Features Page 5
What’s in a Name? vol. 101, no. 48
wednesday, april 10, 2013
See where Abilene got some of its odd street names
1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
social clubs
SA
Candidates preparing for officer elections
INSIDE OPINION The Optimist editorial board endorses SA officer candidates
Page 6
josh garcia managing editor
OPINION SA president Rebecca Dial asks students to hold officers accountable Page 6
NEWS photos by CURTIS CHRISTIAN stafF Photographer Above: Students flock to the mall area outside the McGlothlin Campus Center for the All Club Rush. Below: The women of Sigma Theta Chi mingle with potential pledges.
JMC names new multimedia group Page 3
SPORTS
ALL TOGETHER NOW Social clubs open up rushing season with All Club Rush
Baseball team loses chance to take first place in the LSC Page 8
brock niederhoffer student reporter
SPORTS Women’s tennis team finishes conference play undefeated Page 8
NEWS Dr. Seuss-themed artwork to be unveiled in Abilene Page 4
ONLINE
Although the weather may not have shown it until recently, spring is here. All of the social clubs on campus participated in the All Club Rush on Monday to welcome prospective rushees with food and drinks, and the opportunity for those interested in rushing to meet and get to know members of all the different clubs. “It’s very laid back, it’s very fun. It’s a great way to meet the members and start to gain a little per-
spective on what clubs are there will be several more all about and what club opportunities for students interested in pledging to We encourage the pledges continue to interact with to go to as many rushes clubs they are interested in and to get to know each as they can to get a club’s members. Each club better ides of what they will have one rush per week starting April 9-11 want to do.” and April 15 - 18. mark jackson “We encourage the associate director of student pledges to go to as many organizations and programs rushes as they can to get a better idea of what they you might want to rush in want to do,” Jackson said. the fall,” said Mark JackThis year there will be son, associate director of two new spring rush acStudent Organizations and tivities including the Pack Programs. the Park rush which will During the two weeks take place April 18 at 2 following the All Club Rush p.m. as well as the Devo-
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tional rush which will take place April 21 at 8 p.m. at the Beauchamp Amphitheater. “We had a meeting last night with 250 plus students come, which was a lot more than last year. We opened the registration this morning and, to date, there are 190 students that are registered to pledge,” Jackson said. “Spring rushes have a little more of a laid back atmosphere where potential pledges can come and get a feel for every club on campus with less of a time see all page 3
intramurals
NEWS Rescue the Animals to host local adoption event acuoptimist.com
NEWS Committee to choose new Study Abroad director acuoptimist.com
McCRACKENS RELEASED Faculty/staff dodgeball team already looking for payback in 2014
Optimist wins first in overall excellence at TIPA
features editor
Justice Week brings in most speakers in event’s history
acuoptimist.com
PHOTOS Check our Flickr for more shots from club rushes
flickr.com/acuoptimist
OXFORD Marissa Jones, our Oxford correspondent, details her latest experiences abroad theoxfordcommablog. wordpress.com
Red rubber balls bounce off bodies and battle cries are belted. The annual Students’ Association-sponsored tournament proves dodgeball is no longer a playful playground sport. Last week, Release the McCracken, the infamous team of teachers, returned to the court to make a second run at schooling their students in a whole new classroom. Release the McCracken made its dodgeball debut at last year’s tournament, an idea stemming from what Dr. Vic McCracken describes as “harboring pent-up feelings of aggression borne from hours of watching our students play Words with Friends while we were trying to lecture.” Inspired to take out his student-directed rage in a more socially acceptable manner, McCracken, assistant professor of theology and ethics and team captain, contacted a group of other able-bodied athletes or similarly enraged faculty members to take up the cause and step onto the court. “What better way to release these feelings than by tossing underinflated red balls at our students?” McCracken said. Professor David Kneip, an instructor in the Department of Bible and Missions, borrowed the name, “Release the McCracken,” from an old Honors College t-shirt, which the team adopted as its team uniform. With all odds against it, the 10-member faculty/staff team made for worthy competition, reaching the
