Early registration for the Springboard Ideas Challenge ends March 1. The deadline to register is on March 21.

The Springboard Ideas Challenge is a competition that calls for students inter-ested in entrepreneurship to design a business plan for their concept. Each team is required to submit a written plan. If chosen, finalists pres-

ent their plan to a panel of judges. Winners receive cash prizes, as well as assistance in executing their plan.

Dr. James Litton, director of the Griggs Center for En-trepreneurship and Philan-thropy, believes the com-petition is very valuable for students.

“It helps them go through the process of entrepreneur-ship and put together a plan for business,” Litton said. “They get valuable feedback from entrepreneurs.”

Josh Archer, senior infor-mation systems major from Grapevine, has not yet com-pleted his application but plans to participate again. Archer is working with his partner from last year’s competition.

“He gets my ideas and kind of puts them on the ground,” Archer said. “He ac-tually helps me work through a business idea from just a cool idea.”

Asa Kusuma, senior com-puter science major from

Annandale, Va. entered the competition with partner Tim Johnston, senior IT major from Coppell, not ex-pecting to win.

“We were definitely hop-ing to place well,” Kusuma said. “But we weren’t ex-pecting to win.”

Kusuma’s application was influenced by his in-terest in business and ideas and learning more about business in general.

“I just wanted to learn more about the financial side and how companies work – the whole process,” Kusuma

said. “[Springboard] offered a lot of material and help in that respect.”

Kusuma placed first in the student division of the Springboard Ideas Chal-lenge 2011, receiving $7500 and assistance in following through with their concept.

This year, the top prize for the college division is $10,000.

inside

Page 8 page 6 page 3

Lady Wildcats end losing streak against Texas Women’s

Does giving your business to an organization mean you support their causes?

BSA to offer dancing auditions Friday for the Black History Production.

Abilene Christian University

Artspage 5

sports opinion news

acuoptimist.com

See what went on this week all over campus

photos

vol. 100, no. 33 friday, february 3, 2012 1 SECTION, 8 PAGES

SUNNYDAYS

UNIVERSITY

springboard

Spring freshman retention rate continues to climb as the latest university report shows more than 91 percent of freshmen returned to the university for the spring se-mester, according to 12th-day numbers released by the university Thursday.

Kevin Campbell, chief enrollment officer, said last year’s retention rate of

89.6 percent was one of the highest in the past decade.

“It’s encouraging to see the retention rate grow to 91.1 percent,” Campbell said. “We always want to see strong retention num-bers because it means we are admitting the right stu-dents and they’re having a good experience at ACU.”

Spring transfer student numbers are down, 12 less than last year, but Camp-bell said these numbers typically vary year to year.

“Spring transfer numbers are usually pretty volatile,” he said. “You obviously don’t want the numbers to go down, but it’s a small margin so it’s not of great concern.”

Campbell said the re-port offered little unan-ticipated news.

“This is basically what we had planned on and expected to see,” he said. “Our admitted students have proven that ACU is a good fit and they’re excel-ling here.”

Overall retention from Fall 2011 to Spring 2012 went from 4,558 to 4,223, a rate of 92.7 percent.

Kelly Young, chief fi-nancial officer, said overall retention rates have slowly

increased in recent years.“The expected trend is

between 91 and 93 per-cent,” Young said. “More recently we’ve seen the numbers in the high end of the range.”

Young said all of the numbers proved to stay right on average.

“When I break down the numbers, everything is par for the course,” Young said. “We started projecting these number about five or six days ago and they’re true to expectations.”

Young said the seven per-cent decrease was mainly due to students leaving the school for a number of dif-ferent reasons.

MARK SMITHMANAGING EDITOR

Spring enrollment shows typical retention

Business competition continues early registration

see numbers page 4

Semester on BroadwayTheater students experience

the chance of a lifetime

contact barnes athab07a@acu.edu

Hannah BarnesEditor in chief

photos by leslie lewis staff Photographer

Students have been able to enjoy unseasonably warm weather for most of the semester. Temperatures for the rest of the week are expected to remain consistent with this mild winter. The annual groundhog prediction Thursday anticipates an additional six weeks of winter

kevin campbellchief enrollment officer

We always want to see strong retention numbers because it means we are admitting the right students and they’re

having a good experience at ACU.”“

Students enjoy an unusually warm weather this February

photo by brittany Williams staff Photographer

The Springboard Ideas Challenge is taking applica-tions online at www.acu.edu/springboard

Early registration has an entry fee of $10; late regis-tration has an entry fee of $20.

03

14 59

04 05 06Friday Saturday Sunday monday

All Day - 60 percent refund ends

8 p.m. Baron Batch @ the Amphitheater

All Day - Men’s ten-nis vs. University of Kentucky

All Day - Women’s tennis vs. Sam Hous-ton, UTPB @ ACU

11 a.m. Praise Day in Moody Coliseum

4 p.m. ACU Baseball vs. Arkansas Tech @ ACU

7:30 p.m. ACU Choirs Concert in the WPAC Recital Hall

All Day - Women’s ten-nis vs. A&M Kingsville, McMurry, Prairie V

2 p.m. ACU baseball vs. Arkansas Tech Double Header @ ACU

Police Log

Chapel checkup

@acuoptimist

The Optimist

optimist@acu.edu

friday 02.03.12 2

Volunteer Opp0rtunities

Volunteers are needed to help with the Newsboys “God’s Not Dead World Tour” Concert on Saturday at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 North 6th St. The concert will also feature Anthem Lights, The City Harmonic, and Abandon. Help is needed beginning around 9:00 a.m. and throughout the day to help unload equipment from buses, set up equipment, take tickets, handle merchandise, help with take down after the concert, and any other associated tasks. Contact Susan Conwell at 325-437-1184 or e-mail shconwell@sears-methodist.com.

Abilene Youth Sports Authority needs volunteers on Saturday to help with the annual West Texas Sports and Fitness Expo at the Abilene Civic Center. Help is needed in three hour shifts from 8:30-11:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m.-2:15 p.m. and 2:00-5:00 p.m. Volunteers will take tickets, sell concessions, and help with the various contest booths and stations. Contact Katie Miller at 325-692-2972 or e-mail khowerton@abileneysa.org.

Volunteers are needed to enjoy a free lunch with students at Bonham Elementary School on a weekly basis. This would be sometime between 10:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., and would involve spend-ing lunch time with students and having a positive impact on their lives. Contact Jason Shaw at 325-639-3745 or e-mail jason.shaw@abileneisd.org.

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

The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is looking for volunteers to participate in Lunch Buddies. Bigs and Littles will enjoy lunch together at the child’s school once a week. Students can earn Chapel credit for each visit. Big Brothers Big Sisters is also looking for volunteers for its Community Based program. Bigs are matched with Littles in a one-on-one relationship and spend four to six hours per month together in the community. To sign up or learn more visit www.bbbstx.org or call 325-674-3113.

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

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

Child Protective Services needs volunteers for clerical work as well as volunteers who can organize a play-room. Volunteers are needed any weekday anytime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Child Protective Services are located at 3610 Vine St. Background checks are re-quired and are done at the center. Background checks usually are cleared in about two weeks. For more infor-mation call V. Danette Cummings at 325-691-8214.

