SUNDAY September 16, 2007 Vol. 96, No. 7 1 section, 14 pages www.acuoptimist.com
OPTIMIST THE
Don’t know what to attend this Lectureship? Find our full Lectureship schedule inside, page 10-11
‘Optimist’ apologizes for Friday editorial By Jared Fields Editor-in-Chief
Occasionally we make mistakes. We hate it and try our best to keep them out of the printed edition. Friday we made a big mistake. We printed a version of the editorial in the issue that had been prepared for the Opinion WritFields ing course, and which contained notes from a professor to the writer, causing confusion to the reader and embarrassment to us. When we realized the error, we pulled the issue off the racks and Web site. The Optimist serves as a lab for classes in the Journalism and Mass Communication Department. All content is student written and produced. When a staff member does not write a story, someone from a class does. We all use the paper as a means to gain experience for when we enter the professional world. I continue learning lessons working on the Optimist, and this weekend has been one of my hardest. I pasted the editorial from a Microsoft Word document into its place on the Opinion Page. Because of a Word feature called “track changes,” I also copied the professor’s notes that were not displayed on the Word document. Despite this technological glitch, the fault still lies with me. I took a shortcut when we were past deadline by not reading the editorial on the page when I thought reading it in the Word document sufficed. I cannot go back and change what happened; I can only react to the error and try my best to right a wrong. I apologize to our readers and those named in the editorial for this giant blunder. I know some do not care. Still, as a newspaper we are held to only one standard — perfection. Friday’s issue contained the worst mistake I’ve known in my three years on staff. As the editor, I apologize and ask you — the reader — to not let my mistake affect your views of the Optimist, the staff, advisers or anyone else who produces content for the paper. Because we picked up the papers around campus and took down the issue from the Web site, we are posting that news online and a few of the most important stories are included on page four of this issue. We are accountable to you, and your remarks help us strive to improve our craft. Keep writing comments and letters to the editor. We appreciate the feedback; it keeps us on our feet. Keep holding me accountable for your news. The Optimist, and I will be better for it.
Friday’s Stories News stories from Friday’s issue are available online, at www. acuoptimist.com, and on page 4 of this issue.
All’s well at Shotwell
City limit sign
ACU band ‘Homer Hiccolm and the Rocketboys’ beat out bands for gig at Austin City Limits, page 4
Wildcats dominate home opener at Shotwell Stadium, 41-3, page 14
Bryce named new Lectureship director By Denton Josey Features Editor
After seven years as director of ministry events, Dr. Mark Love enters his final Lectureship this year. Also on faculty in the Graduate School of Theology, Love plans to continue his education after Lectureship. “I’m currently a Ph. D student at Luther Seminary,” Love said. “I’m on a two-year leave from the university, then we’ll just kinda see in two years.”
Love said he takes a lot of good memories from his time as director of Lectureship. “I love the event itself; I love the energy.” Under Love’s direction, Lectureship changed from a February event to September, the class format changed and more ownership was given to the faculty and students. “You’re in a job where you feel like you’re making a big difference,” Love said. “I’m proud of the big changes we’ve made.”
Involving the campus more is something Love is proud to have accomplished. “The brightest star in that regard is including the arts,” Love said. “Art and faith have become a real staple.” After this year’s Lectureship, Brady Bryce steps in as new director. A ’95 graduate of ACU, Bryce comes to ACU after eight years as the preaching minister at the Singing Oaks Church of Christ in Denton. “I did not pursue this; I never thought about doing this,”
Bryce said. “I figured I’d be in a full-time preaching role for the next 40 to 50 years, but Jack Reese called me and talked to me about it.” Bryce said he has attended Lectureship since 1990 and went while he was a student at ACU. “It’s always been a valuable component of who I am; it’s always been a great relationship time for me.” Love said Bryce’s presence at Lectureship this year gives him a head start for when he is in charge next
year. Bryce said while his role this year is limited, he has been learning already. “It is a massive venture, and it is about people at every level, relationships at every level,” Bryce said. Bryce said early on, Lectureship was intended for students. He wants to continue to re-imagine how students can have a creative role in what Lectureship looks
See
BRYCE page 6
FILE PHOTO BY brian schmidt
Students listen to a 2006 Lectureship class. This year’s Lectureship tries to address students, offering a special track just for students.
