a. Yes, I’m hoppin’ with anticipation.b. Yes, but it has lost its true meaning.c. I get excited about any weekend.

Optimistthe

Forecast InsideSOME TRADITIONSshould not be modernized or refreshed. Holy Week should not be forced onto 4,000 students during mandatory Chapel.

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ACU SPORTS HISTORY is filled with champions. Our sports staff picked four legendary atheletes whose legacies deserve to be etched in stone.

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VIDEO

Students React to Health Care

LOUDandCLEAR

acuoptimist.comBREAKING NEWS, VIDEOS, PHOTOS, DISCUSSION AND EXCLUSIVE CONTENTVol. 98, No. 46 1 section, 8 pagesWednesday, March 31, 2010

Abby AndersonContributing Reporter

Every spring, the mem-bers of female and male social clubs prepare for one of the biggest social events of the year: spring formal. Formal has been a tradition for decades and is an opportunity to so-cialize, dress up and have a fun night with friends.

This year, a change has been introduced into the policy for females’ spring social. Typically, the venue for spring for-mal is out of town; clubs have chosen cities all over Texas to host their special evenings in the past. This practice will continue for male social clubs, but as of this year, female social clubs must select a venue in Abilene.

This change has elic-ited a wide range of emo-tions from club members, as female social clubs ad-just to the new rule.

Katie Findley, senior education major from Colleyville and president of Sigma Theta Chi, said the transition and rule change was the result of numerous things.

Though clubs spend roughly the same amount of money regardless of

PAGE 5Rulers of the Rink

Piping Away Disaster

New aid available to counter tuition increase

University embraces ‘Holy’ tradition

Policy restrictswomen’sformals

CONSTRUCTION SOCIAL CLUBS

FINANCIAL AID

CHAPEL

Whitney PuckettContributing Reporter

The financial aid team designated $500,000 to make next year’s 12 per-cent tuition increase bear-able for qualifying stu-dents. The Application for Additional Financial

Assistance gives students with unmet financial need the opportunity to receive assistance from ACU.

Buck James, associate vice president for enroll-ment management, and his team have worked dil-igently to provide what is called the Application for

Additional Financial As-sistance. The team hopes to assist students who are

struggling to make ends meet in the wake of in-creasing costs.

“We want to make sure that we set aside a cer-tain amount of money for families who are strug-gling,” James said.

Applicants are required to fill out a Free Applica-tion for Federal Student Aid form along with the online university appli-

cation provided at www.acu.edu/additionalassis-tance. They then must submit the information to the Financial Aid office by April 30. After review-ing the applications, the office will award students

Shea RattanContributing Reporter

For the first time, the cel-ebration of Holy Week is part of ACU Chapel. For centuries, the last week of Jesus’ life has been a time for believers to come together around their central tenet of faith: the

death, burial and resur-rection of Jesus. In the Christian year, it is the week immediately pre-ceding Easter and the last week of Lent.

The week includes Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday. It is also the first day of the new

season, commemorating the last week of Jesus’ life on earth before his crucifixion and his resur-rection on Easter Sunday. Although Holy Week caps the 40-day period of Lent, Easter is by far the most celebrated holiday during this time.

In order to better focus

on the life of Jesus, Cha-pel this week will revolve around his last seven days on earth, with a different theme each day. On Mon-day, Russ Kirby, director of Student Services for the Graduate School of Theology, spoke about

see COST page 4

KELSI WILLIAMSON Chief Photographer

SHADES performs during Chapel on Monday. Palm leaves covered the aisle in honor of Holy Week.

ZAK ZEINERT Stafff Photographer

Workers prepare to dig between the McGlothlin Campus Center and the Biblical Studies Building.

Colter HettichEditor in Chief

Yet another major construction project commenced Friday and could have students going to their iPhones for help navigating around the obstruction.

The 8 to 11-foot-wide trench between the McGlothlin Campus Center and the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building is one of five phases of a $5 million proj-ect to install new pipes essential

to heating and cooling the cam-pus. Kevin Roberts, chief informa-tion officer, said an abundance of corrosion and the addition of the Money Student Wellness and Rec-reation Center left the university no choice.

“If we let this continue, we will have a catastrophic failure in the system,” Roberts said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make this as nonintrusive as possible.”

see HOLY page 4

QUICK FACTS

The university set $500,000 aside for returning students who struggleto afford the tuition increase. Follow these steps to apply:

n Fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)n Fill out the university application at acu.edu/additionalassistance

see FORMAL page 4

see PIPES page 4

The $5 million project will ease legitimate fears that the aged and corroded system could fail at any moment.

PHASESMarch 29 - May 17

April 6 - May 17

May 18 - June 22

June 23 - July 28

May 18 - June 29

July 29 - Oct. 10

July 29 - Oct. 10

ZAK ZEINERT Staff Photographer

Image courtesy of OPERATIONS

CALENDAR AND EVENTSWednesday, March 31, 2010

2CampusDay

11 a.m.Chapel in Moody Coliseum

3 p.m.ACU Softball v. Texas A&M International

3 p.m.Registration begins for graduate students, Honors students and Study Abroad.

11 a.m.Chapel in Moody Coliseum

5 p.m.ACU Softball v. St. Edwards

7 p.m.ACU Softball v. Texas Wesleyan

7:30 p.m.Open forum with Dr. Phil Schubert in Hart Auditorium

9 p.m.Chai Cafe

1 THURSDAY

The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities. Groups may send announcements directly to optimist@jmcnetwork.com.

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

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

AboutThis Page

53Chapel CreditedChapelsto date:

Checkup 20CreditedChapelsremaining:

Volunteer OpportunitiesThe Noah Project needs volunteers to cov-er the domestic violence crisis hotline between 6 and 10 p.m. Monday-Fri-day. For more informa-tion, call Yvonne Myers at 676-7107.

Love and Care Minis-tries needs help with its clothing ministry and street feeds at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. or 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. To schedule a time to help, call Terry Davis at 670-0246.