see elections page 3
jmc
gabi powell
VIDEO
Voting for Students’ Association executive positions will begin Wednesday. The positions of president, vice president and treasurer and currently occupied by Rebecca Dial, Benac and Joseph Austin, respectively. Dial and Austin will graduate in May, and Benac is running for president. Nine candidates are gunning for the three positions. Last year, only four ran: Dial and Benac ran unopposed and Austin campaigned against one other candidate. Austin said the bigger number of candidates is good, though it has made organizing the elections more challenging. “Having increased candidates means there’s more candidates out there talking to the student body, so we do expect to see an increased voter turnout,” he said. Austin said the competition for each position expands the horizons for candidates and the student body. “I think people are seeing the work that’s been done in SA in the past and are wanting to be part of that,” Austin said. Austin, along with Nick Tatum, is serving as co-chair for this year’s election. He said he went all out for his one year in office. “I’ve enjoyed serving the students,” Austin said. “When you invest yourself like this position calls for, you don’t want to walk away from it.” Campaigning began earlier this month, after candidates gathered petitions in late March. Candidates also delivered speeches Tuesday evening during a Chapel forum, and will Wednes-
optimist file photo Dr. Vic McCracken, assistant professor of theology and ethics, releases ‘aggression borne from hours of watching students play Words with Friends while we were trying to lecture’ in a ‘friendly’ game of dogeball.
quarterfinal round of last year’s tournament before falling victim to the GSP team, “Average Joes.” The team of teachers knew the offseason would need to be spent in dedicated training if they expected to seriously compete this year. “Our team dreams of dodgeball season year round,” McCracken said. “Students seem to think this is some diversion, some light triviality to relieve them of Spring Semester stress. Not us. In those 10 minute battles with our foes, our team intends to make those moments the most intensely stressful moments of our students’ lives.” A few weeks prior to the tournament, the team filmed a promo video titled “Release the McCracken,” inciting student participation for a chance at revenge. The video showcased the team’s offseason training: dosages of deer antler extract, one-finger pull-ups and daily cardio conditioning. With the video causing some student stirrings, Dylan Benac, SA vice president, said a few of the teams competing in last year’s tournament knew Team McCracken’s chances of winning were probable. While students may initially feel it inappropriate to compete against their
Abilene Christian University
melany cox online managing editor
professors, the classroom courtesy commandment, “respect your elders,” goes out with a peppering of ball ammunition from Team McCracken. Release the McCracken was more favored by students this year, inspiring cheers and jeers from those in the audience. After defeating a GSP team in the first round, Dr. McCracken said audience reaction was encouraging. “It was a delight to hear the cheers of approval from the gathered crowd when our entire team looked to the fans in the upper deck of the rec center and yelled, Gladiator-like, ‘Are you not entertained?’ And they were.” This year, the rag-tag teach team made it to the second day of competition and fourth round of the tournament, finishing with a 3-2 record, after being eliminated by the Bro-jan Trojan team they played last season. “We made it to round four last year, so we consider this season an improvement, though by no means where we expected to be, on top of the dodgeball mountain looking down on all of our vanquished students,” said McCracken. Even with three impressive victo-
The Optimist won first place in overall excellence among Texas newspapers participating in the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association this weekend at the TIPA convention. It also won Best AllAround Non-Daily Newspaper in Texas and Oklahoma in the Society of Professional Journalists regional competition. The publication is now eligible for the SPJ national competition. The JMC Network won first place in Best All-Around Television Newscast and KACU won second place in Best AllAround Radio Newscast in the SPJ competition. Twelve students in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication competed in live contests at the convention in Fort Worth. The students were competing against publications of Division I schools in the state and won nine awards in live competition,
see mccrackens page4
see tipa page4