OPTIMIST
@acuoptimist The Optimist @acuoptimist
PARADE After pledges worked tirelessly through the night, they will march with their floats down EN 16 Street.
A student publication of Abilene Christian University since 1912
Volume CVIII, Issue VIII
Friday October 12, 2018
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News
Feature
Sports
Nil Santana, associate director of the Maker Lab, has worked to unify campus through creativity......Page 4 Allen Ward, the new athletic director, brings new goals for Wildcats, and talks about his history.............Page 11
Wildcat football takes on Nicholls State Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and soccer plays Lamar on Sunday at 1 p.m. Jeremiah Chambers, junior linebacker, broke through as a leader on the defense so far this season......Page 12
Homecoming brings a variety of annual events including the KGR benefit dinner, Guterberg and a new era of tailgating. A graduate student donates bone marrow to an infant.................................Page 5,9
Pledging numbers decline 10 from 2017 LAUREN FRANCO EDITOR IN CHIEF
The number of students pledging social clubs is down slightly from last year’s 421 pledges – 142 men and 279 women, with only 411 total this year – 120 men and 291 women. Pledging numbers for each club are: • Alpha Kai Omega: 18 (four more than in 2017) • Delta Theta: 28 (one fewer than in 2017) • GATA: 59 (same as in 2017) • Ko Jo Kai: 65 (two more than in 2017) • Sigma Theta Chi: 64 (four fewer than in 2017) • Tri Kappa Gamma: 56 (16 more than in 2017) • Zeta Rho: 1 (four fewer than in 2017) • Frater Sodalis: 34 (one fewer than in 2017) • Galaxy: 32 (four fewer than in 2017) • Gamma Sigma Phi: 44 (five more than in 2017) • Nu Kappa Psi: 4 (four more than in 2017) • Pi Kappa: 7 (seven more than in 2017) • Sub T-16: 22 (one fewer than in 2017) • Trojans: 11 (seven more than in 2017) Social clubs started their pledging processes last weekend with Bid Night on Friday and a tailgate on Saturday, and the process will end at various times throughout next week. Ko Jo Kai took the most pledges of the women’s clubs at 65 of 291 (22 percent), two more than last year. Sarah Brooks, president of Ko Jo Kai, said the number of pledges fluctuates every year depending on the number of girls participating in the rushing process. Despite being one of the largest clubs on campus, Brooks said community isn’t about numbers. “Building community is not based numbers but rather on how well we choose to love and support one another despite how different we all are,” said Brooks, senior kinesiology major from Lubbock. “I think no matter the pledge class size, one of the main goals of pledging is to participate in activities and traditions that create unity with your sisters. It is so cool that we can create bonds and memories with girls we probably would have never met if it wasn’t for pledging.” Of the men’s clubs, Gamma Sigma Phi, who is celebrating its 50th anniversary, took the most pledges at 44 of 120 (36 percent), five more than last year. Pledges will participate in the Homecoming Parade and hold letters during the football game on Saturday, and pledging ends next week before fall break.
