Optimistthe

Friday, September 3, 2010

acuoptimist.com

Vol. 99, No. 5 1 section, 8 pages

weatherinside

page 4

websitenewsSwing Cats, ACU’s swing dance club, will meet for the first time this semester on Sunday.

page 8

sportsACU golf continues to gain notoriety. Alex Carpenter and Tyler Sheppard competed in a national tournament.

storyMore than 700 passen-gers were stranded in the Abilene Regional Airport Wednesday after being redirected from DFW because of storms. 82° 61°

Jennifer Feise, sophomore nutrition major from San Antonio, said she spends about four or five hours on Facebook every week keep-ing up with her 494 friends.

Feise said she’s not wasting time she could spend studying – she’s connecting with people around campus.

Far from endangering her academic future, Feise’s activity on the social networking website may have contributed to

her return for a second year of college, accord-ing to recent research.

A study of 375 ACU freshmen published recently in the Journal of College Student Retention found students who are more ac-

tive on Facebook are more likely to return to college after their freshmen year.

A team of researchers – including Dr. Jason Morris, director of the master’s program in higher education at ACU – accessed public in-formation from the Facebook pages of the ran-

domly selected first-semester students enrolled in fall 2006. They analyzed the students’ activities,

such as the number of Facebook friends, groups and wall posts throughout the year.

The students who returned to ACU in fall 2007 had 27 more Facebook friends and 59 more wall posts on average than those who left the university. These results support the theory that socially-inte-grated college students are less likely to drop out than those disconnected from the campus com-munity, Morris said.

The study challenges the idea that social net-working websites disengage their users from the

people around them, said Dr. Richard Beck, pro-fessor of psychology and co-author of the re-

search article.“This study

seems to sug-gest that we’re using Facebook

not to replace relationships, but

as a reflection of them,” Beck said.

Connecting Caring Com-munities (CCC) did not win any prize money from the Pepsi Refresh Project for August, but it did gain some prize sup-port from its involvement and finished at fifth place in the contest.

“It’s broadened the horizon of who’s going to be able to help CCC out in the future,” said Corri Anne Wesley, junior ad-vertising public relations major from Amarillo.

Wesley helped spread the word about CCC’s involvement in the Pepsi Refresh project by passing out flyers af-ter Chapel, sending Fa-cebook messages and tweets, and connecting the nonprofit’s coordi-nators with people on ACU’s campus.

Communication like Wesley’s was crucial to CCC’s top-five outcome in the August nation-al competition. Every month, Pepsi accepts 1,000 ideas from people, businesses and nonprof-its who have positive im-pacts on society. The gen-eral public then votes on these ideas either online or through texting. Pepsi names winners in three money categories at the end of each month.

Abilene charity finishes top-five

COMMUNITY

Changes impactpotential pledges

Students interested in pledging an ACU so-cial club began rushing Monday, when they en-countered a change in the rushing process. This year, there is no mini-mum number of rushes a potential pledge is re-quired to attend.

Gamma Sigma Phi president Bryan Elrod, senior marketing ma-jor from Missouri City, said most students already know which clubs they are interest-ed in pledging, so the rule requiring them to attend a set number of

rushes was pointless. However, Elrod said students should attend several rushes anyway to ensure they make a good decision.

“The biggest thing with rushing is even if you go into it with an idea about which club you want, rushing gives you a chance to see what thoughts you have about the club,“ Elrod said. “The most impor-tant part is getting a feel if that’s the group of guys who can be your really good friends in the long run.”

Elrod said attend-ing several rushes also allows students to get

to know potential club members better.

Another change to the 2010 rushing process applies only to women’s clubs. The first rush for women’s clubs is open to anyone, but the final three rushes will be invitation only, starting this year.

Alpha Kai Omega president Michelle Nix,

senior family stud-ies major from Austin, said the changes were made to give poten-tial pledges more time to choose which club they want to join.

“The women’s club presidents all sat down together in the spring

STUDENT LIFE

Kelsi WilliamsonArts Editor

see PEPSI page 4

Study shows freshmen active on Facebook are more likely to return for a second year.

Fri. Sun.Sat.

90° 63° 93° 69°

Fashion Forward, page 5

By the (Face)book

see RUSH page 4

Jeff CraigManaging Editor

MEAGAN HERNANDEZ // Staff PhotographerMembers of women’s social club Sigma Theta Chi conducted a cinema-themed rush Monday night in Hart Auditorium.

see STUDY page 4

Smaller Chapels to meet Thursdays

ACU students can find a more intimate Chapel ex-perience in Small Group Chapels, meeting Thurs-days across campus.

The first Small Group Chapels will begin Thursday, Sept. 16.

The only major change to Small Group Chapels this semester is the movement of the relatively new instru-mental-praise Cha-pel, “Immersed,” from Cullen Auditorium to Moody Coliseum, to take advantage of the better sound equipment available in Moody.

Mark Lewis, assis-tant dean of spiritual life, said Small Group Chapels are a good way for students to come together with a more concentrated group of their peers to focus on spiritual matters.

Students can choose from over 60 different Chapels meeting in var-ious locations around campus. They range from Chapels geared toward social clubs to social justice advocates.