The City of Abilene’s Adaptive Recreation Services needs volun-teers to help mentally and physically challenged adults with activities be-tween 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Activities can include arts and crafts, exercise, ceramics, bowling, field trips, etc. For more infor-mation, contact Barbara Liggett at 676-6575, or e-mail barbara.liggett@abilenetx.com.

Abilene Hope Haven needs volunteers to pro-vide child care between 6:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Monday through Thurs-day. For more informa-tion, contact Kathy Reppart (before 3 p.m.) at 677-4673 or Christina Spillers (after 3 p.m.) at 437-0611.

The Betty Hardwick Center needs volun-teers from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on any weekday. For more information, contact Katie Fawcett at 690-5128.

Breakfast On Beech Street serves breakfast to Abilene’s homeless community and is in need

of volunteers. Breakfast is served from 6:30-7:15 a.m. at the First Chris-tian Church at 3rd and Beech Street. Volunteers must arrive at 5:30 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 5 a.m. Tuesdays. For more information, visit the First Christian Church’s Web site at www.fccabilene.org/out-reach.html.

Meals on Wheels is looking for volunteers to deliver hot meals each week to seniors and adults with disabilities. Volunteers may work once a week between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more informa-tion, contact Elisabeth Rodgers at 672-5050.

The Alzheimer’s Asso-ciation needs volunteers any time 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Thurs-day. Volunteers must be present for at least one hour and will perform various office duties. For more information, contact Libby Connally at 672-2907.

The American Heart As-sociation needs volun-teers any time 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Volunteers will help with general of-fice tasks and assist with mailings. For more information, contact Kay Alexander at 627-0070.

The Christian Service Center needs volunteers to fill requests for cloth-ing, bedding, kitchen utensils, etc., from the donation center. Vol-unteers may work from noon-4 p.m. Friday or Saturday. For more infor-mation, call Jim Clark at 673-7531.

The Food Bank of West Central Texas needs vol-unteers to sort and stock

food items between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. For in-formation or to schedule a group of six or more volunteers, contact Jan-ice Serrault at 695-6311, or email abfoodbk@camalott.com.

The Salvation Army needs volunteers Monday through Saturday. Volun-teers may help sort and price items in the thrift store, help in the kitchen or do yard work.

The International Rescue Committee needs volunteers to teach English and men-tor refugees. For more information or to make an appointment, contact Daina Juryka-Owen at 675-5643 ext. 16.

St. John’s Episcopal School needs volunteers from 3:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Saturday to help with sports, arts, crafts and science. For more in-formation, contact Ashley Puryear at 338-8400.

There will be an Inter-national Students Asso-ciation service project Saturday. For more infor-mation, e-mail Ken Lake at kxl05e@acu.edu.

Find more volunteer opportunities by visiting the Service-Learning and Volunteer Resources Web site at www.acu.edu/slvr and clicking on Volunteer Opportunities, or visit the Service-Learning and Volunteer Resources of-fice located in the lower level of the McGlothlin Campus Center.

31 WEDNESDAY Good Friday, no classes

9:30 a.m.International Students Sponsorship Day. Contact Ken Lake for more information.

12 p.m.ACU Softball v. Texas Wesleyan

2 FRIDAY

AnnouncementsEquine Assisted Psy-chotherapy is now available to staff, faculty and students through the Counseling Center. For more information, call 674-2626.

The Upward Bound Pro-gram is in need of stu-dents to serve as summer advisers. The program is looking for encouraging, energetic and respon-sible students to assist in preparing high school students for college. For more information, call 674-2529 or 674-2514.

Registration for online summer classes is now open. For more informa-tion, contact your aca-demic adviser.

HIGHway Bible study will meet at 9 p.m. Wednes-day in The Grove Club-house. All students are welcome to attend.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Chapel will meet the first Thursday of each month in Room 258 in the Foster Science Building. All ACU students who participate in BBBS are welcome to attend.

The Bible Bowl will be April 10 on the ACU campus.

The Meek Blood Center is sponsoring a blood drive April 16.

Beltway Park Church is sponsoring A Night of Worship with Lee-land and Phil Wickham

on April 9. Tickets are $15 in advance and $10 for students or groups of more than 10; they are available at Belt-way Park, Mardel and Lifeway stores or online at www.itickets.com/events/240228/Abilene_TX/Leeland.html.

Michael Jacobs will be performing a free concert at 8 p.m. April 5 in the Williams Performing Arts Center Recital Hall.

Re-Fresh, the Fresh-man Devotional, is every Thursday at 10 p.m. in the Beauchamp Amphi-theater. Freshmen are invited for a time of wor-ship for freshmen and by freshmen.

The Abilene Christian Opera Theater’s spring opera opens April 9-10 at 8 p.m. in Cullen Audito-rium. This semester’s show is Massenet’s Cendrillon, an interpretation of the classic Cinderella tale: a journey of enchantment, triumph and romance. General admission is $12 for adults and $5 for students.

The ACU Career Center is sponsoring an informa-tion session about jobs with Hawkes Learning Systems, a company that develops educational programs for mathemat-ics teachers at the high school and college levels. For more information, contact the Career Center at 674-2473, or email at careers@acu.edu.

Registration for Fall 2010 begins today with graduate students, Hon-ors students and Study Abroad.

The Student Social Work Association is sponsoring a meeting at 6:30 p.m. April 12 and 26 to help plan for Diabetes Day this fall. The meeting will be at Hillcrest Church of Christ. For more infor-mation, contact Darrell Jordan at 674-4886.

The Outdoor Club is sponsoring the fifth an-nual Red Dirt Adventure Challenge duathlon April 17. For more information or to register, visit www.acuoutdoorclub.org.

The Virtuous African Heritage Sisterhood will be sponsoring an em-powerment workshop at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Gardner East Lobby. The event will feature a panel of graduate students.

Dr. Phil Schubert, ACU’s new president, will speak at an open forum at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Hart Auditorium.

