Building the Vision Construction relocates seven departments
vt vol. 103, no. 1
monday, august 25, 2014
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1 SECTION, 10 PAGES
INSIDE NEWS Chris Riley selected as new Vice President of Student Life Page 3
NEWS ACU Police Department responds to murder at the Grove
A FRESH START
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NEWS Highland Church of Christ offers instrumental worship on Sunday Page 5
CARTOON
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OPINION Meet this year’s eight Editorial Board members page 6
SPORTS New QB Parker McKenzie looks to former ACU QB for words of wisdom Page 10
SPORTS Soccer kicks off 2014 season with 1-0 loss to Tulsa
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SPORTS
ACU’s new students participate in Wecome Week activities. Read more on Page 8 paige otway STaff Photographer
Incoming students participate in the Welcome Week Olympics in Moody Coliseum, where freshmen and transfer students show their school spirit.
Student Life enforces new pledging rules Madeline Orr editor in chief The Office of Student Life has shortened the social club pledging process to a three-week period and prohibited the use of physical activity to initiate pledges. Chris Riley, vice president for Student Life, informed social club presidents of the changes during a Sunday night meeting at his house. Ri-
sports director
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NEWS Students’ Association recieves funding to bring concert to Abilene Page 3
NEWS Office for Multicultural Enrichment names new director Page 5
ONLINE VIDEO See the new students’ move-in stories during Welcome Week
acuoptimist.com
“Tom and Mark had very comprehensive conversations with both sister schools and also cohort schools,” Riley said. “Not only looking at their policies but also calling them and, in some instances, going and visiting with them about what they’re doing and what their expectations are of clubs, fraternities or sororities.” While pledging rules are altered every year, this year’s changes were
received by students with more disappointment and frustration than usual. “It was kind of surprising,” said Mason Smith, president of Sub T-16. “I didn’t realize that five weeks was unusual or that other schools were doing it so differently.” Smith, senior management major from Midland, said he thinks the men’s clubs will be more affected by not being able to do physical activity
than the shortened time period. “I know that initially people were bummed by the decision but what they don’t really understand, maybe because they haven’t talked to sponsors or alumni who pledged many years ago, is that pledging hasn’t always been that way,” Smith said. see pledging page 5
AD Mosley resigns to take Waco job daniel zepeda
Wildcat Reign continues with new events for upcoming year
ley said the changes are the result of a self-study of the ACU pledging process conducted by Tom Craig, director of student activities and productions, and Mark Jackson, associate director of student organizations and programs. Dr. Allison Garrett, executive vice president of the university, asked Craig and Jackson to evaluate ACU pledging because of concerns she had after last fall’s pledging season.
ACU athletic director Jared Mosley announced Friday morning that he will resign to become the new CEO and president of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco. “It obviously was a very tough decision to leave,” Mosley said. “I’ve been here 18 years going back to when I was a student, so anytime
you spend that much time in one place where you get to cultivate mea ningmosley ful relationships and connections with the people you work with is very difficult to walk away from.” His resignation is immediate, but Mosley will stay on with the university until
mid-October while beginning his new position. “In most situations, a move like this is due to you’re either asked to leave or you’re disgruntled, but this is a unique situation where it is neither,” Mosley said. “We feel that God is just calling us to a different place in life and we’re happy with where we’ve been and we feel very confident in where ACU will move in the future.”
President Phil Schubert has not named an interim director but did said that the search for Mosley’s replacement would begin immediately. “It’s been an honor and privilege to work with Jared,” Schubert said. “God has blessed him with enormous talents and abilities that have benefitted ACU under his leadership. While we will miss him, we wish him well in his new role at the
Texas Sports Hall of Fame.” Mosley was brought on as the seventh ACU director of athletics in June 2004. Since then, he has overseen the transition into Div. I athletics, helped lay out plans to bring on-campus stadiums for football and soccer, finalized a three-year deal with Adidas to be the official outfitter of Wildcat athletics and raised the overall student-athlete GPA from see Mosley page 9
Bennett renovation behind schedule brittany jackson staff reporter Campus became every constructor’s dream over summer as demolition started and the Vision In Action campaign gained speed. Construction began on Bennett Gymnasium shortly before the spring 2014 semester ended, and continued through summer. Plans for Chamber Hall’s demolition were enacted and other buildings on campus received renovations accordingly. Kevin Roberts, vice president of planning and operations, said he had to deal with the construction of Bennett, the athletic fields and relocation offices as well as dorm maintenance over summer break. “Summers are always, in the facility world, our hands down busiest season,” he said. Renovations for Bennett began around April last semester with the roping off
of a few parking spots in the Nelson lot and by the Phillips Education building. Roberts said the construction process was delayed two weeks because a truck to pour the cement was not available to be rented. As of now, the building has been gutted, the foundation laid and a steel skeleton of the building is being set up with walls coming soon. With weekly meetings in place to talk about design elements and classroom placements in Bennett, Roberts said he hopes construction will be completed by the end of September or early October. “Over the course, then, of the rest of that semester, each department will move in and get all their stuff set up and get ready to teach classes starting spring semester,” he said. However, in discussions in May, the physics and engineering departments were told Bennett would be ready see bennett page 8
HEATHER LEIPHART Staff Photographer
Bennett Gymnasium is being remodeled into a new home for the department of engineering and physics.
Abilene Christian University