Young Life Ministries needs volunteers Mondays, Tuesdays and weekends from 6-9 p.m. Volunteers will hang out with kids, experience leadership roles, serve others and introduce students to Christ. Young Life is located at 1917 S. 6th St. For more in-formation contact Chuck Rodgers at 325-676-1211 or email clrodg@wrproperties.com.

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

Communities in Schools needs volunteers at Ortiz Elementary School on Feb. 17 from 1-3 p.m. to play board games with elementary school students who are celebrating their perfect attendance for the fourth six weeks of school. Volunteers will need to bring a photo I.D. Contact Sheila Ashford at 325-671-4945, ext. 5351 or email sheila.ashford@abileneisd.org.

Da’ Cipher 360, a program for at risk children, is looking for volunteers on Monday evenings from 5-8 p.m. at the Rose Park Activity Center, 2625 S. 7th St. Volunteers can help in a variety of ways including helping with set up, learning activities for kindergarten-3rd graders, tutoring 4th-8th graders, and assisting with clean up. Contact Alvina Scott at 847-333-7026 or e-mail ams07b@acu.edu.

Care Inn of Abilene is offering various opportuni-ties for working with the elderly and is looking for volunteers who can play a musical instrument and would be willing to perform in the evening. Care Inn is located on S. 7th Street. For more informa-tion call Sally Diaz at 325-692-2172 .

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

HERO, Hendrick Equine Rehabilitation Opportuni-ties, is looking for volunteers to help with their spring program by assisting their clients as they ride horses for therapy. No experience with horses is necessary. Help is needed Tuesdays and Thursdays from Mar. 20 to May 3. Volunteers can help anywhere from one to six hours per week for the duration of the program. Volunteers must attend training on either Mar. 6 or 8. Contact Beth Byerly at 325-660-3465 or e-mail herocoord@netzero.com.

Disability Resources, Inc. is looking for volun-teers to assist developmentally disabled residence. Help is needed with activities, art projects, reading books, exercise activities, assisting with vocational training needs and other interactions Monday through Friday from 9 a.m-4 p.m. For more infor-mation contact Becky Moody at 325-677-6915 or email bmoody@driabilene.org.

The Minter Lane Church of Christ is looking for volun-teers Wednesday nights from 6-8 p.m. Volunteers will eat with children from kindergarten to 12th grade and help during class time. Contact youth minister Joshua Alkire at 325-201-5342 or email jga05c@acu.edu.

Volunteers are needed to read to Taylor Elementary School students Monday through Thursday after-noons at UCC from 3:15-4:30 p.m. Enter through the south entrance. Contact C.G. Grey 325-668-2842.

Access Learning Center is looking for volunteers to help elementary school students with homework, reading, computers and games. The center is located at 2102 Ambler Ave. For more information contact Bret Hines at 325-670-9727. Call ahead to schedule a time to volunteer.

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

The Abilene Zoo needs volunteers to help with general labor any weekday between noon and 4 p.m. Contact Joy Harsh at 325-676-6487 for more information.

Weekly Stats for Jan. 24 - JAN. 31, 2012

Police Tip of the Week: Help prevent credit card fraud. Never leave your PIN number or account passwords with your cards, wallet or purse.

Announcements

01/28/12 1:53 a.m. INTOXICATED PERSON: ACUPD was notified of an intoxicated student at Nelson Hall.

01/29/12 1:15 a.m. NOISE VIOLATION: ACUPD received a noise violation com-plaint at a loud party in the 800 block of Harrison Ave.

01/29/12 10:30 a.m. BURGLARY (MOTOR VEHICLE): Two vehicles were burglarized on EN 16th in front of the Gardner Hall. Entry gained by smashing out car windows. Minor property stolen.

01/30/12 3:17 p.m. SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY: ACUPD was notified of two suspicious people asking for money [claiming to be collecting for charity]. Solicitation and sales activities are prohibited on ACU property.

The front page photo in the Feb. 1 issues of the Optimist was incorrectly identi-fied as a Zeta Rho pledging activity. It was actually an IBH Sing Song practice.

911 Call 2Administrative Activity 6Alarm 2Assist 4Building Lock/Unlock 9Burglary of Motor Vehicle 2Check Building 8Direct Traffic 2Escort 1Fingerprinting service 1Found Property 2Incident Report 1Intoxicated Person 1Investigation Follow Up 6Lost Property 1Maintenance of University Assets 1Medical Emergency 1Monitor Facility/Lot 2

Motorist Assist: Inflate Tire 1Motorist Assist: Jump Start 6Motorist Assist: Other 1Motorist Assist: Unlock 12Noise Violation 1Other 8Parking Lot Patrol 1Parking Violation 2Patrol Vehicle: Maintenance 5Patrol Vehicle: Refuel 5Public Service 1Report Writing 3Suspicious Activity 6Traffic Hazard 1Traffic Stop 5Welfare Check 2Total Events: 110

Police log

Correction

The 2012 Springboard Ideas Challenge is now open for registration. Students can submit a mini-business plan for a chance to win up to $10,000. Early registration deadline is Mar. 1. Visit www.acu.edu/academics/coba/griggscenter/springboardto learn more about the competition.

IBH Sing Song is still looking for people who want to be involved in a Sing Song act. Everyone is welcome. Email rgh09a@acu.edu for details.

The Images of Aging Photo Contest is accepting entries through Feb. 24. First place and honorable mentions will receive prizes. Students with questions or comments re-garding the contest may email imagesofaging@acu.edu.

The Newsboys along with The City Harmonic, Aban-don and Anthem Lights will be playing at the Abilene Civic Center at 7 p.m. as part of the “God’s Not Dead Tour” on Saturday. Tickets cost $25 at the door.

The ACU Tenaska Campaign will hold a workshop in the Campus Center Living Room on Saturday from 9 a.m.-4p.m. Meals and snacks will be pro-vided throughout the day.

Students interested in par-ticipating in a Spring Break Campaign can sign up in the SBC office in the lower level of the Campus Center. For more information on cam-paigns that still need mem-bers, or to sign up, contact jls07e@acu.edu or epq08a@acu.edu.

Submissions are now being accepted for the 5th An-nual Student Art Contest for Summit. The ACU Ministry Events Office encourages any current ACU student to submit their original art-work, photography, drawing, painting or other creation to communicate the Sum-mit theme. The 2012 Summit theme is “intimacy.” Students need to submit their art digi-tally to summit@acu.edu by Feb. 15. One work will be awarded $100 and used to advertise the 2012 Summit.

friday 02.03.123 campus news

QEP grants to fund student work

Students interested in un-dergraduate research are now eligible for more re-search grants.

“With the upcoming Pursuit grant we’re funding faculty and students, and we’re putting a little seed money for expenses and supplies,” said Dr. Phyl-lis Bolin, director of Pur-suit Quality Enhancement Plan.

Applications for the new Pursuit Grants along with five other grants avail-able to undergraduate stu-dents and faculty are going through committees that will decide how grant re-sources will be allocated.

“With all six of them, we a have a great variety and diversity,” Bolin said.

A committee will meet Monday to rank and score the applications for the Pursuit grant. Twenty-nine groups have applied for grants, but since groups may apply for multiple grants, fifty-three applica-tions have been received.

“Our plan is to get all the applications out to the proper committees and then come together later this month and see if we are equitably distributing funds so that we can send our results on to the re-search counsel for the final recommendations,” Bolin said.