The Pruett Gerontol-ogy Center is sponsoring Careers in Aging Week. Booths will be displayed from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. April 5-9 in the McGlothlin Campus Center.

Freshman Formal will be April 16th. Tickets are on sale in the McGlothlin Campus Center; the cost is $25 for an individual or $40 for a couple.

ACU for Abilene will be April 17th.

March 31, 2010 Page 3Campus News

Christianna LewisContributing Reporter

Four ACU Honors stu-dents gave faces to evil, victims of discrimination and even the person of Jesus Christ in their pre-sentations at the Great Plains Honors Council 2010 Conference on Fri-day and Saturday.

Joshua Alkire, Kath-erine Sinclair, Megan Faver-Hartline and Mar-garet Moore traveled to Tulsa, Okla., to show their work to other Hon-ors students and faculty from the six states with-in the GPHC’s region. Presentations from ev-ery branch of study are crafted around each year’s theme; 2010’s theme was The Art of the Critique.

Joshua Alkire, senior English and Christian ministry major from Abilene, received the Dennis Boe Award for his outstanding work. He was one of eight at-tendees to receive a plaque and cash prize this year for outstand-ing work, according to gphc2010.com.

Alkire examined por-traits of Christ through the eyes of a fictional Por-tuguese Jesuit, Sebastião Rodrigues, the lead char-acter in Shusaku Endo’s Silence. Alkire said Ro-drigues’ perception of Christ changes as he ob-serves persecuted Japa-nese Christians, who were being pressured to renounce their faith by stepping on a picture of Christ.

Alkire said he didn’t understand Rodrigues’ obsession with Christ’s face until he saw the sym-bol of Christianity, called a fumie, for himself.

“It’s a small piece of blackened wood, dirtied from so many people stepping on it,” Alkire said. “The face of Christ in Japanese art during the 17th cen-

tury is this humiliated, worn-down Christ.”

Margaret Moore said she was happy to be able to tell the story of the disgraceful captivity of Japanese-Americans during the 20th century. Moore, sophomore edu-cation and youth and family ministry major from Houston, presented on the “retirement camps”

America established dur-ing World War II.

A young man’s cor-ruption was symbolized in a painting of his own face in Katherine Sin-clair’s presentation The Monster Within: The Role of Roman Catholic Concepts of Sin in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Sinclair, senior English major from Abilene, said she identified with the themes in the novel.

“Dorian Gray doesn’t really realize the terrible things he’s doing to every-one,” Sinclair said. “That’s just human nature.”

Sinclair said compil-ing this scholarly pub-lication was the first time she felt her writing wasn’t simply a reitera-tion of something she read before. The abil-

ity to be able to think through and present one’s own ideas is es-sential to any communi-cator, Sinclair said.

Alkire agreed the preparation for gradu-ate school and career was the most valuable component of his ex-perience, even in com-parison to the $200 he received as part of the Boe Award.

“I counted up the hours I spent revising it, and I think I got a little over minimum wage,” Alkire said. “It’s still better than you get on most papers.”

Honors students present The Art of the CritiqueACADEMICS

Abby AndersonContributing Reporter

For the last 90 years, ACU’s W Club has rec-ognized young Christian women for academic ex-cellence. On Saturday, W Club honored past and present members at the annual Silver Tea at the Swenson House.

Melanie Kirkland, ju-nior political science major from Lubbock and secretary of the W Club, said an important purpose of the club is to “inspire young women to noble womanhood.”

All current W Club

members are eligible for two scholarships, which are given at the end of every spring semester. Silver Tea helps support those endeavors.

“The purpose of Silver Tea is to raise money for our scholarship fund,” Kirkland said.

Silver Tea is exclu-sively for current mem-bers and alumni and provides a great oppor-tunity for the women of W Club to get to know past members, network and form relationships, Kirkland said.

Natalie Knowles, junior interdisciplinary major

in art and English and W Club historian, said this year’s Silver Tea had a great turnout.

Knowles said it takes exceptional determina-tion to be a leader, in ad-dition to excelling in aca-demics, yet every woman in W Club exhibits these qualities; Silver Tea pro-vides a way to recognize many of them.

W Club was organized in 1920 under the direc-tion of Daisy McQuigg Sewell, wife of for-mer ACU President J.P. Sewell. The purpose of W Club is to recognize female students with

outstanding Chris-tian character, high academic standing and who demonstrate abili-ties in leadership and service; it is one of only two organizations recognized at the Hon-ors Chapel for academ-ic achievement.

Today, W Club has about 175 members, many of whom are the second generation in their families to be members. For 90 years, these women have looked to Proverbs 31 and the “virtuous” wom-an in this chapter as a role model.

“I have been encour-aged by our speakers and the wisdom they share, but mostly, I have enjoyed being with

a group of women that love God,” Knowles said.

W Club honors excellence at annual Silver TeaSTUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

QUICK FACTS

Four Honors students presented their own representations of victims of discrimination at the Great Plains Honors Council 2010 Conference in Tulsa, Okla., last weekend.

n Joshua Alkire – winner of the Dennis Boe Award and recipient of a plaque and cash prize; presented The Face of the Man: Fumie and Christian Art in Shusaku Endo’s Silence

n Katherine Sinclair – The Monster Within: The Role of Roman Catholic Concepts of Sin in The Picture of Dorian Gray

n Margaret Moore – Japanese Relocation: The Jerome and Rohwer Experience

n Megan Faver-Hartline – The Most Important, and Now Commer-cialized, Day of Your Life

contact Lewis atoptimist@jmcnetwork.com

contact Anderson atoptimist@jmcnetwork.com

ZAK ZEINERT Staff Photographer

Meghan Clark, senior journalism major from Olney and trea-surer of the W Club, collects donations at the Swenson House on Saturday.

March 31, 2010From FrontPage 4

aid according to their need, academic standing and Chapel attendance.

The FAFSA form weighs heavily in this process, which is why all deadlines are crucial in regard to acceptance. It determines whether the student can afford the hard and soft costs of ACU.

