Vinyl only Local music lovers gather at record shop Feature Page 5 vol. 103, no. 40
wednesday, march 4, 2015
1 SECTION, 6 PAGES
Drop in gas prices has minimal effect on endowment
what’s INSIDE NEWS Professor to film documentary in Mexico City next week Page 3
madeline orr editor in chief The university’s $370 million endowment saw an energy impact of less than 2 percent on its value as oil and gas prices fell dramatically from last September to the end of December. Jack Rich, ACU’s chief investment officer, said initially the endowment has not been hurt that significantly by the drop in energy prices despite having a portion of the endowment invested in mineral royalties and private equity. “We own royalty interest, meaning we own the minerals that are underneath the surface, and most of those have been given to us over time,” Rich said. “The other is we invest in private equity, and that’s investing in private companies that have some relation to the energy market.” The S&P 500, an index of the stock prices of 500 large U.S. companies, went down 3 percent in January. “We don’t own that much of the S&P, but that just shows that investments can be very volatile,” he said. The university’s endowment is made up of gifts given by donors for the long-term benefit of the university. Rich said return on the endowment provides about $17 million annually to support scholarships and operations. “We had a good year this past year,” he said. “We’re still one of the better performing endowments in terms of our investment return, in terms of the longterm. About 20 years ago, it was about $50 million, and today it is about $370 million, and that has come through a combination of investment growth and new gifts that come in.”
SPORTS Softball team launches 26 runs in Florida
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OPINION Bilingual education is necessary but not always progressive Page 4
SPORTS Women’s basketball hits five-game winning streak Page 5
OPINION The age of faculty and professors contributes to their relevancy
austin kilcullen staff Photographer
Tim Hawkins, Christian comedian, mocks the wildcats sign at his performance in Moody with ACU alumnus Bob Smiley. The event on Saturday was a fundraiser for Abilene Christian Schools.
contact orr at mco10b@acu.edu
‘Passport’ is now New Student Orientation Page 4
SPORTS Men’s tennis team struggles against Air Force Academy
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NEWS New apps change experience of SXSW festival in Austin
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Laura Benson Newscast producer New leadership has taken over for New Student Orientation at ACU. For the past 15 years, Wildcat Week (formerly known as Welcome Week) has been directed by Dr. Eric Gumm, the Registrar and Interim Director of General Education. However, because Gumm has recently taken on additional responsibilities, director of admissions, Tamara Long, will now manage New Student Orientation. “I am excited to help align the recruiting and
VIDEO The newscast and sportscast recap events on campus
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and parents have a strong transition into the ACU community, the university is adding additional orientation options for the summer of 2015 and the foreseeable summers to come. The three orientations dates will include: one for freshman students, one for transfer students, and one strongly encouraged for out-of-state students. Additionally, ACU will begin the new tradition of a “one day move-in”. The Office of the Provost believes by having only one move-in day “there will be more excitement, more resources allocated to helping students move
in, and all the students will be making the transition together.” Long said, “I think one move-in day allows the entire ACU community to place all effort on this important process and celebrate with families this major monumental life transition.” Residence Life is prepared to work with student groups who may need to move into residence halls early. They are also exploring the possibility of securing host families for unaccompanied students that attend the third session, for out-of-state students. The following are the
New Student Orientation dates: New Student Orientation 1: June 15 & 16 (Monday and Tuesday) New Student Orientation 2: June 29 & 30 (Monday and Tuesday) Transfer Orientation: July 20 (Monday) (Transfers can attend any of the four orientation sessions, but will be encouraged to attend July 20.) New Student Orientation 3: August 17 (Monday).
contact benson at leb10b@acu.edu
Debate team pair ranked 4th in nation collin wieder
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transition processes more seamlessly,” said Long. After many conversations with leaders across campus, the Office of the Provost has created a new vision for student orientation. This ‘new vision’ includes three significant changes to Wildcat Week: 1) additional orientation dates, 2) special transfer orientation, and 3) a single move-in day for new students. Previously, the university hosted two orientation sessions for about 1,100 undergraduate students and their parents. To ensure all students
sports editor ACU’s debate team has become one of the nation’s best this year, traveling across the country to compete against, and defeat, top schools. The team has traveled all over the U.S. this year to locations such as Berkeley, California, Kansas City and Bellingham, Washington. Dena Counts, debate team coach and director of forensics, said the team travels every year to compete against intense competition. “We travel about every three weeks,” Counts said. “We mainly do debate, and the type we focus on is par-
liamentary debate, which means we could have a different topic each round. We may do five rounds of debate that last 45 minutes on one day.” ACU competes against big names such as Oregon University, University of California, Berkeley and the University of Utah. Teams feature two students who take a stance against what the opposing team has decided. One of ACU’s pair teams was recently ranked fourth in the nation out of 500 schools. Top 60 teams will advance to nationals in Kansas City, Missouri, in two weeks. Caleb Orr, sophomore political science major from see debate page 3
Krystal fogle special contributor
Caleb Orr and Joyce Schuster comprise the debate pair that will advance to nationals in two weeks.
Abilene Christian University