The six grants available are:• Aging Studies Grants, awarded to students and faculty through the Pruett Gerontology Center, • Cullen Grants, which pro-vide summer support for faculty to pursue scholarly research or creative activ-ity.• Math-Science Grants for faculty in Mathematics and Physical Sciences.• Mobile Learning Fellows Grants for faculty to re-search Mobile Learning in-tegration.• Pursuit Grants for stu-dents and faculty in all fields. • Undergraduate Research Summer Student Stipend Grants for faculty and stu-dents involved in faculty-mentored summer research projects.

“It’s a whole new process for us this year,” Bolin said. “Hopefully throughout the year we can fine tune the pieces that we aren’t sure about.”

In the past, grants could only fund faculty, some travel and a few of the ex-penses. Now instead of fac-ulty having to find funding for students elsewhere, the Pursuit grants enable fund-ing for undergraduate stu-dent research.

“We want to fund fac-ulty, but we feel like the big thing we want to do is increase student under-standing of research, and we think the best way to do

that is to have faculty and students working together in this mentoring relation-ship,” Bolin said.

That’s the goal of Pursuit to fund research to provide that vehicle where the fac-ulty and students can work together.

In order for ACU to re-ceive accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the university had to imple-ment a Quality Enhance-ment Plan. This led to the development of Pursuit. Implemented last semes-ter, the program aims to provide more opportuni-ties for more students to participate in research and creative expression, Bolin said.

Pursuit is divided into three components: Explore, Create and Express.

The Explore component is the base encourages students to learn research methods and includes all ACU students during their freshman and sophomore years. The Create compo-nent is divided between creating a research proj-ect in a specific course re-

quired by all students, and conducting faculty-guided research. It is available to select students. The top of the pyramid, Express, is for top students who have completed research or pro-duced work and are will-ing to publicly share their findings at conferences, in publications or in a public campus setting.

“It was a really hard task, but we had great people that gave us information, and there was a great com-mittee that worked to come up with the ideas and the plan” Bolin said.

The program also works to break down people’s definitive barriers to re-search. The council on undergraduate research redefined assumed ideas of what research is to include both scholarly and creative research, Bolin said.

“The first thing you think about when you think of research is the typical,” Bolin said. “We’re trying to encompass every-one on campus so that art and design, Bible, music, theater and other creative fields have the access they need to participate in this research,” Bolin said.

The university will be implementing the Pursuit program plan over the next five years as faculty evalu-ates its performance.

Undergraduate

katie jenkinscontributing reporter

contact jenkins atkejj11b@acu.edu

BSA to revive Black History Production

The Black Students Asso-ciation is reviving the Black History Production this se-mester in honor of Black History Month.

Singing and acting au-ditions for the production were Monday, and follow-up and dancing auditions will be conducted Friday at 6 p.m. in the Living Room in the Campus Center.

Byron Martin, assistant director of student multi-cultural enrichment and support and director of BHP, said he wants to bring the full production back af-ter a two-year hiatus.

“We want to do some-thing more than just read-ing facts, Martin said. “We want something people can come see and be enriched.”

Martin participated in the production from 2005-09 when he was an under-graduate student. He said the production offers more than just black history, but history that affects every-one.

“The center focus is black Americans, but it’s really everybody’s history,” he said. “It’s important for everyone of every race to learn more about their own history; you won’t have to look hard to find a link, no matter what your race is.”

Russ Kirby, director of

student multicultural en-richment and support, said the production is spon-sored by the BSA, formerly Essence of Ebony.

“BHP is historically a mostly student-run pro-duction,” Kirby said. “It gave birth to Essence of Eb-ony, and now the BSA puts on the production. It’s great to see how the production helped to create a student organization and now orga-nization helps to make the production great.”

Kirby said the produc-tion requires many different facets of involved students’ abilities.

“BHP will take the idea of a talent show by showcasing individuals gifts of the per-formers and tell portions of black history from begin-ning to now,” he said. “We have some very talented performers to tell the story of black history through a series of vignettes.”

Jeanetta Norris, junior music education major from Fort Worth and presi-dent of BSA, said she’s work-ing closely with Martin and Kirby behind the scenes to

ensure the production lives up to past standards.

“BHP was huge before I started going to school here,” Norris said. “We want to get back to having bigger productions again.

Norris said last year’s BHP was good, but she wanted a larger-scale event this year.

“Last year we did a ban-quet with a couple of mono-

logues and performances,” she said. “It was nice, but we want to get back to put-ting on a big play.”

The play will also focus more on teaching as well as entertaining.

“It’s going to be more educational,” Norris said. “It’s going to dig deeper and give a lot of information that even I didn’t know.”

Kirby said the produc-

tion will be indicative of how culture on campus is progressing.

“We’re hoping it will be a feature of the campus mov-ing forward,” Kirby said. “We want to make sure we’re getting better and better.”

Admission is $5 in ad-vance and $7 at the door. Email byron.martin@acu.edu for group rates. BHP will put on four shows in

Cullen Auditorium during the first week of March. The first show will be Mar. 1 at 7:30 p.m.; the second show will be on Mar. 3 at noon; and the third and fourth shows will at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Mar. 4.

campus

mark smithmanaging editor

contact smith atmds10a@acu.edu

leslie lewis staff photographer

Students focus in on Black History Month during this semester’s first Black Students’ Association Chapel.

byron martindirector of bhp

We want something people can come see and

be enriched through.”“

Dr. phyllis bolindirector of Pursuit

QEP

With all six of [the grants], we have a great

variety and diversity.”“

friday 02.03.12 4news

Numbers: Freshman retention rate slightly improves over last year

“We projected a few hun-dred students to leave, whether it be academic, financial or personal rea-sons,” Young said. “We also have a small handful of in-coming transfer students, as well as students graduating and beginning grad school. It all turned out to be about seven percent less than less semester.”

Young said the news, though typical, is promising.

“The good news is there are no surprises,” he said. “Now we’ll be watching sophomore retention rate next semester, which has been growing in the past

few years.”Young said a higher re-

tention rate bodes well for the university’s future and its students.

“This is good news be-

cause it means we’re get-ting a class that is a good fit for ACU,” Young said. “A lot of this is attributed to the fact that incoming freshman classes are more academically qualified. The stronger you are aca-demically, the more likely you are to make it in col-lege, the more likely you are to stay.”

university

contact smith atmds10a@acu.edu

continued from page 1

Apple honors mobile learning initiative

ACU was among 49 pro-grams across the nation to be recognized as a center for educational excellence and leadership with the Apple Distinguished Pro-gram award on Jan. 18.

This honor is given to programs that take the initiative to merge tech-nology and education and focus on the development of new educational re-sources for students and educators.

Each school must sub-mit a lengthy application to be recognized by Ap-ple’s education program. The schools ranked ac-cording to the quality of their programs as well as the level of innovation and research they’ve complet-ed. After several rounds of eliminations, the remain-ing programs receive the distinction, and ACU was among the top honorees.

ACU is one of only 12 post-secondary institu-tions in the country to re-ceive this honor. The ini-tiative has put ACU on the

map as a technological leader among the nation’s top universities, accord-ing to an article in ACU Today. ACU is in its fifth year of education-based technology research for mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod and iPad.

Bill Rankin, Director of Educational Innova-tion, is on the Board of Directors for Apple’s Dis-tinguished Educator pro-gram. Rankin works to help sustain the group of distinguished teachers and to craft events where the community comes to-

gether to their work and learn from one another.

