The Vol. 95, No. 36
IN THIS ISSUE CAMPUS Calling all men
The ratio of men to women who participate in Spring Break Campaigns is disproportionate. Openings are available for some campaigns, page 3
Leaving a mark
The Outdoor Club will travel to Paradise on the Brazos this weekend to go rock climbing. Anyone interested can participate, page 3
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OPTIMIST
1 section, 8 pages
WEDNESDAY
February 14, 2007
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www.acuoptimist.com
Love test upgraded, delays caused Pi Kappa disbands as social club this spring n Students who participated in the compatibility test last week may have to wait longer to find out their results because of technology problems. By VALERIE VALLE Student Reporter
Students who are hoping to find love this week through the ACM Valentine’s Day compatibility test may have to wait a bit longer.
The 13th annual online compatibility test, which is taken in a survey-like manner, began later than expected this year because of a combination of problems with the test. Students from the group ACM, who create the test, started rebuilding the survey software later than usual this year. They were also short handed in help from software developers, who
help make up the survey. In hopes of creating a better product than in previous years, makers of the test used new survey software as well, which meant they had to completely start over on creating the software. Extra time went in to making sure the survey which they created could be applied to any type of survey for others to use. “We wanted to make it
so other students or classes could use the survey software as well. We designed it with that in mind,” said Topher Fangio, ACU graduate and software developer for the test. Software developers ran into a few trouble spots and had a hard time making the Web site work in the beginning. Figuring out details of See
TEST page 4
n Pi Kappa will no longer function as a social club on campus. Instead, the members decided to form a brotherhood that is open to anyone on campus to join.
FEATURES
By MALLORY SCHLABACH Editor in Chief
The men of Pi Kappa no longer exist as a social club. As of the spring semester, the former club of 12 members has now formed a brotherhood, which also includes women. Pi Kappa president Robert Caskey said the group used last year to rethink what they were about and to figure out who the group was. Pi Kappa was created a decade ago by 16 men based on the seven commitments of Promise Keepers, including to honor Christ through worship; pursue relationships; to practice spiritual, moral, ethical and sexual purity.
Welding a quilt
See what Dr. Geoff Broderick’s sculpting class created Friday from iron scraps, page 5
See
SPORTS
brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Members of the freshman class rehearse their Sing Song act on Friday during Moody Weekend in Moody Coliseum.
Saturday ticket sales soar for Sing Song Setting the record
The women’s basketball team won its game Saturday against Tarleton State, 73-68. The team will take on Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday, page 8
Close call
The Wildcat men’s basketball team lost in overtime against Tarleton State on Saturday. The men must win their last four games to make the postseason, page 8
SPECIAL EDITION Larger than life
Friday’s issue of the Optimist will feature news on campus as well as Sing Song related news. For results of the Sing Song competition, please check online at www.acuoptimist.com Saturday night.
SPEED READS Money grows on trees
President Bush proposed an increase in student loans for both college students last Monday. The proposal would allow students to borrow up to $30,500 for undergraduates and up to $156,000 for graduates. Mixed emotions have arisen with some students concerned with how much debt this could incur while others are glad for the first student loan proposal made in the Bush administration.