The hard costs are things like tuition and room and board, while soft costs refer to per-sonal care, transportation and miscellaneous costs.

Buck said although the cost of tuition will rise, the increase di-rectly correlates to an increase in the integrity of degrees issued by the university.

“We are enhancing the quality of education at ACU,” James said. “Unfortunately, that costs money.”

ACU is using the tu-ition rise as a way of completing its 21 Cen-tury Vision of becom-ing a premier Christian academic institution by 2020.

Carlee Snyder is a se-nior public relations ma-

jor who transferred from West Texas A&M in part because of the quality of academics at ACU.

“ACU is very innova-tive. The classes consist of excellent quality,” Snyder said.

The application pro-cess began last week, and 200 applicants have already begun submit-ting their forms.

“We would expect 80 to 90 percent who par-ticipate to participate right away,” James said.

Cost: Efforts to alleviate

Holy: Refocusing on Easter

Pipes: Loop project construction begins

Formal: Bound to Abilene

FINANCIAL AID

SPIRITUALITY

CONSTRUCTION

SOCIAL CLUBS

the city, the club mem-bers and their dates end up spending much more money on lodging, travel, etc., when formal is out of town. Formals also fall at the end of each spring semester, which is often the busi-est time of the year aca-demically for students, Findley said.

Lanna Armstrong, senior accounting ma-jor and president of Ko Jo Kai, said though the members of Ko Jo Kai overall are fine with the decision, out of town formals were popular because members got to travel with friends and have a weekend away from school. Yet, she points out, the policy change had some posi-tive results.

“We are having our formal at The Ware-house this year and are very excited about it,” Armstrong said. “We were able to cut the cost and still have a really nice formal.”

Morgan Meyer, sopho-more psychology major from Richardson and member of GATA, said she was looking forward to doing something fun with club outside of Abilene.

“I really wish we didn’t have to stay in town and think it is un-fair that the male clubs are still allowed to leave,” Meyer said.

Still, she said, it will save money, and clubs will probably have high-er attendance because some girls are never able to attend due to work or schedule conflicts.

Taylor Strenger, soph-omore education major

from Sachse and mem-ber of Ko Jo Kai, voiced a similar opinion, agreeing that in-town formals will save members and their dates money and encour-age a higher attendance.

“There aren’t as many places to choose from to host formal, but I think it would still be fun,” Strenger said.

Though the change seems to be something clubs are still adjust-ing to, club members have remained optimis-tic and accepting of the new rules.

“I believe in-town for-mal will be a refreshing change, and hopefully more people will be in at-tendance,” Findley said.

Roberts and other admin-istrators, including Physi-cal Resources Director Scot Colley, consulted engineers at Burns and McDonald for more than a year. Roberts said they outlined a six-month plan to install more than five miles of pipe in the quickest and most ef-ficient way.

“When we first started talking, we thought it was going to be an 18-month process,” Roberts said. “But they’re going to use three crews working si-multaneously and be fin-ished in September.”

In addition to the three-crew strategy, the route was slightly modified to save time and money. Roberts was aware of students’ financial concerns and said the university will not need to pass the $5 million cost to stu-dents; the university is-sued debt to fund the entire project.

The current pipes were installed in the late 1960s and have a typical life span of 25-30 years. Crews will strategically place the new pipes on and around old ones to minimize outages. Col-ley said although outag-

es are inevitable as they disconnect old pipes and connect new, they have been planned for week-ends and summer days to affect the lowest num-ber of people.

Roberts said because boilers and chillers con-sume the bulk of energy used to heat and cool buildings, the new system will not immediately in-crease energy efficiency.

“But this does set the stage for us to do more for our efficiency in the future,” Roberts said.

the Triumphal Entry; Tuesday’s speaker was Randy Harris, instructor in the Department of Bi-ble, Missions and Minis-try, speaking on The Up-per Room. Wednesday will be a Taizé service focused on Gethsemane, led by Dr. Jack Reese, dean of the College of Biblical Studies, and Dr. Stephen Johnson, associate professor of preaching. The week will conclude Thursday with Women at the Cross, de-livered by Dr. Jeanene

Reese, Dr. Dena Counts, Dr. Kristina Campos and Anna Peters.

Mark Lewis, assistant dean for Spiritual Life and Chapel Programs, said the Chapel Office is hoping the ACU commu-nity will use this week to refocus on the true mean-ing of Easter.

“In this time of focus on the final events of the life of Jesus Christ, we hope to encourage the ACU com-munity to draw nearer to our Father, to celebrate all he has done for his chil-dren,” Lewis said.

Reese, associate pro-fessor in the Department

of Bible, Mission and Min-istry, said this is also a good time to focus on the last week of Jesus’ life because it is during this time of year most of the world pays attention to these significant events.

“As Christians we focus on the death, burial and resurrection every Sun-day,” Reese said. “This is unique because it’s a time when the world focuses on it, too.”

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

KELSI WILLIAMSON Chief Photographer

Kirk House leads worship at Vibrant Expressions, a time of praise, conversation and commu-nity, Sunday nights at Monks Coffee Shop.

contact Hettich atclh05d@acu.edu

contact Puckett atoptimist@jmcnetwork.com

contact Rattan atoptimist@jmcnetwork.com

contact Anderson atoptimist@jmcnetwork.com

FocusMarch 31, 2010 Page 5

KELSI WILLIAMSON Chief Photographer

Goalie Ryan Dumas, freshman architecture major from Abilene, takes shots from teammates during warm-up at the Slapshot Hockey Center in Richardson.

Far Right: Mark Daughdrill, junior

vocational missions major from Cypress, looks on during play.

Right: The ACU hockey team usually

plays two to three out-of-town tourna-

ments a semester in the Dallas and

Austin areas. Photos by

KELSI WILLIAMSON

Kelsi WilliamsonChief Photographer

“Some people have the idea that inline hockey is a kiddie sport,” says Mark Daughdrill, junior vocational missions major from Cypress.