“Spiritual formation happens more naturally and effectively in small groups. It is a challenge

CHAPEL

see LEWIS page 4

Alan CherryPage 2 Editor

Christianna Lewis Senior Reporter

TECHNOLOGY

illustration by Morgan Davis

11 a.m. Praise Day in Moody Coliseum

11:30 a.m. Pi Kappa rush

5:00 p.m. Deadline to register for pledging

2 p.m. Women’s soccer game at Colorado State University

6 p.m. Football game at Washburn University

announcementsSocial Club pledging registration is now open to sophomores and transfer students with 24 or more credit hours. Registration will close at 5 p.m. on Sept. 3. Interested students must register online at www.acu.edu/campusoffices/stu-dentorgs/socialclubs/index.html.

The Paramount Theatre will show the film Nine: The Musical at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children.

Students’ Association Congress applications will be available for pick-up at noon on Friday in the SA

office. They will be avail-able until 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9.

Meningitis shots are now available in the ACU clinic located in McKinzie Hall. Call (325) 674-2151 for more information.

Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes will speak during Chapel on Sept. 13 in Moody Coliseum.

SALT, ACU’s Student Action Leadership Team, is ac-cepting applications until Sept. 10. Students can pick them up in the Center for Christian Service and Leadership in the lower level of the McGlothlin Campus Center.

Friday Southern gospel tenor Brian Free and his group, Brian Free and Assurance will be giving a free concert at 6 p.m. at Abilene Baptist Church. Guests are encouraged to come early for good seats.

05Sunday

Friday, September 3, 2010

calendar & events

03 Saturday 04 06Monday

5 p.m. Gamma Sigma Phi rush

6:30 p.m. Sub T-16 rush

7 p.m. SALT interest meeting

9:30 Galaxy rush

10

Chapel

Credited Chapels to date

Checkup81 Credited

Chapels remaining

iPad . iPhone . iPod

READTHE OPTIMIST

ON YOUR

Help prevent car burglaries by always parking in lighted areas, locking your vehicle, and removing valuables from plain view.

Monday, August 2310:01 p.m. ACU Police re-sponded to a fire alarm at Teague Special Events Cen-ter. Upon arrival, neither ACU Police nor Abilene Fire De-partment could locate any sprinkler heads emitting wa-ter. The alarm was reset.

Tuesday, August 2410:23 a.m. Someone report-ed a stink bomb in Moody Coliseum. ACU Police de-termined the source of the foul smell was an electrical problem.1:18 Someone reported a suspicious vehical parked on the north side of the Bob and Shirley D. Hunter Welcome Center parking lot. The ve-hicle had been parked there for two days, and it appears someone is living out of the vehicle. Officers determined the vehicle belongs to some-one with legitimate business at ACU.6:01 Someone reported seeing suspicious men at a condemed house on Lincoln Dr. Officers identified and re-leased the men.

Wednesday, August 255:54 a.m. ACU Police re-sponded to a call about an assult on the Lunsford Trail. The suspect was detained.11:25 a.m. Someone report-ed smelling smoke in Mabee Business Building. ACU Po-lice smelled smoke, evacu-ated the east side of the building and called Abilene Fire Department to locate the source of the smell. AFD did not find anything burning. ACU Police allowed people to return to the building.

Thursday, August 263:15 a.m. ACU Police officer on patrol noticed a person on foot near an open car door. The officer determined the person had legitimate reason to be there.

Friday, August 276:53 p.m. ACU Police re-sponded to a medical call at Edwards Hall. EMS and the Fire Department were dispatched. The subject was transported to Hendrick Medical Center.

Saturday, August 282:15 p.m. Someone reported a missing iPhone 4. ACU Po-lice recovered the cell phone from the McGlothlin Campus Center, and it was returned to the owner.

Sunday, August 293:00 a.m. ACU Police assist-ed Abilene Police with a 9-1-1 hang-up call. ACU Police contacted the owner of the house and found everything to be OK.10:30 p.m. Someone report-ed a suspicious man stand-ing in their front yard. ACU Police searched the area and were unable to locate the man.

Monday, August 30 8:48 a.m. Someone reported smoke coming out of a white vehicle in the University Church Parking Lot. When ACU Police reached the ve-hicle, they saw no smoke.

Report all suspicious activity to the ACU Police Depart-ment at (325) 674-2305.

Police LogEdited for space

ACU Police Tip of the Week

follow us on Twitter: @acuoptimist // become a fan on Facebook: The Optimist

2Campus Day

correctionThe Lunsford Trail was misidentified in the Wednesday, Sept. 1 edition of The Optimist. We regret the error.

September 3, 2010 Page 3 CAMPUS NEWS

Page 4 September 3, 2010FROM THE FRONT

Study: Facebook users create communityTECHNOLOGY

Continued from page 1

STUDENT LIFE

Rush: Final three women’sevents to be invitation only

and talked about how the old system wasn’t work-ing,” Nix said. “We all came to the conclusion to have a process that would allow the clubs and the people rushing to have more of a say in which club they choose.”

Nix said the old system gave potential pledges just hours to decide which club they would pledge on bid night. She said the new system gives the pledges an idea of the chances they have to earn a bid to their preferred club.

Ko Jo Kai president Kylah Riddle, senior busi-ness finance major from Dimmitt, said the changes

to rushing should help not only pledges, but also smaller clubs.

“This is really going to help the smaller clubs. The problem is when the rushes end a lot of girls don’t get their first bid, and they have two hours to decide what to do and they don’t pledge at all,” Riddle said. “This helps if you eliminate some early

and don’t waste time – they have time to check out other clubs.”

