Arts Page 5
Right to survive vol. 103, no. 3
friday, august 29, 2014
1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
Student explores Portland homeless community
INSIDE SPORTS Football can’t hold lead in Georgia Dome.
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OPINION The Editorial Board discusses Kent Brantly’s presence on a global stage for Christianity
WELCOME TO
ABILENE
armelle dushime staff photographer
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News The Cedar Creek Waterway is still on Abilene’s agenda
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SPORTS Women’s soccer to play home game at Hardin-Simmons field.
alcia adams staff photographer
Freshmen students attended the Welcome to Abilene showcase in the Teague Special Events Center. Local Abilene businesses, churches and campus organizations brought giveaways and information about everything Abilene has to offer to new students.
$19 M to raise before construction Vision in Action funds have reached $56M total Page 8
madeline orr editor in chief
SPORTS Volleyball preares to start its season against the Baylor Bears. Page 8
NEWS Students are concerned over what the Library remodel means for their studying Page 3
NEWS New downtown church hopes to bring ministry to campus Page 7
VIDEO Watch coverage of Monday’s parade of flags and opening Chapel.
Read more at acuoptimist.com
The Vision in Action fundraising initiative is 75 percent complete, leaving about $19 million left to raise, said Jim Orr, vice president for advancement. “We’ve made good prog-
ress since the gifts were made.” Orr said. “We’re right at 75 percent of the $75 million goal, so right around $56 million has been raised to date.” The initial gifts that were made in February this year were $55 million in total, but only $45 million of that was dedicated to the Vision in Action initiative,
which includes three new science facilities and two new on-campus stadiums. Orr said the $19 million amount that is left to be raised for the project is split pretty evenly between the two projects, the science buildings and the stadiums. “We hope to have completed fundraising for the Vision in Action initiatives by early fall,” he said. Pending completion of fundraising, the Onstead Science Center is projected
to break ground in fall 2014 and the Halbert-Walling to do the same in summer 2015. The university’s policy set by the Board of Trustees is to raise the complete amount of funds before construction begins. Funds are still being raised for ACU’s Partnering in the Journey Campaign, an effort to raise $50 million to create more scholarships for students. It began more than 2 years ago and has raised a little over half of the goal, leaving about
$21-22 million left to raise. “Donors give to the things that are important to them,” Orr said. “There are lots of people that feel like the scholarship endowment program is critically important and I agree with them because that is something that is sustainable for the long term.”
contact orr at mco10b@acu.edu
Reduction in tuition boosts Bible Allison Brown Managing Editor A change in Bible majors’ tuition may be the cause of an increase in majors. The number of freshmen and transfer students declared as Bible majors has increased to 50-55, up from the low 40s last year. The final number won’t be available until official numbers are released on the
twelfth day of classes. This year, the university instituted a policy that students declared as Bible majors will be guaranteed to pay no more than 50 percent of tuition. Historically, ACU has been of assistance to many churches because of the number of ministers trained here. But with rising tuition, the university was losing potential students as a re-
sult of the price point. About a year ago, Dr. Robert Rhodes, provost of the university, and a few others on campus decided to look at options for Bible majors’ tuition. “As we decided to offer this discount, we realized that students have more and more programs to select from,” Rhodes said. “Often they are choosing the least expensive program.” Traditionally, students
in the department of Bible, missions and ministry have received scholarships specific to the department. “Once students received full package, it would often end up being around 50 percent of tuition, but students wouldn’t always know that,” said Dr. Robert Rhodes. “We’re not offering a great amount more but it’s more visible at the front end so students are
able to engage with us earlier on.” Dr. Rodney Ashlock, chair of the department of Bible, missions and ministry said he and the department were grateful for the university’s actions. “We appreciate the administration and senior leadership team for their confidence in us as a department and for see bible page 7
TEDxACU scheduled for spring semester tommy evans online managing editor ACU will host its own TEDx event on April 17 in Cullen Auditorium. Under the theme “(re) think,” the goal of the event is to question the status quo and consider how a single individual’s idea might radically alter an entire community, according to its website. Dr. Lauren Lemley, as-
sistant professor of communications and director of the Speaking Center, is organizing the event and said it is a good oppurtunity for the university. “I use TED Talks in my classroom all the time, so I know they do a great job at communicating ideas,” Lemley said. “I am hoping to use the name and the organization to help create an audience for conversations in the community.”
TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, is a nonprofit organization that hosts a few conferences over the course of a year with the goal of sharing groundbreaking ideas from great minds around the world. While the event taking place at ACU is not an official TED Talk, the conference is associated under the name TEDx ACU. No speakers have been
Abilene Christian University
selected yet, but Lemley wants to put the audience in charge of who will speak. “We really want our audience to go on to our website and nominate people who they want to hear speak,” Dr. Lemley said. “While we will have representation on campus and alumni, something that we really want is to have the Abilene community representation as well.”
Lemley said the network and diversity of speakers is really going to be the cornerstone of the event. “One of TED’s big goals is the networking and engagement of people around ideas,” she said. “If we can get a bunch of people in the room who all have different perspectives on a topic, we might be able to solve see lemley page 7