OPTIMIST_2004-11-12

OPTIMISTTHE

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University Serving the ACU community since 1912

FRIDAYNovember 12, 2004

Vol. 93, No. 241 section, 10 pages

www.acuoptimist.com

Incredibly funny:Pixar’s latest creation, TheIncredibles, offers laughs ofsuperhero proportions.

Page 4

Residence hall to honor first president:The new residence hall being built across fromBrown Library will be named after A.B. Barret,ACU’s founder and first president.

Page 7

Finishing touches:Danieal Manning and Clay-ton Farrell were namedfirst-team all-conference.

Page 10

By BRIAN SCHMIDTSTUDENT REPORTER

Ethnos: The Virus, is this year’s installmentof the annual International Students Associa-tion culture show that will take place Fridayand Saturday in Cullen Auditorium.

Ethnos, a word that means people of thesame race or nationality who share a distinctiveculture, is the title given to the culture show byCarlos Macias, former ISA president. Macias,senior architectural graphics major fromTorreon, Mexico, named the program Ethnoswhen he began as the director three years ago.

“The culture show was originally a talentshow featuring international student cultures,”said Rachel Lau, ISA public relations director.“Carlos started the Ethnos label and made theculture show more than just a talent show towhere it is a performance with a theme and amessage.”

Lau, sophomore photojournalism majorfrom Penang, Malaysia, said she believes thatthis has now enhanced the show’s purpose andhas unified more cultures in a better way.

“The purpose of the show is to gather thevarious cultures and traditions together fromaround campus, creating unity and spreadingour message to the whole community,” Lausaid. “People are surrounded by so many differ-ent cultures, and they don’t realize it; Ethnos isa good, eye-opening experience.”

Macias has instituted the general title ofEthnos with a new theme each year. The themeshave been Culture Reload, The Hero and nowThe Virus. Each time the program has changedthe message as well as its presentation.

“This year’s theme, The Virus, is very deep,”Macias said. “It goes beyond simply entertain-ing and deals with issues we are going throughtoday—things that are taking place here atACU. Not only do we have the cultures of inter-

International Students Associationculture show to debut Friday

Spreading ‘The Virus’

By MALLORY SHERWOODSTAFF WRITER

Spring enrollment is up inthe number of students regis-tering after a three-year slump,but it is down in the averagenumber of hours students are

taking, said Lisa McCarty,assistant director of the Officeof Institutional Research andAssessment.

As of Nov. 3, more than3,300 students had registeredfor an average of 13 hours,McCarty said, which is downfrom last semester.

“Students could be takingfewer hours for a number ofreasons,” said Martha Renfro,assistant to the dean of the

College of Arts and Sciences.Renfro also said the number ofclasses offered hasn’t changedsignificantly to affect student’shours.

Some students are takingfewer hours because they feltthey simply needed a change.

“I am taking a lighter loadthis semester because I reallyneed to concentrate on myschoolwork,” said CaddieCoupe, sophomore organiza-

tional communication majorfrom Thousand Oaks, Calif.“Because of pledging thissemester, I couldn’t focus onmy grades as much as I wouldhave liked, so this spring Ireally want to get my GPA upagain.”

Others couldn’t take theclasses they had wanted to.

“I am taking less hours thissemester because I couldn’t getinto some of the classes that I

needed,” said Christel Pitts,freshman graphic design majorfrom Richardson. “I ended upjust settling for less hours.”

Despite the fewer hours,the university is pleased at thenumber of students enrollingthis semester because it is upfor this time of year, McCartysaid.

Students registeringfor average of 13 hours

for next semester

Spring class enrollment higher than normal

E-mail Sherwood at: [email protected]

By JONATHAN SMITHEDITOR IN CHIEF

Student Congress unani-mously passed a bill Wed-nesday recommending to theuniversity to connect theparking lots between SikesHall and the Williams Per-forming Arts Center.

Rep. Lauren Hart, SikesHall, who presented the bill,

said connecting the lots wouldcreate better traffic flow aroundthe hall and make the areasafer. The area of concern inthe north section of the Sikeslot only has one-way traffic andcomes to a dead end.

Hart, sophomore integrat-ed marketing and communi-cation major from Austin,said Jimmy Ellison, chief ofACU Police, and Kevin Wat-son, chief administrativeservices officer, have giventheir support for the project,

Congress will askuniversity to connect

lots by Sikes Hall

SA approves Sikesparking project

By JONATHAN SMITHEDITOR IN CHIEF

Soda bottles lined the deskaround the 20-inch Mac-intosh displays — worksta-tions in the IndustrialTechnology building thatwould be packed and gone in15 hours.

Sound clips and dialogueplayed over and over as edi-

tors worked to perfect theirfilms, which had to be com-pleted by the time the work-stations were returned toApple Computers.

With less than a day to fin-ish, some still considered cut-ting entire scenes to reducetheir films to no more thanseven minutes.

“The fight scene is impera-tive,” thought one editoraloud, “but the chase scene…”

“The chase scene is my

Evening will includeviewing of finalists,awarding of prizes

FilmFest premiereto light Paramount

By LORI BREDEMEYERMANAGING EDITOR

Cable TV on campus re-ceived an upgrade on Mondaywhen The WB was added toChannel 9.

Marie Nordman, freshmanpolitical science major fromBridgeport, and Valerie Han-neken, freshman journalismmajor from Garland, both Stu-dents’ Association representa-tives for Gardner Hall, re-searched and brought a pres-entation before Dr. Wayne Bar-nard, dean of Campus Life,requesting that the network beincluded in the campus’ list ofstations.

Hanneken said they got theidea about a month afterschool began, and they dis-cussed it with the women intheir hall.

“It was a concern of ours,and it was a concern of ourconstituents as well,” she said.

The representatives sur-veyed the Gardner Hall resi-dents to see if they watchedThe WB off campus, and theyincluded that information anda petition in their presenta-tion. Hanneken said they alsoresearched the show’s ratings,which helped determine whe-ther the channel could beadded.

Barnard said the program-ming on various stations helpshim decide what to include oncampus cable.

“Obviously, holistically, as aChristian university we try topay attention to the things thatare not what we would consid-er promoting who we are aChristians,” he said, “andthat’s a tough call with respectto cable. Because it is ourcable, we make choices ofwhat’s OK to air and what’snot.”

ACU buys its cable fromCox Communications, andBarnard said the university hasa set number of channels.Because of the limitations, hedecides which networks willbe aired.

Barnard said students haverequested to add The WBbefore, and he had even con-sidered adding it before thewomen approached him.

He said many students

Station becomes Channel 9 after Barnardagrees to add channel

CampusincludesThe WBon cable

BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer

Garima Gandhir, sophomore biology major, and Chiamaka Ofoh, sophomore biology major from Lagos, Nigeria,perform “Punjabi Bhangra,” an Indian dance, at the Ethnos dress rehearsal Wednesday night in Cullen Auditorium.


The group Zatouichi performs a Japanese danceat the dress rehearsal for ‘Ethnos: The Virus’ onWednesday in Cullen Auditorium.

See ETHNOS Page 8

See WB Page 8


April Cordero, sophomore electronic media major from Abilene, editsher video as John Bemrich, student from Cisco Junior College,watches in the Industrial Technology building Oct. 13. Students’videos for FilmFest were due the following morning. See SA Page 8See FILMFEST Page 9

Calendar Events

13 Saturday

12 Friday

14 Sunday

Friday, November 12, 2004

CAMPUS

16 Tuesday

18 Thursday

The Optimist maintains thiscalendar for the ACU communityto keep track of local social, aca-demic and service opportunities.

Groups may send ann-ouncements directly to [email protected] or to the Page2 Editor, ACU Box 27892, Abilene,TX 79699.

To ensure that an item willappear on time, the announce-ment should be sent at least 10days before. The Optimist mayedit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifica-tions of published news articleswill be printed in this space in atimely manner.

ChapelCheck-UpCredited Chapels to date: 59

12Credited Chapels remaining:

About This PageVolunteer Opportunities

15Monday

&DAY

Jenny Yates senior recital, 2 p.m.,Williams Performing Arts CenterRecital Hall.

17 Wednesday

The counseling center needsa graphic design student to vol-unteer creative talents and servicesto assist with designing bulletinboards. The boards will function inthe residence halls to provide edu-cational information on differenttopics for students. If interested,contact Steve Rowlands at Ext. 2876or e-mail [email protected].

Volunteers are needed to par-ticipate in the IntercollegiateCommunity Celebration on Sat-urday. Students will meet at City

Hall before leaving to help at variousservice locations around town.Tickets will be available in theCampus Center ticket windowsFriday.

The Cooper High SchoolSpeech and Debate Team is look-ing for judges for its tournamentFriday and Saturday. No prior expe-rience needed in debate to judge.There will be free food, door prizesand many opportunities for volun-teer hours. Contact Carolyn Thomasat 690-3464 for more information.

Campus Life director’s meeting, 7-9:45 a.m., Hilton Room.

Leukemia and Lymphoma Societybake sale, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.Campus Center tables.

Tiffany Hamilton Run T-shirt sales,11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Campus Centerticket windows.

ACU Opera Theater’s Marriage ofFigaro ticket sales, 7:30-10:30 p.m.,Campus Center ticket windows.

The Campus Store book sale, allday, Campus Center tables.

Prickly Pear pictures, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.,Living Room.


ACU Opera Theater’s Marriage ofFigaro ticket sales, 7:30-10:30 p.m.,Campus Center ticket windows.

International Students Associationculture show, 7 p.m., CullenAuditorium.



Gardner Hall Thanksgiving dinner,4-7 p.m., Hilton Room.

W Club induction ceremony, 8-10:30p.m., Hilton Room.

Service Action Leadership TeamAngel Tree project, 11:30 a.m.-1:30p.m., Campus Center ticket win-dows.

Culture Show ticket sales, noon-4p.m., Campus Center ticket win-dows.

Reservations Only, 6-7:30 p.m.

FilmFest Premiere, 6:30 p.m., Para-mount Theatre.

International Students Associationculture show, 7 p.m., CullenAuditorium.

Into the Streets/Service Saturday,all day.

Campus Store book sale, all day,Campus Center tables.

Prickly Pear pictures, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.,Living Room.

ACU Class Ring Ceremony, 7 p.m.,Chapel on the Hill.


Faculty/peer leader appreciationluncheon, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., HiltonRoom.


The Campus Store book sale, allday, Campus Center tables.

Faculty Senate meeting, 7-8:15 a.m.,Faculty-Staff Dining Room.

By EMILY CHASTAINSTUDENT REPORTER

The Department of So-ciology and Social Work hasplans to revamp its graduatedegree programs to possiblyinclude a new social workdegree and reorganize thepresent degrees.

