The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 89, No. 11, Ed. 1, Friday, September 29, 2000 Page: 1 of 10
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ASlKtf TOSTWJ UNIVffiSTIY
Dvtimist
Accent
Senior balances
family work and
school while writ-
ing award-winning
poetry
Page 3
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r J Friday September
29 2000
Volume 89 Number 11 Abilene Christian University Department of Journalism and Mass Communication wwwacu cduoptimist
KIDNAPPED
SARA KERENS
In confusion Jennifer Speck Green Ashley Parks and Sarah Martin comfort each other on Wednesday night
after being kidnapped many of them from their club meetings. The Homecoming Queen nominees were taken
to the Abilene Civic Center where they were greeted by their peers
Queen nominees announced
Fourteen women were noti-
fied Wednesday night that the
student body had nominated
them for Homecoming Queen
Members of the Homecoming
Steering Committee kidnapped
the nominees and look them to
the steps of the Abilene Civic
Center to celebrate their nomi-
mtions The nominees were to be
announced in Chapel Friday
and the winner will be
announced during the
Homecoming game Oct 14
The Homecoming Queen
nominees arc Nadia Bien senior
marketing major from San
Antonio Carolyn Billings senior
biochemistry major from Greer
S C Yvette Cantu senior speech
pathology major from Garland
Kami Edwards senior secondary
education major from Abilene
Jennifer Speck Green senior
theatre major from Denton
Becky Homshcr senior integrat-
ed marketing communication
major from Englcwnod Colo
Sarah Lecsman senior youth
and family ministry major from
Castroville Sara Martin senior
integrated marketing communi-
cation major from Cleburne
Christina McCarty senior biolo-
gy major from Belton Ashley
Parks senior elementary educa-
tion major from Garland
Meredith Speck secondary edu-
cation major from Nashville
Tenn ; Chelsea Thornton senior
integrated marketing communi-
cation major from Austin Enka
Treat senior secondary educa-
tion major from Fort Worth and
Kelly Wilson communication
disorders major from San
Antonio
SARA KERENS
Nominees Yvette Cantu and Nadia
Bien show their excitement after
receiving a gift bag from the
Homecoming Steering Committee.
Conference to assess leadership skills
Mary Buchanan
Student Reporter
A leadership development
conference for students facul-
ty and staff will take place Nov
3 at Hillcrest Church of Christ
The conlerence entitled
"Common Ground 2000" will
offer participants assessments
of their leadership skills and
potential
The theme of the conference
is "Cultivating die Community"
"We want our students to
focus on how they can build
the group or organization
through knowing their own
leadership skills" said Jan
Meyer coordinator of educa-
tional development and direc-
tor of Common Ground 2000
Students attending the con-
ference will address their lead-
ership skills by examining five
key elements of leadership
Meer said
Those skills include chal-
lenging the process inspiring a
shared vision enabling others
to act modeling the way and
encouraging the heart
Meyer said several students
already possess some of the
leadership skills assessed at
the conference but they need
to have all of them to be truly
effective leaders
"Many students are good
visionaries but if vou cant
communicate your vision or
you can t encourage the people
yott'ic working with then it's
real hard to build communi-
ties" she sitd
Peer leaders students who
serve to help accommodate
freshmen and other new stu-
dents to ACU can register at a
two-for-onc discount rate
There will also be three
workshops during the confer-
ence They arc entitled
"Conflict Mediation" "Coaching
as a Leadership Style' and
"Spiritual Tocus Trom
Solitude to Community to
Ministry"
The "Conflict Mediation"
workshop will be conducted
by Stormy Higgins from the
Center for Conflict Resolution
The spiritual focus work-
shop will be conducted by Bob
Slrader coordinator of leader-
ship development
Registration for the confer-
ence starts Sept 8
Registration forms are avail-
able in Room 120 of McKinzie
Hall
The conference will end 4
p m on Nov 4 The registra-
tion fee for the conference is
$20 which includes the price
of meals and needed materials
Local politics
overlooked
Matt Lowe
Page Editor
Gov George W Bush may be
guaranteed to win Texas in the
upcoming presidential election
but lost in the glamour of the
presidential race are several
other races
"Bush will get Texas'
electoral votes; that's
not an issue. The issue
is that turnout is
important for down-
ballot sorts of races."
