The Class of 2021 by the numbers: New student enrollment down from previous years Page 3
SPORTS
A student publication of Abilene Christian University since 1912
Monday, August 28, 2017 Vol. 106, Issue 01
WILDCATS FINISH FALL CAMP Page 8
Wildcat Stadium nears completion BY LAUREN FRANCO CONTENT MANAGING EDITOR
HOLLY DORN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Freshman participate in games at Wildcat Prowl, a pep rally to introduce new students to university traditions. Cheerleaders, athletes, Wildcat Week leaders and the Big Purple Band gathered at the Wildcat Stadium Friday night in anticipation of the opening game on Sept. 16.
CALENDAR 8/28 • •
Opening Chapel: Moody Coliseum Pledging registration opens
8/29 •
Student Life begins accepting proposals for Freshman Follies
8/30 •
Students’ Association Interest Meeting COBA 201
9/1 •
Students’ Association Interest meeting COBA 201
•
Last day to drop classes for block students
BOX OFFICE AUGUST 25-27 1. The Hitman’s Bodyguard $10,050,000 2. Annabelle: Creation $7,350,000 3. Leap! $5,015,500 4. Wind River $4,410,610 5. Logan Lucky $4,366,894
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WILDCAT STADIUM OPENS
OPINION
JAKE BULLER ON NEW PLEDGING RULES Page 6
LMF14A@ACU.EDU
Bookstore becomes Barnes & Noble BY HALEY REMENAR EDITOR IN CHIEF
Barnes & Noble has begun operating the Campus Store as part of a university agreement which will allow students more options and discounts. The university still owns the store, but the international company will run the store through a commission-based agreement that allows both parties to get some of the profits, said Katie Longley associate vice president of finance. Barnes & Noble will provide more services like student internships and price-matching. “In terms of gear and spirit wear, they’re going to offer the same, if
not better,” Longley said. “They have good, better, best pricing...you can get good quality, better quality and best quality. There’s much more of a range in terms of the availability at different price points.” Barnes & Noble also has resources for the store manager, Scott Harsh, such as connections to other managers across the country. Longley said the university requested that the company allow employees at the store to continue working in the same positions, although they did have to go through an application process with the company. As employees of Barnes & Noble, campus store workers will receive benefits through the com-
pany, rather than through the university. The university chose Barnes & Noble after receiving proposals from about four other companies. Longley said the university’s senior leadership team and a committee of faculty gave feedback. The finance team also compared campus stores at Southern Methodist University, which also uses Barnes & Noble, Dallas Baptist University, which uses Follett, and Texas Christian University, which had Barnes & Noble but recently switched to Follett. “We made sure to reach out to them [TCU] to kind of say, ‘Hey, what was the deal? What was the switch
for?” Longley said. “They had different reasons for doing that, but we wanted to make sure that we touched base on all of the sister schools to see what everybody was doing.” Barnes & Noble will fund a remodel in the next year or so, Longley said, and at that time the university will have the option to rebrand the store as Barnes & Noble or keep the “ACU” branding. Tim Head, associate professor of physics and chair of the faculty senate, helped provide feedback before the university made the decision. He said the old campus store system wasn’t always reliable for getting students the right books at
the right time. Professors had to fill out forms or use a software program to submit book orders for classes. Barnes & Noble will implement a new process for professors to request books. “I don’t think they had their process in place by the time we needed to choose books for the fall semester,” Head said. “Because of these meetings I’ve seen what the system should be and it looks really nice and probably easy to use.” The store will still have a trade system for students to sell back their textbooks. Applications for the store can be found online. HRR13B@ACU.EDU
Student and mother killed in car accident BY STAFF REPORTERS
A student and her mother were killed Friday afternoon in a four-vehicle accident on I-20 in Sweetwater. Celina Schuetz, junior
child and family services major from McKinney and a member of GATA social club, car reportedly hydroplaned before being struck by an 18-wheeler on her trip back to ACU. Schuetz
and her mother, Catherine, were pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported. “We are devastated by the passing of Celina,” said Jennifer Elli-
son, director of university events and a GATA sponsor. “We are praying for her family and friends during this very difficult time. This is a really hard thing for our students to come back to, but we
know the GATA sisterhood is strong and we’ll hold each other close during this tough time.” OPTIMIST@ACU.EDU
SCHUETZ
ACUPD redesigns parking permit system BY ASHLEY ALFRED COPY EDITOR
DAYS UNTIL
Upon arrival to Abilene, returning students were greeted by a near-complete Wildcat Stadium. Lee De Leon, director of athletics, said only two aspects of the stadium remain incomplete —the furniture and graphics package. The furniture is set to be moved in on Aug. 28. The graphics package, consisting of pole wraps, signage, flags and banners, will arrive on Sept. 1. Since May, padding has been added to the end zone to prevent player injuries, and the real grass on the berm under the video board has been replaced with artificial turf. Also, the height of the flag poles was raised to be taller than the video board. Outside of the stadium, Lee said an additional parking lot of 137 spots is being added. Overall, the stadium will seat 12,000 people. There are 9500 seats with 3000 on the east, student section side, 6000 on the west side and 500 in the press box and club seating. The berm will have 2500 overflow seats when necessary. Wildcat Stadium will host a private scrimmage on Saturday evening as a test-run for the sound, lights, and concession stands.
The 2017–18 school year will feature new parking stickers with specific labels relating to students’ on-campus residence, with separate labeling for those who live off campus being designated as “commuter.” Prior to the 2016–17 school year, the ACU Police Department parking stickers have had no specific data other than the labels of “student” or “faculty and staff.” In the fall of 2016, sophomore
women’s dorms Barret and Dillard were given specific tags to a designated parking area. This year the parking lot by these dorms will be available only to the women living in these halls. The new parking stickers will be used by ACUPD to gather information and make sure parking situations are resolved smoothly across campus. ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said having that specific data will help the department better plan for future parking solutions. “We wanted to experi-
ment with a better breakdown of who was actually buying student permits between resident students and off-campus students and which parts of the overall ACU parking system tend to be used in patterns by different groups of students,” he said. The new parking labels are unrelated to the opening of Wildcat Stadium, he said. The Department of Athletics will control five parking lots on GameDays that will be used for VIP’s, certain ticket holders, and Wildcat Club members. These lots are Elmer Gray
W W W. A C U O P T I M I S T. C O M
lot, the new stadium lot north of Edwards, the library lot, ACU Drive North, and the Morris Hall parking lot. Residents of Morris Hall still will be able to access their regular parking on game days, however, game patrons with specific parking passes will be able to use the lot as well. “If you live close enough, walk to the stadium. If anyone parks along the many side-streets near campus, we want to stress that these are residential neighborhoods and we need to be accordingly re-
spectful of our neighbors and of city parking regulations,” Ellison said. ACU police officers will be controlling most major intersections and streets around campus to keep the traffic organized and flowing smoothly. “Hopefully after a game or two, people will settle into a routine, get used to the new normal of game day traffic and parking, and enjoy the exciting atmosphere it all creates,” Ellison said. AMA14B@ACU.EDU