n Sing Song attendees can either vote online for their favorite act or they can attend a backstage party following Saturday night’s performance. By CAMILLE V and CAMILLE PAINTER Student Reporter
People who buy tickets for Sing Song this year get the opportunity for more than just a show. With the ticket, the audience has the power in the palm of their hands. “We’re trying to involve the audience more this year,” said Courtnee Hembree, Sing Song co-chair. All of the tickets this year were printed with bar codes that will be scanned at the door to show that the ticket owner saw the show. Once a ticket is scanned, it allows the holder to vote once for his or her favorite acts. “After the show, you can go online and vote for your
favorite boy club, favorite girl club and favorite class, and that will total in to the total number to decide who the winner is overall,” said Hembree, junior broadcast journalism major from Abilene. Online voting is one thing viewers on Friday night and Saturday afternoon get to enjoy that viewers of the Saturday night show won’t. Attendants will be given a password so they can vote online from one of the computers set in Moody or on any computer before the last show. The winners of Sing Song will be announced at the conclusion of the Saturday night show. As for ticket sales, Sing Song house manager Ernesto Villarreal said all but two tickets of the about 3,000 tickets to be sold per show were sold for the Saturday night show by last weekend. “We’re expecting to be within 70 or 80 percent of
capacity for Moody on Saturday afternoon and we’re expecting to hit about 60 percent on Friday,” said Villarreal, senior interdisciplinary youth and family ministry and Spanish double major from Brownsville. A dozen of individual seats remained unoccupied one week from the premiere, but no seats were left as of Monday morning, said Tom Craig, Sing Song managing director. Craig said 30 percent of Friday night tickets have been sold so far. “Lots of good seats are still available for Friday night,” he said. Tickets for Friday night and Saturday afternoon are still available and can be ordered in the ticket office, online at www.acu.edu/ singsong or through the box office by phone at (325) 674-2648. Villarreal said another op-
tion is available for students. “I’d recommend the Thursday showing. … It’s kind of the discount showing. It’s $10, and you pay at the door,” Villarreal said. Thursday night viewers will see the first run through of the show, which may last about 30 minutes longer than the projected two and a half hours that the other shows are expected to run. Saturday night’s awards still draw the biggest crowd, said Hembree. Plus, this year Saturday night viewers get something extra too: a backstage reunion party. “We’re inviting everyone that came to the show to come back stage and meet the people that were in the show,” said Hembree. The reunion will be in the double gyms and refreshments will be available.
E-mail the reporters at: optimist@acu.edu
PI KAPPA page 4
Few return for African American reunion n Only three of more than 300 black alumni returned this weekend for the African American Alumni Family Reunion following the 10th annual Black History Production. By ERIN JORDAN Student Reporter
Mixed emotions emerged during the past weekend’s African American Alumni Family Reunion, hosted by the Office of Student Multicultural Enrichment. Emotions varied with each generation of African American ACU graduates from the last 10 to 20 years. The African American Family Reunion was an attempt to reunite past ACU alumni to celebrate the 10th annual Black History Production. More than three See
REUNION page 4
Heroic efforts by freshman, mom land them on Oprah n Oprah Winfrey was searching for one of the children Crista Cope’s family rescued from child slavery and invited them on her TV show to hear their story. By MALLORY SCHLABACH Editor in Chief
When the Cope family read a New York Times article about a 6-year-old boy named Mark that had been sold into slavery to bail water out of a fishing boat in Ghana, Africa, they knew they had to do something. So Pam Cope and her daughter Crista, freshman elementary education major from Neosho, Mo., decided to rescue him and
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
six other children also working as child laborers. “My dad saw the article while we were visiting in New York and showed my mom,” Crista said. “She and I read it and were weeping by the time we were done. We knew we had to help them. Something had to be done.” Pam contacted the Times reporter, Sharon LaFraniere, who put her into contact with the guide she used while writing the story. Pam learned the children could be rescued for $320 per child, but they needed a place to live. She contacted her brotherin-law, Mike Cope, adjunct in
the Bible, Missions and Ministry Department and senior pastor at Highland Church of Christ, who told her about Village of Hope, an orphanage in Ghana where an ACU professor was on the board: Dan McVey, missions coordinator for Africa. “My mom wrestled with the idea of what to do for a while because she assumed that out of all the people that read the New York Times, someone would help these children. We were the only ones though,” Crista said. Little did the Copes know, but Oprah Winfrey was also See
OPRAH page 4
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Crista Cope, freshman elementary education major from Neosho, Mo., hugs Sarah and Hagar, two children her family saved in Ghana, Africa, in January, while visiting the “magnificent seven.”
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