The de-partment hasabout sevengraduate stu-dents en-rolled in thethree existingmaster’s pro-grams: a Mas-ter of Sciencein Gerontolo-gy, a Master of Science inFamily Studies and a Masterof Science in Social ServiceAdministration.

Dr. David Gotcher, associ-ate professor of sociology,said a new master’s programin social work would draw inmany students that the de-partment doesn’t ordinarilyattract. This would includethe large number of studentsinterested in obtaining aMaster of Social Work degreefrom a religiously affiliatedinstitution. If the degree isinstated, ACU will be theonly Church of Christ uni-versity to offer such a pro-gram.

“There’s a great demandfor it,” Gotcher said. “Wewould be filling a niche.”

Kasey Pearson, sopho-more social work major fromDaytona Beach, Fla., saidshe’s interested in the possi-bility of ACU offering a mas-ter’s degree in social work.

“I would definitely like toget my master’s in socialwork, and I would love to getto have it in a Christian envi-ronment,” Pearson said. “Asa social work major, it’s soimportant to get a Christianperspective.”

Pearson added that shebelieves such a degree wouldbe basically one-of-a-kind inTexas, and she would have ahard time understanding so-cial work from a humanist,rather than Christian, per-spective.

In addition to potentiallyadding a Master of SocialWork, Gotcher said the de-partment also has plans topossibly merge the threeexisting master’s programsinto one. The combined de-gree would offer a core ofcourses with three areas ofspecialization: gerontology,family studies and communi-ty services.

Gotcher said an integratedand combined degree would

provide a more coherentbond between the academicworld, the community andthe centers the departmenthas attachments to, like thePruett Gerontology Center,the Nonprofit ManagementCenter and the Center onFathering.

“As much as any otherdepartment on campus, theDepartment of Sociology andSocial Work takes literallythe mission of the universi-ty—to educate students forChristian service and leader-ship throughout the world,”Gotcher said. “We are verycommunity involved; we en-courage our students to workfor the betterment of societyand community and family.”

Neither the idea of aMaster of Social Work pro-gram nor the reorganizationof the present programs hasbeen submitted by formalproposal to the UniversityGraduate Council. Gotcherwas unable to give a timeframe of when that mighthappen, but he said it wouldbe soon.

“I just don’t know when‘soon’ is,” Gotcher said.

Friday, November 12, 2004 Page 3CAMPUS NEWS

New degree consideredSociology Departmentlooks to reorganize,

add master’s program

E-mail Chastain at: [email protected]

By KELLY DENNISSTAFF WRITER

Friday is the last day towithdraw from classes for thefall semester. As of Tuesday af-ternoon, students had dropped594 classes since Aug. 27, thelast day to drop a class andreceive a full refund, said Da-nelle Brand, registrar.

To withdraw from a class,students should fill out a classwithdrawal form, available inthe registrar’s office, have theiracademic adviser sign the formand then return the form to theregistrar’s office.

Brand said when a studentwithdraws from a class, theclass shows up on his tran-script with a “W” in place of agrade. The class, however, willnot affect the student’s gradepoint average. Teachers alsohave the option to withdraw ordrop a student from a class.When a teacher withdraws astudent, the notation of “WF”for “withdraw failing” appears

on the student’s transcript, andthe course affects the student’sGPA as an “F.”

Brand said the number ofclass withdrawals this semesteris typical.

“The sad thing is that thisrepresents dollars,” Brand said.“If students consider their col-lege career, here or somewhereelse, they will probably have totake these courses later on.Sometimes there are good rea-sons for dropping a class, butoftentimes it is a waste.”

Barry Pupella, financialservices counselor, said heagrees with Brand.

“Anytime you drop a classlate in the term, with the costof education—at ACU or anyother school—you’re throwingaway a pretty good sum ofmoney,” Pupella said.

He said a class withdrawalbecomes an issue for the finan-cial aid office when it becomesan issue for the student.Withdrawals are necessary forsome students who need tomaintain a certain GPA to keepfinancial aid. Also, the federalgovernment requires studentsreceiving federal or state aid tocomplete 75 percent of the

hours for which they receiveaid.

“When we get a drop slip,we look to see whether all theaid has been paid, and then wemay need to make some type ofadjustment,” Pupella said. “Atthe time of enrollment, weconsider aid based on the stu-dent’s intended course load. Ifa student withdraws late in thesemester, his financial aid willcover the cost of the course.But if a student is missing adocument, and that has heldup his aid from being dis-persed, we are forced to adjustthe amount of aid.”

Brand said she recognizesthat for some students, sick-ness, work or other time con-flicts may make withdrawingfrom a class the only option.She said she thinks it would bea good developmental experi-ence for students to workthrough their obstacles andcontinue with the class.

“I just wish students wouldthink and try to work problemsout before they drop a class,”Brand said.

Friday deadline to withdrawStudents have dropped

almost 600 classessince first week

E-mail Dennis at: [email protected]

EMILY CHASTAIN/Staff Photographer

Joshua Schaub, graduate student of marriage and family therapy from Seattle, reshelves books on thethird floor of Brown Library on Thursday morning.

Gotcher

“As a social work major, it’s so important to get a Christian perspective.”

Kasey Pearson, sophomore social work major from Daytona Beach, Fla.

Bound by books

ARTSFRIDAYPage 4 OPTIMIST November 12, 2004

By DEE TRAVISARTS EDITOR

The IncrediblesPPP1/2

Featuring the voices of CraigT. Nelson, Holly Hunter, SamuelL. Jackson, Jason Lee; directedby Brad Bird.

Rated PG (for action vio-lence).

Pixar Animation has done itagain, although it’s hard to sayexactly what it is Pixar keepsdoing because no two Pixarfilms are alike. Most of thegreat animated films of recentyears have been products ofPixar, and part of what makesthem so great is their phenom-enal appeal to all ages. Therehave always been kids’ movieswith jokes aimed at parents,but Pixar films have scenesthat leave kids enthralledwhile conjuring tears in theeyes of adults; the very samescene touches both.

The Incredibles is certainlyno tear-jerker, but it’s not try-ing to be. The Incredibles istruly smart, funny and excit-ing. It doesn’t possess enor-mous heart, so much as a goodhead on its shoulders. It joinsthe ranks of the great super-hero movies (granted, a shortlist) and emerges as one of thefew films of the year that’sworth every penny of your $8.

The film opens with Mr.Incredible (Craig T. Nelson)fighting crime and showing offhis super abilities. Right fromthe start, The Incredibles em-

ploys some great action se-quences as well as some hys-terical visual gags. Mr. Incred-ible’s wife, Elastigirl (HollyHunter), has the ability tostretch in just about any wayimaginable and makes theremark that her husband needsto be “more flexible” with her.

After the fun openingscenes, The Incredibles jumpsahead to a time in which thepublic has turned againstsuperheros and forced theminto normal lives. The In-credibles now live in the sub-urbs where they work deskjobs and desperately try not toexpose their superpowers.Itching to escape his retire-ment and return to the goodold days, Mr. Incredible leapsat the chance when a mysteri-ous woman recruits him forone last mission.

All of Pixar’s films are beau-tifully animated, but a qualitystory always comes first. TheIncredibles is founded on agreat idea; once the actionkicks in, the story is on parwith most superhero stories,but the idea of superheros whohave entered retirement is agood one.

There’s plenty of clever sa-tire on the monotony of every-day life, as well as family bick-ering. The four-way argumentat the dinner table is verbally

similar to what every familyhas experienced, but this oneinvolves supersonic speed,freezing powers and forcefields.

Much of the plot will bejust out of reach of someyounger viewers. Whereaschildren easily understoodthat Nemo was lost or thatWoody was in danger, theymay not grasp why Mr.Incredible’s marriage is in dan-ger. That won’t make much ofa difference, though, becauseThe Incredibles is an absolutejoy to watch. The charactersare fun, and the story has agood message concerning theimportance of family, but theaction ultimately takes center

stage, and it’s stunning. Theanimation is a wonderful bal-ance between realism and thetypical cartoon, and this envi-ronment sets the stage forsome amazing action scenes.The filmmakers created aworld in which anything ispossible and used it to itsfullest extent, filling everyframe with fantastic images.

The Incredibles are a funfamily, and they have no trou-ble making the movie work.There are also some memo-rable minor characters: Fro-zone (Samuel L. Jackson) useshis freezing powers to fightcrime alongside the Incre-dibles, and Edna (directorBrad Bird), the designer of all

the greatest superhero suits, isan absolute riot. The filmcould probably have benefitedfrom a little more time spentwith these side characters, butthat’s a minor criticism. The In-credibles is genuine fun and animpressive achievement in ani-mated film.

Some day, Pixar’s going tomake a movie that’s simply“good,” and it’s going to be ahuge disappointment; on theother hand, perhaps that daywon’t come anytime soon.They’re now officially six forsix.

Pixar’s latest nothing short of incredible

E-mail Travis at: [email protected]

The Box Office

Figures are for the week-end of November 5-7 and arein millions. Total grosses inparentheses.

1 The Incredibles—$70.5 (new)

2 Ray—$13.6 ($39.6) 3 The Grudge—$12.7

($88.8)4 Saw—$11.1 ($35.4)5 Alfie—$6.22 (new)6 Shall We Dance—$5.66

($42.1)7 Shark Tale—$4.56 ($154)8 Friday Night Lights—

$2.98 ($57.3)9 Ladder 49—$2.67 ($70)10 Team America: World

Police—$1.86 ($30.5)

New York TimesBest-Selling

Fiction Novels

Numbers indicate: currentposition, last week’s positionand total weeks on the list.

1/-/1 David Baldacci, Hour Game2/-/1 Danielle Steel, Echoes3/1/3 Nora Roberts, Northern Lights4/2/85 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code5/8/58 Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet InHeaven6/3/6 Philip Roth, The Plot Against America7/5/4 Nora Roberts, The Gift8/9/3 Anita Shreve, Light on Snow9/4/2 R.A. Salvadore,The Two Swords10/6/6 Stephen King, The Dark Tower

Today’s MoviesThe Polar Express—voices by

Tom Hanks; directed by RobertZemeckis.

Based on the classic chil-dren’s novel by Chris VanAllsburg, this computer-animat-ed film tells the story of a boywho’s faith in Santa Claus isrestored when a mysterioussteam engine arrives outside hishouse on Christmas Eve.

Finding Neverland—starringJohnny Depp, Kate Winslet, JulieChristy, Dustin Hoffman; directedby Marc Forster.

Already surrounded by con-troversy for having been con-demned by the Barrie estate forits inaccuracy, Finding Neverlandtells the story of how J.M. Barriecrafted one of the world’s mostbeloved stories, Peter Pan.

Kinsey—starring Liam Nee-son, Laura Linney, Chris O’Don-nell, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Curry,Oliver Platt; directed by BillCondon.