“What I really like about this recognition is that it’s about all of our work to-gether – teachers and stu-dents – our entire academic community,” Rankin said. “We know we still have a

long way to go, but it’s great to get this encouragement along the way.”

Based on stock value, Apple is one of the most successful companies in the world.

Recognition from a company as innovative as Apple is promising for ACU’s future, and this honor has given the ACU community an advantage to help recruit potential students, Rankin said.

Rankin believes this recognition will set ACU apart to potential stu-dents and their families.

He knows that the world of education is changing, and with it comes changes in the classroom.

“After more than two decades as a teacher in higher education, I’ve never met a more inspi-rational, collaborative or dedicated group of teach-ers in my life.” Rankin said. “It’s been a great privilege to be part of this interna-tional community.”

mobile learning

leigh foithonline managing editor

contact foith atlmf08a@acu.edu

SA approves budget after lengthy debate

Students’ Association Con-gress worked more than two hours to approve the more than $90,000 budget for the spring semester in their first congressional meeting.

Out of the $92,846 that was requested, the clubs received $37,000 to spend this semester. None of the requests were fully funded. The remaining budget was allocated to SA officer sala-ries, conference requests, and class budgets. With such a small percent grant-ed to the student groups, the distribution of the funds was heavily debated.

“It didn’t get heated, but it definitely got tense. I thought everyone was re-spectable about it though,” said Carson Henley, SA executive treasurer. “Last fall we didn’t have a lot of

debate which was kind of good because it meant peo-ple trusted us, but it was also bad because it’s helpful to have debate.”

The majority of the de-bate centered around real-

locating money to groups who wanted to fund events that had not been provided for in the budget. One of these groups was SHADES, a campus step squad, wanted $350 to help fund

their annual performance in April. They lacked two votes to confirm this bud-get change, and they did not receive the extra money. Brandon Bolden, captain of SHADES, did not resent

Congress’ decision.“We felt the budget meet-

ing went better than last year,” Bolden said. “Con-gress wasn’t opposed to get input. It was good to see the process even if we didn’t get the budget we wanted.”

Many student group rep-resentatives and Congress members passionately dis-cussed who should receive more funds and who should receive less. Rodney John-son. freshman class presi-dent, voiced his opinion several times.

“I thought the meeting went really well, though it did go a lot longer than last year’s.” Johnson said. “I didn’t understand some points people were trying to make or were voting against, but we resolved it and in the end understood we were here for the student groups.”

Keri Gray, president of Virtuous Sisterhood, also frequently participated in

the budget debate and ap-preciated the process and eventual goal of SA.

“At first, I was surprised by people’s stinginess, but at the end we figured out we were here to fight for the student groups,” Gray said. “I think Carson, the treasurer, and Heath, the financial officer, do a great job with the bud-get, and I like how it’s run.”

After two hours of dis-cussion, Congress came to a conclusion and passed this year’s budget.

student’s association

marissa jonespage 2 editor

contact jones atmnj10a@acu.edu

Kelly Youngchief financial officer

We started projecting these numbers about five or six days ago and they’re true to expectations.”“

dr. bill rankindirector of educational

innovation

I’ve never met a more inspirational, collabora-

tive or dedicated group of teachers in my life.”“

leslie lewis Staff Photographer

Freshman Students’ Association representatives listen to the Spring semester budget proposal.

Therapy, sociology departments to merge

The Department of Soci-ology and Family Stud-ies will merge with the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy at the beginning of the fall 2012 semester.

The merger will move the two full-time and one part-time faculty mem-bers of the Department of Sociology and Family Studies into the Depart-ment of Marriage and Family Therapy. The de-partment will be renamed to reflect both disciplines, but a name has not been decided on.

“I’ve been meeting with the chair of the Depart-ment of Sociology and Family Studies and we all know each other fairly well,” said Dr. Jamie Goff, chair of the Department of Marriage and Fam-ily Therapy. “We have en-joyed working with them, so I think it will be a fairly smooth transition.”

Goff said that there should not be consider-able changes for the stu-dents in the departments.

“All the classes required for the students’ degree program are currently of-fered,” Goff said. “Prob-ably the place where most of the changes will be felt will be in administration.”

Dr. Greg Straughn, in-terim provost, said the departments are merging

as a part of the academic budget savings and to cap-italize on the similarities of the courses that both areas have in common.

“Both undergradu-ate and graduate faculty have some credentials in common,” Straughn said. “So savings can be real-ized in both the frequency of classes offered as well as minimizing the use of adjunct faculty to teach classes.”

Currently, the Depart-ment of Marriage and Family Therapy provides training to graduate stu-dents who want to enter a career such as counseling, Goff said. Educators in the Department of Family Studies is an undergradu-ate program that educates students going into ca-reers that work with fami-lies to reduce and prevent future problems.

One discipline deals with prevention and the other with repair.

“The departments cur-rently have a different focus and emphasis,” Goff said. “Marriage and family ther-apy is training people who are going to be therapists and focuses on interven-tion, and family studies is more for individuals who go into those careers on the prevention end of it.

Goff said, since some courses have similar con-tent with the Department of Bible, Missions and Ministry, they may partner with that department for

some overlap in classes.“By having Family Stud-

ies and Marriage and Fam-ily Therapy reside in the same department, we can better connect under-graduate students with the graduate program and the professional opportunities that masters-level prepara-tion for licensure provides them,” Straughn said.

The new department will work with the CBS Academ-ic Council and other uni-versity councils to develop an appropriate structure for the classes, curricula and to determine the gradua-tion requirements for the students in the program, Straughn said.

“There are a lot of things I think will be posi-tive about this,” Goff said. “It is an opportunity for family studies majors to interact with marriage and family therapy stu-dents and it also may open up internships we haven’t had before. So, overall, I think it’s going to be a great transition.”

university

samantha sutherlandfeatures editor

contact sutherland atsns08a@acu.edu

dr. jamie goffchair of the department of

marriage and family

The place where most of the changes will be felt

will be in administration.”“

leslie lewis Staff Photographer

Top: The Sweetwater Jump Ropers perform during halftime of the ACU vs. MSU women’s basketball game.Bottom: Members of various class acts look on while the Junior Class performs their Sing Song act.

brandon boldencaptain of shades

It was good to see the process even if we

didn’t get the budget we wanted.”“

friday 02.03.125 arts

Five ACU theatre students are spending the last semes-ter of their senior year in a new place, New York City.

Senior theatre majors Ashley Parizek, from Dub-lin, Ohio, Peter Hargrave, from Pasadena, Kelley Barker, from Mesquite, Blake Rogers, from Ath-ens, Texas, and Jefferson Ferguson, from Houston, are spending the spring se-mester in Manhattan with a program called Tepper Semester.

The Tepper Semester is a one semester program started in 2008 to give se-nior theatre students across the country a chance to ex-perience New York City as a possible post-graduate career choice.

The program allows stu-dents to learn about acting in New York without some of the pressures of moving into the city permanently.

“Something great about this program,” Ferguson said, “is that it really lets you know if this is where

you want to be without having to make a firm commitment on a lease or something like that.”

Students take 19 hours of intense training and have a chance to attend Broadway performances and visit museums. They spend the semester prac-ticing their trade and also experiencing the culture and deciding if it is where they want to work.