The men of the ACU inline hockey team would beg to differ.

For a small number of ACU-affiliated hockey enthusiasts, the quick action of inline skat-ing combined with the rough play of hockey is enough to pack a bag and head to a weekend tournament in Dallas.

The team does not always fare well on the rink, but the core players continue to come back.

“We have fun playing, but it’s the time that we hang out afterwards that’s the most fun,” Daughdrill said.

Ten players comprise this year’s team and range from freshmen to graduate students. When in Abilene, they practice on weekends at Cal Young Park.

A RINK OF THEIR OWN

contact Williamson atoptimist@jmcnetwork.com

Left: Greg Tomaras, sophomore environmental science major from Abilene, and Jon Snyder graduate student in English from Alamogordo, N.M., celebrate after Tomaras’ score against Louisiana Tech.Below: Inline hockey consists of more breakaways than ice hockey due to the tile surface of the rinks. Photos byKELSI WILLIAMSON

KELSI WILLIAMSON Chief Photographer

ACU Hockey team members take a break between periods. Regular inline games con-sist of three 12-minute stop-clock periods.

OpinionPage 6 March 31, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

Address letters to: ACU Box 27892 Abilene, TX 79699

E-mail letters to: optimist@acu.edu

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Editorial and Management Board

Colter HettichEditor in Chief

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Optimistthe

By Lucas WrightPears

In Monday’s Chapel, guest speaker Russ Kirby asked students how many had celebrated Holy Week since childhood. A few hands hesitantly went up while the rest of us tried to figure out if he was joking or not. Al-though the week’s open-ing Chapel featured palm branches and a SHADES performance, we heard little explanation about the historical background of Holy Week. And so the murmur of disinterested students mixed with an occasional ringing cell phone continued.

Our worry that an im-portant seven-day peri-

od is being robbed of its original significance is twofold. First is the con-cern that in an attempt to make Chapel interest-ing, Holy Week has be-come just another outlet for contemporary Chris-tian attention-grabbers. Our second fear follows the first: The histori-cal context of this time period is lost in transla-tion amidst the rush to deem the seven days a trendy theme week to gain popularity.

Although this year is the first time ACU has celebrated Holy Week, recognition of the final days of Jesus’ life dates

back to the end of the third and beginning of the fourth century. The week includes three well-known religious holidays – Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Fri-day – leading to Easter Sunday. In the tradi-tional Eastern Orthodox and Catholic traditions, Christian followers par-took in practices such as fasting, all-night vigils and the Divine Liturgy among others.

Followers have used of Holy Week for centuries to prepare their hearts for an Easter celebration. It is a time to remember the weight of Jesus’ sac-

rifice as well the joy of his resurrection.

It is not that we dis-agree with ACU’s recogni-tion of Holy Week. Clearly this time has played an im-portant role in the history of our faith. What we find fault with is grouping it – whether intentionally or unintentionally – with the rest of the theme weeks and then filling it with unrelated events such as Monday’s Shades perfor-mance and Kirby’s slam poetry. While these events are certainly entertaining, they fail to display what we would deem “holy.”

We suggest a Holy Week where the prac-

tices rooted in remem-brance of Jesus’ last days on earth are clearly explained and clearly directed. Although per-haps less entertaining on the surface, we be-lieve this kind of week could escape the dan-gers of contemporary trends and actually suc-

ceed as an identifiably separate and special pe-riod of time. Maybe then we would finally put our iPhones away and listen in Chapel.

Holy week requires solemn explanationEDITORIAL

Minor obligations no less importantCOLUMN

Sondra Not Sandra Sondra Rodriguez

My roommates and I had our lawn mowed Thurs-day for the first time in a year and a half.

“How do you let it get to that po int?” my mom asked as t h o u g h I said I h a d n ’ t showered in a year and a half. I responded, “I live with three girls, we’re full-time students, we all have jobs and try to maintain somewhat of a social life and mowing the lawn is not too high on my prior-ity list, Mother.”

We got away with it for most of the year and a half. Sure, it looked tacky, but so do a few houses around the corner, so why does it matter? We thought the snow and ice would kill most of the grass around the time it reached 3 feet, but we were wrong and looked even more tacky

with 3 feet of brown brush surrounding our house. Taking out the trash be-came a chore because no one wanted to trek through the jungle and get those awful pricklies all over them, so trash be-gan to build up, and after the skunk, a buildup of trash was the last thing we needed in our house. The skunk probably chose our house to spray because he felt protected by the lush vegetation surrounding his burrow. Every couple of days one of us would say, “Wow, we need to get the lawn mowed.” The rest of us would glance out-side, raise our eyebrows and nod and go back to what we were doing.

Spring came around, and when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, the weeds bloomed.

We’d heard rumors about getting fined by the city for having such a revolting yard, and our neighbors are trying to sell but probably aren’t having much luck because of the “ugly house.” By the grace of God, a gentleman with

a mowing business left his business card with a rea-sonable estimate on our front door, and on Thurs-day, I took a stand.

The poor guy didn’t realize we had a backyard and said he would have doubled the rate, but he was kind enough to stick to his original price. He did, however, leave me with a chilling statement: “The city is charging $500 fines for yards that look like this with no warning. It’s a miracle you haven’t gotten one yet.” Not only was he saving us $500, he was doing it for a price that made us feel we were robbing him blind. I wanted to embrace him, figured that might be too much and instead ea-gerly wrote him a check and made conversation to get to know this saint of a man. Unfortunately, he wasn’t much for small talk; he had plenty of work to do and seemed a bit intimidated by it.

It took about three min-utes to pick up the phone and call the number on the business card — it wasn’t

a difficult thing to do. But we could always find bet-ter things to do, and we al-ways will find better things to do, deadlines to meet and assignments to finish. That tiny effort made our house look brand new.