Riddle said the goal is to have more girls pledge.

Each of the six men’s clubs and five women’s clubs will conduct four rushes, with the last events scheduled for Sept. 14.

Continued from page 1

contact Williamson atkkw07a@acu.edu

Facebook users may also form new communities and feel connected to individu-als they have never met in person, according to a se-ries of studies performed by Dr. Susan Lewis, associ-ate professor of journalism and mass communication. She presented her findings at the Broadcast Educators Association in April.

Lewis studied how grief is expressed on Facebook, examining those who pub-licly mourned such trag-edies as the shootings at Virginia Tech and North-ern Illinois University, as well as the passing of ce-lebrities Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson.

The mourners who did not know the deceased used more intense ex-pressions of grief than would be normal for a

face-to face setting, Lew-is said. The mourners also formed communi-ties with people they had never met through their shared pain.

While Lewis’ study did not indicate that Face-book activities mirror us-ers’ real lives, it did sup-port the freshmen study’s conclusions that Face-

book communities can be just as important to their members as real-world communities.

“We as humans feel deeply connected to our communities online,” Lew-is said. “Whether they are an enhancement of face-to-

face communities or a way to meet new people with common interests, they are real, and we feel them.”

Feise said that while Facebook can be used as a

substitute for face-to-face friendships, she believes it can help people build rela-tionships in the real world through its non-threaten-ing format.

“It can help you plan activities you are going to do throughout the day, for example, ‘where are we going to sit in Chapel?’” Feise said.

Dance group teachesstudents art of swing

Swing Cats, ACU’s swing dance club, will conduct its first meeting of the semester at 7 p.m. Sun-day, Sept. 5, in Cullen Auditorium.

Each meeting includes time for lessons and dance practice. Because of the con-struction of the Royce and Pam Money Student Rec-reation and Wellness Cen-ter, the meetings have been moved from the gym in the Gibson Health and P.E Cen-ter to the stage in Cullen.

Membership has reached as many as 120 students in past years, but it suffered last spring when Gibson closed its doors. The Swing Cats se-cured Cullen for practice this year, and member-ship is expected to return to normal.

Cole Bennett, associ-ate professor of English, and about 25 students founded the Swing Cats in 2003.

“Typically we have 50-60 members, and on a giv-en night we have 20-30,” Bennett said.” Last year was not a good year.”

Swing Cats closes membership after the first couple of meetings. To join, students must sign a membership form and pay a $20 fee, which is is used to send students to work-shops in Dallas, Austin and occasionally Houston. Students who join also re-ceive a Swing Cats T-shirt.

“Around the region there are workshops,” Bennett said. “You go all day long and learn dif-ferent moves and swing styles. At night there’s al-ways dances, and many times live bands.”

Along with opportu-nities for social connec-tions and exercise, stu-dents are invited to learn about an important part of American culture.

“They get to learn about an American dance tradition that started in 1920s Harlem, and they learn more about jazz

music,” Bennett said.Members learn various

swing dance styles – in-cluding East Coast, Lindy Hop and the Charleston – throughout the semes-ter. New members are not required to have any swing dance experience.

Carole-Marie Wiser, vice president of Swing Cats and sophomore business man-agement major from Rich-mond, joined the club her freshman year.

“Meetings are split into two groups for lessons – be-ginners and advanced – and at the end everyone dances together,” Wiser said.

Along with the weekly meetings, Swing Cats per-forms at Sing Song and Eth-nos. Many members also get together to practice on their own.

“It’s great to be involved in something that pro-vides entertainment and a healthy environment,” Wis-er said. “And I didn’t gain the freshman fifteen.”

Jozie SandsOnline Editor

STUDENT LIFE

contact Sands atjgs07a@acu.edu

Lewis: Small groups begin

for most students to focus in a large arena,” said Lew-is. “Students can opt to go to these gatherings, many of which have a more spe-cific purpose and are gen-erally groups of people who already have some-thing in common.”

Wishing Well Chapel, a speaker-oriented group open to all students, is one such option. Ben Fulfer, senior sociology major from Memphis, Tenn., said he started this chapel with alumnus Steven Pow-ell four years ago as a way for students to share their

ministry experiences and let other students know about social injustices.

Dr. Adam Hester, pro-fessor of theatre and chair of the Department of Theatre, leads the de-partment’s weekly Small Group Chapel, along with other faculty members in the department.

Hester said the depart-ment’s Chapel tends to fo-cus on a variety of subjects, such as the intersection of Christianity and the enter-tainment industry.

“We’re not coming with answers here,” Hester said. “We’re trying to wrestle with the questions.”

Lewis said he thinks

students will come to-gether in these smaller communities and get a clearer sense of their call-ing through prayer, Bible study and discussion.

“The number one thing I’m in prayer for is for people to be more deeply drawn to the Lord and get a more clear goal of who they can be in Christ,” Lewis said.

Students can find a list of Small Group Chapels and locations at www.acu.edu/campusoffices/chapel/sgc/index.html.

CHAPEL

Continued from page 1

We as humans feel deeply connected to our communities online.

DR. SUSAN LEWIS // associate professor of journalism and mass communication‘‘ ’’ contact Lewis at

cll09a@acu.edu

contact Cherry atarc07a@acu.edu

quick factsThe rushing process for potential pledges began Aug. 30 with women’s social club teas. Rushing events run through Sept. 14.

