.m. The Abilene Com-munity Theatre will show the play Christmas Belles. Tick-ets will cost $10 for adults, $8 for students, seniors and active military, and $5 for ages 12 and under.
7:30 p.m. The McMurry University Theatre depart-ment will present U.S.A. on campus. Tickets are $7.
Nov. 18
7:30 p.m. The Abilene Com-munity Theatre will show the play Christmas Belles. Tick-ets will cost $10 for adults, $8 for students, seniors and active military, and $5 for ages 12 and under.
8 p.m. The Abilene Ballet Theatre will present The Nutcracker at the Paramount Theatre. Admission will vary.
Nov. 19
2:30 p.m. The Abilene Ballet Theatre will present The Nutcracker at the Para-mount Theatre. The ballet will be shown again at 8 p.m. Admission will vary.
7:30 p.m. The Abilene Com-munity Theatre will show the play Christmas Belles. Tick-ets will cost $10 for adults, $8 for students, seniors and active military, and $5 for ages 12 and under.
Around Abilene
wednesday 11.16.113 campus news
Christmas shopping begins with Open House
The Campus Store hosted its first Campus Store Christ-mas Open House Saturday to help students get ready for the holidays.
The Campus Store will be closed for Thanksgiving, so the Christmas Open House provided an opportunity for faculty and staff to get early shopping done.
April Ewing, inventory control and merchandis-ing manager, came up with the idea of the open house and was in charge of the event.
“It’s our way of giving our students and faculty and staff some early shop-ping,” Ewing said. “We just thought that we would make sure that this is a good place to start.”
At this special event, the
Campus Store showcased its Vera Bradley and Bare Essentials lines. There were giveaways and a gift with purchase during the event.
“The Campus Store is interested in bringing other branded products besides our Champions and Under Armor clothing, not just books and school supplies,” Ewing said.
However, despite the Campus Store’s Holiday cheer, it has not yet put up Christmas decorations.
“I don’t believe that we should put out Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving,” Ewing said. “It’s a little soon to have Christmas music or deco-rations.”
Will Morgan, senior accounting major from Longview, worked the af-ternoon shift of the event and expected a pretty good turnout.
“It’s kind of a wildcard Saturday,” Morgan said. “I really do expect it to be busy, with it being a pre-view weekend and promo-tion here in the store.”
Vera Bradley is one of the biggest promotions at the event.
“They are a girl’s best friend, and there is no par-ticular generation they aim at,” Ewing said. “It is very versatile and just has a very strong, long-lasting appeal.”
The store’s recently launched product is Bare Escentuals make-up. It was incorporated into the event as a gift with purchase of $25 or more.
More information about ACU’s Campus Store can be found at www.campuss-tore.acu.edu/home.aspx.
campus
destiny hagoodstaff photographer
contact hagood [email protected]
Delta Theta inactive after sponsors resign
The women’s social club Delta Theta has become inactive after their two sponsors resigned last month.
On-campus sponsor Kristina Campos, assistant professor of honors stud-ies and communication, and off-campus sponsor Michelle Perkins, ACU alumnus, resigned as ad-visers of Delta Theta the night pledges were sched-uled for an induction cer-emony. As a result, Delta Theta earned an inactive status.
Delta Theta members were surprised, accord-ing to both Sherrie Fri-erson, senior sociology major from San Antonio and Brittany Ellis, junior family studies major from Haslet.
“We were pretty blind-sided ourselves. We came into club expecting the Biddies to get in,” Frier-son said. “We were really excited, and then sudden-
ly, our sponsor informed us she was done.”
According to Campos, she and Perkins gave the situation a lot of thought, sought guidance from past members of Delta Theta and ultimately decided to resign.
Campos said it was coin-cidence that the resignation and initiation fell on the same night.
“There were some other events that led up to [the resignation] that just made this decision necessary, and it just happened it was the same week as get-in,” Campos said.
Campos had been a Delta Theta sponsor for a year and a half, according to Mark Jackson, director of student organizations and programs. Jackson said Campos spoke to him a few hours prior to re-signing.
“Ultimately Dr. Campos decided it was in her best interest to step down,” Jackson said. “It’s a lot for one person to do — she’s a professor here, she’s a mom, and so there’s a lot
that she has going on in her life, and so ultimately that was her call, and we respect that.”
Campos furthered Jack-son’s explanation.
“[Michelle and I] just really felt like the direc-tion of the club was not what we wanted it to be and that we were worried about a future for D.T,” Campos said.
Campos said she and Perkins resigned with hopes that Delta Theta will reshape.
“We felt this was really the best way to maybe give them some time to refocus on who they are and what they want to be and spend some time in deep prayer and deep thought about that,” Campos said.
The inactivity has af-
fected the relationships be-tween members.
“When there is stuff on campus, you are kind of forced to be together,” Frierson said. “And a lot of these girls, I probably wouldn’t have been friends with anyway if I hadn’t pledged with them — so it hurts that they are taking that away.”
Although inactive, the women of Delta Theta are remaining united.
“We are trying to remain as active as possible on campus, but it’s hard be-cause we can’t do it as Delta Theta like we normally did,” said Ellis.
The two, Ellis and Frier-son, have stepped up to set forth on the road to making Delta Theta active again. However, they are facing trials.
“You can’t just go and pick up another advisor im-mediately and come back on campus,” Jackson said. “So the earliest they could come back would be Janu-ary of 2012.”
Ellis and Frierson have begun the search and have
a few potential candidates.Student Life requires
a minimum of one on-campus advisor that has been out of college for at least five years. Qualifi-cations of an on-campus advisor consist of being a full-time member of ACU faculty or staff.
The reality of their inac-tive status hasn’t yet sunk in for Ellis.
“We worked really hard to maintain the title of Delta Theta, and I feel like now our hard work and the biddies hard work is for nothing,” Ellis said. “So it’s hard—it’s hard to accept that, oh wow, there
is no more Delta Theta right now.”
Campos said she was sad to see this happen.
“I loved Delta Theta, I’ve loved Delta Theta ever since we re-chartered in ‘96, and it’s always been a very im-portant part of my friend-ships,” Campos said.
