Thicker than water Students wait in long lines to give blood
vol. 102, no. 20
friday, november 01, 2013
1 SECTION, 6 PAGES
News Page 3
Wildcat Cash in the works, available soon
INSIDE
Brittany jackson
ARTS
copy editor
Abilene offers a cheap, adventurous weekend
Page 3
Campus Cash is being rebranded into Wildcat Cash to allow students to use their ID cards to purchase food off campus. The initiative was not able to allow students to swipe their ID cards and use Bean Bucks at restaurants off campus because Bean Bucks are part of
a meal plan exclusively contracted with Aramark. Anthony Williams, chief business services officer, was a main collaborator on Wildcat Cash. “This is a conversation the university has had a long time, but it was reintroduced last spring when a group of students had an idea about using Campus Cash off campus,” Williams said. “That conversation continued
through the summer and we’re putting the finishing touches on unveil and just providing an opportunity for Campus Cash to be used at selected off campus partners.” The university hired UGRYD, a company specialized in forming offcampus transaction programs for colleges, to establish an efficient system for Wildcat Cash. The company, which
handles the informational technology and system infrastructure, is currently in the process of negotiating with multiple restaurants. Dylan Benac, Students’ Association president and senior political science major from Boerne, has been working with SA on the advertising aspect of Wildcat Cash. “UGRYD is a middle man between the
university and the restaurants,”Benac said. “They run the system and set up everything we need. We just have to promote it, Wildcat Cash, and students just have to use it.” Benac said the project is in its final stages and is just waiting on restaurants to confirm their participation. In fact, SA see cash page 3
NEWS ISA gets ready for their annual Ethnos culture show Page 3
SPORTS ACU volleyball prepares to play Stephen F. Austin on the road
Page 6
NEWS Students can receive scholarship help from a new program, SALT Page 3
OPINION The editorial board discusses the university’s attendance policy
Page 4
Mandy lambright chief Photographer
Tyler Eager, junior business management major and ACU baseball player from North Richland Hills, joins his teammates in a playful scrimmage at Crutcher-Scott Field to celebrate Halloween.
SPORTS Chloe Susset talks about her childhood in France and her cross country career Page 6
OPINION Melany Cox urges students to drive safely in light of past accidents Page 4
ONLINE VIDEO Watch a summary of the trip JMC and COBA took to NYC
acuoptimist.com
Directors for Sing Song selected maggie marshall copy editor Preparation for February’s Sing Song show is already beginning. Social clubs and class acts worked to pick their directors over the past few weeks and the themes are due Monday. The process varies between clubs and classes, but many of the require-
ments and expectations are the same. Class act directors were interviewed by their class representatives, while nominees for the club acts gave speeches to their clubs. Not all directors faced tough competition for their positions, however. Vance Cato, senior management major from Abilene, is working with Jake Hall, senior English education major from
Springtown, and Andrew Lang, senior theatre major from Abilene, to direct the senior class act. “I got together with Jake Hall and Andrew Lang, and we decided to submit the ‘bearded trifecta’ as co-directors,” Cato said. “People must have heard we wanted it bad, because we ran unopposed.” The director of Ko Jo Kai’s Sing Song act, Made-
lyn Robinett, senior family studies major from Amarillo, also gave a speech to her club. “We just got up in front of the Kojies and NuNus one night after a pledging activity and did our best to express how passionate we were about serving them as their directors.” Though anyone with an interest can run for director, someone with musical or Sing Song experi-
ence is preferred. Allison Calvin, senior family studies major from Dallas and director of Sigma Theta Chi’s act, has been involved with Sing Song any way she could. “I ran my junior year and didn’t get it,” said Calvin. “Last year I was heavily involved and worked with our director last year. I tried to be as see directors page 3
Pledges accepted into clubs by end of week kirsten holman staff reporter Take a deep breath, pledging ends this week. Most pledges have already been accepted into the clubs they have been longing to be a part of. Both members and pledges can finally see the end. Mark Jackson, associate director of student organizations and programs, said, “Friday night is when pledging is officially over for all of our clubs.” Unlike other pledges, the pledges of Zeta Rho got into club last week. “We finished pledging
Wednesday evening before fall break,” said Kelsie Andrews, senior nutrition major from San Antonio and president of Zeta Rho. “We were really excited about doing it before fall break because that way they could really enjoy their fall break, we could really enjoy our fall break and truly relax without that heavy feeling of coming back to pledging. They worked really hard over the past four weeks, so we really wanted them to be able to take that break and just be able to relax because they earned it.” This week is not only the end of pledging, but is Halloween week as well.
Halloween has fallen on the same week as the end of pledging for the past few years. Last year, Halloween was on Wednesday and in 2011 Halloween was on Monday. Jackson said that since Halloween is on Thursday this year, it could affect plans more than previous years. The pledges of Sigma Theta Chi and Alpha Chi got in Wednesday night. The other club pledges got in Thursday night, except for one pledge class who will get in tonight. “The numbers were much bigger than we’ve had in the past,” said Jackson. “De-pledging was a lot
Abilene Christian University
less. Typically, in the past years, we would have 20 per year. But this year we have had probably in the 10 to 12 range, which is a lot better than what we’ve seen.” The transition of going from six weeks to five weeks of pledging has been a good change. Everyone, whether a pledge or not, seems to be ready for pledging to be over. “What’s always funny is presidents in particular, officers in particular and the pledges definitely, everyone is just tired,” said Jackson. “So, they get past Homecoming and everyone is always ready to let it be over.”
Every club has the option to do spring pledging, but because of the large pledge classes this fall semester, some clubs may not participate in spring pledging. However, Jackson anticipates that Frater Sodalis, Zeta Rho and Pi Kappa will most likely utilize spring pledging. One of the benefits of spring pledging is that it is only three weeks long. “It is a tiring process but it’s worth it in the end,” said Andrews.
contact holman at keh09c@acu.edu