We immerse ourselves in school and forget there’s a world of duties outside of our ACU obli-gations that we can’t for-get about: getting the oil changed and the tires ro-tated, paying the bills on time, taking out a semes-ter’s worth of recycling or mowing the lawn. The semester is almost over, and pretty soon, we’ll be left to deal with those non-ACU obligations and wish we could claim homework as an excuse. Don’t for-get about the little things; responding to them can make all the difference in the world, and at some point you’ll realize you really don’t have much of a choice. The chal-lenge is learning to not let it reach that point.

THE ISSUEIn honor of Easter weekend, the Chapel Office has decided to celebrate Holy Week.

OUR TAKEThe historical significance of Holy Week is being lost amidst the contemporary approach in an effort to keep students entertained.

Email the Optimist at:optimist@jmcnetwork.com

contact Rodriguez atsar06g@acu.edu

Rodriguez

The health care bill, HR-3200, passed March 21 is the single greatest attack on American liberties in the history of this country. Even more appalling is the lack of information that has been made available to the public. Through-out the media, few reports mention the $2 billion Washington will take from the medical device manufacturers, in addition to the 2.9 percent excise tax (Sect. 1405 and 9009), the $4.2 billion from the companies who manufacture new, life-saving drugs (Sect. 9008), the $6.7 billion from the insurance compa-nies (Sect. 9010), the 40 percent tax on high-dollar health plans (Sect. 9001), or the various restrictions on hospital expansion. This taxation, which will re-sult in increased rates, has been pushed under the rug by the media because it shows this bill was not about helping Americans but about controlling one-sixth of the economy and increasing the dependence of Americans on a par-ty that does not share the principles of this country.

In addition, the only portion of the student loan amendment regularly mentioned is the portion regarding the subsidy cut. However, the media has failed to mention this amendment also eliminates banks from issuing private student loans. These account for not only a significant proportion of bank-ing activity but also a large portion of students’ funding. More than likely, this will significantly harm our econ-omy as many will be forced to forego college due to expenses or spend less over their lifetime due to the increased cost of paying their college loans.

Furthermore, the assertion by the White House that this new legislation will take the insurance companies “out of the driver’s seat” is yet another ex-ample of the hubris of this administra-tion specifically and those in Washing-ton in general. They think legislation originally written by a former Well-Point vice president and nearly identi-cal to the plan created by the AHIP will be harmful to insurance companies. It is time this country once again became a country of, by and for the people in-stead of being subjects to egotistical individuals in their ivory towers.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Health care bill carries big debt

CHRISTOPHER SISK Sophomore accounting major from San Antonio in response to the recently passed health care bill

March 31, 2010 Page 7From Sports

Rushmore: Morrow, Naimadu among all-time greatsFEATURE

Delloreen Ennis-London

Ennis-London (’99) is one of the most decorated athletes in ACU history. She is the only woman in NCAA history to win eight national titles in hurdles. She represented her home country and sum-mer Olympic powerhouse Jamaica at three Olympic Games, with a fourth-place finish in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ennis-London has won three medals in the women’s 100-me-ter hurdles at the World

Championships: silver in 2005 and a bronze in both the 2007 and 2009 championships. She was inducted to the ACU Hall of Fame in 2009, her first year of eligibility.

Wilbert Montgomery

During his four years in Abilene, Montgom-ery compiled one of the greatest careers in ACU and NAIA history as a running back. From 1973-76 he set the NAIA record for touchdowns with 76 and helped lead the Wild-cats to the 1973 National Championship. The Phila-delphia Eagles drafted

him in the sixth round of the 1977 NFL draft and he went on to play eight solid seasons in the City of Brotherly Love, attend-ing two Pro Bowls. Mont-gomery rushed for 6,789 yards in the NFL, scoring 57 touchdowns. He served as running back coach for the St. Louis Rams from 1997-2005, where he helped develop two all-Pro backs, Marshall Faulk and Stephen Jack-son. Montgomery is now the running back coach for the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens moved up to the No. 4 rushing team in the NFL during his first season as a coach, after

ranking No. 16 the sea-son before. Montgomery was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

Bobby Morrow

Morrow (’58) is possibly the greatest athlete in ACU history and by far its greatest Olympian. Mor-row graduated from ACU in 1958 but left his mark on the world of track and field during his time in Abilene. Morrow was the most dominating athlete on the planet in 1956, capturing three gold med-als at the Olympic Games in Australia. Sports Il-

lustrated named him the 1956 Sportsman of the Year, placing him among greats like Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods. He set the world record in the 200-meter and 4x100-meter relays in 1956. Dur-ing his time at ACU, he col-lected 14 sprint national chanpionships. He was in-ducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975, the ACU Sports Hall of Fame in 1988 and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1989.

These four athletes stand alone as the great-est among greats, the cream of ACU’s crop. The

Wildcats have won 62 team national champion-ships; only USC, UCLA and Stanford have won more titles. The Lone Star Conference was created in 1973, and ACU has won 143 conference titles, more than twice as many as the school with the second-most LSC titles.

Thus a monument to the all-time greats is a fit-ting tribute, a reminder of what a privilege it is to walk the same halls as some of the world’s most amazing athletes.

Continued from page 8

contact Sports atsports@jmcnetwork.com

including the president himself, and he doesn’t even know a whole lot about basketball. My point is – Kansas was the favored team.

The NCAA tournament is a like a whole season shrunken to fit into two weeks. Rankings don’t necessarily matter in the season. All that matters is getting your team to appear on that bracket come Selection Sunday.

Of the five million brackets entered on ESPN, roughly 200 pre-dicted this Final Four.

With Duke, West Virginia, Butler and Michigan State as the chosen four, my prediction for the cham-pionship game is going to have to be West Virginia and Butler, with West Vir-ginia being the champion of it all.

It saddens me that my team can’t win the title; however, this year has been just as excit-ing as the rest. With only one of my predic-tions in the Final Four, it seems like this year would be a waste of time. Yet, regardless of the outcome, this is still my favorite time of year. To me, the tourna-

ment beats the Super Bowl, the NBA playoffs, the World Cup and even the Olympics.