Delta Theta was estab-lished in 1925 by, what the club calls, the “Lucky 13.” The organization has been inactive a few times but not since it was re-char-tered in 1996.
social clubs
julie coppedgestudent reporter
contact coppedge [email protected]
contact cox [email protected]
FCA: Not just for athletes
The university’s chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes started several years ago and continues to reach out to all students – not only those involved in athletics.
FCA, a national orga-nization founded over 50 years ago, was created to help athletes strengthen their faith. The ACU’s chap-ter of FCA began about five years ago and has grown to between 30 and 50 active members this year.
David Pillen, senior elec-tronic media major from Sugar Land, has been a leader in FCA for the past two years. His duties in-clude helping the other leaders prepare for the meetings, planning and or-ganizing and occasionally leading the meetings.
“The purpose of FCA re-ally ... is more than just an-
other ministry-based thing on campus,” Pillen said. “It’s like a family here, and we’re interested in seeing relationships develop and see our campus impacted for Christ.”
Pillen said meetings usually begin with a game followed by a time of wor-ship usually consisting of two or three songs. After worship, the speaker for the evening presents his or her message, which some-times includes a video. Then participants usually break into small groups to discuss the message. The evening finishes with a time of worship. The par-ticipants have the oppor-tunity to fellowship with each other at the end of the meeting.
Erica Porter, junior ki-nesiology and nutrition major from Kerrville, has been participating in FCA, since the beginning of the semester when her friends invited her to the meeting.
She said she had always heard it was great and had a wonderful time at her first meeting.
Porter said she wanted to be involved in the FCA because of what it stands for and the community formed by students who are mainly athletes.
“They accept everybody and anybody,” Porter said. “They have so much going on in their lives and are try-ing to represent our school and themselves the best way they can, and that’s through Christ.”
FCA is open to all stu-dents and meets every Thursday from 9 – 10 p.m. in the Campus Center Liv-ing Room. More informa-tion about the ACU chapter of FCA is available at www.facebook.com/ACUFCA or at www.twitter.com/ACUFCA.
campus
melany coxpage 2 editor
Language departments anticipate merger
ACU’s Department of For-eign Languages will merge with the Department of Eng-lish, effective May 31, 2012. Foreign languages classes will be listed under the Eng-lish department once the transition is complete.
The merger comes as part of the budget realign-ment plan the university will describe in more detail in a faculty meeting Friday.
Dr. Harland Rall, chair of the Department of For-eign Languages, said the faculty and students of the department had not been completely informed of the reasons behind the merger.
“I’ve been told that it’s a cost-saving matter and it’s a part of the ACU resizing,” Rall said. “That’s all I know.”
Rall said the foreign languages department will lose one professor and its administrative coordina-tor because of the merger. Rall said he would no lon-
ger be chair of the depart-ment but a full time pro-fessor. Not including the faculty member to be laid off, all professors will re-main in a full-time teach-ing position.
The Spanish, German and French programs will all remain intact after the transition, Rall said, but the futures of the English Sec-ond Language and Interna-tional Studies programs are not yet decided.
Trent Pickrell, senior Spanish teaching major
from Keller, said he has been assured all the classes he needs will still be offered.
“I just know that the departments are merging and I don’t know what that means, but Harland Rall
made sure to guarantee us students that the transition wouldn’t affect the avail-ability of the classes we need,” Pickrell said.
Pickrell said the stu-dents shouldn’t feel much effect from the merger of the departments. With all of the classes still avail-able, the only confusion would be in the name of the classes.
Though it is not expect-ed to affect the students greatly, Pickrell did say there was a noticeable dif-
ference in the morale of the department office. Pickrell said just knowing there is going to be a change and cuts will have to be made has made it difficult to deal with the merger.
More information about ACU’s foreign language programs can be found at www.acu.edu/academics/cas/fl/index.html.
university
curtis christianstudent reporter
contact christian [email protected]
Dr. Harland RallChair of the department
of foreign languages
I’ve been told it’s a cost-saving matter and it’s a part of the ACU resizing.
That’s all I know.”“
mark jacksondirector of student
organizations
You can’t just go and pick up another adviser im-
mediately and come back on campus.”“
wednesday 11.16.11 4news
Interest meeting today for Study Abroad Honduras
The Griggs Center for En-trepreneurship and Philan-thropy is offering students the chance to study social entrepreneurship in Hon-duras next summer.
An interest meeting for this new study abroad op-portunity will take place Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the Mabee Business Building,
Room 301. Dr. Jim Litton, as-sociate professor of business and director of the Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy, and Dr. Andrew Little, assistant pro-fessor of business law, will discuss the program.
“This is a new opportunity to introduce students to en-trepreneurship,” Litton said.
During the Summer IV semester, students will travel to Honduras and work on projects with the leadership
of Mission Lazarus, a Hon-duras-based non-profit.
ACU alumnus Jared Brown founded Mission La-zarus. Brown will discuss his organization’s holistic min-istry of planting and growing churches across Honduras through educational and spiritual outreaches at the interest meeting.
Little said the exact projects students will be working on have not yet been set in stone, but he
and Litton will discuss this with Brown on Wednesday. Little said the program will give students great insight into business in developing countries, whatever the op-portunities will be.
“This trip will open stu-dent’s eyes and inspire them to go in the direction the College of Business wants students to go,” Little said.
Litton said being able to work with Mission Lazarus would make the trip even
more rewarding.“Through our contacts
with Brown we have been able to create a unique op-portunity to work with a great social venture,” Litton said.
Litton said the Hondu-ras study abroad trip would count toward a 3-hour credit for internship or project re-quirements. He said the stu-dents would have some class-work leading up to trip. The lesson would then culminate with the hands on trip.
“I think it is a great op-portunity for business stu-dents to take the concepts from the classroom and put them into practice in the field,” Litton said.
A tentative deadline for applications is Dec. 6.
Students looking for more information can contact Lit-tle at [email protected].
Study Abroad
meagan freemanstudent reporter
contact freeman [email protected]
accident
Crime: Car burglaries on the rise
contact burch [email protected]
Spring Break Campaigns accepting student applications
Spring Break Campaigns still are accepting applica-tions from students to travel to 11 locations next spring.
Organizers say students who want to participate in a Spring Break Campaign should apply before Christ-mas break. Some of the groups leave on March 9, and others leave March 10.