• Sept. 3: deadline to register for pledging at 5 p.m.• Sept. 9: club rushes end• Sept. 10: men’s social club rankings• Sept. 15: women’s social club rankings

contact Craig atjrc07d@acu.edu

Pepsi: Abilene non-profit gains support of students

“Dedicated to restoring the foundation of safe and caring communities,” ac-cording to their website, CCC began in Abilene in 2005. The nonprofit orga-nization entered the Pepsi Refresh project ranked 456 in the $250,000 category, but quickly scaled the list of competitors with sup-port from students at ACU and Hardin Simmons.

Brad Carter, executive director of CCC, visited both university campuses to ask for support dur-ing the first few weeks of classes.

“We haven’t spent mon-ey on the contest, but we have spent a lot of time,” Carter said. “We feel really good about what’s been ac-complished in this.”

CCC uses three major strategies to bring communi-ty renewal to Abilene. Caring teams pull people together from businesses, neighbor-hoods, churches and other similar organizations. Haven house residents work to lead and unite neighbors in zip codes around the city, Carter said. Staff and families also live in CCC’s two Friendship Houses to build relationships between neighbors through community activities.

CCC has over 100 vol-unteers who help at the Friendship Houses, Carter said. He also said over 3,000 Hardin Simmons students helped the organization in the 12-month period be-tween July 2009 and July 2010.

Patty Doyle, junior Biology major from Holland, Mich., volunteered with the organi-zation’s office last spring.

“Even if it’s just data en-try, I love it,” said Doyle. “Everyone there is really en-couraging and friendly, and they love what they do.”

The North Park devel-opment project is a fourth CCC endeavor that began this fall to bring about af-fordable and sustainable housing for low-to-mod-erate income families. The project includes plans for 10 homes, the first of which will be completed in October.

The new houses will be sustainable energy efficient homes, a first in Abilene and the country, Carter said.

“We believe they will set a new standard in construc-tion,” he said in an e-mail.

Carter said CCC has many different needs, in-cluding financial support as well as consistent and pas-sionate volunteers.

“When we look at volun-teers, we like to say, ‘What are you good at?’” Carter said. “We want to find plac-es where people can make a difference.”

For more information about volunteer opportuni-ties with CCC, visit the or-ganization’s website: www.WeCareAbilene.org.

COMMUNITY

Continued from page 1

ArtsSeptember 3, 2010 Page 5

Abilene Events

SATURDAYChili Super Bowl10:00 a.m., Old Settlers Reunion Grounds Buffalo Gap

David LeesonTuesday, 6:30 p.mThe Center for Contemporary Arts

CREATIVE ALCHEMY

Express YourselfArt Exhibits

THURSDAYArt Walk5:00 p.m., Historic Downtown220 Cypress St., Abilene

You are presented with an opportunity: outside the laws of time and the rules of physics and space, you can write one sentence and send it back to a younger ver-sion of yourself. In your current, unaltered life, are you happy? Are you bitter? ashamed? con-tent? What is the one thing your younger self absolutely must know to send your present life spinning in a better or different direction?

Arcade Fire’s new sin-gle, “We Used to Wait,” along with the innova-tive, interactive music video that you can (and really should) experi-ence at www.thewil-dernessdowntown.com, explores this question. The video opens on a figure sprinting through a neighborhood, street-lights on either side il-luminating his frame but leaving his face in shadow. The figure is you and me, pound-ing towards something vague and away from something misunder-stood. The piano plays a constant, pounding Eb that follows us through-out the entirety of the song. “We used to wait,” mourns Butler, Arcade’s front man, as a potent and unfamiliar mixture of regret and hope drip from every word of this frantic journey.

Two-thirds of the way through the song, you are prompted to write a postcard to your young-er self. By this point, overwhelmed with the potential despair the song presents, you know that this has to be good. The words you write are planted under the feet of the running figure, who is now you as a child, and vibrancy and energy and growth and life explode from the ground as you sprint towards the won-der you hope you can see shimmering somewhere up ahead.

And all the while, the Eb♭ hammers on, some-times the focal point and sometimes simply flow-ing in the background. Is this unchanging ele-ment, whatever it may be, a blessing or an ob-stacle as you are moving forward? Depends on what you write.

David McMichael Contributing Writer

Reviews

Interactive Listening:Arcade Fire

contact McMichael atdjm05c@acu.edu

Continual change defines several areas of life. It creates expectations that temperatures will cool and warm, stock values will increase and decrease, and powerful leaders will rise and fall. Similarly, it is a well-known fact that clothing fashions come and go.

“As you know in fashion, one day you’re in, and the next, you’re out,” says Heidi Klum, host-ess of the Lifetime TV show, “Project Runway.”

For those who follow style, the constant changes in popular fads can be frustrating and annoying as keeping up becomes more of a burden than the effort is worth.

But according to Merriam-WebsterDiction-ary.com, “fashion is a distinctive or peculiar and often habitual manner or way.”

This description makes no mention of the popular or the known, but describes fashion as a choice to behave on one’s own accord.

Some people may define clothing fashion as following the latest trends, but when abid-

ing by a true definition of the term, fashion becomes a form of expression and an individ-ual art form.

Many ACU students are quite aware of the distinct opportunities for expression fashion provides. It wasn’t hard to track a few of them down, with their colorful prints, bright acces-sories and shiny shoes.