“Last Saturday I hit the town and just spent the whole day taking pictures and video,” Ferguson said. “It is fascinating. I have gotten to experience a lot of cultures and religions.”

This semester, the pro-gram selected 60 students from five universities, which include Carnegie Melon and Syracuse. ACU’s relationship with the pro-gram stems from Adam Hester, chair of the De-partment of Theatre, who visited during his faculty renewal leave last spring.

During his time off, Hester set a goal to either find or create a program that would help ease stu-dents’ post graduate tran-

sition into New York City.“There is always that

stark awakening of culture shock or the expense of housing,” Hester said.

After meeting with pro-gram director Lisa Nicho-las, Hester felt that the Tepper Semester would of-fer just what the students needed.

“[Nicholas] invited me to sit in on classes,” Hester said. “There were echoes of what we were doing here. I loved the nurturing sense and also how challenging the atmosphere was.”

Hester returned to Abilene to propose the idea to students and with help from many services on cam-pus, Hester and students were able to make sure a transition into the program would go smoothly. Hester hopes this will lead to an ongoing relationship that allows students to go each year. With this new option, students would be able to consolidate a Christian education with an opportu-nity to work in New York.

“Students who really want to have a Christian education,” Hester said,

“can choose our program and [through the Tepper Semester] they can have both worlds.”

Alumni acting in the city have helped the students feel welcome in New York. 2005 Alum, Juliette Trafton, per-formed in the off-Broadway production of “The Fanta-sticks”, the worlds longest-

running musical. Both 2006 graduates, Ben Jeffrey starred as Pumba in the Broadway musical “The Lion King” and Lara Seibert was selected by actor Hugh Jackman to be one of five backup singers and dancers in his “Back on Broadway” show.

“There is actually a pretty large body of ACU alumni working here [in New York],” Ferguson said. “When we got here, a lot of them really made them-selves available to us.”

Ferguson is studying act-ing while Parizek, Hargrave, Parker and Rogers will focus

on musical theatre in the very competitive program.

“There is something that every actor goes through,” Ferguson said. “Every day it is like ‘what the heck am I doing.’ There are so many people trying to do this ex-act same thing. [The pro-fessors] don’t sugar coat it at all. Not that they are con-stantly discouraging us but they always remind us of the realities of the stage.”

Even in such a competi-tive environment, ACU stu-dents are able to stand out.

“Everyone here is ex-tremely talented,” Ferguson said. “There really are no weak links. I feel that the ACU theatre program really prepared me for this. We have got some great train-ing and teachers.”

At the end of the spring semester, the students will return from New York to graduate with their class-mates in Abilene. After that, the students can begin their acting careers with a bit of confidence.

“This is so far beyond any-thing that they could acquire here,” Hester said. “We can talk about New York and how to audition and network but you don’t really know what it is like until you’re there and you begin to experience those things yourself.”

BIG APPLE ACTORS

“Proof”Williams PAC9-11

Love, Sex and the I.R.S.Community Theatre3-4EVENTS

FEBRUARY 3-4 “Thunder Slam”Monster Truck ShowTaylor Co. Expo Center

Theatre seniors spend semester in NYC

Jefferson Fergusonsenior THEATRE MAJOR

from Houston

Something great about this program is that it

really lets you know if this is where you want to be

without having to make a firm commitment.”

“

The Tepper Semester

The Tepper Semester is a unique program from Syracuse Uni-versity’s Department of Drama that offers undergraduate stu-dents in advanced levels of acting, directing, musical theater, design, and stage management the opportunity to immerse themselves in a rigorous artistic training program in the culturally rich setting of New York City. Designed to be inclusive, this program welcomes qualified applicants from other schools, colleges, and univer-sities.

David singerarts editor

contact Singer atdis08b@acu.edu

TOP (LEFT TO RIGHT): Blake Rogers, Ashley Parizek, Peter Hargrave, Kelley Barker and Jefferson Ferguson played numer-ous characters on stage at ACU.FAR LEFT: Rogers per-formed alongside Adam Hester in “Noises Off” last fall.LEFT: Hargrave and Parizek starred in this years home-coming musical, “The King and I.”

4 Mardi GrasThe Center for Contemporary Arts

There are many ways to give back in our society. Purchas-ing fair trade items, going vegetarian, buying locally grown foods: all of these things are done intention-ally. People do these things in order to support what they believe to be good causes. They put their money to-ward these things, even if it costs a few extra bucks, be-cause their morality trumps the desire for convenience.

On the other side of the spectrum, some companies support extremely contro-versial issues. Purchasing goods from these companies shows that you also support whatever they do.

Sometimes, companies are open about causes they choose to put their money and effort toward. For ex-ample, Toms shoes – each pair of shoes bought pays for a pair for someone in a third world country.

Nevertheless, if we look at something that has a nega-tive connotation, and quite frankly is wrong, there is a double standard. Suddenly, when we find we are sup-porting an abortion clinic through purchasing a pair of must-have jeans, we decide our money does not sup-port company’s choice. Our wants are severed from our morality.

Consumerism has gotten the best of us. As humans, we want to be able to go to the store, buy whatever we please and not have to think too much about it, much less feel guilty. After all, if our morality and money were

connected, we would prob-ably think twice about where and what we buy.When we purchase something from a company knowing it has shaky values or promotes something we may not agree with, we are telling others that we too support what they are doing. The process

of paying for a product does not stop when you receive your merchandise. It reflects in the decision to buy from the business, and the weight, or lack thereof, morals have on the decision.

We need to realize that this is not possible to sepa-rate the two. We can plead

ignorance, say we did not think our choice to put our money here and there made that much of a difference. Our actions do have conse-quences.

Buying a product for a com-pany doesn’t necessarily mean support for its goals.

Once money leaves a cus-tomer’s hands and he re-ceives the product he paid for, it belongs to the leaders of the company to do with as they want.

Many people choose not to buy a product or service if they know the company supports a cause they don’t agree with. By doing this they are restricting their options as a consumer based on unrelated con-cerns.

It is not the customer’s responsibility or privilege to police what the company does with its profits.

For example, Girl Scouts saw a boycott of their cook-ies this year when it was discovered that the organi-zation allowed a transgen-dered child – a boy living as a girl – to join a troop in Colorado.

This summer, many peo-ple withdrew their business from Toms Shoes because Blake Mycoskie spoke at an event sponsored by Focus on the Family, a socially conservative non-profit.

But is it true that your support is tied to your mon-ey? No.

The customer got her money’s worth the moment she decided the product would satisfy her needs.

Customers who think they have a say in the busi-ness practices of a company because they do business there are trying to insert themselves too far into the practices of the company. The company’s obligation to the customer’s wishes end with the product.

The price of a box of cookies or pair of shoes does include control over the moral decision-making or political leanings of the company.

And this is only consider-ing the what knowledge we do have about the company members involved. Just imagine what goes on and doesn’t end up common knowledge to the public. It is unreasonable to even ex-pect a customer to keep up with all the charities, po-litical candidates and so-cial movements a company supports.

If a customer thinks their support accompanies their money and feels it is neces-sary to only buy products when they support the com-pany’s ideals, they would need to keep up with all the goings on of every company they buy things from. This would mean food, clothes and the tons of little things they buy every day.

It is unreasonable to ex-pect people to investigate, become informed and act on that information. They would end up without any clothing, possessions or music if they were some-how able to keep up with all the information.