Kinsey tells the story of howthe world was rocked when Dr.Alfred Kinsey released his con-troversial report on human sexu-al behavior in 1948.

Ratings KeyPPPP ExcellentPPP GoodPP FairP Poor

Top-Selling AlbumsNumbers indicate: current posi-tion, last week’s position andtotal weeks on the chart.

1/-/1 R. Kelly & Jay-Z, Unfinished Business2/-/1 Trick Daddy, Thug Matrimony: Married To TheStreets

3/1/3 Simple Plan, Still Not Getting Any...4/1/2 Rod Stewart, Stardust ... The Great AmericanSongbook Vol. III5/2/7 Nelly, Suit6/4/32 Usher, Confessions

7/3/4 George Strait, 50 Number Ones8/5/9 Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company9/-/1 Michael McDonald, Motown Two10/23/2 Ray Charles,Ray (Soundtrack)

Photo courtesy of WWW.ROTTENTOMATOES.COM

Having joined forces as a superfamily, the Incredibles prepare to take on the world’s evil forces in Pixar’s“The Incredibles,” one of the year’s most exciting and entertaining films.

Star Wars: Episode III Teaser TrailerYou may or may not care about this, but because you saw the title

of this box and continued to read, I assume that you do. Paired withThe Incredibles is the teaser trailer for Revenge of the Sith, the finalinstallment of the Star Wars saga. Most “Star Warriors” have proba-bly seen the trailer already, but if you haven’t seen it on the bigscreen, here’s your one and only chance.

CAMPUS NEWSFriday, November 12, 2004 Page 5

By DANIELE NTAHONKIRIYESTUDENT REPORTER

On Tuesday, the CampusActivities Board will have itsnext free night out with therecently released film, TheIncredibles.

CAB is not showing TheIncredibles on campus but willhand out tickets in the Cam-

pus Center ticket windowsthe day of the event for stu-dents to go to see it atCentury Theaters, said Can-dace Williams, a CAB internand sophomore social workmajor from Garland.

Williams said the first freenight of the year, which washeld at miniature golf coursePlay Faire Park, didn’t go well,but the second free nightattracted more responsesbecause it was at the restau-rant Spaghetti Warehouse.

Williams said that CAB or-

ganizes free nights out basedon ratings and how good of aresponse they get from peoplewho went to theatres.

Jenni Kripner, CAB internand senior elementary educa-tion major from San Antonio,said that CAB always givesout between 200 and 250tickets, depending on thebudget, and how well stu-dents respond to the eventselected.

By MALLORY SHERWOODSTAFF WRITER

It is the last game of the sea-son; the team is undefeated.

Jason Knight, junior politicalscience major from Abilene andcoach of the 8-10-year-old Boysand Girls Club team, cheers histwo players from the goalie boxas the game ends, tied 2-2.

Knight started coachingwhen introduced to communityservice by one of his professors:Dr. Mel Hailey, chair of theDepartment of Political Science.

The Abilene Education

Council will reward Hailey forhis outstanding leadership andinvolvement in the communityand with students Tuesday atthe National Center for Child-ren’s Illustrated Literature.

Each year the AEC awards aprofessor from each college oruniversity in Abilene for com-munity involvement, communi-ty service and ethical conductworthy of recognition, saidGeorgia Townsend, director ofeducation in the AEC.

“Abilene felt it was their roleto recognize faculty from thecommunity, outside of theirinstitution,” Townsend said.

The deans of each college oncampus nominated Hailey, andthe provost’s cabinet chose him,Dr. Dwayne VanRheenen, pro-

vost, said in an e-mail.“We look at the nature,

quantity and quality of the con-tributions they have made tothe Abilene community andsurrounding area,” VanRheenensaid. “Dr. Hailey has givenmany hours of service to theAbilene community through hisown work as well as that of thestudents.”

Hailey has served as presi-dent, treasurer and is currentlya member on the board of direc-tors of the NOAH project. Hehas also served on the board ofdirectors for the local chapter ofHabitat for Humanity and forMeals on Wheels.

“If you are going to live in acommunity and be part of acommunity and take from a

community, it is your responsi-bility to give back,” Hailey said.“No matter how much you giveto the community, you aregoing to get so much moreback.

“I do this because I livehere,” he said. “It was the wayof life in the Hailey family. Ilearned from my parents ofhelping others.”

In addition to his contribu-tion to the community, Hailey’slove for community service hasaffected his students’ lives aswell. In some of his classes,Hailey said he requires 15 hoursof community service.

“This is really only one houra week of service,” Hailey said.“By doing this, I hope that theywill start and then continue on

serving throughout school.” Knight said he experiences

Hailey’s service through hisclass.

“He is extremely involved inhis classes, and I believe hetakes his students’ intellectualgrowth very serious and tries tocreate stimulating discussions,”Knight said. “He has a passion-ate servant heart, and I am veryglad that he is being honored inthis way. Dr. Hailey’s office isalways open if you want to talkto him about life problems, lawschool, classes or anything elseyou need help or advice on.”

Megan Holmes, senior polit-ical science major from Cop-pell, has worked with Hailey inthe community.

“He cares about the commu-

nity he lives in and is interestedin getting students in relation-ship with the Abilene commu-nity,” Holmes said. “He is usinghis faith and education to influ-ence those around him.”

VanRheenen said it is impor-tant to not only honor studentsfor their Christian service andleadership, but to honor facultymembers as well.

“I believe that pointing outrole models for the rest of us tolearn from is very important,”he said. “These people workquietly to serve and lead asJesus asked us to do. They seekno recognition, and we aregrateful to them.”

By ANDY JEFFREYSTUDENT REPORTER

This spring semester, 35 stu-dents will participate in theStudy Abroad program. Twen-ty-three students will attendclasses in Oxford, England, and12 will study in Montevideo,Uruguay.

The deadline to register,which was originally Oct. 21,was extended until Tuesday somore students could register,said Annie Nichols, StudyAbroad coordinator.

“We always want more stu-dents to attend, and neither theprogram in Oxford or LatinAmerica had been filled,”

Nichols said.Students who study abroad

in the fall or spring semestersare required to take 16 credithours. Along with the basicsophomore-level coursestaught by the directors at eachlocation, an ACU faculty mem-ber travels with the group andteaches several additionalclasses. This spring, Dr. KyleDickson, professor of English,will be the Oxford faculty-in-residence, teaching two Eng-lish courses, and Dr. JeffHoughton, associate professorof management sciences, willbe the faculty-in-residence inMontevideo, teaching threebusiness courses.

Although students will leavein more than two months, stu-dents are already beginning toform relationships in the groupthrough small-group Chapels.

Study Abroad students mustattend three small-group Cha-pels this semester and an ex-tended time after Chapel for anIntroduction to Global Studiesclass, said Kevin Kehl, directorof the Center for Internationaland Intercultural Education.

“The most important experi-ence students have is being apart of a community that livestogether for 15 weeks in thesame house, so being togetherduring Chapel introduces themto each other as a faith commu-nity, which is a very importantpart of the study abroad pro-gram,” Kehl said.

Both Study Abroad pro-grams will depart from campusJan. 12, during the first week ofthe spring semester.

By CHRISTY GOWERFEATURES EDITOR

The ACU Police Depart-ment is upgrading its billingsystem, BOSSCARS, mostlikely during the winterbreak.

The change is coming aftera few students’ accounts werebilled twice for their parkingpermits at the beginning of

the semester, said Jimmy El-lison, chief of ACU Police.

“It hasn’t occurred lately,and each time that it didoccur, we went back in andcorrected it,” Ellison said.

He said as students cameforward, the department cre-dited the accounts. Thoughhe could not recall a specificnumber, he said about 40 stu-dents were charged twice.

“It was not a very wide-spread problem,” he said. “Itwas a very limited numberthat it occurred to.”

Jeff Leving, systems archi-

tect, said he ran some tests onthe system but was unable todetermine the cause of theproblem.

“We were not able to repli-cate the problem within atest,” he said. “At this point,we’ve been thoroughly testingthe new program.”

Ellison said the program isa good program.

“I would put our billingaccuracy against any othercampus department,” he said.

By MONICA SMITHSTAFF WRITER

Those attending the freedrive-in movie for Sadie’sWeek on Monday had a sur-prise: The movie Friday NightLights was shown instead ofthe planned movie, TheTerminal.

“We ordered out moviesfrom a company, and we toldthem we needed the old-timeyreels – those big old reels,”said Candace Williams, mem-ber of the Campus ActivitiesBoard and sophomore socialwork major from Garland.

“The company sent us aVHS, and I had no idea,” shesaid. “There was a miscom-munication, and we couldn’tshow it because the drive-incan’t show VHS or DVD.”

However, the change inshows didn’t keep studentsaway.

“I was freaking out saying,‘We can’t not have a movie.’But it all turned out OK,”

Williams said. Chad Carnes, junior busi-

ness accounting and financemajor from Tracy, Calif.,attended the movie.

“There were a ton of peopleat the drive-in,” Carnes said.“It was good; I just wish it wasa different movie. I’m suregirls wanna see that.”

Williams said CAB is goingto try to show The Terminalanother night.

“We’re going to try to havea movie night because a lot ofpeople really wanted to seeit,” Williams said.

This year’s Sadie’s weekbegan Nov. 4, ended Tuesdayevening and included aCreate-a-Date contest. Ticketswere given away during theweek redeemable for variousitems at local restaurants.

Tuesday’s event was held atMr. Gatti’s and included fourfree game tokens. The eventNov. 5 was free sundaes atShakes, and this was the firsttime Shakes has been a part ofSadie’s Week.

“Shakes was different and abrand new idea,” Williamssaid.

Saturday’s event was the

Create-a-Date contest, whencouples filmed their dates andcompeted for a prize. Firstprize was a dinner at Chili’sand a movie, second prize wasdinner at Chili’s and thirdprize was a movie. The win-ners were chosen Thursday.

Sunday was an evening offfor church, and Monday wasthe drive-in. Tuesday endedSadie’s at Starbucks with a freetall latte of frappacino with aticket.

Jenni Kripner, senior ele-mentary education majorfrom San Antonio, said Sadie’sWeek was a success.

“I just wish we had a biggerbudget because there were somany students who couldn’tbe a part of the events,” shesaid.

Tickets for free items at theevents were given out afterChapel in the Campus Center.

“We have a limited numberof tickets, about 250 for eachday, and every day they weregone in about five minutes,”Kripner said. “People wouldline up after Chapel.”


Marine Cpl. Jesse Ibarro, Brad Woolsey, junior political science major from Weatherford, MarineLance Cpl. Brian Lord, junior political science major from Atlanta, and Justin Scott, junior politi-cal science major from Whitehouse, talk at the Veterans Day reception Thursday in the CampusCenter Living Room. The Marines recently returned from Fallujah, Iraq, and are based out ofDallas-Fort Worth. The ACU Jazz Band played in the background, and Mayor Norm Archibald andRep. Bob Hunter gave speeches. The event was sponsored by the Students’ Association and the PopeFellows to honor all veterans.