“During Christmas break is when the airline tickets finalize and it becomes more difficult to add tick-ets or drop it,” said Jeremy Seal, secretory of the Spring Break Campaign.
Both ACU students and non-ACU students can participate in Spring Break Campaigns. Those who are not ACU students should read over the policy and fill out an application.
Spring Break Campaigns offer students a chance to reach out to others and learn about their lives, said Wilson White, junior history major from Ozona and leader of the Chicago campaign.
“The Spring Break Cam-paigns are all about learn-ing and serving,” White said. “You want to learn where ever you go and help serve and influence others.”
Campaigns will allow students to work with the
homeless, children, church-es and food pantries as well as experience the different locations.
“Most of the campaign is doing homeless ministry,” Seal said. “We are going to work with single mothers, children’s homes and serve residents there.”
Even though every cam-paign is a little different, all participants get to know new people and are able to
help others. White said he hopes his group will be-come tightly knit.
“We expect to become close group of friends,” White said. “We expect to help other people and serve the best way we can. We want to help them and learn from them.”
campus
meiqi zhangstudent reporter
contact zhang [email protected]
students do not want to place judgment on these lurking individuals.
In addition to reporting suspicious activity, Ellison said he advises students to park in a well-lit area, lock their vehicle and hide all valuables.
Thomas Valdez, detec-tive for the ACU Police De-partment, said the depart-ment has uncovered two possible suspects, both ju-venile, who are believed to have been involved in four
vehicle burglaries occurring in the parking lot of Smith and Adams Hall on Oct. 30.
“With these burglaries, there’s usually a connection between the suspect and a history with drug use,” Val-dez said. “They need to steal to fund their addiction.”
Valdez said students should record the serial numbers of all their elec-tronics and keep an emailed copy of the numbers in case of theft.
“If your car is broken into while you’re on a trip to Dallas, you can go online
and report it immediately,” Valdez said. “That way, you can help detectives in find-ing your electronics by ac-cessing the numbers from anywhere.”
Valdez said the ACU po-lice department is work-ing with the Walmart Loss Prevention department to obtain evidence from a car burglary that occurred last week. Walmart surveillance cameras captured a grainy image of two individuals who the ACUPD believes are responsible for breaking into the vehicle of an ACU
student. The student’s wal-let was stolen, and the sus-pects were found to be us-ing the student’s credit card at Walmart within an hour of the burglary. ACUPD is in the process of obtaining more information regard-ing those individuals.
To report any suspicious activity, contact the ACU Police Department at 674-2305 or 674-2911.
Deadline for gingerbread house contest approaching
campus
adrian patenaude Staff Photographer
Jeff “Tain” Watts, jazz drummer and 7-time Grammy award winner, gladly demonstrates a beat to ACU music stu-dents during a master class Monday in the Williams Performing Arts Center.
Undergraduate Research Council names two Researchers of the Year
The Undergraduate Research Council celebrated the work of the more than 130 ACU students who performed un-dergraduate research during the last year at its first Fall Dinner on Nov. 3.
Dr. Greg Powell, director of undergraduate research and professor of chemis-try, said the purpose of the event was to recognize the students who have inves-tigated various research topics as well as the faculty who mentored them. About 75 students and professors attended the dinner at the Hunter Welcome Center to learn about each other’s work and congratulate the students chosen as Re-searchers of the Year.
The student researchers were divided into either a sci-ence, technology, engineer-ing and mathematics cat-egory and an arts, humanities or social sciences category. Faculty mentors were asked
to nominate students for Re-searcher of the Year and to choose seven finalists out of these nominations.
Powell announced the winners in the two cat-egories at the dinner and awarded them a certificate and $100. Alexandra Mo-ran, senior social work ma-jor from Austin, earned the award for her work on the impact of mobile technol-ogy in the undergraduate social work classroom. Her research has been accepted for presentation at four na-tional conferences.
The Research Council also recognized Evan Jones, junior pre-med biochem-istry major from Canyon as Researcher of the Year. Jones has participated in three research projects over
the last year, one of which he completed at UT South-western Medical Center this summer. There he analyzed the role of neuron develop-ment in gene activation. His work was part of research investigating treatment op-tions for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
It was this project that taught Jones the true mean-ing of research, he said.
“It’s ‘re-search,’” Jones said. “You search and then search again.”
Jones spent the first nine of the 10 weeks of his re-search project working out the kinks in his methods. He was due to present his re-search on the last Tuesday of the project, and the Sunday before he still had no data.
Jones entered the lab at 4 a.m. the day before his presentation and ran all of the tests by 11 p.m. He went home only to spend the night whipping together a presentation of his findings, he said.
“It was one of the most
frustrating yet fulfilling and exciting things I’ve ever done,” Jones said. “It’s one of the things that helped me decide that I want to pursue research as a career.”
The other two research projects Jones conducted were under ACU mentors. He is working with Dr. Qiang Xu, assistant professor of biology, in researching how house flies develop resis-tance against insecticides.
Jones has also completed research on the overlap of science and theology with his partner Blaine Smith, junior biology major from Keller, under the mentor-ship of Dr. Daniel Brannan, professor of biology. Their paper, “Epigenetics and Pastoral Counseling: The
Science Behind What We Preach,” will be published in the March, 2012 edition of the European Journal of Science and Theology.
Jones said the dinner was not only a chance to share his research but also a time to learn about the studies of students from other departments as well. Powell organized the seat-ing so each table had a di-verse representation of ma-jors and studies.
“It was great to see oth-er students interested in research while looking at a whole other side of it,” Jones said.
Powell said he received positive feedback about the opportunity the dinner af-forded students and faculty
to learn about the research that is taking place all across the campus. Many attendees said they thought the dinner was worth repeating.
“I didn’t know exactly what to expect from the dinner but was very pleased with the results,” Powell said. “We plan to make this an annual event.”
Powell also used the dinner as an opportunity to promote and receive feed-back for the spring’s Un-dergraduate Research Fes-tival. Students and faculty suggested opening up the festival to the other univer-sities in Abilene, and the Undergraduate Research Council is taking the sug-gestion into consideration, Powell said.
