Flu numbers down from last year after Sing Song Page 2
SPORTS
Friday, February 23, 2018 Vol. 106, Issue 21
A student publication of Abilene Christian University since 1912
BASEBALL HEADS TO TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY Page 6
HOME, SLEET HOME HALEY REMENAR EDITOR IN CHIEF Jonathan Ladd, sophomore political science major from Dayton, tries to reset his umbrella during icy weather Wednesday morning.
CALENDAR 2/23 •
ASA “Misconceptions of My Black Skin” at 6 p.m.
2/24 •
50th Anniversary of Moody Coliseum tailgate at 12:30 p.m.
•
Basketball Purple Out Women’s at 2 p.m. and Men’s at 4 p.m.
2/25 •
Black History Service at 3 p.m. in Chapel on the Hill
2/26 •
Justice Week begins
3/01 •
Theatre premieres Sight Unseen at 7:30 p.m.
BOX OFFICE FEBRUARY 16-18 1. Black Panther $201,797,000 2. Peter Rabbit $17,600,000 3. Fifty Shades Freed $17,320,000 4.Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle $7,925,000 5. The 15:17 to Paris $7,620,000
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University closes in icy conditions BY HOPE CORDES COPY EDITOR
The campus community took to social media to express their joy when – at 8:26 a.m. on Wednesday – faculty, students and staff received an email from ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison that campus would be closed for the day. Even faculty took to Twitter to express their excitement. Dr. Cole Bennett said, “Ok, a snow day... no school. How productive I can be!!! *checks listings for Law
SPRING BREAK
FEATURE
STUDENTS GET ART IN ABILENE GALLERY Page 5
Certain facilities, like The Bean, the Brown Library and the Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center, were open on
abbreviated schedules. “This snow makes me want to sing praises to Jesus,” said Mark Roberts, senior psychology major from
tionally experienced, so we feel really positive about that,” Herridge said. Despite spring retention being so high, it is not always a good predictor of fall retention, which typically remains in the mid70s. Herridge said this is a little bit lower than state schools and other campuses that the university is normally compared to. “We’re really starting to look at second to third year retention now,” Herridge
said. “We actually had a really nice increase this year. We had an increase in our retention from fall to spring for the second-year group.” Whether a student stays at the university can depend on fit, finances or both. Herridge said in the last several years the university has emphasized trying to find ways financially to help students who are doing well academically and who are really close to staying here.
One way the university helps students is through scholarship appeals. Herridge said any student struggling financially needs to be visiting with somebody in Wildcat Central. “It’s a very difficult challenge because we’re also, as a university, trying to find ways to cut costs, and we’re trying to find better ways to fit within our budget,” Herridge said. “But on a targeted basis, I think we absolutely do have addi-
A student runs through the sleet Wednesday morning.
Covington, Louisiana. The last time campus had snow days was in February of 2015. Classes on Feb. 23 and 24 were both canceled, and the two days after had delayed starts. During that week, ACUPD reported 28 ice-related auto accidents. All universities across Abilene were closed Wednesday and Thursday as well as Abilene ISD.
HCC14B@ACU.EDU
Freshman retention up from last year BY LAUREN FRANCO
CONTENT MANAGING EDITOR
Freshman retention for fall to spring is up by 1.1 percent from last year. Bart Herridge, dean of student engagement and retention, said this year’s spring retention is 90.4 percent, where as last year, it was 89.3 percent. Spring retention is usually between 89 and 90 percent. “We’re kind of at the high end of what we tradi-
tional funds that have been made available to help specific students that could be successful here.” Herridge said other things to help increase retention include centralized advising, changes in residence life and the SOAR program. “It’s not just staying for your second year, it’s staying all the way through completion,” Herridge said. LMF14A@ACU.EDU
Alumni start opposing petitions on LGBT issues BY HALEY REMENAR EDITOR IN CHIEF
DAYS UNTIL
& Order marathon*” Students who still went to their 8 a.m. classes were slightly less thrilled. “I kept checking my email before I left my house to see if class was canceled, but I hadn’t received a notification, so I went to my class,” said Savannah Buchanan, senior psychology major from San Antonio. According to the email, the road conditions were still passable until between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., when conditions suddenly worsened and the decision was finally made to cancel classes.
Alumni started two opposing online petitions last week, asking the Board of Trustees to take a stand on LGBT issues. Darren Keyes, a 2000 graduate, said he is among a group of alumni that posted the first petition, called Concerned Alumni for Truth, or CATs. He said the petition had more than 100 signatures within 48 hours before it was taken down by the request of the administration.
The petition called for the Board of Trustees to adopt a statement of faith affirming marriage between one man and one woman and requiring faculty and staff to annually sign the statement of faith. The petition states: “We believe the term ‘marriage’ has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in scripture.” Keyes said the group researched other Christian universities such
as Oklahoma Christian University and Wheaton College, which also have statements of faith. “Many faith-based organizations are having to confront the accelerating cultural trends,” Keyes said. Keyes said the group started the petition after hearing the university had hired chaplains connected to Fort Worth-area Galileo Church, which they knew to be LGBT-affirming. According to the church website, its first missional priority is “ justice for LGBTQ+ humans.” Tra-
W W W. A C U O P T I M I S T. C O M
vis and Harmony Weber are on the Spiritual Care Team at Galileo Church and were hired as university chaplains in late January. Six days after announcing the Webers were hired, the university announced the Webers had chosen not to take the job. The CATs petition stated that if the university were to issue such a statement of faith, “such a statement and affirmation could have avoided the Galileo Church situation and would avoid similar events in the future.”
In response to the CATs petition, 2004 graduate Paul Anthony started a second petition rejecting the idea of requiring a statement of faith for all faculty and staff, something the university has never done. “I was pretty appalled and alarmed by that position,” Anthony said. He said he thought that would be a step backward for ACU in an academic sense. He said he also thought the message toward LGBT people was SEE LGBT PAGE 2