Department chair to be recognized as community leaderDr. Mel Hailey given

annual award Tuesday

Study Abroad deadline passesOpenings still remain

to take courses at both locations

CAB to provide ticketsfor “The Incredibles” at Century Theaters

New release showing for free night out

Some students charged twice

for parking permits

ACU Police to upgrade billing system

Monday’s moviechange did not deter

attendance

Sadie’s Week attracts many students

Red, white and you

E-mail Sherwood at: [email protected]

E-mail Jeffrey at: [email protected]

E-mail Ntahonkiriye at: [email protected]

E-mail Gower at: [email protected]

E-mail Smith at: [email protected]

Every year a reporter keysin on a certain story he wantsto cover. In my last semester atACU, that specific story I

wanted tocover was theFriday NightLights phe-nomenon andhow it relatesto ACU.

The bookturned movieis about a 1988West Texasfootball teamin Odessa: thePermian Pan-

thers. ACU head football coachGary Gaines was the coach atPermian in 1988.

No doubt that football feveris still alive inOdessa.

Last Fridaynight, my fiancée,Amanda Vick,and I traveled toOdessa to watchthe AbileneCooper-PermianHigh School foot-ball game. I wasfortunate enoughto sit in the pressbox and get anoverhead view ofthe massive creation that isRatliff Stadium. With new turfinstalled in 2003 and 19,000-plus seats available for footballfans in Odessa, the 1982 struc-ture is still a sight to see.

We drove roughly 175 milesdown Interstate 20 fromAbilene to Odessa. Once wereached the stadium, we madeour way toward the ticket win-dow. Directly beside the ticketwindow was a booth withPermian football merchandise.Friday Night Lights T-shirts,posters and other accessorieswere for sale. Permian helmets,shirts, jerseys, footballs, pens

and other memorabilia werealso being sold.

We received our passes andmade our way into the stadi-um. Once inside, I noticed thethousands of fans draped inblack and white sitting in thecold waiting for their belovedMOJO football squad. Mindyou, this was 6:30 p.m., onehour before the game wouldbegin.

The stadium truly lookedsurreal. It was like a communi-ty in and of itself separate fromthe rest of Odessa. Outside ofthe stadium was a dusty roadand an old oil derrick—typicalfeatures of a West Texas town.

Inside the stadium was acompletely different sight. Thestone structure towered above

the town, sittingon the edge of Od-essa. At the end ofeach end zone wasa grassy hill and ahandful of largetrees that seemedto grow out of thestadium.

MOJO signs lit-tered the score-board, the cheer-leaders lined upand the crowdcheered as the

Panthers ran onto the field. Thegame was played, and Permiandecisively lost to the CooperCougars by the score of 34-3.

For the first time in its his-tory, Permian did not win adistrict game this year, and thepopularity and obsession ofPermian football is widely con-sidered dwindled.

But the town of Odessa stillhas the fever, and once theteam returns to its winningways, no doubt that Permianfootball will reign again.

Rarely does the nationbecome more enthralled witha single series of events as itdoes with a presidential elec-

tion. It trumpse v e r y t h i n g ,save one event:the NCAA bas-ketball tourna-ment everys p r i n g — atime many fansrefer to asMarch Mad-ness.

This yearproved to beno different.

Just a mere eight monthsago, I saw people who carednothing about college basket-ball filling out their bracketwith their predictions of whowould win each game in eachround. People who don’t careabout the election do not getinvolved just for fun—theydon’t vote.

Trying to bring some ofthat same March Madnessexcitement to the table forthe election, I decided toinstigate a March-Madness-

type competition for thepolitical and nonpoliticaljunkies.

In an attempt at clairvoy-ance unmatched since thosedays in early March, I set outto predict how each statewould vote in the election,and then proceeded to con-vince several other staffmembers to do the same.

It was our very own officepool — minus the pool ofmoney of course — and itmade election day that muchmore exciting.

My office was completewith a 3-foot-by-2-foot mapof the United States, and Isecured a box of 64 coloredcrayons that would make anythird-grader jealous. I onlyhad the intention of usingtwo of the colors, however,and each state was coloredeither red or blue as theresults came in on electionnight.

I saw an enthusiasm forthe election that was suppos-edly rare for voters my age,and I began thinking abouthow to move this out of theOptimist office.

You want to encouragemore voters 18-24 to becomeinvolved in the election? Listpresidential election as one ofthe choices between footballand basketball as a fantasysport on Yahoo.com.

Not only would it inspireexcitement for the election,but voters might actuallystudy trends and issuesbefore filling out their elec-tion map. Draft day cheatsheets of rankings and play-ers’ game statistics could bereplaced with the latest pollresults from each state.

In basketball you have theoccasional joker who pickshis bracket based on theteams with the best mascot orthat have the closest proxim-

ity to his hometown. It painsme every year to lose to thatguy.

What better way to inspiremore involvement in theelection than using that bit ofembarrassment as an advan-tage? So many more peoplewould educate themselvesabout the election because noone wants to lose to thosewho base their predictionssolely on which state has thebest state flower.

So maybe my prediction ofa 310-228 electoral victoryfor Bush was a bit like thebasketball fan who picks hishometown team to win it all.Instead of saying my predic-tion was last in the officepool, I like to say that I onlymissed five states. But I’malready thinking about 2008.

I want to see FantasyElection leagues springing upacross the country.

With Veterans Day passingus by, I want to ask my almamater a question: Why is thereno memorial to the faculty, staffand students who have served,died or gone MIA while servingtheir nation?

Many other schools acrossthe nation have memorials tohonor the veterans of theirschool, and I think it is abouttime for ACU to do the same. Dosomething to show appreciationfor the sacrifice made by somany to give us what we havetoday.

This hit me with a powerfulshot when I realized that I haveno fear; I live in a nation that hasfreedom and peace. I also real-ized how ungrateful I am to themen and women who died orserved to give me this blessing.

Do you ever think aboutthis? Am I alone? Ask yourselfwhat you have done to honorthose who are often forgotten ina community so far removedfrom war and strife. I know Ihave not done enough.

All I am asking as an alum-nus is for a class, club or any-body to pick up a plan and builda memorial to these brave facul-ty, staff and student veteransbefore they are forgotten again.

Jonathan M. Fingerclass of 2002

YOUR VOICEYOUR VOICE

“I have no idea; Ihaven’t thoughtabout it at all.”

No one wants to lose to those who base their predictions on the state with the best state flower.

SA finally getting some work doneDuring the last

two weeks, the Stu-dents’ Association

has embraced its roleas the voice of the stu-

dent body. Although it hastaken all semester to reach

that point, Congress has beenbusy trying to improve campuslife for students.

Two Gardner Hall representa-tives—Marie Nordman, freshmanpolitical science major fromBridgeport, and Valerie Hanne-ken, freshman journalism majorfrom Garland—petitioned to Dr.Wayne Barnard, dean of CampusLife, to have The WB televisionstation appear on the campus

cable package.The WB is nowavailable on chan-nel 9 on campuscable.

On Wednes-day, Rep. Lauren Hart, Sikes Hall,presented a bill, which passedunanimously, calling on the uni-versity administration to connectthe parking lots between Sikesand the Williams Performing ArtsCenter. If the lots are connected,the previously hazardous one-waytraffic, which came to a dead end,will flow better.

Other projects include tryingto convince Abilene theatres togive a student discount to admis-

sion prices.Students have asked for and

wanted these projects done forsome time. When executive pres-ident Layne Rouse announced thepossibility of getting The WB oncampus during Chapel a fewweeks ago, cheers and applausefilled Moody Coliseum.

The students spoke, and Con-gress spoke for them.

However, it has taken sometime to reach that point.

Once theweeklong Con-g r e s s i o n a ltraining pro-gram endedand the semes-

ter’s budget passed, Congress hita lull that lasted most of Octoberinto November.

Several meetings have passedwith little or nothing on thedocket. Many of the early resolu-tions passed—however wellintentioned—did little to im-prove student life on campus.

All Congress members are sup-posed to have projects and leg-islation they work on throughoutthe year. Students should take the

opportunity to talk to their repre-sentatives about what they wouldlike to see done in the few weeksremaining this semester and therest of the year.

That is one of the main rea-sons The WB is now available oncampus and Sikes could receiveimproved traffic flow. The initia-tive and drive of a few membersof Congress took care of the rest.

The executive officers havetalked extensively about creatinga more empowered Congressthat works for the student body.Although it has taken most ofthe first semester to achieve that,Congress now seems ready to bethe voice of the students.

In Your Words

VIEWSFRIDAYPage 6 OPTIMIST November 12, 2004

OPTIMIST Editor in ChiefJonathan Smith

Managing EditorLori Bredemeyer

The Optimist Editorial Board

Opinion EditorJaci Schneider

Copy EditorSarah Carlson

Faculty AdviserDr. Cheryl Bacon

Ad ManagerChristi Stark

Published by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication,

Abilene Christian University

Editorial and letter policyUnsigned editorials are the opinions

of the Optimist Editorial Board and may notnecessarily reflect the views of the universi-ty or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and let-ters are the opinions of their creators andmay not necessarily reflect the viewpoints ofthe Optimist, its Editorial Board or the uni-versity.

The Optimist encourages reader re-sponse through letters to the editor but re-serves the right to limit frequent contributors

or to refuse to print letters containing per-sonal attacks, obscenity, defamation, erro-neous information or invasion of privacy.

Please limit letters to 350 words orfewer. A name and phone number must beincluded for verification purposes. Phonenumbers will not be published.

Address letters to: ACU Box 27892

Abilene, TX 79699E-mail letters to:

[email protected]

Optimist contact informationNewsroom:(325) 674-2439

Sports desk:(325) 674-2684

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Photo department:(325) 674-2499

Subscriptions ($45/academic year):(325) 674-2296

Online:www.acuoptimist.com

In My Words Daniel Barcroft

Do you plan to go to FilmFest on Friday night?

The students spoke, and Congress spoke for them.However, it’s taken some time to reach that point.

The issue:SA is finally passingbills in Congress thataffect students.Our view:SA is supposed to bethe voice of the stu-dents, but untilrecently, it has donelittle to improve lifeon campus. However,the bills passed in thepast two weeks are agood start.The solution:Congress should con-tinue to be active, andstudents should com-municate with theirrepresentatives.

Bryan Woodardfreshman business management majorfrom Greeley, Colo.

THE

Inspire involvement with election madness

E-mail Smith at: [email protected] or [email protected]

JonathanSmith

Ask theQuestion

Memorial should bebuilt to honor veterans

“My friendshave movies init, but I’m goingon a retreat. Ireally, reallywant to go, andI’m sad.”