The deadline for submit-ting abstracts for the Un-dergraduate Research Festi-val is Feb. 3, Powell said. For more information, contact [email protected].
campus
christianna lewiscopy editor
contact lewis [email protected]
Signs of the holiday season are slowly emerging across campus, even in the Bean. The cafeteria will host its first gingerbread house building contest in an at-tempt to build community.
The Bean’s staff came up with the idea of a gin-gerbread house contest while discussing how to decorate the Bean for the holidays. All of the ginger-bread houses entered in the contest will become decorations for this Christ-mas season.
“We were looking for something that would draw people to ACU dur-ing the holidays and also something that would bring a sense of involve-ment, build community and promote the mission of ACU,” said Tom Arel-lano, senior food service director for ACU Dining.
The contest is open to everyone, but so far, 42 ACU students have en-tered. There is no entrance fee and all of the ginger-bread house materials will be supplied. ACU Dining is offering three differ-ent types of gingerbread structures: the traditional gingerbread house, a gin-gerbread town home and a gingerbread miniature vil-lage. Participates are en-couraged to be creative as possible and to add any-
thing they want.All of the entries must be
turned in by Nov. 22 to be eligible for judging, which will take place Nov. 28. The top three gingerbread hous-es will receive ribbons and be displayed in the glass case by the bakery in the Bean. The rest of the houses will be scattered around the cafeteria.
The Bean’s staff hope to make it an annual event on campus during the holidays. Roland Thomas, ACU dining’s marketing specialist, said he thought the contest fit this time of year well.
“I think friendly compe-tition breeds a type of unity, which goes along with the holiday spirit,” Thomas said. “Also this is a time when students’ minds are bogged down with upcom-ing finals, so this gives them a chance to loosen up and have some fun.”
For information on how to enter the contest, contact Arellano or Thomas.
jake bellstudent reporter
contact bell [email protected]
Moran
Roland ThomasACU Dining’s market-
ing specialist
This gives [students] a chance to loosen up and
have some fun.”“
Jones
continued from page 1
Spring Break Campaign locations
Anchorage, Ala.Arms of Hope, QuinlanChicagoDry Bones, Denver, Colo.Huntington Beach, Va.
Miami, Fla. Salem, Ore.Seattle, Wash.St. Paul, Minn.Washington D.C.
Evan Jonesjunior pre-med biochemistry
major from canyon
It was one of the most frustrating yet fulfilling and exciting things I’ve ever done. It’s one of the things
that help me decide that I want to pursue research as a career.”“
Photo BY DANIEL GOMEZ CHIEF Photographer
wednesday 11.16.115 featureS
AROUND THE WORLD IN ONE NIGHTThis weekend 170 students took the stage to represent many cultures of the world in the Ethnos Culture Show. Ethnos is an ACU tradition that has enabled students year after year to demonstrate their ethnic dance knowledge, and it pro-vides international students with an opportunity to tie in arts from their own countries into the ACU community.
This year, Ethnos’ theme was “Dream Vacation.” The hosts and hostesses took their audience through the story of a family searching for the perfect vacation destination spot. Their travel agent, played by David White, junior eng-lish major from Sweeny, showed several ‘videos’ of avail-able destinations and inserted the different performances in accordingly. The crowd was able to get a glimpse of acts around the world. Wilson White, junior history major from Ozona, and Helga Sierra, senior business management major from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, played the parents in the production and also popped in and out of other acts throughout the night. Daniel Gutierrez, senior accounting major from Pauma Valley, Calif., and Sarah Smith, senior biology major from Wiggins, Colo., drove the plot with their roles as the spunky and stereotypical modern-day kids of the family.
Many of this year’s acts combined elements of a cul-ture’s traditional dance with a more modern style. For example, the group that represented India demonstrated a northern traditional style dance mixed with the more west-ernized pop culture in Southern India.
Costumes were a vibrant and eclectic mix, including ev-erything from black salsa heels, 1920’s housewives’ aprons and Southeast Asian saris.
Overall, the performers created a very fun and ener-getic atmosphere that was maintained from the opening scene with the hosts until the finale and farewell when all of the performers entered the auditorium from the sides and gathered for a final bow on stage.
contact sutherland [email protected]
Ethnos audience members preview destinations for a dream vacation
samantha sutherlandfeatures editor
Photos BY DANIEL GOMEZ CHIEF Photographer
Left: Miyako Nawekowa, junior foreign exchange student from Japan, dances a traditional routine in the Ethnos
Culture Show. Right: Samantha Colmenero, sophomore elementary education major from Richardson, performs
a traditional Filipino dance, adorned with gold finger decorations.
Photo BY adrian patenaude staff Photographer
Rebekah Perry, sophomore youth and family ministry major from San Antonio, and Simon Yammouni, senior business management major from Venezuela, demonstrate their salsa skills.
Top: Students present their choreographed Indian routine, Thursday night at rehearsal. Middle: The hosts playing a family decide which country to visit during vacation, dur-ing rehearsal Wednesday night for Ethnos. Bottom: The Chinese Ethnos dance group celebrates their cul-ture on stage in Cullen.
Photo BY adrian patenaude staff Photographer
Photo BY DANIEL GOMEZ CHIEF Photographer
Vagabondagesamantha sutherland
Oh Dear, Christian College Ben miller
the issueProposed legislation would require Internet service providers to police online copyright infringements.
our takeThis puts copyright enforcement in the hands of the wrong people and inhibits the marketplace of ideas.
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
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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
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editorial and Letter Policy
Editorial
hashtagaCu
I think the ACU library should open immedi-ately after church on Sundays. #imnotahea-then #promiseiwent #ihavethingstodo !
So my friend been workin on a 10-14 page research paper. Is that for English class? No, it’s for her core class of course.
@kaseystratton@Kyrinios @carleycrawford@wyattoden @jimadavis@dKeatontucker
3:23 p.m. Nov. 9
12:00 p.m. Nov. 10
5:29 p.m. Nov. 6
7:50 a.m. Nov. 7 12:17 p.m. Nov. 139:09 p.m. Nov. 9
@overheardACU Core essay. 10pm: 0 words, 12am: 800 words. Due tomorrow. #pointless
Would that this church pew were a time pew! And I could go back and get all my chapel credits before the last week of school! #ACU Chapel
Driving to Abilene is about as exiting as play-ing “heads up seven up” by yourself. @overhear-dACU
If one of the chocolate milk machines in the bean is empty, I walk all the way across to the other just to get that goodness in me. #acu
Pursue your passions, not resumé enhancers
Imagination improves work
PROTECT IP infringes upon rights
It seems as if, these days, an acceptable motivation behind a plethora of ac-tivities, memberships and projects can be summa-rized in one word: resumé.