These clothing connoisseurs stand as proof that fashion doesn’t necessarily have to follow a change in season. Here’s what they have to say about styling and their own forms of fash-ionable expression:

Brianna Koegler9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.Cockerell Galleries and Studios

FEARFULLY MADE

Linda Fawcett, Linda Murray, Linda Stricklin11:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.The Center for Contemporary Arts

LINDA3

1. Brittany Partridge Sophomore political science and history major from Annandale, Minn. When did you start developing your own style? Since I was a kid. My mom never dressed me.

How would you describe your style? A little bit European. I was in Amsterdam all summer. I’ll wear whatever.

How does your personality affect your style? I’m pretty creative, and I used to want to be a fashion designer.

2. Ken Lake Senior accounting major from Japan

When did you start developing your own style? In high school. Near Tokyo everyone cares about their fashion

Where do you like to shop? Thrift stores and UNIQLO, a Japanese clothing company.

What is your favorite/least favorite current trend? I like secondhand clothing. It’s green. 3. Amanda Ouedrago Junior advertising/public relations major from France

How would you describe your style? Fresh.

Where do you like to shop? Paris, flea markets, Zara and asos.com

How does your personality affect your style? When I’m happy, I love wearing color. When I’m sad, I wear workout clothes.

4. Zavier Sims

Freshman biology major from Japan

How would you describe your style?Bright. If it’s shiny, I want it.

What is your favorite piece of clothing? Colored skinny jeans.

How does your personality affect your style?My clothes are loud. They match my personality.

5. James UtleyJunior graphic design major from Abilene

How would you describe your style?Cheap and eclectic.

Where do you like to shop? Goodwill and other thrift stores and Urban Outfitters.

How does your personality affect your style?I’m a really minimal person. I don’t have a lot of unnecessary things.

6. Carrie BakerSophomore undeclared major from Plano

Where do you like to shop?J. Crew, Anthropologie and boutiques

What is your favorite/least favorite current trendHigh-waisted skirts and boots - just not together.

How does your personality affect your style?I’m a pretty outgoing person. My confidence affects how I dress.

1.

2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Story and Photographsby Kelsi Williamson

kkw07a@acu.edu

Self-ExaminationBy Ryan Self

Glenn Beck is on a mis-sion. This past Saturday, on the steps of the Lin-coln Memorial where Dr. Martin Lu-ther King, Jr., gave his famous “ I Have A Dream S p e e c h , ” Glenn Beck spoke to a crowd of over 100,000 people to promote his show on Fox News – I mean, to “restore honor” to America. Unlike the man who stood on those steps 47 years ago to pro-mote civil rights, Beck’s actions seem to be more about showmanship than substance.

When addressing the lis-teners of his wildly popular radio show, he proclaimed, “Your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach

them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year.” Really? As if the Su-preme Court and the Amer-ican public would ever let that happen.

But Beck didn’t stop there. Warning his followers about signs of the end times, he pleaded, “I beg you, look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!”

I’ve heard the words “social justice” here at ACU on several occasions. Perhaps I need to start thinking about transfer-ring to a place that hasn’t fallen into the sinister plot of the “progressives.” I had always figured “social jus-tice” was a code word for “helping the poor and aid-ing the oppressed.”

Beck does not hold any advanced degrees in theol-ogy, yet he speaks on mat-ters of faith and spiritual-

ity as if he has authority. He holds no law degree nor does he have any ex-perience in politics, yet

he speaks as if he has the remedy for all that ails the American political pro-cess. All Glenn Beck has is a high school diploma and a flair for the dramatic. In the minds of many (in-cluding Beck), that some-how makes him an expert on everything from eco-nomics to religion.

The same man who told the crowd, “We must look to God and look to love. We must defend those we dis-agree with,” not too long ago called the president of the United States “a racist” and compared Al Gore’s efforts to stop global warming to what Hitler did when he had sci-entists justify the Holocaust using eugenics. The same

man who brands himself a populist “everyman” earned $32 million in the past year alone and currently plans

to sell his 8,000 square foot home for $4 million.

Beck should not be re-garded as a spiritual leader, and he is certainly not a po-litical expert. Beck is not a modern day Martin Luther King, Jr., who endured nights in jail, death threats against his family and severe criti-cism from his fellow preach-ers – all to bring about what is right and good. Beck is an entertainer. He is in the busi-ness of fear-mongering and preying on people’s emo-tions to gain higher ratings and sell more books. And un-fortunately for many of us, it appears business is good.

Trying to grab a quick bite to eat after Chapel is an impossible task. With several thousand hungry students leaving Chapel and attempting to eat lunch at the same time, it’s no wonder the food services around campus become overwhelmed. Dining Services has taken steps to shorten lunch lines, but they should do more to help students get through the lunch rush faster.

Hundreds of students visit the Hilton Food Court for lunch, and even more eat in the Bean or

pick something up at an-other spot on campus.

This mass of hungry students creates food lines that ensure at least a 20-minute wait. Stop-ping at the McGloth-lin Campus Center for lunch and getting to class on time is rare, if not impossible.

Waiting in line is not the issue. But when your schedule only factors in 10 minutes – a reason-able amount of time to grab fast food – a 35-min-ute wait is a problem.

Anthony Williams, chief auxiliary services

officer, said daily Chapel makes lunchtime at ACU unique. Dining Services is easily overwhelmed with the thousands of students leaving Chapel in search of food.

