The •
Vol. 95, No. 42
1 sections, 8 pages
CAMPUS
n Residents locked out of Smith Adams Hall discovered a security system reboot is the culprit for stopping ID cards from opening doors at night.
Singing from the soul
Five women from step squad SHADES decided to form a singing group called Silhouette, page 3
By CAMILLE PAINTER
Meet and greet
Student Reporter
EMILY SMITH CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
This is one artifact on display in the Brown Library from Wendell and Betty Broom’s time spent in Africa as missionaries.
Voting from home
More than 1,000 people who attended Sing Song on Friday night or Saturday afternoon chose to participate in the new online voting system, page 4
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY
March 7, 2007
•
www.acuoptimist.com
System reboot knocks card access
IN THIS ISSUE
Students involved in ACU’s chapter of the National Broadcast Society will travel to Chicago after spring break to meet with professionals, page 3
OPTIMIST
Brooms display African artifacts
Aldon Wickliffe, resident director of Smith Adams Hall, was awakened by a latenight phone call. The caller, a resident in Smith Adams, could not get into the dorm. “I was working on a project in the lobby area, and I was just going between the
lobby and computer lab trying to get things done, and all of a sudden, I went to go slide in to get into Smith Adams and my card wouldn’t work,” said Byron Martin, the late night caller. Wickliffe was not Martin’s first resort. “I went to the desk worker and the desk worker’s card wouldn’t work so we called Aldon,” said Martin, sophomore psychology major from Mesquite. Wickliffe got out of bed and drove to the residence hall to resolve the situation
only to find that not only was the resident’s card not allowing them access into the residence hall, but his wasn’t either. At a certain time each night, the card readers do not recognize codes in the resident’s cards because the card system reboots. For about 15 minutes, a resident cannot enter the hall because the system will not read his or her card. “After we all tried our cards multiple times, I ended up having to call my friend and wake him up from his
sleep to come open the door,” Martin said. This has been known to occur a few times in the middle of the night at Smith Adams Residence Hall. Wickliffe said he called the help desk to find out more about the situation. “I’ve been told it’s been resetting the system just to rejuvenate the software. It’s kind of a PC kind of thing,” Wickliffe said. “Usually I’m asleep at that point. I’ve only been awakened once with See
ACCESS page 7
Working miracles in Abilene
n In collaboration with the Broom Colloquium last Friday, 33 African artifacts were loaned to the Brown Library for a display from Wendell and Betty Broom. By ANDREA LUCADO Student Reporter
Holding the streak
The men’s baseball team held on to its winning streak at home this weekend when it dominated Southeastern Oklahoma State, page 8
Winning a title
The Flyboys won the Men’s Champ League intramural basketball championship Tuesday against the Fresh team, page 8
ONLINE Picking sides
Sophomore students have begun the search for offcampus housing and now have a choice between University Park Apartments and the Grove, view students’ reactions online at www.acuoptimist.com
SPECIAL ISSUES Taking a break
After Friday’s edition of the Optimist, another edition will not come out until March 28 because the Optimist staff will be in San Antonio at a journalism competition.
An exhibit of African artifacts in the Margaret and Herman Brown Library has been dedicated to the mission work of two ACU alums. The objects on display are from the collection of Wendell and Betty Broom, former missionaries in Africa, and was completed Friday, coinciding with the Broom Colloquium. The Brooms worked as church-planting missionaries in southeast Nigeria from 1955 until 1960. Since then, they have returned to Africa on three occasions to live for one year and have returned for short-term and long-term mission trips. “They’ve had a long run of collecting,” said Beth Purcell, collections manager at ACU. She said she visited the Broom’s house a couple of weeks ago to look through this collection and chose 50 as possible candidates, narrowing it down to 33 items now on public display. The items range from a “Talking Drum” made of skin and wood from Ghana to a “Two Faced God” mask to a Nigerian bamboo yard See
DISPLAY page 7
ADRIAN CRUZ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Members of the cast from ‘The Miracle Worker’ perform a scene from this weekend’s performance of the play. The play was directed by senior Ryan Massie, theatre major from San Antonio, and ran during Sing Song weekend and this past weekend.
Faculty focus on boundaries in forum n The Counseling Center sponsored a Chapel forum Tuesday night for students to ask faculty and mentors advice on making healthy choices. By VALERIE VALLE Student Reporter
As a part of Making Choices Week, sponsored by the Counseling Center and the Peer Health Education, a Chapel forum took place in Cullen Auditorium on Tuesday in efforts to promote
a healthy and safe spring break for students. The Chapel forum gave students the chance to ask questions to faculty and peers about making wise choices when faced with peer pressure. Students had the opportunity to pose questions to the panelists or write their questions anonymously on note cards. To go along with this year’s theme of Making Choices Week, “Know Boundaries,” questions were focused more
particularly on the issues of alcohol use and sex. “Focusing on the issue of boundaries before spring break is a way to remind ourselves to make godly decisions during spring break,” said Cara Flanders, therapist for the Counseling Center and coordinator for Peer Health Educators. Jeff Arrington, associate dean of Campus Life, facilitated the panel, which included Dr. Richard Beck, associate professor of psy-
chology; Dr. Stephen Johnson, assistant professor of Bible, missions and ministry; Steven Moore, assistant professor of English; Jared Mosley, director of athletics and compliance coordinator; Dr. Traci Shilcutt, assistant professor of history; Marie Thomas, Judicial Affairs officer; and Cari Bonneau. There were also additional panelists from the student body. Students, who attended See
FORUM page 7
Class project begins fair trade brew on campus n What began as a class project to have Fair Trade coffee sold on campus became a campus-wide decision after meeting with the director of retail and purchasing. By KELSI PEACE Features Editor
Tucked away on the bottom floor of the Hardin Administration Building, just underneath the stairs, a small room bids students to come inside for a cup of social justice. A new sign, typed, recently replaced the handwritten sign that once read: “Suggested donation: 25 cents (to cover part of the cost of the coffee)” and every day students walk in and ask, “Is this the coffee place?”
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
While this humble room is where Fair Trade coffee was first introduced to some, today it is merely one venue that offers Fair Trade coffee on campus. In fall 2006, Fair Trade coffee spread across campus when the Social Work Practice II class, taught by Dr. Paul Ammons, director of the School of Social Work, decided to lobby for Fair Trade coffee across campus as part of the final project. With support from Emily Hardegree, administrative assistant in the Office of Social Work, the class approached the director of retail and purchasing, Anthony Williams, with their plan. Williams stole their thunder, opting to use Fair Trade
coffee in all venues on campus before the students could begin lobbying. Instead, the students transformed their project into a campaign to educate the student body that continued into the spring semester, when members of the class presented the Fair Trade label in Chapel. As of spring 2007, all venues on campus offer Fair Trade, and Williams said feedback has been nothing but positive after the first four weeks of classes. However, he said, the evaluation period is not over. “We made a pretty radical shift,” Williams said. The shift was no small ordeal — dining services’ See
COFFEE page 5
Fair Trade v. Conventional Coffee, 2004 Conventional: $0.60
Middleman $0.15 Farmer $0.28 Exporter $0.17
Fair Trade: $1.26
Co-op $0.26 Farmer $1.00
Courtesy of www.usft.org and TransFair USA These charts show where money from a coffee purchase goes depending on whether the coffee is Fair Trade coffee or a conventional brand sold in most grocery stores and coffeehouses across the country.
Abilene Christian University
Serving the ACU community since 1912