College, alongside the pressures of the profession-al world, has shaped stu-dents into individuals that are accustomed to utilizing as many displays of mem-bership and accomplish-ment as possible to show ‘what they are capable of’.
We, as students, are forced to try to appropri-ately convey our entire skill set, personality, work experience and capabili-ties in one to three pages.
Students get an early start to “over-activitiz-ing” (yes, I made up that word for this column) in high school, reigning as president over every club we possibly could. Sadly, those high school re-sumes that we perfected are already worthless to us. Looking back, what was really worthwhile?
I am a diehard believer in doing things because they are your passion or because they will later be useful to you or others. If you overcommit, then you may not really be benefit-ting anything you are a part of or yourself.
Under the current sys-tem, the resumé creates an essential ‘foot in the door’ to secure an inter-view. If it doesn’t match up to the other resumes submitted, then you may not even get a chance to prove yourself in person.
However, if you inac-curately convey yourself, then the interview may end up being pretty brutal anyway. Employers can see the motivation behind what you do. If you have little on your resumé but have passion, you prob-ably would have a better chance in an interview than someone who did a whole bunch of nothing but wrote it all down with
fancy wording.If you worry about be-
ing impressive, then con-sider how much more impressive you would be if you committed all you have to offer to one group, activity or entity. Your skills would not only truly show, but they would also have an op-portunity to grow as you are challenged with new
tasks that arise through your participation. You will benefit so much more by being immersed in something that you are passionate about or in-terested in than by only half-doing ten or twenty other things. And you might actually enjoy your time taking part in it.
Although it may feel like the whole world is telling you to complete the checklist of activi-ties for your resumé, sometimes it is better for you to focus on what you know will enable you to learn and grow, even if it isn’t the norm.
I challenge you to do something that you would do regardless of its ap-pearance on your resumé. Do something of worth for the right reasons.
Imagination can make your day more interesting, and even help you perform tasks better. Just this weekend I was attempting to sketch a statue from a picture on my laptop. The picture on my screen showed the face of Michelangelo’s David, but the picture on the paper in front of me looked more like a comic book villain. I grabbed another sheet of paper and started again, but this time, with imagination. If you ever find yourself try-ing to draft a likeness of a Renaissance masterpiece, I recommend you imagine something like this, too.
You are not a bored American college student leisurely drawing in your room. You are living in early 16th century Italy. You are from a small villa in the central part of the penin-sula. You have been sent to Florence by your family to pay a creditor or some such errand. Your family – in fact, your entire villa is very
excited for you because you have the privilege of seeing some of the greatest art-work and buildings in the country. As you leave your home, person after person tells you to remember every amazing sight you see, and if possible, to draft some copies of the best art pieces so that you can describe and show them the wonders of world on your return.
Jump forward a bit in time; your errand is com-pleted, and you are walk-ing around a corner into a public square. At the other end is the imposing Palazzo Vecchio (the old palace). Standing in front of the entrance to the pal-ace is Michelangelo’s fa-mous sculpture of David. The statue is seventeen feet tall, perfectly life-like, and breathtaking. You somehow know that even 500 years from now this statue will be known as the single greatest work of art attempted by any one
human being in the entire course of history. And your hometown certainly needs a sketch of it. You find a spot to sit, find your trusty piece of red chalk, and be-gin sketching.
If you imagine all this as you start to draw, it’s no surprise you’ll get a better likeness. Of course, mine still wasn’t perfect, so I kept telling myself this imaginative tale:
You’re still sitting in the plaza, quietly sketching. Pigeons strut about look-ing for crumbs as a bell tower dully chimes the hour. Your drawing is look-
ing fair enough, but you still wish it truly captured the essence of the master-work in front of you. As you stare at your crudely-bound sketch book, you notice the shadow of a person stand-ing behind you. You can see the silhouette of his face; a prominent scruffy beard sticks out from under a dis-tinctive broken nose.
“The eyes could use a little work there, lad,” says a voice that reminds your present-day self of Charl-ton Heston.
“Oh,” you reply “I guess I’m just drawing it a little quickly, sir. I’ve spent a few minutes on it.”
“Is that so? Well, I was a little rushed, too, I only had three years to carve it,” says the man, you now re-alize is Michelangelo him-self. “Go ahead, spent that extra few minutes on your drawing.”
It’s likely your drawing will be improved if you imagine such a situation. Or better yet, just remember that you should be working for God in whatever you do, not men.
Anyone familiar with the Internet is probably also quite aware of the many sites that offer illegal streaming or download-ing of copyrighted music, movies, TV shows and oth-er works. A large portion of the Internet is dedicated to the sharing of copyrighted files, which has affected the creative industry for years. The need for legal action is clear, but the way the gov-ernment is attacking the problem is misguided.
Two recent bills, the PROTECT IP Act and the
Stop Online Piracy Act, introduced in May and October, respectively, are attempting to combat the spread of copyrighted ma-terial through online ve-hicles.
The Senate Judiciary Committee quickly passed PROTECT IP, which stands for “Preventing Real On-line Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of In-tellectual Property,” but Senator Ron Wyden then put it on hold.
Where this bill, and oth-ers similar to it, fail is in
their attempt to use In-ternet service providers, search engines, Internet advertisers and financial companies to shut down infringing websites rather than government law en-forcement.
These bills require Google to block search ac-cess to file sharing sites and force Suddenlink to cancel service to illegal downloaders.
Policing the Internet is not the job of corporations. It is the job of our govern-ment. We don’t expect Ford
to hand out speeding tick-ets, so we shouldn’t expect any more of ISPs. They are not responsible for the ac-tions of people who use their services or products.
These laws stifle the mar-ket place of ideas in that they leave little room for comment, criticism, satire and fair use situations.
Copyrighted materials are easily accessible on the Internet and often mis-used, but limiting access to them impedes the free ex-change of ideas.