Brittney Lubojaskysophomore elementary education majorfrom Sugar Land

“No. I’m involvedin the culture show.I would go, but Ihave to perform.”

Alex Coronelfreshman art majorfrom San Antonio

Chief PhotographerBrian Schmidt

Brian Roe

Front RoeSeats

Football fever stillburning in Odessa

E-mail Roe at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Once the teamreturns to its

winning ways,no doubt

that Permian football willreign again

“No, because wehave the cultureshow Friday. Ifthere were noculture show, Iwould go.”

Rotsy Rasamimananafreshman business management majorfrom Antananarivo, Madagascar

Friday, November 12, 2004 Page 7CAMPUS NEWS

By TODD MROZEKSTUDENT REPORTER

Though a policy exists toprohibit students from takingfinal exams early, some excep-tions can be made in extremecases, said Dr. Tom Winter,associate provost.

“They’re typically for majorhealth issues,” Winter said. “If astudent is forced to schedule amajor surgery with extended re-covery time, then taking examsearly is in their best interest.”

Winter said international

students present particular situ-ations that warrant exception.

“If turmoil in their countryhas limited travel, and there is aserious need for the student toreturn to that country, an excep-tion will certainly be made,” hesaid. “If a student has to returnto a country to renew a visa, de-pending on the travel arrange-ments, an exception might alsobe made.”

Winter said although thepolicy has exceptions, they’revery rare.

“I’ve made maybe four or fiveexceptions in all the years I’vebeen in this position,” he said.“The biggest reason is that, inmost situations, it’s best for thestudent to take the exam late.”

In the occasion that a stu-dent has three finals scheduledon the same day, Winter saidaccording to policy, a studentcould petition the dean in his orher department to take a finalafter the scheduled time.

Dr. Darryl Jinkerson, chair ofthe Department of ManagementSciences, said that although stu-dents have come to him withvery unusual circumstances, herefers them to the universitypolicy.

“It’s not my policy,” he said.“If a student comes to me abouttaking an exam early, I tell themthe matter must be taken upwith the provost office.”

Jinkerson said in instanceswhere a death in the family oc-

curs, it’s better that a studenttakes the final at a later date.

“If a student is mourning thedeath of a family member, thelast thing they’re ready for isfinals,” Jinkerson said. “If it’snecessary, we encourage a stu-dent to take an incomplete.”

In most cases, Winter said,the university will do what itcan to have the student take theexam when scheduled.

“We had athletes who had totravel to compete one year dur-ing the week of finals,” Wintersaid. “So we arranged to havethe finals for those studentsgiven on the bus.”

By ELIZABETH NEWMAN STUDENT REPORTER

A seminar on grief for thepublic called “UnderstandingYour Grief: Touchstones forHope and Healing” was Nov. 3in the Williams Performing ArtsCenter Recital Hall.

Dr. Alan Wolfelt, author,grief counselor and director ofthe Center for Loss and LifeTransition in Fort Collins,Colo., spoke to about 60 atten-dees at the free seminar spon-sored by Elliott-Hamil FuneralHome, Hendrick Hospice Care,Citizens Bank, KTAB-TV andKRBC-TV.

“This seminar is an opportu-nity to touch the lives of peoplewho we may not have come

face to face with, and it’s anextension of our service to thefamilies who we do work with,”said Randy Piersall, generalmanager of Elliott-Hamil Fu-neral Home. “We’re just happyif one person leaves here betteroff than when they got here.”

In the seminar, Wolfelt dis-cussed myths about grief andgave participants several tips onhow to understand their griefand find the healing and helpthey need.

According to the seminarbrochure, the purpose was tohelp participants “quietly re-flect on their losses and honortheir own unique grief journey.”

In addition to the seminarfor the public, Wolfelt also con-ducted a seminar Nov. 5 specif-ically for caregivers who workin hospices or churches andhelp grieving families cope withloss.

“The morning seminar was

an opportunity for us to giveback to those people who helpfamilies,” Piersall said. “We feellike they are our partners inthis, and we want them to haveall of the opportunities that wehave as far as training goes.”

Wolfelt conducts seminarson grief nationwide and is theauthor of more than 20 bookson loss and grief. He foundedthe Center for Loss and LifeTransition in 1983 to help peo-ple understand grief.

Piersall said he heardWolfelt speak six or seven yearsago in Arlington, and the semi-nar Nov. 5 was a chance tobring Wolfelt to Abilene forothers to hear.

“To get to see the passionthat he has for caring for griev-ing families made me realizethat other people needed tohave the opportunity to hearhim,” Piersall said.

Students can find support

for coping with grief at theUniversity Counseling Center.The center offers individualgrief counseling and has a self-help guide posted on its Website containing articles on griefand recovery.

Steve Rowlands, director ofthe University Counseling Cen-ter, said in an e-mail that it isimportant to discuss the topicof grief at ACU because the uni-versity has had a number oflosses, and loss is an ongoinghuman event.

Students can also join a griefsupport group led by Kurt Boy-land, counselor in the Univer-sity Counseling Center, and BobBooth, resident director of Mc-Donald Hall. Students interest-ed in joining the group shouldcontact the counseling center atExt. 2626 for information.

By HAYLEY JONESSTUDENT REPORTER

An instructor and five stu-dents went back in time lastweekend to film a piece of histo-ry from the Civil War. Theytraveled to New Mexico to par-ticipate in the 150th anniversaryof the Battle of Valverde at FortCraig to practice filming skills.

J.R. Kessler, instructor ofjournalism and mass communi-cation, brought four studentsfrom his Field Production classto New Mexico: Scott Delony,junior electronic media majorfrom Humble; Michelle Or-dener, senior journalism major

from Abilene; Aaron Rector,junior electronic media majorfrom Abilene; and NathanCrummel, junior journalismmajor from Fort Worth. He alsotook Eyakem Gulilat, sopho-more applied studies major fromPflugerville, from his Docu-mentary Production guidedstudy class.

For the three-day event,Kessler arranged for costumesfrom the mid-1800s for the stu-dents and himself to wear. Themale students wore authenticUnion soldier woolen uniforms,Ordener wore the female dressof the time, and Kessler woreperiod civilian clothing.

The Battle of Valverde occur-red during the Civil War in 1862near Fort Craig, a Union armypost. According to the NewMexico Tourism Department,

the battle is considered a Con-federate victory even though theUnion maintained control of thefort. The Confederate troopslost so many supplies that thebattle began the loss of hope forsouthern conquest of the West.

When the battle was re-enacted for the audience, thestudents were stationed at fixedpoints on the grounds to shootthe battle from various posi-tions. Kessler marched with theConfederate troops from Texas.

“Since ACU is in Texas, theorganizers probably thoughtthey were being clever in their

placement of me,” Kessler said.“What they didn’t know wasthat I had a camera hidden in asatchel to shoot the battle fromthe Confederate side.”

Other activities they shotwere the morning raising of thecolors ceremony, Indian dances,various historical presentations,interviews with re-enactors,Civil War era military bands andthe daily life of the Civil War re-enactors in the encampment,Kessler said.

“The participant re-enactorsdressed and lived as authentical-ly as they could according to the

time period,” he said. “Manyhad their families dressed andliving on the camp with them.”

After each day, the studentsreceived feedback from theirinstructor on their performancein the travel trailer that Kessler’sparents loaned to the group touse as a production staging area.

“This is a learning experiencefor the students in real-worldfield production; they can prac-tice their skills in camera opera-tion, image composition, inter-viewing and audio and videorecording,” Kessler said.

Kessler first got the idea forthe trip while working as a vol-unteer employee of the Bureauof Land Management in So-corro, N.M., the nearest town,where he was helping in some ofthe preparations for the eventduring the summer.

“Students were enthusiasticabout the idea from the begin-ning,” he said. “Our biggest ob-stacle was obtaining a licensefrom the BLM to film on theland.”

The footage shot last week-end will take months to edit intoa documentary about FortCraig, Kessler said. He plans toedit the project himself and withthe students that he employs inhis video company, Vital Video.The students who participatedwill get a screen credit for theirwork.

“This trip has provided awonderfully adventurous andalso intensive field learningexperience for all involved,”Kessler said.

By DANIELLE LINTHICUMSTUDENT REPORTER

The name of A.B. Barret isnot well known on campus, butit will be soon.

“Oddly enough, there hasnever been anything named forBarret on campus,” said WendyKilmer, director of public rela-tions at ACU.

That’s about to change, withconstruction starting on a newresidence hall across fromBrown Library this week thatwill be named A.B. Barret, afterthe founder and first presidentof ACU.

“The name just jumped outat us,” said Kilmer, who helpedchoose the name of the new hall.“It seemed like an obviouschoice.”

Jack Rich, executive vicepresident of the university, alsowas involved in the namingprocess.

“With the centennial yearcoming up, we thought that itwas fitting to have our newestaddition named after our firstpresident,” he said. “We didn’treally have to consider any othername. It was just the right fit.”

According to No OrdinaryUniversity, a history of ACU by

Dr. John C. Stevens, chancelloremeritus and former presidentof the university, Barret came toWest Texas with a passion tobuild a Christian college andwould not be deterred.

Most of the Abilene commu-nity welcomed Barret and hisproposals, Stevens wrote, butsome in the church and businesscommunity had reservations.

However, Barret’s tenacitypaid off, and Childers ClassicalInstitute opened its doors in1906, named after Col. J.W.Childers, who owned the landwhere the institute was built.The school became AbileneChristian College in 1912 and auniversity in 1976.

“Barret was a 27-year-oldpreacher with a dream … devot-ed to the cause of Christ, com-pletely serious in his purpose,and he had a keen sense ofhumor and a booming laugh,”Stevens wrote in No OrdinaryUniversity.

Stevens wrote that Barret hadbig plans for his Christian col-lege, but whether Barret dream-ed ACU would grow as it has,administrators can only guess.

“Who knows? I can’t say thathe didn’t,” said Rich. “That maybe giving him too small of adream. I do think that he wouldbe pleased.”

Class takes field trip to New Mexico for experience

“This is an experience for the students in real-world field production.”

J.R. Kessler, instructor of journalism and mass communication

Residence hall namedfor ACU’s first president

Use of A.B. Barret’sname seen as

a ‘fitting choice’


Paul Carrozza, class of 1985 and owner of Run-Tex stores in Austin,speaks at COBA’s Distinguished Speakers Series on Thursday in theMabee Business Building Atrium. After the speech, Carrozza, also amember of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports,presented Dr. Curt Dickson with the PCPFS Honor Award.