Most classes after Chapel start at noon, leaving students, faculty and staff with a 30-min-ute window to fill. It ap-pears many people use their half-hour break to grab lunch in the Cam-pus Center.

ACU also added one of its largest freshmen classes ever, meaning the problems are only getting worse.

Over the past few years, the Campus Cen-ter has undergone major revamping and redesign-ing to accommodate the growing student body. Williams said the Food Court has added three additional registers to help manage the rush.

But simply creating more space and adding more registers hasn’t been enough to solve the problem of lengthy, lethargic lines. While lines do slow down around 12:15 p.m., stu-dents with noon classes are out of luck.

Williams said he is aware of the lunchtime frustrations. Dining Ser-vices also takes steps to try and fix the problem, with tools like the sur-vey at the end of each semester that evaluates students’ opinions.

Even so, the Cam-pus Center needs to make more food prior

to the lunch rush, hire more employees for the lunchtime window and find ways to increase productivity.

Taking more steps to solve this problem will demonstrate ACU’s com-mitment to excellence.

OpinionPage 6 September 3, 2010

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

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

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

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

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Optimistthe

Food court lines frustrate studentsEDITORIAL

Edit-undo key fails to cure-all

COLUMN

Little LindaBy Linda Bailey

My two favorite keys on my laptop are “com-mand” and “z.” When pressed at the same t i m e , whatever mistake I just made d i s a p -pears. If I typed a bad sen-tence, I can sim-ply undo it. If I acciden-tally delete a picture in InDesign, I can immedi-ately bring it back with those two pre-cious keys.

The abil-ity to instantly undo some-thing after it goes awry is everywhere in our world, and we take advan-tage of these opportunities every day.

When I’m surfing the Internet and I accidentally navigate away from the home page, a simple click of the “back” but-ton brings me to the previous page – exactly where I want to be, as if I never left.

When I’m watching a movie (which, to be honest, doesn’t happen often) and I miss an im-portant scene because I was distracted, I can rewind the DVD to hear the line I missed with a gentle push of the re-wind button on my re-mote control.

When I’m filling in a scantron with my sharpened number-two Ticonderoga Black dur-ing a test, and I bubble in “A” instead of “C,” I simply erase the wrong

answer and replace it with the correct one.

Unfortunately, life does not come with any sort of undo button – or at least I haven’t found it yet. When I forget an assignment, I can’t push a button to go back and get more time. When I make a mistake in judg-ment, I can’t rewind and change my decision. And when I say some-thing hurtful, it’s never really erased.

Instead of relying on a magical “edit-undo” combination in our everyday lives, we are

forced to deal with the repercussions of our mistakes whether they are big or small, serious or lighthearted.

An even better solu-tion, however, is to play the offense, double-checking everything to make sure it’s done the first time. This semester, I’m trying harder to do things right the first time, and when that doesn’t work out, then I’ll deal with things to the best of my ability and move on.

Everyone has regrets, and everyone can get caught up in the past. But everyone can also move forward.

contact the Optimist atjmcnetwork@acu.edu

the issueLines in the Campus Center are creating massive backups and causing students to be late to class.

our takeEarly preparation of food and more workers are needed to expedite lines and get students to classes on time.

Bailey

contact Bailey atljb07a@acu.edu

Rally underscores false motives

Self

COLUMN

Beck does not hold any advanced degrees in theology, yet he speaks on matters of faith and spirituality as if he has authority.

contact Self atrcs06g@acu.edu

By Morgan DavisThe Funny Funnies

Instead of relying on a magical “edit- undo” combination in our everyday lives, we are forced to deal with the repercussions of our mistakes whether they are big or small, serious or lighthearted.

September 3, 2010 Page 7FROM SPORTS

Amateurs: Golfers feel thrill

to the round of 32. That was as far as he went, though, as a loss to Joseph Bram-lett knocked him out of the tournament.

Although neither won the tournament, it helped put Wildcat golf on the na-tional scene and give the golfers another chance to perform in a big game envi-ronment.

The Wildcats are looking forward to another success-ful season this time around. That means another LSC Championship tournament and most likely another NCAA Division II National

Championship tourna-ment.

The high stakes experi-ence Sheppard and Car-penter received last week will benefit their games, which are already showing improvement.

“My game has really turned around the last six months,” Sheppard said. “This summer has been re-ally great for me and the

rest of the team to improve and get where we need to be when ther season starts.”

With most of the play-ers returned from last year’s team, the golfers have a reason to be pumped about the fall.

“We have all had a lot of individual success lately, and it seems like we are hot at the same time,” said Car-penter. “We have been really

looking forward to this sea-son knowing the experience we were going to have.”

Both golfers will look back on their U.S. Amatuer Championship experience with fond memories.

“It was an honor to even participate in a USGA event,” said Carpenter. “Al-though the course set up was extremely difficult, it was definitely a fun experi-ence and one that I will re-flect on in the future.”

GOLF

Continued from page 8

Washburn: ’Cats again face strong foe earlyshould find an easier time containing Moore.

“We know they have a good running game, their linemen are big, and we’re ready for that,” said senior linebacker Kevin Washington.

It will be up to Aston Wh-iteside, Marvin and Mike Jones, and Fred Thompson to get a good initial push on Washburn’s offensive linemen. Thompson will be making his first start at the defensive end in two years after being moved back to the position from lineback-er this past offseason.