Customers can’t judge the worth of a company by the charities it supports, and a company shouldn’t find it necessary to please its customers through the causes it supports. The only thing the company owes its customers is a quality product.

Jonathan Storment, preach-ing minister at Highland Church of Christ, wrote this column for the Optimist based on a sermon he gave.

Last summer I attempted “method preaching.” I de-cided to go to Hollywood and try and be an extra in a movie to develop a sermon series. You know, normal preacher stuff.

After many attempts, I became Hollywood’s new-est working class restaurant patron. I got a walk-on part in the new Annie movie with Christian Bale.

Or so I thought.I got to Disney Studios for

my 6 a.m. call time to find that my part didn’t have anything to do with a new Annie movie. And Chris-tian Bale wasn’t starring as Daddy Warbucks. My role as a working class patron was part of a new ABC series, Good Christian Belles.

It’s cool, though. I can roll with the punches.

I was sent to wait with

the other extras It was un-classy to say the least. Ev-eryone was tired, cranky and in a basement.

As we waited in the hold-ing pen, the other extras started to warm up. Conver-sation started easily when I asked what else they worked on and what they were proud of.

The questions came when they wanted to hear my sto-ry. Apparently, most preach-ers don’t look for a job as an extra in their off time, es-pecially not for a show that was banned by the Ameri-can Family Values Associa-tion before shooting even started.

Not quite the Orphan Annie experience I was ex-pecting.

And then more details came out. The working class restaurant patrons – includ-ing me – were visiting a Hooters.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

So, I start wondering whether this whole “meth-

od preaching” approach is worth it and wishing the musical orphans would show up. Luckily, a couple of my new friends remind me that this is extra work. I was going to be a blur in the background – like furniture.

Not true.The assistant director

came in and told us she needed five guys to sit at the table actress Leslie Bibb was going to serve. This meant they would have a prominent role drinking at a Hooters bar.

My whole ministry career flashed before my eyes.

I sank down in my seat, hoping she would pick five of the several other guys who raised their hands so we could move on. But one of my new acquaintances wanted to continue our con-versation over non-alcoholic beer and fake chicken wings and volunteered me. Great.

We entered a set that is all smoke and mirrors. On the outside of the set, it’s a plywood box set. Inside, it felt like an authentic Tex-as-style restaurant. It was a Chili’s with scantily clad women walking around.

In front of us was a plate of artistically positioned, half-eaten chicken bones. The celery was real, but the

rest of the food would put you in an I-might-need-to-go-to-the-hospital-for-food-poisoning kind of mood.

It goes like this. Leslie Bibb would walk over to our table, and about half-way through we would start chanting “Amanda” and one of us would pay her money for our food and ‘beverages’. Then it got worse.

The producers thought I would be perfect to hand Leslie/Amanda money, and say something pro-found like, “Thanks, and here you go.” She would interact with me saying, “Wow! Thank you!”

And I just kept thinking, “Dr. Dobson would be so angry with me.”

After a few hours of be-ing on the set, I had come to grips with the reality of what was going on, I was sitting in the holding area between takes working through worst-case sce-narios in my head. That’s when a woman, Allison, spoke up.

She heard that I was a preacher and was in-trigued by the fact that I was doing this.

Allison was living in the Bible Belt when she married a Jewish man. She was vili-fied by the Christians who

she had grown up with. They saw her marriage as a mixed marriage, and in-stead of engaging her they kept her at arm length, even telling her from a distance that her marriage was of-fensive to God.

Allison made the point that the show that we were filming was pretty close to home for her. She had been wounded by church, and church people.

She said, “I don’t know a lot about organized religion anymore, but I just want you to know I think it’s cool that you are here doing this.”

After that, I did too.Christians should be in-

volved in these industries. We must wade through the grey areas and try to make Jesus look as good as pos-sible as they find new ways to be faithful.

But Christians tend to withdraw from places where they are unable to tell the dominant story lines. And that’s a shame. Because these places need sincere Jesus-followers, ones who aren’t judgmen-tal and pretentious. They need people who under-stand that holiness as de-fined by Jesus isn’t with-drawing from the world, but by being different

from it while very much being a part of it.

We won’t always be the ones to produce to con-tent, we won’t always have creative control or even a say. We may be forced into uncomfortable situations, but we can still find ways to be faithful.

Because there’s not enough holiness in the world, but the Light has shined in the darkness – and the darkness will not overcome. That’s what Je-sus’ followers believe, and the world could really use us trying to live that out.

This will probably be one of the more controver-sial shows ABC has in the upcoming season; it’s sa-tirically portraying some Christians as people who are not smoking what they are selling.

But this show will un-knowingly begin it’s open-ing scene with a preacher from a West Texas church sitting at a pretend bar eating pretend chicken wings and having subver-sive conversations that, hopefully, gave Jesus a better name.

Guest ColumnJonathan storment

Oh Dear, Christian College Ben miller

Hannah barneseditor in chief

Mark smithmanaging editor

jozie sandsopinion page editor

Leigh Foithonline editor

david ian singer arts editor

Jozie SandsCopy editor

samantha sutherlandfeatures editor

austin gwinsports director

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farron salleymultimedia managing editor

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

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

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

personal attacks, obscen-ity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy. Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.

Address letters to: ACU Box 27892Abilene, TX 79609

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editorial and Letter Policy

Editorials

Morality surpasses desires

Extra adventure: Christians needed in gray situations

Consumers’ business does not equal support

Column

contact THE OPTIMIST atJMCNETWORK@acu.edu

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Friday 02.03.12 6opinion

hashtagaCU

Plan my funeral, personal finance is killing me.

Brown Library is 10x busier during chapel time on Tuesdays than any other day of the week.... No one like departmental chapel. #ACU

@allisonlynn23 @sh4zam @samanthaerin3 @davidpillen@abbeykeet

2:31 a.m. Feb. 2

12:34 p.m. Feb. 2

3:26 p.m. Feb. 1

9:54 a.m. Feb. 2A water outage is all over #ACU campus. All the women in this building R going nuts. This just gives me an excuse to leave early #winning

1 year ago today we had the entire week of school off!! @overheardACU

You’re kidding Punx-sutawney Phil! Six more weeks of winter?! It already feels like summer out here! #Groundhogsday

@sgoudeaux

1:10 p.m. Feb. 1

4:08 p.m. Feb. 2

I’m treating my chapel credits like a countdown to graduation #ACU

the issueConsumers face a constant battle when deciding whether they should let the practices of a business affect their their buying habits.

our takeTwo editorials representing each side of the issue were written because the Editorial board was unable to reach a consensus.

friday 02.03.127 sports Jumps

ACU adds speed, depth on signing day

February 1st may mark the start of a new month for some, but for avid sports fans, the beginning of February signals National Signing Day.

It is the first day when high school student ath-letes can sign their letters of intent to play for the college of their choice.

The ACU football team didn’t miss out on the fun as head coach Ken Col-lums added 13 players yesterday to the Wildcat squad for 2012.

As a proud supporter of ACU football, I imme-diately went to YouTube to check out highlights of the incoming recruits.

I will give you some of my thoughts for a few of the players, but keep in mind I am no Mel Kiper.

Cade Stone, quarter-back, Fort Worth Christian High School: In his senior year, Stone threw for 18 touchdowns while also contributing 13 more on the ground.