Exceptions to policymade in only rare

circumstances

Finals policy stays the same this semester

Author, counselorspeaks to crowd

of about 60

Seminar helps public cope with griefDistinguished thoughts

E-mail Jones at: [email protected]

E-mail Newman at: [email protected]

E-mail Mrozek at: [email protected]

E-mail Linthicum at: [email protected]

Journalism students film, re-enact Civil War battle

Page 8 Wednesday, November 12, 2004CAMPUS NEWS/FROM THE FRONT PAGE

tional students, but the cultureof ACU as well.”

Macias said it is importantto feature not only the interna-tional cultures, but local cul-tures as well. He said manypeople in America don’t realizethat they have culture, too, andthey just see the internationalcultures presented in the cul-ture show.

“The music and the showthis year really have a varianceof types, styles and culturesthat is really all-encompass-ing,” Macias said. “It will

include things from reallyprimitive cultural tribes tomodern rock as we are trying toencompass the culture of theU.S. as well.”

ISA has been preparing forthis year’s performance sincethe beginning of school, andboth Macias and Lau agree thatthe early start has helped a lotto improve the show and helpthings run smoother.

Macias said he has contin-ued to work on the cultureshow because of the relation-ships he has made while direct-ing the show and because ofthe passion that he has seen put

into it by many of the volun-teers.

Lau said she is doing theculture show again this yearbecause last year, her first show,had such an effect on her life.

“Last year, the show was oneof the biggest parts of my year,”Lau said. “I met a lot of friendsand the service and leadershipwas such a great experience. It’samazing to do something so bigfor something even bigger.”

Ethnos: Plans began in AugustContinued from Page 1

E-mail Schmidt at: [email protected]

question which networks areincluded in campus cable,especially the inclusion ofCMT when other music videostations are excluded.

“I have forced myself towatch MTV and BET andCMT in the past … and I wasa bit surprised as I pulled outthe TV Guide and watcheddifferent shows at differenttimes of the day,” Barnardsaid. “I know not everythingon MTV is ‘not good.’ Theproblem is, we can’t flipswitches on and off; it doesn’twork that way, so it’s all ornothing, and I think that’s thereal challenge.”

To accommodate the addi-tion of The WB, C-SPAN2was moved to Channel 40,one of two videoconferencingchannels. If the videoconfer-encing channel is ever need-ed, C-SPAN2 will be suspend-ed for a brief time.

Barnard said he made thedecision to keep C-SPAN2because some political sci-ence professors use it as a

teaching tool for their classes. Barnard said he has heard

many positive commentsabout the new channel.

“People are very happy—I’ve had people come up tome and say thank you,” hesaid. “It’s somewhat comicalthat it means so much. But ifmy favorite show were onthere, it would mean a lot tome, I guess.”

Hanneken said she feelspleased that she and Nord-man were able to completethe project.

“It was exciting to dobecause people had wanted to[do it] in the past and hadeven sort of attempted it,”she said. “We decided wewanted it to be our projectand wanted to make it hap-pen.”

Barnard said it demon-

strates that the Students’Association really does repre-sent the student body.

“This has obviously been astudent concern,” he said.“Two representatives took iton, at least for their smallcommunity, Gardner, and inrepresenting Gardner, theyrepresented the entire stu-dent body. Had they not donethat, I would have just coast-ed along here, and it wouldn’thave been a top priority forme.

“So I really want studentsto know that whereas I madeit happen, it really was theirrepresentatives who broughtit to my attention and gaveme the student voice. Iapplaud them for doing it.”

WB: C-SPAN2 on Channel 40Continued from Page 1

E-mail Bredemeyer at: [email protected]

but she still saw the need forCongress to act.

“I don’t think this will getfixed unless we do somethingabout it,” Hart said.

Hart said she is now indiscussion with Watsonabout financing theproject and the possi-bility of the Students’Association paying partof the bill, which wouldcome out of the springbudget.

Tyler Cosgrove, executivetreasurer, said Congresswould not have to pay for theentire project and that it wasmostly a show of good faith.

The project could result ina net loss of two parking spa-ces in a lot with 96 parking

spaces for 192 women, Hartsaid.

“I really don’t think there’sany way there could be aproblem with this,” saidJeremy Pond, Mabee Hall rep-resentative and freshmanjournalism major from Wi-

chita Falls.Neither did the restof Congress, whichbypassed further dis-

cussion to unanimous-ly pass the bill.Congress also voted to

have the Constituent Rela-tions committee look intowhy fewer energy drinks werebeing made available on cam-pus.

Sen. Jeffrey Rasco, seniorbusiness management majorfrom Abilene, said he noticedfewer energy drinks being

made available for purchaseon campus, and Congressdecided unanimously to fur-ther look into the issue.

Sen. Jake Roseberry, sopho-more management major fromTroy, Ohio, also announcedthat the Student GovernmentAssociation Research andDevelopment Committee hasrestarted the fight to get a stu-dent movie ticket discount.

He said the committee willtalk with the other schools inAbilene and to the movie the-atres about working out a dis-count. The committee alsowill contact other universitiesto see how they have workedto have student discounts attheatres.

SA: Committee seeks discountsContinued from Page 1



Jessica Patterson, junior theatre major from Winchester, Va., talks to Rodrigo Macias, junior biologymajor from Durango, Mexico, in rehearsal for Ethnos: The Virus on Wednesday in Cullen Auditorium.

By JULIA REIDSTUDENT REPORTER

The Department of Physicsreceived $165,000 in a grantfrom the U.S. Department ofEnergy this year to continueits nuclear physics research.

Over thepast 23 years,the depart-ment has re-ceived $2.3million ingrants.

ACU firstreceived thegrant in 1981,a year afterMichael Sadler, professor ofphysics, first applied for it.

Sadler said that at the time,using undergraduate studentsto help with the research wasquestionable, but today, it ismuch more com-mon.

“I could pretendto be altruistic andsay that I wanted toimprove the qualityof education here,”Sadler said. “Thetruth be known Iwanted to utilize theresources that I had available,and the resource I had wasbright, undergraduate stu-dents.”

Dr. Donald Isenhower,chair of the Department ofPhysics, became a co-investi-gator on the grant in 1988.

Isenhower said by partici-pating in the research, stu-dents learn more than theywould in the classroom.

“Students learn how to dophysics by getting out and

doing research,” Isenhowersaid. “They will see things inoperation that they wouldn’tsee in the classroom.”

Using the funds, the De-partment of Physics has con-ducted research with differentlaboratories across the nationand in Russia and is currentlyworking primarily withBrookhaven National Labor-atory, located about 60 mileseast of New York City on LongIsland. Brookhaven is one of10 national laboratories fund-ed by the U.S. Department ofEnergy. It conducts research inphysical, biomedical and envi-ronmental sciences, energytechnology and national secu-rity.

ACU is one of 59 institu-tions involved in nuclearphysics research there, alongwith more than 500 physicistsfrom 12 countries involved inthe research.

The project, called thePioneering High Energy Nu-clear Interaction experiment,

or PHENIX, specifically meas-ures the collisions of ions andprotons, which will help sci-entists to understand theproperties of matter.

To measure these collisions,Brookhaven has built severaldetectors, which together arebigger than a four-story houseand weigh more than 3,000tons.

The detectors run fromOctober or November untilApril or May every year.

Students are given the op-portunity to go to Brookhavenand work with PHENIX forseveral months during thesummer and afterwards takeshifts returning, often duringChristmas break.

Students who work at thelaboratory during Christmasbreak go through training forthe first few days before takingon an eight-hour shift whenthey will help run and monitorthe detectors for eight consec-utive days.

Students who go toBrookhaven over the summerhelp with construction, instal-lation or repair of the detec-tors while they are shut down.Last summer three studentsmade the trip to Brookhaven.

After having participated inboth sessions at the laboratory,students are listed as co-authors on the research theyhelped with.

Rusty Towell, assistant pro-fessor of physics, became a co-investigator on the grant in

2 0 0 2a f t e rbecom-ing partof thefaculty.Towe l lremem-b e r shelping

with research as an undergrad-uate student at ACU.

“It was a tremendous expe-rience,” Towell said. “It wasdifferent than labs in classesbecause there wasn’t an an-swer in the back of the book.If we wanted to know theanswer, we had to find it our-selves.”

By TABITHA VAILSTAFF WRITER

FilmFest 2004 will wrap upwith a symposium Saturdayfrom 11:30 a.m. -1 p.m. in theLiving Room featuring a few ofthe festival’s 10 judges. Judgesthat might be present at thesymposium include alumniNelson Coates, producer andvoting member of the Aca-demy of Motion Picture Artsand Sciences, Rob Gibbs, ani-mator at Pixar studios, andRandy Brewer, producer andowner of Revolution Picturesin Nashville.

“Nelson Coates wants to behere,” said Doug Darby FilmFest director and multimediacoordinator, but “might be inAustralia, looking for a loca-tion to shoot one of his

upcoming films.”The purpose of this sympo-

sium is to allow students “tomake contacts and rub someelbows” said Matt Maxwell,committee chair of Film Festand sophomore electronic me-dia major from Abilene. “Itwould be a shame for [thejudges] to come into town andnot educate the students.”

Darby said the symposiumwill allow students to get a feelfor what the judges do for a liv-ing, and students will be ableto pick their brains on anytopic pertaining to the enter-tainment industry.

Darby said he was im-pressed with the diverse groupof students that created thefilms for the festival, withmajors ranging from biology tojournalism and mass commu-nication. While speaking withsome of the judges, Darby saidthe technology didn’t get in theway of the message of thefilms.

One issue that Maxwell saidhe is anxious to address is howthese media professionals“keep Christian ethics andmorals in their field—it isChristianity in culture. This isa really great chance to go andtalk to big name profession-als.”

Darby said he hopes “thatthe symposium will continueto be a evolving part ofFilmFest.” He said FilmFest islike Lectureship where stu-dents and faculty can benefitfrom these readily availableresources.

Students interested in at-tending the symposium canpurchase tickets Friday at theticket booths from 10 a.m.through 2 p.m. in the CampusCenter. Students can also buytickets from the ticket windowat the Paramount duringFilmFest Premiere Night.

Symposium to feature judgesStudents have chanceto meet with FilmFestjudges on Saturday

E-mail Vail at: [email protected]

Physics receives federal grantDepartment will use$165,000 to continue

nuclear physics research

“Students learn how to do physics by getting out and doing research.”

Dr. Donald Isenhower, chair of the Department of Physics

Sadler

E-mail Reid at: [email protected]

“People are happy—I’ve had people come upto me and say thank you.”

Dr. Wayne Barnard, dean of Campus Life

baby,” remarked the other editorwatching over the first’s shoul-der.

“We have a lot of work todo.”

For students involved in theuniversity’s first FilmFest, Fri-day’s Premiere Night marks theend of a semester-long processthat has taken them through thesteps of creating a film.