So, come April 5, you’ll know where to

Madness: NCAA brackets nearly impossible to pick

COLUMN

contact Bartee atskb09a@acu.edu

Continued from page 8

Wildcats took the 6-5 lead into the seventh but gave up another solo home run that tied the game. The Wildcats lost in extra innings, 7-6. Brittany Rexroat pitched the final inning for a tough loss; she moved to 5-5 for the season.

The second day saw another split for the Wildcats. ACU scored five runs in the sixth in-ning to pick up their sec-ond come-from-behind victory of the weekend. The Wildcats closed it out in the seventh to win 9-7 against East Central.

One inning doomed the second game; the Wildcats gave up nine runs in the fourth. This

was the only time Central Oklahoma scored, but it was more than enough for them to cruise to a 9-5 victory.

It was the same story Sunday as the Wildcats split a pair a games, los-ing 4-3 to Midwestern State before defeating Northeastern 8-4.

In the first game, ACU was tied going into the sixth before giving up what became the game-winning run. It was the team’s ninth one-run loss of the season.

In the second and final game, ACU re-sponded by defeating the Riverhawks 8-4. The Wildcats trailed 3-1 be-fore scoring five runs on six hits in the sixth in-ning. ACU tacked on two insurance runs in the

seventh and held on for the 8-4 victory. The win moves the Wildcats to 12-20 for the season.

“Overall it’s been re-ally hard for us to fin-ish out games,” Wilson said. “We haven’t been able to put runs across or at least the winning run across late in the game. We need to work on not settling when we have the lead, and when we have the chance to win games or put games away, to execute.”

The Wildcats will be back in action with a doubleheader Wednes-day against Texas A&M-International. The games will be played back-to-back starting at 3 p.m.

Split: ’Cats win three of sixSOFTBALL

Continued from page 8

contact Cantrell atjrc07f@acu.edu

to win the game via the run rule.

“The pitching was definitely the answer for the first day,” said Head Coach Britt Bonneau.

On Saturday, both teams came to the plate swinging, despite the wind.

“Today was huge for our hitters,” Bonneau said. “When they put up a big,crooked number we matched it with another big,crooked number, and that’s what you have to do on a day like today.”

The Rams gained the lead early, scoring two runs in the first inning. The Wildcats matched the two runs in the bot-tom of the first when Will Calhoun hit a two-run home run. In the third, ACU put their bats in motion, scoring six runs. Bret Bochsler hit a three-run home run, making the score 6-2.

ASU retaliated, scor-ing four runs in the fourth, but they couldn’t keep up with the Wild-cats, who scored three runs in the third, four in the fourth and two in the fifth. The Wildcats won the game 16-8.

Will Calhoun start-ed pitching the second game of the double-header and gave up one run in the first inning, giving ASU an early lead. The Wildcats man-aged to catch up in the first inning, scoring three runs.

ASU came to the plate swinging in the second

and third innings. The Rams scored two runs off a home run in the sec-ond, and another two-run home run in the third, making the score 5-3.

The Wildcats weren’t behind for long. They scored one run in the third and went on a hitting rampage in the fourth. The Wildcats scored five runs with Steven Camillucci and Travis Latz getting RBIs.

ASU came back again in the fifth scoring six runs and taking the lead, 12-9.

ACU was able to hold the Rams in the sixth, and the Wildcats scored two more runs to keep the game close.

The Rams stayed strong, hitting a home run in the seventh, but the Wildcats didn’t sit back and take it. They scored five more runs in the seventh with an RBI by Chris Hall, a three-run home run by Aaron Oliver and a sin-gle home run from first baseman Bret Bochsler.

“You have to take it one pitch at a time,” Oliver said. “They finally threw me a good pitch to hit and I hit it well.”

Rutherford began pitching at the begin-ning of the eighth to close the game.

“It is the first time we’ve swept Angelo State,” Bonneau said.

“It feels good but we still know we have a long conference season ahead of us, and we’ve got to refocus on what we have next.”

The Wildcats were back in action Tuesday taking on the Texas Wes-leyan Rams at Crutcher Scott Field.

The Wildcats took the first game from TWU 10-4. Kevin Justice got the start for ACU and tossed 4 1-3 innings, giving up four runs on seven hits.

The Wildcats’ first six hitters combined to drive in seven runs. First baseman Will Calhoun reached base four times in the first game with two hits and two walks .

In the second game, the Wildcat bats stayed hot as ACU crushed TWU 7 to 0. Jordan Hart-ley pitched three solid innings for the win.

The victory was the Wildcats’ 10th in a row and improves their record to 29-7 on the season.

The Wildcats head to Tahlequah, Okla., for a four-game series against Northeastern starting April 2. North-eastern is 14-20 on the season and 12-16 in LSC play. Texas Wesleyan will take on Louisiana Tech starting Friday.

Sweep: Wildcats take 10th consecutive game

BASEBALL

contact Bailey atljb07a@acu.edu

Continued from page 8NUMBERS GAME

The number of consecutive victories for the Wildcats after

their sweep of Texas Wesleyan on Tuesday.

10

SportsPage 8 March 31, 2010

Standings

TUESDAY

BaseballACU 10, Texas Wesleyan 4

ACU 7, Texas Wesleyan 0

SUNDAY

SoftballACU 8, Northeastern 4

ACU 3, Midwestern St. 4

HOME GAMES LISTED IN ITALICS

Scores

SOFTBALLTeam Div.

WTAMU

TAMU-K

4-2

4-2

Angelo St. 5-0 30-4

BASEBALLTeam Div.

Cameron 18-8TAMU-K 15-13 19-16

SE Okla. St. 18-8 22-10

Southwestern 13-12 19-16

Angelo St. 13-15 19-18

Tarleton St. 0-3

26-12

16-1515-17

19-11

Ovrl.

Ovrl.