Although he was the quarterback for the FWC Cardinals while in high school, his immediate im-pact to the Wildcats will be

through the kick and punt return game. He has speed plus moves, a deadly com-bo, and can be a nice com-pliment to receiver Taylor Gabriel in the return game. Oh, and he picked ACU over Air Force.

Chad Quisenberry, tight end, Frenship High School: The loss of Ben Gibbs leaves a hole at tight end for ACU and at 6’2”, 235 lbs., and although he might not make an im-mediate contribution, Quisenberry could be a part of the future at that spot for the Wildcats.

He can catch and run which is good, but he can

also block, a must with any tight end. He was re-cruited by New Mexico and Colorado State, so he is a big get for ACU.

Eric Frain, corner back, L.A. Pierce College: A ju-nior college transfer, Frain brings one major asset to the table – speed.

According to acus-ports.com, Frain has been clocked at a 4.2 40-yard dash. If you need a refer-ence to how fast that is, it is faster than Johnny Knox.

With a weak second-ary, ACU needs help badly and Frain as well as other defensive back signees should provide that.

Josh Bloom, defensive tackle, Kingwood Park HS - Listed at 6’1” 300 lbs., Bloom will be able to con-tribute in a big way to the ACU defensive line.

The loss of all-Ameri-can Aston Whiteside hurts a lot for the Wildcats, so any signee on the defen-sive line will be critical for the ‘Cats.

Robbie Goldschmidt, lineback/fullback, The Woodlands High School: Although I am sure Gold-schmidt can play football, I wanted to note his fam-ily’s baseball prowess.

His brother Paul cur-rently plays first base for

the Arizona Diamond-backs and is considered one of the best young tal-ents in the majors.

Collums did a good job at addressing the needs of his team with this class.

He was able to sign two offensive linemen, three defensive backs and three defensive linemen, cur-rently shallow positions for the Wildcats. The biggest name though is Stone and if highlights on YouTube are any indication, should be a great talent at ACU.

contact GWIN atAGG07d@acu.edu

Collumn

austin gwinsports director

Whiteside, Richardson earn All-Star invite

State would get their two technical foul shots to end regulation.

“The officials said there was still some time left on the clock.” Head coach Joe Golding said. “They said there was .17 seconds left on the clock when the ball went in the hoop, so that is why the foul shots were before overtime.”

Despite a sour end-ing for the ‘Cats, effort on both ends of the court in the second half by ACU was astounding, and showed that they can play with anyone in the Lone Star Conference.

“That has been our team all year, we show heart and we battle.” Golding said. “We are sit-ting right around .500, we have fought all year, that is the way we play.”

The Wildcats struggled

to get anything going in the first half, digging themselves a nineteen-point hole in the first twenty minutes of action.

“The frustrating thing is how bad we played in the first half.” Golding said.

“If we don’t turn the ball over fourteen times in the first half, and we just had a ten minute seg-ment there where we just played awful. But give out guys credit, we continued to fight.”

Kendall Durant took over the game down the stretch; scoring fourteen of his twenty-one points in the second half.

Cooper also had a tre-mendous game for the Wildcats, pulling down several big rebounds and playing lock-down de-fense in the last four min-utes of the game.

The Wildcats will be back in action Saturday afternoon when the travel to Lawton, Okla. to take on Cameron University at 4 p.m.

football

Former ACU football standouts Aston Whiteside and Daryl Richardson will prolong their collegiate football career on Satur-day as both will play in the Players All-Star Classic at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark.

The two ACU products will be playing for the South team in Saturday’s game, which will start at 3 p.m.

The rosters will be di-vided into a North-South format and be composed of a multitude of skilled college football players from all levels of college football who are consid-ered to be top prospects in the upcoming 2012 National Football League Draft next month.

Players on this year’s ros-ter hail from big time college programs such as UCLA, Penn State, Arizona State, Oklahoma, and Oregon.

In last year’s game, more than 60 players who participated are currently on an NFL roster.

“Anytime our student-athletes have an opportu-nity like this, it is a great testament to all of the hard work they have put in to earning the recogni-tion,” Jared Mosley, ACU Director of Athletics said.

“Things like this are great for our athletic program and school be-cause this is exposure we don’t normally get at our school.”

Whiteside was named a first team All-Amer-ican defensive end by the American Football Coaches’ Association and a second team all-Ameri-can by Daktronics.

He was also named first team Associated Press Lit-tle all-America, first team d2football.com all-Ameri-ca and honorable mention all-America by Don Han-sen’s Football Gazette.

Whiteside was a first team Super Region IV se-lection and the Region De-fensive Player of the Year by Daktronics recipient.

In his senior campaign, he was first team all-Lone Star Conference and LSC Defensive Lineman of the Year.

He is projected as a potential linebacker, full-back or tight end among NFL circles.

“Aston is one of the premier players we’ve had come out of our football program,” Mosley said. “He was always making plays and around the ball. I think he has a bright fu-ture ahead of him.”

Whiteside finished his career with 31.5 sacks, second on ACU’s all-time list and finished with 57.5 tackles for loss in his col-legiate career.

Richardson finished his career with 38 touch-downs, which is good for second in ACU history behind legend Wilbert Montgomery.

The running back has also accounted for 228 points in his career, rank-ing him fourth in ACU’s record books.

Richardson was a sec-ond team all-LSC South Division selection in 2009, honorable mention in 2010, and a second team selection in 2011.

In three seasons, he had 453 carries and 2,303 yards on the ground.

“Having Daryl in the backfield was always a great, reassuring feeling,” ACU junior quarterback Mitchell Gale said. “His great talent and ability to carry the ball made our offense that much better and harder to stop.“

bryson shakesports reporter

contact shake atbxs09a@acu.edu

men’s basketball

Technical: Foul erases buzzer beater from page 8

contact sloan atmes10a@acu.edu

jared moselyhead athletic director

acu athletcs

Things like this are great for our athletic program

and school because we get more exposure.” “

Mandy Lambright CHIEF Photographer

Senior defensive end Aston Whiteside jumps off the line in a game this season. Whiteside earned an invitation to the Players All-Star Classic at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark.

Mandy Lambright CHIEF Photographer

Senior running back Daryl Richardson rushes past a defender during the ‘11 football season. Richardson was also invited to play in the Players All-Star Classic.

Joe GoldingHead Coach

ACU Men’s basketball

That has been our team all year, we show heart and we battle.”“

Friday 02.03.12 8sports

TeamTSUMSUCameronUIWWTAMUENMUTAMU-KACUASUCommerce

Div.12-010-28-58-57-56-63-92-92-92-10

Ovrl.20-117-212-712-813-613-88-1310-1010-119-12

TeamTSUMSUASUWTAMUCameronUIWTWUENMUACUTAMU-KCommerce

Div.13-011-29-49-49-56-85-85-93-103-100-13

Ovrl.16-515-411-811-813-611-910-97-138-114-151-18

Former head football coach Chris Thomsen was hired as the new offensive

line coach at Texas Tech University. Thomsen leaves for Tech from Arizona State University where he was only on staff for two months. He was hired at ASU to be the running backs coach. With the WIldcats, Thomsen acheived 51 victories and lost 21 games in seven seasons. ACU went to the playoffs six times under him. The Red Raiders former offensive line coach, Jim Turner, resigned to take the same job with the Miami Dolphins.