While laws regarding
copyright on the Internet are needed, the govern-ment must refocus their bills.
Instead of forcing busi-nesses to police copyright offenders on the Internet, the government should simply focus on establish-
ing laws that can protect creative content and en-forcing them federally.
column
column
contact MIller [email protected]
contact sutherland [email protected]
wednesday 11.16.11 6opinion
I am a diehard believer in doing things because they are your passion or
because they will later be useful to you or others. If you overcommit, then
you may not really be benefitting anything you are part of or yourself.”
“Your drawing is looking
fair enough, but you still with it truly captured
the essence of the masterwork in front of you. As you stare
at your crudely-bound sketch book, you notice the shadow of a person
standing behind you.”
“
contact the optimist [email protected]
oh dear, christian collegeBen miller
Senior tight end Ben Gibbs said his experiences on the ACU football team go much deeper than just on-field development.
“As far as becoming a man, becoming a Chris-tian man, they don’t teach you that kind of thing any-where else,” Gibbs said. “Being here at ACU has just been such a bless-ing. God has opened up so many doors for me.”
After an ACL tear against
Texas A&M- Kingsville ear-lier this year that forced him off the field, Ben’s po-sition on the team quickly transitioned from lead-ing on the field to leading strictly from the sideline.
“It’s definitely tough to watch and not be out there
with my guys, but that’s when I had to lead in a dif-ferent way and step into a coach’s capacity, I guess you could say,” Gibbs said.
According to Head Coach Chris Thomsen, Ben’s abil-ity as a player is only a small part of his influence on the team as a whole.
“Ben is just a high char-acter person, shows up every day ready to go to work and never complains,” Thom-sen said. “The full package Ben has – the football ability, leadership, character - makes him one of the best Wildcats who has played here in my 14 years of being associated with the program.”
Gibbs came to ACU with the intent of playing both football and baseball but pursued only his baseball career for three years be-fore stepping onto the foot-ball field to shoulder the pads once more in 2009.
“You could see really quick that he would be a good player, but he has really worked hard to im-prove and he’s now de-veloped into a real NFL prospect,” Thomsen said. “We’ve had some great tight ends here, but he’s the best one I’ve seen. “
Though Ben couldn’t physically be on the field Saturday against Incarnate Word, he was represented by his teammates who wrote his number on their arms.
“It’s awesome. It just shows how the players feel about him as a per-son,” Thomsen said. “He’s a great team guy and re-ally knows how to really draw a team together.”
Gibbs’ senior year and injury doesn’t mean the end of his football career, how-ever. He has aspirations of playing on Sundays.
“It really depends on how the surgery and rehab goes,
but ultimately that’s God’s will,” Gibbs said. “That’s ob-viously what I want, but if that is where He wants me, that’s where I’ll be.”
Gibbs, who will have sur-gery Monday, is being eval-
uated by NFL scouts and plans to participate in the NFL combine and pro day.
wednesday 11.16.117 sports Jumps
DANIEL GOMEZ CHIEF Photographer
Senior tight end Ben Gibbs runs after catching a pass from Mitchell Gale in a game at Shotwell Stadium earlier this sea-son. Prior to his ACL injury against Texas A&M–Kingsvile, Gibbs had 26 receptions and three touchdowns on the season.
Gibbs makes impact on, off playing fieldtaylor langstonsports reporter
contact langston [email protected]
football
ben gibbstight end
ACU Football
As far as becoming a man, becoming a Christian man,
they don’t teach you that kind of thing anywhere else. Being here at ACU
has just been such a blessing. God has opened up so many doors for me.”
“
volleyball
’Cats earn tourney bid despite loss to ASU
The Wildcat volleyball team couldn’t take advantage of a first set win against No. 2 seed Angelo State Uni-versity in the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament semifinals on Friday, Nov. 11.
ACU fought off the Ram-belles 32-30 in the first set but lost the next three 25-18, 25-21, 25-17.
With the win, ASU ad-vanced to its second straight conference tournament championship match.
The ‘Cats are now 21-13 on the season and 14-6 in the LSC. This defeat marks the second time in two years ACU has lost to ASU in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
The Wildcats found success early in the match and were ahead for much of the first set. The team led 9-4 then jumped out to a six point lead.
The Rambelles would fight their way back on a 5-2 run which featured two kills by Chelsea Gibson.
Celeste Bonter tied the game at 24-24 for ASU with a kill of her own. This was followed by an attack error on ACU’s LSC Fresh-man of the Year Sara Ox-ford, giving the Rambelles their first advantage (25-24) since leading 1-0.
Oxford did however re-deem herself on the next play after recording her fourth kill of the set. The two squads traded off scor-ing on the next nine points until Aubree Vick and Ra-chel Riley definitively put
an end to the long game with back-to-back kills.
“The first game we came out on top and pushed hard,” said head coach Kellen Mock. “I think we shocked Angelo a little bit with how hard we played right off the bat, but as the game wore on ASU adjusted.”
The second game was much more sloppy for the Wildcats. ACU had a .000 hit-ting percentage compared to .298 in the first game.
The ‘Cats fell behind nar-rowed the score to 15-18 but couldn’t make a full recovery.
The girls tried to turn things around in the third, but ASU never allowed the Wildcats to build a substantial lead. Three straight attack errors buried any last minute hope ACU had of winning the set.
Mistakes continued to rain down on the ‘Cats dur-
ing the fourth game. The team made eight mistakes in this set alone.
The Rambelles’ block proved too much for ACU to determine a counter strategy. The Wildcats hit .149, and An-gelo came up with 13 blocks.
“Angelo did a great job of blocking in the match,” said Mock. “Sara and Neely were shut down, which has been our bread and butter.”
When asked about the biggest difference in the first game and the last three,” Mock stated. “The girls serve receive suffered a bit in the last three games. Our best hitters were getting double teamed. It made the match tough.”
Borger summed up the results versus Angelo with one word.
“Disappointing. We didn’t play to our full po-
tential. I know we can beat them. We just kind of shut down. The first game might have sucked the energy out of us since we never clicked after it finished.”
Jennie Hutt led ACU with 18 kills, 16 digs, and four blocks. Riley had 12 kills and three blocks, while Oxford finished with nine kills and two blocks. Haley Rhoads had 49 assists.