ACU 0-3 12-20

ACU 18-6 29-7

ENMU 0-5 9-26

Tarleton St. 12-16 15-18

TWU 4-2 22-11

WTAMU 7-14Northeastern 12-16 14-20

East Central 6-14 6-17

ENMU 14-14 16-18

11-14

Central Okla. 7-17 9-17

WEDNESDAY

Women's TennisACU vs. Stillman College, 10 a.m.

Men's TennisACU vs. Stillman College, 10 a.m.

ACU at Samford, 2 p.m.

SoftballACU vs. TAMU-Int'l, 3 p.m.

ACU vs. TAMU-Int'l, 5 p.m.

Track and FieldACU at Texas Relays

THURSDAY

Track and FieldACU at Texas Relays

Women's TennisACU at Blue-Gray Classic, TBA

Men's TennisACU at Blue-Gray Classic, TBA

SATURDAY

SoftballACU at TAMU-K, 11 a.m.

BaseballACU at Northeastern, noon

ACU at Northeastern, 5 p.m.

Track and FieldACU at Texas Relays

Women's TennisACU at Blue-Gray Classic, TBA

Men's TennisACU at Blue-Gray Classic, TBA

HOME GAMES LISTED IN ITALICS

Upcoming

Ryan CantrellAssistant Sports Editor

The Wildcats went 3-3 in the LSC Crossover Tournament this week-end. ACU split a pair of games on Friday, Satur-day and Sunday.

“We did some things better than we had the

week before,” said Head Coach Chantiel Wilson. “Two of our games we lost were by one run, so we need to work on play-ing seven strong innings to come out with a win."

The first day of the tournament had highs and lows. The Wildcats trailed 2-1 going into the

seventh inning, but in a late rally, they scored three runs in the sev-enth to take a 4-2 lead.

The Wildcats loaded the bases in the seventh, and Missy Mendoza hit a double down the right

field line, scoring two runs to win 4-2.

In the second game, the Wildcats took a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. Camer-on answered, hitting two home runs in the sixth to score three runs. The

SOFTBALL

Wildcats split LSC Crossover Tournament

n Javelin thrower Linda Brivule posted an auto-matic qualifying mark at the University of Texas at Arlington.

n Pole vaulters Landon Ehlers and Aaron Cantrell posted qualifying marks for the NCAA Outdoor Cham-pionships last weekend.

Briefs

see SPLIT page 7

We need to work on playing seven strong innings to come out with a win.CHANTIEL WILSONHead Coach

FEATURE

The four greatest Wildcats’ legacies forever etched in stoneJeff Craig and Brandon TrippSports Staff Report

Nestled in the Black Hills of South Dakota stands a monument to four of the greatest presidents this coun-try has ever seen, a tribute to their accomplishments as leaders of the United States. Imagine for a moment that nestled among the nonexistent hills of Abilene stood a monument to ACU’s elite – a Mount Rushmore, if you will, of ACU sports.

The faces of George Washing-ton, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln stand watch over America, a remind-er of the greatness of our past. So too should the faces of the greatest athletes to ever don the Purple and White be etched in immortal stone – a

testament to their legacies. As one of the nation's elite athletic programs, ACU sports has seen some tremen-dous athletes during the last century; however, four stand out as the great-est among Wildcats:

Nicodemus Naimadu

Naimadu ('08) may be the youngest member of our “Mount,” but he's cer-tainly no less deserving than any other athlete. Naimadu is the only NCAA ath-lete in any division to win four consec-utive national titles in cross-country. During his four-year career, Naimadu led the Wildcats to four Lone Star Con-ference titles and a pair of Division II national titles in 2006 and 2007.

Wilbert Montgomery: 1973-76, football, NFL Pro Bowl back

ACU’S Mount Rushmore

Nicodemus Naimadu: 2003-07, four-time cross-country champion

Delloreen Ennis-London: 1995-99, track and field, Jamaican Olympian

Bobby Morrow: 1954-58, track and field, three Olympic gold medals

see RUSHMORE page 7

Linda BaileyOpinion Page Editor

The Wildcats continued their winning streak this weekend by sweeping the Angelo State Rams in a four-game home series.

On Friday, the Wild-cat defense shut out the Rams, leaving them scoreless in both games. During the first game of the doubleheader, Cam-eron Aspaas pitched the first six innings, giving up only two hits, and Brad Rutherford closed the game.

Zach Sneed pitched all seven innings during Game Two of the double-header, allowing only two hits. The first three innings were scoreless for both teams, until the fourth when Travis Latz

got an RBI on a single to left field. Later, Aaron Oliver tripled with the bases loaded, making the score 4-0. ACU de-fense continued shutting

down the ASU offense, and the Wildcat offense scored three more runs in the fifth and seventh

Wildcats sweep ASU, TWUBASEBALL

KELSI WILLIAMSON Chief Photographer

First baseman Bret Bochsler stretches for an out during the Wildcats' 16-14 win against the Angelo State Rams.

JayhawkedBy Sam Bartee

Christmas has been de-scribed as the most won-derful time of the year – for me, March Madness f e e l s t h e s a m e way.

C o l -lege bas-ketball is by far my favorite sport to watch, so being able to watch 64 games in a period of two-and-a-half weeks is heav-enly. The raw talent and drive from the players is infectious and makes you want to get up and shoot

some hoops.The tournament is

controlled by one thing – upsets. With the Final Four already determined, no one would have pre-dicted Duke would be the only one seed left.

It seemed as if a lot of brackets started chang-ing drastically when St. Mary's upset Villanova and Northern Iowa de-feated Kansas, and it all went downhill from there.

I am a die-hard Kansas Jayhawks fan, and they were going to win the tour-nament. Not only I thought that; so did all of the top sports contributors,

March Madness true to its name

COLUMN

Bartee

Photo Illustration by ZAK ZEINERT Staff Photographer

ACU's Mount Rushmore from left to right: Bobby Morrow, Delloreen Ennis-London, Nicodemus Naimadu and Wilbert Montgomery.

see MADNESS page 7see SWEEP page 7

Purple Mountain Majesty