The secondary will also have its hands full with an efficient quarterback at the helm of the Ichabods’ offense. Simoneau completed 21 of 28 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns. Simoneau threw two interceptions and coughed the ball up once, ac-counting for three of the five Ichabod turnovers.

Mitchell Gale and the ACU offense will look to begin a new season with new results on the offensive side of the ball. With a year under his belt, head coach Chris Thomsen thinks Gale is ready to take the next step towards being a solid starter for the Wildcats.

“He worked extremely hard in the offseason,” said Thomsen. “He’s shown the work ethic and the charac-ter and the commitment we thought he had.”

Gale will face a defense that struggled to stop the

Colorado School of Mines in the passing game, allow-ing 314 yards through the air and four touchdowns.

Darryl Richardson will have a tough time on the ground, if last week is any in-dication. Washburn allowed just nine yards on 20 carries during the game. ACU’s of-fensive line will need to gel quickly and open holes for Richardson and company to run through.

The biggest disadvantage for ACU isn’t even on the field. The Wildcats left for Topeka on Thursday and will drive a total of eight-and-a-half hours to get there.

Washubrn will also bring over 5,000 fans to Yager sta-dium. The Ichabods aver-aged just over 5,500 fans at home games last season, good enough for 18th high-est in Division II football, and a top ten opponent will only increase the Ichabod crowd.

“It’s definitely going to be a tough one because it’s a road game against a tough opponent,” said Washing-ton. “But I think we are go-ing to be able to handle it fine – the road is nothing new for us. We have been able to go on the road be-fore and win.”

FOOTBALL

Continued from page 8

Coach: Program rebounding

Susset, last season’s all-con-ference honors winner.

“Some might write them off for a conference cham-pionship this season, but I see no reason why we can’t

be a top three or at least top five team in the confer-ence,” Woods said. “With the women that I have and the caliber that they are, that will be a huge success for us this year. “

Woods hopes to provide

a spark to this year’s team and push the athletes.

“I am a guy that gets fired up. Hopefully I can bring that type of intensity to the guys and girls,” Woods said. “I want to be able to put a light switch in every one of

them, to where you can cut that switch on when its time to compete, and you get real nasty. Then cut the switch off when you are done.”

CROSS COUNTRY

Continued from page 8

Head Coaches Hired at ACU

New cross country coach Chirs Woods is only the most recent hire of the ACU Department of Athletics. Below are the hiring dates of past coaches and their performances during their first years on the job.

We have all had a lot of success lately, and it seems like we are hot at the same time.

ALEX CARPENTER // sophomore golfer from Little Rock, Ark.‘‘ ’’

vs.

Offense

Defense

SpecialTeams

Intangibles

OptimistPick

• Chris Thomsen - Football - January 24, 2005. Coach Thomsen went 4-6 in his first year at the helm of the Wildcat football program. Compare that to the last four seasons when Thomsen led the ’Cats to the NCAA Division II Championship tournament.

• Casey Wilson - Soccer - June 1, 2006. Coach Wilson was an assistant softball coach when athletic director Jared Mosley announced that Wilson would be the first coach in women’s soccer history at ACU.

• Jason Copeland - Men’s Basketball - May 4, 2005. Coach Campbell was hired from class 4A Andrews High School. In his first rodeo as a Wildcat he led ACU to a fifth place finish at the regional tournament.

• Kellen Mock - Volleyball - July 5, 2006. Two years removed from a standout libero, Coach Mock was given the reigns to an extremely successful volleyball program. In her first year she went 18-11 and advanced to the Southwest Regional quarterfinals.

contact Cantrell atjrc07f@acu.edu

contact Tripp atbjt07a@acu.edu

contact Gwin atagg07a@acu.edu

SportsPage 8 September 3, 2010

Standings

FOOTBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.ACUAngelo St.MSUTarletonTAMU-KWTAMUUIWENMUE. Central

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-10-00-0

NE St. 0-0 0-0

VOLLEYBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.ACUWTAMUTarleton St.TAMU-KCameronAngelo St.

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

WOMEN’S SOCCERTeam Div. Ovrl.ACUAngelo St.MSUWTAMUCen. Okla.E. Central ENMU

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

1-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

Briefs

n The ACU women’s soccer team scored three goals in the first 15 minutes to beat the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 3-0. Ashley Holton scored two goals to lead the Wildcats. An-drea Carpenter added the other.

n Shawna Hines was named LSC Defensive Player of the Year. Hines led the nation last year in blocks with 190 and in blocks per set with 1.58.

n Some ACU ex’s have found fantasy football fame this year. The average draft pick on www.espn.com for Chicago Bears receiver Johnny Knox is 89th, and Cincinnati Bengals running back Bernard Scott is 253rd.

PlayerProfile

n Senior setter Ijeoma Moronu will enter her 3rd season on the Wildcats volleyball team. A native of Fort Worth, Moronu had 1,000 assists for the second straight season last year and is now third on ACU's career set list. Last season she was named first team all-LSC, and she was named LSC Setter of the Week five times last season. In the offsea-son. Moronu received 32 of 33 possible votes for LSC Preseason Setter of the Year.

Moronu

Intramurals

n Flag Football sea-son starts Monday. Games will be played on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Larry “Satch“ Sand-ers Intramural Fields across the street from Gardner Hall.

Wildcats hire new cross country coach

The Wildcats recently hired Chris Woods from Georgia State University as the new head coach of ACU’s cross-country team. Woods will take over the role Coach Sam Burroughs left vacant last offseason.