The ‘Cats found out Sunday night they would be traveling to the NCAA Division II South Central Region tournament. The squad will be playing the University of Central Mis-souri in Warrensburg, MO on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m as the at-large bid.
“I was really excited to hear we made it,” said Borg-er. “It’s a huge honor. No one thought we could do it at the
beginning of the season be-cause of the talent we lost.”
Central Missouri (27-4) is the host and the No. 1 seed. The Jennies are making an NCAA-record 30th straight appearance in the NCAA national tournament.
The other eight teams in the tournament are No. 2 seed Washburn University, LSC champion West Texas A&M University at No. 3, No. 4 Angelo State Universi-ty, St. Edwards University at No. 5, Arkansas-Fort Smith University at No. 6, and No. 7 Arkansas Tech University.
“Our goal is to have fun,” Borger said. “The tourna-ment will be a challenge. However, I’ll enjoy playing against high quality teams.”
edward isaacsassistant sports editor
contact isaacs [email protected]
Win: ACU headed to Cali.
ACU took 20 shots, while MSU, the region’s fifth seed, took 18. Wildcat goalie Elliott London and Whitworth each had 11 saves, but none was bigger for London than the one she made on Emily Saville’s pen-alty kick in the 35th minute.
“I don’t like PK’s because of all the open space the attack-er has, but I’d been watching people and knew where this one was going,” London said.
London read the right di-rection of the kick and made a diving stop to secure the Wild-cats’ 1-0 lead in the first half.
That lead disappeared midway through the sec-ond half when Mustang Kelsey Hill headed in Lynd-sey Pritchard’s pass.
“The comeback and fight out of our girls is what I liked,” Midwestern head coach Jeff Trimble said. “If you’re going to
lose, you want to do so fighting, and I felt like we went down with a fight.”
From the 71st to 77th minute, Whitworth was called on to make four consecutive saves. London was the recipient after that and stopped three straight during a 10-minute span.
ACU was presented with a penalty kick in the eighth min-ute of play after a hard foul on sophomore forward Andrea Carpenter, and Grimm lined up to take the kick.
Grimm was in a similar situation Nov. 6 in the LSC Conference Tournament’s championship game, where she pushed a penalty kick and missed wide left, but she didn’t let that phase her this time. Grimm beat Whit-worth to the near post giv-ing ACU a 1-0 lead.
“After that last match I’ve worked hard all week on my penalty kicks,” Grimm said.
“I kept telling myself I’d never miss another one. I went up knowing I owed it to my team-mates to make this shot.”
Wilson showed no hesi-tation about choosing Grimm to take the shot.
“I think Krysta was tough enough to want to do it again,” he said. “Krysta is mentally strong and I was confident she would score.”
The two teams commit-ted 36 fouls, including three yellow cards. Despite the flaws of Sunday’s game, Wil-son is optimistic about the future.
“I’m excited for what lies ahead for this program,” Wilson said. “It will be a great experience, a much-deserved one, and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead in California for our team.”
soccer
from page 8
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Team: ACU starts strongplenty of scoring in this game from several key players. Ar-mani Williams lead the way with 18 points, followed by Marc Little with 13.
The Wildcats were shoot-ing lights out, over 50 percent from the field and 80 percent from the charity stripe.
“We had this tournament to get some support going.”
Golding said. “You have to take care of your home games, and so I’m proud of our guys for doing that.”
The Wildcats will put their perfect record on the line this weekend in the UTPB Classic tournament, which starts Fri-day night against UTPB.
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men’s basketball
Rout: Defense shines in winscores. West’s day was highlighted by a 71-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, when he broke five tackles on the way to the end zone.
The Wildcat defense had their best game of the year. They held the Car-dinals to only 225 yards of total offense and re-
turned two interceptions for touchdowns.
Defensive back Nate Bailey intercepted Eric Massoni’s pass and went 53 yards for a score in the third quarter.
Woerner had the sec-ond as he returned his in-terception 26 yards.
Mike Wallace and LB Suggs added intercep-tions, giving the Wildcats
five takeaways on the day.“I hadn’t had [a pick
six] since high school,” Woener said. “It was nice to get another one of those again.”
The win was enough to get the Wildcats into the NCAA playoffs for the sixth year in a row.
The sixth seeded ‘Cats will have to travel to Tope-ka, Kan. to take on the third
seeded Washburn Ichabods at noon on Saturday.
ACU played the Icha-bods as recently as last year. The Wildcats opened their 2010 campaign in Topeka with a win over the Ichabods.
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football
from page 8from page 8
Wednesday 11.16.11 8sports
TeamMSUACUWTAMUTSUTAMU-KASUUIWENMUCommerce
Div.8-07-16-25-34-42-62-61-71-7
Ovrl.10-08-27-36-56-55-62-82-91-9
TeamWTAMUASUACUTSUTWUCameronTAMU-KMSUUIW
Div.19-117-314-613-711-99-117-137-136-14
Ovrl.33-230-521-1320-1413-1715-1515-1515-1612-18
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Div.13-09-46-56-65-65-83-71-12
Ovrl.19-114-68-88-96-99-105-71-14
Chicago Bears wide receiver Johnny Knox recorded one reception for 18 yards and no touchdowns versus the Lions on Sunday, Nov. 13. The Bears won 37-13.
Cincinnati Bengals running back Bernard Scott had 7 rushes for 38 yards and no touchdowns Sunday, Nov. 13 against the Steelers. The Bengals lost 24-17. On the year, Scott has 65 carries for 223 yards and a lone touchdown.
Danieal Manning, Texans safety, fractured his tibia on Sunday, Oct. 23 against the Titans. He had surgery to repair the fracture on Monday, Oct. 24. Manning is expected to be out for four weeks.
Volleyball plays Central Missouri in Warrensburg, M.O. on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
The women’s soccer team will face Dallas Baptist on Friday, Nov. 18 in the NCAA Third Round Post-Season Tournament. The game is in Los Angeles, CA at 4:30 p.m. (CT).
Football goes up against Washburn at 1 p.m. in Topeka, KS on Saturday, Nov. 19 for the first round of the NCAA playoffs.
