Sports Page 8
Called Up
vol. 101, no. 55
friday, may 3, 2013
Former ACU kicker signed by Carolina Panthers
1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
administration INSIDE OPINION The Editorial Board predicts future events at ACU in its final editorial
Budget plan to cut more jobs on a plan to cut $10 million from the university’s budget. The two-year plan, effective in May 2012, called About a year and a half ago, for elimination of about Dr. Phil Schubert stood be- 35 university positions. A fore a packed Hart Audito- handful of those positions, rium, twice, to give details most of them in Student
mark smith
editor-in-chief
Life, are about to be cut before next semester. Dr. Allison Garrett, executive vice president of the university, said the budget cuts will eliminate five and a half full-time staff positions before the
Fall 2013 semester. She said the university will also financially take advantage of some staff retirements and departures from the university by not replacing them, or changing job descriptions. Garrett also said
some position’s duties have been revised, with some of those employees having been let go because their skill sets did not match the revised position. She said see jobs page 4
local Page 6
Power plant malfunction shuts down Abilene Hill
OPINION Mark Smith reminisces in his final column as editor-in-chief Page 6
NEWS Students to share works in Shinnery Review Page 3
staff report
ARTS
Seniors look back on time in Christian rap group Page 5
SPORTS Edward Isaacs, sports editor, looks back at his move from COBA to JMC Page 8
NEWS Students redecorate School of Theology, Harry Potter-style Page 4
NEWS Construction completed outside Rec Center Page 3
ONLINE
adrian patenaude staff photographer Lightning strikes in the cold front storm that blew through campus Wednesday night, causing temperatures to plunge well below average temperatures for May.
NINE NAUSEATING ALUMNI
Alum remembers comedic band, eager listeners and complicated relationship with administration gabi powell features editor
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VIDEO See the second edition of ‘The Office of the Optimist’
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VIDEO Students create business ventures for Springboard
The 1940s makeshift music group of students known as the Nauseating Nine left a legacy of laughs on campus, students as fans and administration with frowns. The group’s humble beginning can be traced back to childhood friends Joe Clayton (’50) and Bill Scott (’50) growing up in Shawnee, Okla. After a move separated the childhood friends, the two reunited when both enrolled in Abilene Christian College in 1946 to restart the friendship and start up something else. To make a little pen money, Clayton and Scott teamed up to offer light and humorous entertainment for club meetings. With Scott on the saxophone and Clayton on the pia-
Marissa Jones, our Oxford correspondent, is about to come back to Abilene theoxfordcommablog. wordpress.com
Photo courtesy of ACU creative services Members of the Nauseating Nine from the 1947-48 school year.
lege, however, did not look with approval on that group,” he said, “because they thought the dignity of ‘Christian’ school would be compromised by such low humor and hillbilly music. They asked the group to disband and they did. This happened during my freshman year.” Fortunately, for the Nauseating Nine, not all school officials agreed with the actions of the administra-
tion toward the jug band. Clayton said one fan, Wendell Bedichek, the publicity man for the school, often received requests for student groups to provide entertainment. “He had a notion that he could use us to quietly change the high cultural image of the school by promoting our interests off campus, see nine page 4
Flemings raise about $12K in fundraiser mark smith
OXFORD
no, the two played, sang, joked and entertained various student group gatherings. The entertainers attracted the attention of other students who petitioned to be added to their act, leading Clayton and Scott to conduct a kind of audition in the band hall at a certain date and time. “Exactly nine guys, including Bill and myself, showed up,” Clayton said. “After some discussion about the balance of instruments and talents, we found that we had a mixture of brass, woodwinds, bass fiddle and percussion, plus singers.” The nine made a practice schedule and began to put together a program of jokes, gags, song parodies and semi-magic tricks. “The raucous and off-key music we played was, even in our own estimation, nauseating,” Clayton said. The band’s name, The Nauseating Nine was born, and all they needed was a stage on which to perform. Before the Nine came to be, Clayton said a history of hillbilly-jugband student endeavors of this sort at ACC had entertained the students a few times. “The administration of the Col-
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NEWS Part-time students could vote in future SA elections
A power-outage Thursday morning plunged the university into darkness. Kristian Allen, director of on-campus facilities management, said he visited with American Electric Power, the electricity provider for ACU. Allen said they stated the outage was caused by a transmission problem on their end. The power went out across campus at 9:53 a.m. and came back on at 10:15 a.m. Though the campus was without electricity for only 22 minutes, several classes were interrupted by the sudden loss of power. Sean Marmolejo, junior family studies major from China Spring, was in Dr.
In one packed night at Chick-Fil-A, Lance and Jill Fleming raised about $12 thousand for their charity they created in honor of their son, Rex. Rex Fleming died in November from a two-yearlong fight with cancer. He spent a lot of time in Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, undergoing chemotherapy treatments. He enjoyed playing on his parents’ iPhones during the long stays in the hospital, so they
bought him an iPod Touch. “He had it with him all the time,” Lance said. “He could listen to music, play games and text his buddies.” After Rex’s death, Lance, ACU sports information director, and Jill created the Rex Fleming Touching Lives Fund, which will donate iPod Touches and iTunes gift cards directly to other young cancer patients in Cook. “We want to give them to the patients whose families can’t afford them to honor our son,” Lance said. “We’ll give them to the kids and talk to their parents to show them they’re not the only
ones going through this.” To raise money for the fund, the Flemings organized the Rex Fleming Spirit Night at the Chick-Fil-A in north Abilene on Tuesday night. Proceeds from the restaurant’s sales, raffle tickets, T-shirts and donations went to the fund. Country music star Aaron Watson, of Abilene, performed on the patio and sold CDs, donating the proceeds to the fund. Lance was expecting about 30 or 40 people to show up, but the store got a lot more traffic than that, as it broke the Chick-Fil-A record for one-hour sales twice in
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the night, Lance said. Lines snaked throughout the store to outside and all the tables were filled for hours as total donations reached the $12 thousand mark. “It was pretty overwhelming,” Lance said. “It was great to see how many people turned out to support what we’re trying to do and honor Rex. He touched a lot of people with the way he lived in the face of what no child should have to go through.” Lance was thankful for those who donated to the cause, Chick-Fil-A, Watson and all the volunteers who worked at and helped orga-
nize the successful event. Taylor Langston, senior broadcast journalism major from Lubbock, has known the Flemings for years and attended the event. “It was incredible to see the amount of people who came, partly because they know the family and partly because they know Rex’s story,” Langston said. “There was an outpouring of support for Jill and Lance and their vision for helping kids with similar stories to Rex’s.” contact smith at mds10a@acu.edu