Student track seeks dialogue on hard issues By Kelsi Peace Managing Editor
This year’s Lectureship will launch its first studentdriven track, designed by a student committee and with a constant theme: dialogue. “Dialogue just opens up so many doors,” said Anna Peters, student committee member and junior elementary education and children’s ministry double major from Houston. “It gets the heart stirring; it gets the mind thinking. Lectureship is a good time for that.” Less than two months after Lectureship ended last fall, Dr. Mark Love, director of Lectureship, asked Dr. Wayne Barnard, university dean of spiritual formation and assistant professor of
higher education, to create a committee of students who would create a 15-hour student track. A semester and several monthly meetings later, the committee of about 20 unveiled a schedule hitting on tough issues, including social justice and issues that divide the church. Student committee member Bradon Lewis, senior youth and family ministry and physics double major from Abilene, said committee inventors hope to get students outside the “ACU bubble.” “I think it’s good to have conversations that sometimes deliberately pop those bubbles,” he said. See
STUDENTS page 6
Lectureship: by students, for students n Monday: 9: 45 a.m.: Passing the Baton, Jeff Walling and Taylor Walling, Cullen Auditorium. With God in the Shadows, Billy Wilson, Hart Auditorium. Reel Spirituality, Joshua Graves, OPBSB, Room 114. 4 p.m.: Memory of God and Justice for His World, Elizabeth Alvarez, OPBSB, Room 120. Get to Know my Neighbor? Why Bother?, David Ayres, Cole Bennett, Nancy Coburn, Jennifer King, Katherine Lewis and Mark Lewis, OPBSB, Room 117. The House Divided, Jeff Brooks, Grady King and Danny Sims, OPBSB, Room 129. 8:45 p.m.: Mysticism in the Modern World, Randy Harris, The Den in Barret Hall.
Swords into Plowshares, ACU Department of Art and Design, Jessie’s Corner
Let Justice Roll Down Like Waters, ACU Department of Music, Erinshire Gardens
n Tuesday: 9:45 a.m.: Passing the Baton, Jeff Walling and Taylor Walling, Cullen Auditorium.
n Wednesday: 9:45 a.m.: Passing the Baton, Jeff Walling and Taylor Walling, Cullen Auditorium.
With God in the Shadows, Billy Wilson, Hart Auditorium.
With God in the Shadows, Billy Wilson, Hart Auditorium.
Reel Spirituality, Joshua Graves, OPBSB, Room 114.
4 p.m.: Memory of God and Justice for His World, Elizabeth Alvarez, OPBSB, Room 120.
4 p.m.: Memory of God and Justice for His World, Elizabeth Alvarez, OPBSB, Room 120. The House Divided, Jeff Brooks, Grady King and Danny Sims, OPBSB, Room 129. 8:45 p.m.: Sex Sells: How is the Church Responding?, Irie Session, Learning Commons
The House Divided, Jeff Brooks, Grady King and Danny Sims, OPBSB, Room 129. 8:45 p.m.: Jesus and the Hip Hop Prophets, Matt Worthington, Brown Library Learning Commons
Total enrollment numbers drop, grad numbers rise By Mallory Edens Page 2 Editor
Fall enrollment dropped by about 100 students this year, with 4,698 enrolled for the 2007-2008 school year compared to 4,796 last fall. The university unveiled enrollment numbers at a luncheon Wednesday. Despite the figure, which is lower than numbers for the past three years, admissions officials said figures show a rise in global, and
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
academically strong students at ACU. This year is one of the five best enrollments in the history of ACU, all five of which have occurred in the past seven years. Robert Heil, director of admissions and enrollment management, said a lot of this growth has come through the university’s previous Centennial vision and current 21st Century Vision, which will lead ACU through the year 2020. “ACU continues to be
one of the largest private schools in the Southwest,” Heil said. “The last five years have marked growth in numbers and quality of students. The Centennial vision has been leading us to this point of what we have achieved. In the 21st Century Vision, we are looking at what levels of growth we do want to experience and what programs we want to obtain.” Since the university opened 102 years ago,
the ACU student body has grown to represent 49 states and 63 nations. This fall, one out of four new freshman students is an ethnic minority, either international or from the United States. The total number of international students enrolled this fall comes to 65 students, a 14-percent increase from last year and the second highest number in ACU history. This brings the total number of inter-
Abilene Christian University
national students to 225, compared to 215 last fall. Japan, China, Madagascar and Nigeria have the largest representation on campus, but the highest growth has come from Hispanic students. The graduate program has also increased, hitting record numbers of 679 this fall. This includes 565 residential graduate students and See
ENROLLMENT page 6
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