The men’s basketball team will play Cameron in Lawton, OKla. on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The women’s basketball team will face Cameron in Lawton, Okla. on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The men and women’s track and field teams will compete in the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York, N.Y. on Friday and Saturday.

women’s basketball

standings

briefings

Ex-Factor

Upcoming

The men and women’s track and field teams have been ranked No. 24 in the nation in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association pre-season ranking.

Football grabbed 13 players on national signing day, Wednesday, Nine were highschoolers and four were mid-year junior college transfers.

Aston Whiteside and Daryl Richardson were invited to the Players All-Star Classic at War Memorial Stadium. They- will be playing for the South team Saturday at 3 p.m. Central time. The teams will feature players from all levals of college football.

Hillari Adam was named as one of five student-athletes voted to the Capital One NCAA Division II Academic All-District 6 First Team on Thursday.

men’s basketball

Mandy lambright CHIEF Photographer

Junior guard Kendall Durant keeps a Midwestern defender from the ball in Moody on Tuesday. The Wildcats lost 79-78, despite making a last second buzzer beater that was erased due to a technical foul.

Late technical proves costly

Tuesday night, the men’s basketball team lost a heartbreaking game against the eleventh ranked team in the nation Midwestern State 79-78.

The Wildcats came roaring back from a twenty-point deficit in the second half, aided by Midwestern State missing thirteen free throws down the stretch.

As time expired, junior guard Antonio Bell hit the shot of his life from long distance to tie the game at 78-78 in what appeared to be the end of regulation.

“I knew I had a chance to make a tough shot be-cause I tried to draw a foul first.” Bell said. “But the shot felt really good. I wanted Midwestern to know the game wasn’t over because we knew it wasn’t over and kept fighting.”

After a long meeting by the officials, a tech-nical foul was assessed to number #24 Da-Juan Cooper, although coaches and players on both sides were in agreement that the technical foul should have been handed out to #14 Bell, but it appears the officials made a mistake on which player they were actually punishing.

In most circumstances, a buzzer-beating three pointer to tie the game will result in overtime, regardless of any fouls called after the clock hits triple zeros.

However, with the use of video replay, it was de-termined that a miniscule amount of time was left on the clock after ACU tied the game, so Midwestern

Matthew sloansports reporter

Men’s Basketball

Wildcats unable to overcome Mustangs

The women’s basketball team fought until the end Tuesday night in Moody Coliseum, facing the 11-2 Midwestern State Mustangs.

Despite the 90-82 set-back, the Wildcats haven’t given up any momentum going forward, or the de-sire to attend the LSC Post-Season tournament.

Desperate to improve their 3-10 conference re-cord, the Wildcats battled the Mustangs intensely, but allowed the Mustangs to capitalize on some ear-ly leads.

Although the ‘Cats were not down by a lot, the margin was too much to overcome in the first half.

“I felt like we came out a little flat in the first half and dug ourselves a pretty deep hole,” head coach Shawna Lavender said. “When we are playing a team like MSU, we can’t afford to give them

the first 20 minutes.”But in the after half-

time, the Wildcats came back ready to fight. The ‘Cats maintained a steady pace just behind the Mus-tangs, not giving up.

“I thought we did a great job of making some adjustments in the second half. We played with more intensity,” said Lavender.

After falling behind 81-70 with just under 4:00 on the clock, Hillari Adam sank two sets of free throws, and a jumper by Kelsey Smith cut the Mustangs’ double-digit lead to 81-74.

MSU’s Savannah Carv-er answered back with a quick layup, but Mack Lankford and Renata Mar-quez followed with a pair of jumpers, making the score 83-76 with just 1:18 to go in the game.

With less than a minute in the game left, a pair of Mustang free-throws and two baskets from Lankford gave the ‘Cats a chance of victory in an 85-82 game.

But with 50 seconds left, the Wildcats couldn’t buy a bucket. After a se-ries of missed shots, MSU stormed back, forcing an unanswered 5 points.

In a game as close as this one, the Wildcats have proved that they have what it takes to play in the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament.

“I’ve said it all year. I feel like we can play with anybody,” said Lavender. “We just have to be able to do it for 40 minutes.”

The loss drops ACU to 10th place of 11 teams, and 3-10 in the LSC. The ‘Cats will have to finish the season at least 4-3 in the remaining conference games if there is any hopes of a post-season tournament bid.

The ‘Cats will take on Cameron University this Saturday at 2:00 in Lawton.

Natalie Goinsports editor

WOmen’s BAsketball

Mandy Lambright CHIEF Photographer

Sophomore guard Mack Lankford prepares for a shot in Moody against Midwestern State Tuesday.

Season starts with four game series

The Wildcat baseball team has a four game series this weekend against Arkansas Tech University at Crutch-er Scott Field.

The season opener be-gins on Friday at 4:05 p.m. First pitch of the second game is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. on Saturday. Desig-nated hitters will be used in the second game. The series ends on Sunday. Game time is 1:35 p.m.

The ‘Cats are attempt-ing to have a better showing than their ‘11 campaign. A 24-23 record in the regular season (16-17 in the Lone Star Conference) cut the team’s playoff and Lone Star Conference Tournament

chances short. Key injuries throughout the season also hindered the team.

“Last year we went through some hard times with injuries,” said head coach Britt Bonneau. “We tried to build a team this year with some depth so that we wouldn’t run into that issue...this team is constructed to rebuild our program.”

“Right now we want to get some wins under our belt, said Bonneau. “There is still a bad taste in our mouth left from last year.”

Senior infielder Dun-can Blades feels the team has improved compared to last season.

“I think we are going to have a good season,” said Blades. “We have great hitting and better defense than we

showed last year. All our guys are back from injuries too.”

Arkansas Tech is a Divi-sion II school in the Great American Conference. Last year, the Wonder Boys posted an overall record of 32-19 and advanced to the final day of the Gulf South Conference Tournament after placing fourth in the GSC’s West Division (13-6).

Bonneau is impressed with the way Arkansas Tech has established itself as a team.

“Arkansas Tech is a team that has performed at a high level,” Bonneau said. “Their averaging over 35 wins a year for the past two years. They have a good staff and are new to our region.”

“I haven’t played them before,” Blades said. “But we have studied their pitch-

ers and hitters, hopefully we can take advantage of that.”

Arkansas had a team batting average of .343 in ‘11. Their pitchers had an earned run average of 5.64. The player with the highest batting average was Matt Johnson (.454), however he was drafted by Major League Baseball in the 23 round.

The Wildcats hit .326 and struggled to pitch well, posting a 7.25 ERA. Will Calhoun was the team leader in batting avgerage (431). Calhoun, similar to Johnson for the Wonder Boys, is no longer apart of the ACU squad.

Bonneau’s goal for this weekend deals with pitching.

“Our main goal is to see where our pitchers are,” Bonneau said. “You’re nev-er in playoff shape the first

weekend, so the question becomes how far can our starters go in a game?”

Game one starter will be junior Oklahoma trans-fer Clint Cooper. For game two senior Aaron Lambrix will take the mound. Lam-brix was hurt a season ago and didn’t pitch.

Game three of the se-ries will be started by Jordan Herrera. Finally, junior southpaw Austin Palmer will get the nod for Sunday’s game.

“Winning this first series is my goal,” said Blades. “Anything I can do to help the team win is what I’ll strive for.”

edward issacssports editor

contact isaacs atjei08a@acu.edu

baseball

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