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DANIEL GOMEZ CHIEF Photographer
The ACU women’s soccer team dog pile after Jacey Ferrara, sophomore midfielder from Austin, scored the golden goal in overtime against Midwestern State University on the ACU soccer pitch Sunday, November 13. The win sends ACU to Los Angeles to play Friday in the third round of the NCAA tournament.
California ’Cats
Volleyball’s Kalynne Allen, Neely Borger and Jennie Hutt were named to the Capital One Academic All-District 6 first team on Thursday, Nov. 10.
Jennie Hutt was named the LSC Academic Player of the Year and earned a spot on the all-conference first team during the annual Lone Star Conference banquet Wednesday night, Nov. 9.
Vince Jarrett, ACU associate director of athletics and former ACU golf coach, will be inducted into the Golf Coaches’ Association of America Hall of Fame. Jarrett will be honored at the GCAA Hall of Fame Reception and Awards Banquet on Monday, Dec 5.
Through 20 games this season, Jacey Ferrara had not scored a goal. But that changed Sunday after-noon in the second round of the NCAA Division II women’s soccer playoffs.
The sophomore mid-fielder scored her first goal of the year with 30 seconds
left in the first overtime period to propel the Wild-cats to a 2-1 victory over Midwestern State at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch.
The goal marked Ferrara’s second career goal, though she has taken 21 shots this year. This one could not have come at a better time for the team or Ferrara.
“I’m speechless,” Ferra-ra said. “I was just so excit-ed. I’ve been shooting all season, waiting for one to go in. When I hit this one, I hit it with everything I had. The ball was right there in front of me, I kicked it, and no one was in the way.”
Ferrara’s goal was initiated
after the Mustangs’ 20th foul of the match. The foul set up Julie Coppedge’s indirect free kick from the far end of the 18-yard box. Coppedge sent the ball towards the middle of the scrum; junior Krysta Grimm redirected the ball to Ferrara, who fired it past MSU goalkeeper Mallory Whitworth.
“Over the past 10 matches we haven’t scored on many of those oppor-tunities, so it was nice to have it, but we had to earn it,” said head coach Casey Wilson. “We were here last year, and it was great to see this team take it a step further. It’s essential that we keep raising the bar.”
This is the first time the five-year-old ACU soccer program has advanced to the third round of the NCAA playoffs, pushing forward after its first play-off appearance last year when it lost to St. Edwards on penalty kicks during the second round. Wilson
said she was pleased with the progress the team has made from last year.
“I wanted to take it a step further for the girls,” Wilson said. “Now we’re here.”
Ferrara’s goal served as the catalyst for the Wild-cats (19-1-1), who head to the South Central Region final in Los Angeles Friday. ACU will play Dallas Bap-tist (16-5-1) for the South Central Region title. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Chi-co State, Cal State-Los An-geles game Sunday in the national quarterfinals.
bryson shakesports editor
Overtime win sends ’Cats to Calif.
casey wilsonhead coachacu soccer
It was great to see a team take a step further.
It’s essential that we keep raising the bar.”“
see win page 7
Wildcats win pair of games, begin Golding era on high note
The ACU men’s basketball team began the Joe Golding era last weekend by win-ning both of their games in the Whitten Inn tip-off classic. The Wildcats played a brand of basketball full of energy and intensity, some-thing that could not be said in years past.
“We got to show people how hard we have been working,” freshman Da-Juan Cooper said. “Coach Golding preaches de-fense, hustle and all of those blue-collar things.
We are winning games, so it’s working.”
In their first game of the season Friday night, the Wildcats won a thriller at home against Truman State. Guard Marc Little knocked down a little floater with less than two seconds left in the game, giving Coach Golding his first win as ACU’s coach.
“I brought the ball up and just broke my de-fender down, got into the lane and made the shot.” junior Marc Little said.
The Wildcats opened the game with a vicious dunk by Zach Williams, and continued their in-
tense play throughout the first half. Defensively, they were dominant and offen-sively they were filling up the stat sheet, taking a 41-26 lead into halftime.
In the second half, however, the Bulldogs came roaring back. With only eight seconds to go, Truman State launched a prayer that banked in to tie the game. Six seconds later, Little knocked down the game winner.
“We had a 15-point lead, and it evaporated in the first five or six min-utes of the second half.” Golding said. “We ran a play, and put the ball in
Marc’s hands and Marc did a good job of going and making a play.”
Ten Wildcats scored in the game, and Kendall Durant, Antonio Bell, and Armani Williams finished in double figures.
The next night, the Wildcats would not leave any doubt against East Central. The final score was 89-72, but that is an inaccurate representation of the game.
“Tonight was great,” Golding said. “We were able to come out with the same intensity the whole game. We went into half-time with an 11-point lead
and stretched it to a 20- and then a 30-point lead. That was a huge step for our program.”
The Wildcats domi-nated in every sense of the word, and their defen-sive mindset was obvious from the beginning of the contest. The swarming Wildcat defense forced 24 turnovers, blocked sev-eral shots, and took three charges in the game.
“The defense played great tonight.” Little said. “This tournament set the tone for the whole year.”
The Wildcats enjoyed
matthew sloansports reporter
men’s basketball
football
ACU routs Cardinals in season finale
Both the ACU offense and defense finished the year strong in the final regular season game as the Wild-cats beat the woeful Incar-nate Word Cardinals 61-16.
“This season has kind of been up and down in spots, so it was good to finish the year strong,” quarterback Mitchell Gale said. “I think that was a necessary step that we needed to take as we go into to the playoffs.”
Gale led the Wildcats on offense. He threw for 327 yards and two scores in three quarters of work. With the
game well in hand by the middle of the third quarter, Gale gave way to backup John David Baker, who closed out the game for the ‘Cats.
“I just try to do my job, and that’s deliver the mail,” Gale said. “Whatever the numbers are, I don’t pay too much attention to that. It was a good team effort.”
The ground game was the story for the Wildcats, who had 252 yards rush-ing in the game. Starter Daryl Richardson ran for 50 yards and a touchdown. Third down back Charcan-drick West had 130 yards on only twelve carries and two
Austin Gwinsports director
DANIEL GOMEZ CHIEF Photographer
Sophomore running back Charcandrick West sheds a tackle in Saturday’s 61-16 win. see rout page 7
see team page 7