For Doug Darby, multimediacoordinator for the AdamsCenter of Teaching Excellence,and others involved in Film-Fest’s creation, Friday marks thebeginning of the next and futureFilmFests. But before gettingtoo far ahead with plans for nextyear, Darby hopes students willbe able to look back on theirexperience and use it in theireducation.

Bringing FilmFestto life

Lisa Phin, senior marketingand management major fromCarrolton and student co-chairfor FilmFest, recalled hearingabout the competition for thefirst time from Darby.

“I remember him talkingabout launching something likethis last semester, but I thoughthe was just toying with theidea.”

Even if he was toying withthe idea, plans quickly cametogether. Darby announced offi-cial plans about FilmFest at thefinale of Sing Song on Feb. 21.

Organizers originally hoped15 teams of students would sub-mit films and involve at least 30participants. When sign-ups

came around this semester,however, Darby said he was sur-prised by the turnout: 30 teamsand 90 participants.

Students then participated ina training workshop Sept. 11,learning about issues rangingfrom copyright law to how touse the computer software.

Once students created teamswith such positions as editors,directors and videographers,teams could check out digitalvideo cameras and use editingsoftware on Apple computers toconstruct their 5-7 minute filmson the theme of “Light.”

Apple Computers donatedcomputer workstations just forFilmFest and the Students’Association put aside money topurchase cameras to supple-ment what the universityalready owned.

However, although studentswere ready to begin shooting,the computer lab equipmentarrived several days late, leav-ing students from Sept. 15 toOct. 14 to shoot and edit theirprojects.

Then, even the weatherturned against them.

Darby said the roof in theIndustrial Technology building,

which housed the lab, leakedinitially, exposing one of themost sophisticated computerlabs on campus to harmfulmoisture.

Despite the initial turbu-lence, Darby said once studentsbegan working, their workamazed him.

“We’ve seen some amazingexpression taking place,” Darbysaid. “You’re seeing deeperthought than I anticipated.”

Once completed, judgesfrom around the movie andentertainment industry receivedthe films by mail and viewedthem. Judges include NelsonCoates, an ACU alumnus and aproduction designer inHollywood (Runaway Jury,Antwone Fisher), and RobGibbs, storyboard artist forPixar Animation.

Students will have theopportunity to see the culmina-tion of all this work Friday at6:30 p.m. atthe Para-m o u n tTheatre.

“ W ewant thisto be anight thatshowcasesthe stu-d e n t s ’work andthe effort they put in,” Phinsaid. “We’re providing a medi-um to express that.”

Three finalists from threecompetition categories—enter-tainment, inspirational andinformational—will be shownand a winner named from each.An overall winner also will beselected.

Prize packages for teams andindividual winners in categories

like best director will include avariety of items, such as Ipods,USB flash drives, Frontier Texastickets and gift certificates.

Learning process

When Darby talks aboutFilmFest he rarely spotlights thecompetition. His focus liesmainly on the skills learned andthe opportunities to experience.

“We’re not only having funand giving students a camera toshoot,” Darby said. “We’rebuilding bridges and developingcontacts in the [entertainment]industry.”

Even the way Darby struc-tured how students would workon their films supported thisgoal. He spent time in the labswith students, but he has reliedheavily on his student co-chairs,Phin and Matt Maxwell, sopho-more electronic media major

from Abilene,and studentv o l u n t e e r shelping par-ticipants inthe lab.

“It’s beens t u d e n t shelping stu-dents insteadof bringing inoutside indi-

viduals,” Darby said.Even though he did not par-

ticipate in producing a film forthe competition, Maxwell saidthe opportunity to plan and beinvolved has been perfect. Healso interns at Highland Churchof Christ and makes videos forthe church, so he said heenjoyed the chance to put thoseskills to use as a leader.

“This is my first time to lead

a group at ACU. I’ve been look-ing for something like that,”Maxwell said. “This is prettymuch what I do for my church;it’s my job. Just to have a chanceto be a part of this, it’s some-thing very special for me.”

The future

Darby already has begunplanning possibilities for thefuture of FilmFest.

Already he has heard fromthe University of Tennessee atKnoxville wanting to know howthey can make a competitionlike FilmFest work there.

He has discussed withOklahoma Christian Universityabout the possibility of makingit an intercollegiate event.

He also said he has beenencouraged to write a reportabout the whole process so oth-ers can see the learning tech-niques capable from FilmFest.

“If this is part of the ACUexperience,” Darby said, “this is

where many students will wantto be.”

Because this is the firstFilmFest at ACU, organizersalready are looking for ways toimprove.

“We have a very long list ofways to make it even better fornext year,” Maxwell said. “Nextyear, we hope it’s just 10 timesbetter.”

And, like a film editor pour-ing over each clip of a movieperfecting it little by little,Darby said he would look at thewhole process to see how stu-dents can be engaged evenmore.

“Change, growth and cre-ation are traumatic at times,”Darby said. “But you don’t seethe full benefit of things downthe line until you can look backand see how far you’ve come.”

Friday, November 12, 2004 Page 9JUMPS

“These guys bring newblood,” Pleasant said. “Therearen’t any players leftoverwho were here during thetough years, and these newguys are optimistic and ex-cited about ACU basketball.They don’t have any historyand we can look to buildfrom here.”

Hakim Rasul is the team’sprized recruit as he was ajunior college all-Americanlast year at Midland College.

“We’re excited about Ha-kim for several reasons,”Pleasant said. “He’s a provenplayer and scorer, he’s beensuccessful everywhere he’splayed and brings confidenceand experience.

“But what stands out mostabout him is that he’s prettyunselfish, and he will dowhat it takes to help us win,”Pleasant said.

Junior point guard JoeCarr transferred in fromCentral Michigan Universityand has had experience inthe NCAA tournament. In2003, CMU defeated Crei-ghton University; Carrscored two points and playedthree minutes in the gameand they advanced to the

second round to play theNCAA Division I power-house Duke. Carr played 12minutes in the game, hadfive points, one rebound andone assist.

“Joe’s another proven play-er who brings a lot of experi-ence,” Pleasant said. “ Anychampionship team needssolid play at the point guardand I think he can help us.

“He’s a floor general, heknows where the ball needsto go and he is an extremelygood defender on the ball,”Pleasant said. “Joe’s used towinning and he’s committedto help our team win.”

The Wildcats also addedjunior guard Dionte Gill andsophomore post player TonyBrown. Gill is the nephew ofcurrent Chicago Bull, Ken-dall and Dionte has been anice surprise on offensePleasant said. Brown is asophomore transfer fromNorthland Pioneer JuniorCollege but has been out ofthe game for seven yearsafter spending time in themilitary.

Gabe Lombard, ChristFarr, Josh Stephen and A.J.Porterfield make up the restof the team as they have allcome off of red-shirt seasons.

Pleasant was pleased withall four players’ work in theoff-season in the weightroom and their efforts in bet-tering their skills for thefuture.

Porterfield, a sophomoreguard, actually played forACU in the 2002-2003 sea-son. He participated in 27contests as the Wildcats went13-14 and averaged 6.9points per game and 2.7rebounds a game.

The Wildcats were pickedto finish fifth in the confer-ence in pre-season voting,but it doesn’t sound likePleasant paid attention to thepolls.

“Our main goal is toimprove every game,”Pleasant said. “We want to bethe best basketball team wecan be down the stretch inFebruary and be in a positionto play for the south title.Whoever wins the south thisseason gets to host the tour-nament and we want to bethat team. If we stay togeth-er, I think we can achievethat goal and if we find a wayto get those close games togo our way this year.”

Preview: Team eager for new start Continued from Page 10

E-mail Robarts at: [email protected]


Freshman guard Josh Stephen goes up for a dunk during practice.

just glad that my teammates andcoaches have faith in me.”

Snoddy said she focuses onplaying well for her teammates,especially for the seniors.

“This is their last year and wewant to make sure we play hardfor them,” she said. “It’s impor-tant to play with confidence andhave confidence in each other.”

Junior setter Lindsey Martinadded that she’s comfortable a-round the two first-year players.

“I’m really impressed withboth of them,” she said. “I knowwhen I set Abbie the ball she’sgoing to do something goodwith it. Liz has really added amissing piece in a position weneeded help at.”

If the Wildcats win the con-ference tournament, they will beguaranteed a spot at theSouthwest Regional Tourna-ment in Carney, Neb. on Nov.18-20.

Volleyball:Veterans‘impressed’Continued from Page 10

E-mail Roe at: [email protected]

FilmFest: Students gain experience from professionalsContinued from Page 1


2004 FilmFest ScheduleAnnouncement of the themeTreatments by students dueCreative Workshop* Start of shooting & editing End of shooting & editing Movie deliverySubmission of movies to judgesPremiere night Symposium

Feb. 21Aug.27Sept.11Sept.15Oct. 14Oct. 15Oct. 26Nov. 12Nov. 13

“We’re building bridgesand developing contacts in the [entertainment]

industry.”

Doug Darby, FilmFest director andmultimedia coordinator

FROM ACU SPORTSINFORMATION

Nine ACU Wildcats re-ceived all-Lone Star Con-ference South Division honorsWednesday, but only defensiveback Danieal Manning anddefensive end Clayton Farrellwere named to the first team.

Manning, one of the mostdynamic players in the league,was named the division's De-fensive Back of the Year, whileFarrell—who led a defensiveunit that got better as the sea-son progressed—was namedco-Defensive Lineman of theYear. Last year, Manning wasnamed first team and the divi-sion's Freshman of the Year,while Farrell was an honorablemention selection. Both play-ers were named pre-season all-America by Don Hansen'sFootball Gazette prior to thestart of the 2004 season.

After picking off six passesas a freshman in 2003, Mann-

ing had just two interceptionsin 2004 as teams threw awayfrom the sophomore safetyfrom Corsicana. But he foundother ways to impact games,returning two punts, one kick-off and one fumble for touch-downs during the season.

Farrell led the LSC in tack-les for loss with 18.5 for 76yards in losses, and he led theWildcats and was 10th in theLSC with 4.5 sacks. He ledthe Wildcats with 64 tackles,three passes defended, sevenquarterback hurries, two fum-ble recoveries, one forced fum-ble and two blocked kicks.Through three seasons he has20 sacks, which is sixth on theschool's career chart. He needs15 sacks as a senior to passReuben Mason (34 sacks from1976-78) and become theschool's all-time leader.

Five Wildcats were namedto the second team, led by jun-ior running back RashonMyles, who finished fourth inthe league in total yards with865 and fourth in yards pergame at 86.5. Only two ACU

players since 1980 -- Eric Polkin 2001 and 2002 andAnthony thomas in 1982 and1984 -- have rushed for moreyards in a season than Myles,who didn't become the starteruntil the seventh week of theseason.