Woods graduated from Mississippi State Univer-sity in 2008 with a Bach-elor of Science in clinical exercise physiology. Woods was four-time NCAA Divi-sion I national qualifier,

two-time all-American, four-time all-Southeastern Conference and four-time all-Mideast Region during his time at MSU. He com-peted in the 800-meter run and the 4x400-meter relay, earning all-American sta-tus in the latter.

Woods returned to Ben-jamin E. Mays High School in Atlanta after graduation, where he coached the track and field teams’ middle dis-tance and distance runners. Last season, Woods coached at Georgia State before leav-ing for ACU.

“I enjoyed my time at Georgia State, but I am re-ally excited about coming to ACU. I am trying to really focus on getting ACU where they need to be,” Woods said. “Its exciting coming here because I know that any given year we can com-pete for a national champi-

onship. That is why I came here – because I want to win national championships. I don’t want to just settle for conference championships.”

Woods will take over a cross-country team look-ing to improve from last year. The men’s team won the Lone Star Conference

championship last season, with Amos Sang and Cleop-jas Tanui – who finished first and second, respective-ly – leading the Wildcats to their 19th consecutive con-ference title. Sang and Tanui will return as key leaders on the team.

The women’s team struggled last season and finished in a disappointing eighth place in the confer-ence championship. The Wildcats hope to rebound this season, led by Chloe

Ryan Cantrell Assistant Sports Editor

CROSS COUNTRY

see COACH page 7

DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer

Tyler Sheppard practices his drives yesterday at the Diamondback Golf Club driving range. Shep-pard and teammate Alex Carpenter hope to hold on to the momentum of their summer.

Golf grabs recognition

The ACU golf team seems to be everywhere these days.

First it was the Carpen-ter twins coming out of no-where to win back-to-back tournaments in the fall. Then it was Cyril Bouniol emerging victorious at the Division II National Cham-pionships. Now two Wildcat golfers have played in the U.S. Amateur Champion-ship.

“It’s a really prestigious tournament,” said sopho-more Alex Carpenter. “Fif-ty-thousand golfers tried to qualify, and only 300 are able to get in. They really roll out the red carpet for everyone that’s there.”

Both Alex Carpenter and Tyler Sheppard earned spots at the tournament in Washington by placing high enough in the U.S. Amateur qualifiers. Alex shot a 62 in the first round of his quali-

fier and easily coasted to a spot, and Sheppard ad-vanced after tying for 3rd in his qualifier.

Carpenter may have more wins for the Wildcat golf team, but it was Shep-pard who played better at the Amateurs. Sheppard advanced out of the quali-fying stroke play after two rounds at three-over-par and went into match play in 33rd place.

For Sheppard it was the biggest tournament he had ever played in, and he made the most of it.

“I knew it was going to be hard,” said Sheppard. “I just played to the spots very well. I went out there with a game plan, and I stuck to it. I got more positives out of this tournament than I think I ever have out of a tournament before.”

In the round of 64 Shep-pard easily defeated Scott Harvey 4 and 2, and moved

Austin Gwin Assistant Sports Editor

GOLF

see AMATEURS page 4

ACU ready to hit road

The Wildcat football team begins their season on Saturday against an MIAA team for the third straight year. ACU will travel to To-peka, Kansas, to take on the Washburn University Ichabods.

The Wildcats have once again chosen a top-10 op-

ponent to start their sea-son. The Ichabods ranked as the number nine team in Division II after a 34-29 comeback win over the Colorado School of Mines. Washburn overcame five turnovers and put up 27 points in the second half for the 11-point win. Run-ning back Vershon Moore rushed for 218 yards on just 24 carries, averaging just over nine yards per carry.

The defense should get an early season test against Washburn, who finished with 611 yards of total of-fense, including 300 from quarterback Dane Simo-neau. In 2009 the Wildcats allowed just 291 yards of total offense per game and just 55 yards per game rush-ing. With all of the front seven returning to ACU,

Brandon Tripp Sports Director

FOOTBALL

see WASHBURN page 4

HEATHER LEIPHART // File Photo

Darryl Richardson carries the ball against Fort Lewis College last season. The ’Cats won 58-10.

Legend lives onHomeskool ValedictorianJeff Craig

Vince Lombardi had a way with words.

The legendary former coach of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, Lombardi’s legacy may very well be found in his skills as a moti-vator – and his having won three NFL cham-pionships and the first two Super Bowls along the way.

Lombardi died 30 years ago today at the young age of 57. An aggressive case of colon cancer robbed the world of one of its great coaches, and the source of many of its witty and intel-ligent maxims.

Today, the Super Bowl trophy is named in his honor, and his words of wisdom echo in locker rooms around the nation. We pay tribute to a football legend with 10 of his most memorable quotations:

No. 10: “Football is like life – it requires persever-ance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.”

No. 9: “It’s easy to have

faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re num-ber one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.”

No. 8: “Leaders aren’t born; they are made. And

they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”

No. 7: “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”

No. 6: “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

No. 5: “The achieve-ments of an organization are the results of the com-bined effort of each indi-vidual.”

No. 4: “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”

No. 3: “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

No. 2: “The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.”

No. 1: “Winning isn’t ev-erything, it’s the only thing.”

COLUMN

Craig

That is why I came here - because I want to win national championships.

CHRIS WOODS // Cross Country head coach‘‘ ’’

contact Craig atjrc07d@acu.edu