Photos by NICHOLAS CROMWELL | CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER From left to right: Flames shout, “G-A-T-A, want to be a GATA!” at the GATA fountain. NuNus yell, “I will respect Kojie Park!” on the Ko Jo Kai benches. Carps prance around the GATA fountain with coconut shells. Squigs yell “I have squig pride, meow!” at the cat statue. CAMPUS NEWS
Board of Trustees welcomes two new members ALLAYNA FORD MANAGING EDITOR
Two new members were added to the Board of Trustees this year: Dr. Arthur Culpepper and Mitch Wilburn. Culpepper is an ACU alumnus who lives in New Mexico and is the Chief HSC Compliance Officer at the University of New Mexico. He played football at ACU, graduating with the class of 1986. He said that even though members know him as a football player, they will now see a new side of him. “What’s been really neat is how we are getting acquainted again but then they are getting a different insight into me,” Culpep-
Culpepper
Wilburn
per said. “But, there are still cracks about when I played football.” Wilburn lives in Oklahoma and is a preaching minister at Park Plaza Church of Christ in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He graduated in 1990, and said while he was a student, he never envisioned himself becoming a member of the board. “I am just super honored to be a part of the board,” Wilburn said. “I always looked up to those people, I
was very humbled when this opportunity came my way.” As a new member, Culpepper said he went in with an attitude to listen to and learn from the existing members, throwing in his ideas when possible. “It’s kind of like the first day of school,” Culpepper said. “One of the things you don’t want to do is to appear to aggressive, and act like you know everything, but on the contrary, I’m not a bashful person.” As a minister, Wilburn brings a unique perspective to the board and can offer additional support in the form of ministry. “If I can ever help out with relations between the local church and ACU I would be happy and hon-
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What’s been really neat is how we are getting acquainted again but then they are getting a different insight into me. But, there are still cracks about when I played football.” ARTHUR CULPEPPER BOARD MEMBER
ored to fill that role as well,” Wilburn said. Wilburn also said that as a minister, he can offer spiritual support, but all members of the board bring a high level of faith into their work, keeping God at the heart of the decisions they make for the university. “As you look around the board, people who
make their living in secular vocations, I’m blown away by the spirituality levels.,” said Wilburn. “Everyone I’ve encountered has deep walks with the Lord.” Culpepper said that as a board member, he wants to make sure that students have the necessary cutting-edge tools they need to have a successful career once they graduate. “One of the things I have been emphasizing with my participation with the board is, yes maintaining the financial goals of the institution,” Culpepper said. “But, also there is nothing more important than being able to transition every single student that graduates from ACU into the life they want.”
Clery report shows decrease in burglary, drug violations LAUREN FRANCO EDITOR IN CHIEF
The university recorded more drug law violations and fewer liquor law violations in 2017 than a year earlier, according to annual crime statistics released by the ACU Police Department. The annual report was in released in compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Crime Statistics Act, which is named for a college student murdered in her dorm room at Lehigh University in 1986. The Department of Education requires campus police departments to publish the records in October of each year for the previous three calendar years. ACUPD is required to distribute the report to
all current and prospective students and employees. There were seven on-campus burglaries in 2017, down from 10 in 2016, eight on-campus drug violations, up from seven and seven on-campus liquor law violations compared to 12 the previous year. “We are a community of 6,000 humans surrounded by a community of 120,000 humans, so crime is an unfortunate reality that ACUPD works hard to keep as low as possible, while tracking crime trends and data very closely,” said ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison, who compiled the report. The national numbers are not public until Oct. 18, but compared to other schools similar in size and
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One of the things I’m proud about at ACU is that we have developed a campus culture of being vigilant toward crime, and when crime does occur, our campus community has become exceptional at reporting it.” JIMMY ELLISON ACUPD POLICE CHIEF
religious affiliation (Harding University, Pepperdine University and Lipscomb University), ACU has higher crime rates in a few areas. In 2016, ACU had 12 liquor law violations, and the other three had none. Ellison said the Clery report requires all university police departments to use the same criteria on how to report crimes, but
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some schools may appear to have exceptionally low numbers because they may only have security departments, which have no arrest authority, thus arrests and citations may not occur. Instead, students are only referred to campus officials for discipline. ACU operates a licensed police department, so on-campus violations, such as alcohol and drug related offenses, result in arrest or citation and also get referred to Student Life for disciplinary action, Ellison clarified. Despite an increase in five categories (rape (sexual assault), aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, drug violations (arrests), liquor law violations (arrests), liquor law violations
(referrals for disciplinary action) and dating violence), Ellison said he is grateful of the growing culture of awareness and reporting on campus. “One of the things I’m proud about at ACU is that we have developed a campus culture of being vigilant toward crime, and when crime does occur, our campus community has become exceptional at reporting it,” Ellison said. “An increase in number also means we’ve achieved an increase in awareness and reporting. More victims are getting the resources they need.” The Clery report uses SEE CLERY PAGE 9