Also earning second teamhonors were freshman widereceiver Jerale Badon ofAbilene, sophomore defensive

tackle Joe Edwards of Dayton,junior linebacker Greg Yeldellof East Spencer, N.C., anddefensive back Dawon Gentryof Dension.

Senior placekicker EbenNelson and junior offensivelineman Charles Mock werenamed honorable mention all-LSC South.

By BRIAN ROESPORTS WRITER

The Wildcat volleyball teamwill look to freshmen AbbieLowry and Liz Snoddy to con-tinue their rookie success when

ACU opensp o s t - s e a s o nplay Friday inLawton, Okla.,at the Lone StarC o n f e r e n c eP o s t - S e a s o nTournament.

The twosurprise per-

formers of 2004 will be key ele-ments for the Wildcats, who areranked No. 26 in the nation.

Lowry, an outside hitter fromFlower Mound, finished fifthon the team with 182 kills whileplaying in 67 games and averag-ing 2.72 kills per game, finish-ing third best on the teambehind juniors Amanda Slateand Michelle Bernhardt.

Head coach Brek Horn saidshe knew Lowry had talent, butshe is now starting to play withconfidence.

“Abbie has turned herselfinto an offensive presence forus,” Horn said. “She is hittingthe ball well, and our playershave confidence in her.”

Snoddy, a back-row defen-sive player from Arlington,played in 96 games during theregular season, had 237 digs,and her 2.47 digs per game was

fourth best onthe team.

Horn saidSnoddy is agood commu-nicator and vo-cal on the courteven thoughshe’s a fresh-man.

“Liz worked out all summerwith Kellen Morrow and I thinklearned a lot from her,” Hornsaid. “If you watch her on thecourt she is very vocal and hasplayed with that steady confi-dence since day one.”

Lowry said she’s just happyto have an opportunity to con-tribute to the team.

“I definitely feel fortunate toplay this much during myfreshman year,” she said. “I’m

Manning, Farrell honoredby Lone Star Conference

By KYLE ROBARTSSPORTS EDITOR

For the first time since tak-ing over the program in 2002,head coach Klint Pleasant willbe sending “his” team on thefloor this season.

All the players from formerhead coach Mike Martin’s era,though loved and appreciatedby Pleasant, are gone, leavingPleasant with players that heselected to fit his style of playon the court.

“It’s a good feeling,” Plea-sant said. “When you are try-ing to turn a program around,it’s important to get your ownpeople. That creates a feelingof comfort and trust, andeveryone is on the samepage.”

Pleasant is in his third sea-son with the team after com-ing off of a 12-15 season thatended with a Lone Star Con-ference South Division recordof 3-9. Out of those nine loss-

es, the team lost five of thecontests by less than sevenpoints.

One of the team’s goals thisyear is to be on the winningside of those close gamesdown the stretch, Pleasantsaid.

“We’re going to hang ourhat on playing hard and withintensity,” he said. “We wantto play with pressure on de-fense, push the ball on off-ense, be disciplined in thehalf-court and be a team thatcan win close games and onthe road.”

The Wildcats lost three keyelements last year in TuckerPierson, Rodney Lee and CliffGreen’s final seasons of eligi-bility.

Green, the team’s pointguard, led the conference insteals and assists, Pierson wasthe conference’s leading re-bounder and the team’s third-leading scorer, while Leeended his career at second onthe school’s all-time three-point leaders’ list and was lastseason’s second-leading scor-er.

Senior guard David Baxter

will lead a group of returninglettermen to aid the Wildcatsin their quest for the LoneStar Conference tournamentberth. Baxter was the team’sleading scorer last season,averaging 15.1 points percontest, and he led the teamin three-point field goals with80.

“David is liked and re-spected by the players on theteam,” Pleasant said. “He’sbeen starving for the opportu-nity to be the senior leader onthe team. He’s a guy we’ll lookto for leadership, and the guyI think that we’ll look to to getus over the hump when thoseclose games and road gamescome.”

Mauro Matai, Matt Suther-land, Matthias Kreig and Ad-rian Scott will join Baxter asreturning letterman

Kreig started all 27 gameshe played last year in the postposition, finishing second onthe team in rebounds with anaverage of 4.7 a game, andcontributed seven points per

game as well. Sutherland andMatai also saw around 14minutes per game each lastseason at the point guard andpost position, respectively.Sutherland shot .354 (17-48)from beyond the 3-point arcand was second behind Greenin assists with 61, while Mataichipped in 5.9 points pergame and 3.5 rebounds agame.

“[Matai] is a phenomenalrebounder with enthusiasmand energy that he brings tothe team and we feed off of,”Pleasant said. “I think he’llgive us some good minutes,and he’s hard to guard becausehe’s undersized at his positionand extremely quick andactive.”

The Wildcats added juniorcollege talent to the squad aswell as help from the NCAADivision I level. ACU hasendured five-straight losingseasons since their Elite-8appearance in 1999, andPleasant is excited about whatthe newcomers will bring tothe table.

SPORTSFRIDAY

Lowry and Snoddyproviding spark

heading into playoffsFive placed on secondteam, two given

honorable mention

Team looks for firstLSC tournament berth since 1999

VVolleyballolleyball

FootballFootball

This week inWildcat sports...

(home events in italics)

Thursday, November 11 WBB: at SMU, 7 p.m. Friday, November 12 VB: at LSC Semifinals, 5p.m. MBB: at Arkansas, 7 p.m. Saturday, November 13 VB: at LSC Championship, 7p.m. MBB: at Western Kentucky,7:30 p.m.Monday, November 15 WBB: Texas-Permian Basin,6 p.m. Tuesday, November 16 MBB: Rhema Bible College,7 p.m. Friday, November 19 WBB: at Incarnate Word, 2p.m. MBB: Cameron, 8 p.m.

Briefs

Volleyball players sweepweekly awards

Lindsey Martin caughtthe eye of the Lone StarConference once againas she was named theLSC South DivisionSetter of the Week forthe fifth time.

However, this time shewas joined by team-mates MichelleBernhardt and KellenMorrow who took thesouth division’sOffensive and DefensivePlayers of the Weekrespectively.

The selections weremade Monday after theWildcats went 3-0 forthe week with wins overAngelo State andregional opponentsIncarnate Word and St.Mary’s.

The win over Angelogave the school its firstLSC championship inWildcat volleyball histo-ry.

Bernhardt had 48 kills inthe three matches, whileMorrow recorded 54digs and Martin had 144assists to lead the team.

- Kyle Robarts Sports Editor

Men’Men’s Basketballs Basketball

Revamped Wildcats looking for success

See VOLLEYBALL Page 9

See PREVIEW Page 9

Page 10 OPTIMIST November 12, 2004

4 - Gabe Lombard5-10, 165, jr-RS, Tr -Pago Bay, Guam

03-04 season:red-shirted last season

13 - Matt Sutherland5-11, 180, jr, 1VL -Odessa

03-04 season:2.7 ppg,, .354 3PFG%

23 - Joe Carr5-6, 160, jr, Tr - Detroit,Mich. (Central Michigan)

03-04 season:2.6 ppg, .289 3PFG%

Klint Pleasant3rd Season (25-29 overall)

Assistant Coaches:Clayton BissettBrian Thrift

1 - Dionte Gill6-4, 190, jr, Tr - Tuscon,Ariz (Ariz. Central CC)

99-00 season:15.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg

5 - David Baxter6-3, 185, sr, 1VL - Detroit,Mich.

03-04 season:15.1 ppg, .359 3FG%

12 - Josh Stephen6-4, 200, fr-RS, -Nashville, Tenn.


20 - A.J. Porterfield6-2, 185, so, 1VL - Clovis,N.M.


22 - Adrian Scott6-4, 185, sr, 1VL -Tuscoloosa, Ala.


34 - Hakim Rasul6-6, 220, jr, Tr - Tuscon,Ariz. (Midland College)

03-04 season:15 ppg, 8 rpg

11 - Chris Farr6-7, 200, fr-RS -Abernathy


24 - Tony Brown6-8, 255, so, Tr - Phoenix,Ariz. (Northland Pioneer JC)


30 - Matthias Krieg6-9, 250, sr, 1VL -Bietigheim, Germany

03-04 season:7 ppg, 4.7 rpg

33 - Mauro Matai6-5, 225, jr, 1VL - Maputo,Mozambique



Sophomore safety Danieal Manning tackles tailback Ross Harrisonin Saturday’s game. Manning was named to the first-team all-LSCSouth Defensive team and was named Defensive Back of the Year.

2004-05 Men’sBasketball Schedule

Date Opponent / Result TimeNov. 12 @ at Arkansas 7 p.m. Nov. 13 @ at Western Kentucky 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 vs. Rhema Bible College 7 p.m.

Nov. 19-20 ACU TIP-OFF CLASSIC Friday -- Cameron vs. ACU, 8 p.m. Saturday -- Wiley vs. ACU, 4 p.m.

Nov. 29 at St. Edward's 8 p.m. Dec. 2 # vs. Tarleton State 8 p.m. Dec. 4 vs. SW Assemblies of God 4 p.m. Dec. 9 vs. Dallas Christian 7 p.m. Dec. 11 # at Central Oklahoma 2 p.m. Dec. 13 # at Northeastern State 8 p.m.

Dec. 17-18 ACU CHRISTMAS CLASSIC Friday -- St. Edward's vs. ACU, 8 p.m. Saturday -- Grace vs. ACU, 4 p.m.

Jan. 6 # vs. SE Oklahoma State 8 p.m. Jan. 8 # vs. East Central 4 p.m. Jan. 13 # at Cameron 8 p.m. Jan. 15 # at SW Oklahoma State 4 p.m. Jan. 18 * at Angelo State 8 p.m. Jan. 22 * vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville 4 p.m. Jan. 24 * vs. Angelo State 8 p.m. Jan. 27 * at Texas A&M-Commerce 8 p.m. Jan. 29 * at Midwestern State 8 p.m. Feb. 3 * at Eastern New Mexico 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5 * at West Texas A&M 8 p.m. Feb. 10 * vs. Eastern New Mexico 8 p.m. Feb. 12 * vs. West Texas A&M 4 p.m. Feb. 19 * at Texas A&M-Kingsville 4 p.m. Feb. 24 * vs. Texas A&M-Commerce 8 p.m. Feb. 26 * vs. Midwestern State 6 p.m.

* Lone Star Conference South Division games # Lone Star Conference crossover game @ Exhibition game

P o i n t G u a r d sP o i n t G u a r d s

H e a d C o a c hH e a d C o a c h

W i n g s / F o r w a r d sW i n g s / F o r w a r d s

C e n t e r sC e n t e r s

Senior SG, David BaxterSenior SG, David Baxterall-LSC South 2nd all-LSC South 2nd TTeameam

Photo courtesy of Creative Services

Rookies having effect

Lowry Snoddy

Documents

OPTIMIST_2004-11-12