Dawo Dillman
Voters may
assume that
most of these
down-ballot
races will be
won by
Republicans
but this may
not be the case
said Dr David
Dillman pro
fessor of
Political
Science
"Bush will get Texas' electoral
votes thati not an issue"
Dillman said "The issue is that
turnout is important for down-
ballot sorts of races "
According to the Taylor
County Elections Office local
down-ballot races include the
elections for offices such as U S
Senator US Representative
Distnct 17 State Senator Distnct
24 Stale Representative Distnct
60 and State Representative
Distnct 71
While none of the less-visible
few local and state races like these
to be "critical" Dillman said
With regard to down-ballot
elections us hard to predict
how Bush's popularity will affect
voter demographics and eventu-
ally their outcomes but Dillman
said that he thought several fac-
tors could influ-
ence which vot
ers went to the
polls
Because Bush
is a Texan Texas
voters who sup-
port Bush could
come out in force
and actually
increase the total
number of voters
Dillman said that
this same phe
nomenon may
have been the cause of the high
turnout of Texas voters in 1992
when Bushs father ran against
now-presidenl Bill Clinton
But Dillman said an enthu-
siastic turnout of voters sup-
porting Bush will not necessan-
ly amount to a Republican victo-
ry in other less prominent elec-
tions In recent years Dillman
said voters have been more
likely to engage in split-ticket
voting that is dividing their
votes among candidates from
different political parties
This habit of split-uckel vot-
ing may be important in state
races appcanng on the ballot in
Taylor county seem to be highly
contested Democrats if not
Republicans have designated a Please see VOTE Page 8
Friday marks
start of pledging
P my Wilson
Managing Editor
The social-club rushing pen-
od that began in the first week
of school will culminate Friday
with Bid Night
Prospective pledges will
become prospective members if
they accept the bids given to
them by the clubs
Cynthia Cooke director of
Student Organizations met with
each club to discuss plans for
Bid Night activities and to make
sure they fit within the guide-
lines set forth last year Bid
Night this year follows the new
invitation-only rushing system
in which clubs invited a
decreasing number of prospec-
tive pledges to rushes each
week
Some club presidents say
v oting each w eek prov ed to be a
difficult task for members
"It's a guilty feeling ever)'
week" said vetlc Cantu presi-
dent of Delta Theta "Nothing is
as difficult as voting and as
much as you don't want to do
it it has to be done "
Cantu senior speech pathol-
ogy major from Garland said
the club is placing bids for
about 80 percent of the women
who received final invitations
last week because the club
would hive trouble handling
the pledge class at capacity
level This means that unless
some women received final
invitations from another club
they will not be able to partici-
pate in socnl clubs this year
Some presidents said that
exclusion is a possibility that is
inherent in the social-club sys-
tem but that it is not a reflection
on the individual prospective
pledges
"lis hard for girls to not take
this persomlly" said Meredith
Speck president of Sigma Theta
Chi
Speck senior secondary
education major from
Nashville Tenn said voting on
prospective members some-
times places a strain on clubs
"if one of them doesn t get an
invitation bick it's hard on the
members to see that happen"
she said
Speck said that her club
decided to take 100 percent of
its possible pledge class size
and that the extended rushing
process helped in getting to
know people who showed
interest in Sigma Theta Chi
"We l look at the group of
girls it doesn t seem like so
many because we know them
already" she said "We're
already fnends "
Designated section at stadium allows fans to go wild
Zach Sherman
Copy Ed tor
Students probably noticed
something different at the foot-
ball game Saturday night
Unlike in vears past a section
of Shotwell Stadium was specifi-
cally designated for students to
occupy It also was designed so
students could not only show
their school spint but also could
go wild while doing it
The idea for the section called
the "Wild Zone" was developed
to promote an intense college
football atmosphere said Cody
Huffman director of sports mar
keting Huffman who has only
been at ACU since the semester
began said the atmosphere at
ACU athletic games in the past
hasnt always been intense and
he wants to change that
"This is college athletics at its
best" he said "People should be
getting excited and not be afraid
to show that "
The Wild Zone was a part of
a concentrated effort to promote
excitement about the football
game and ACU athletics
HufTman said The pep rally
before the game and the banners
and pennants hanging around
the stadium were also meant to
create an intense atmosphere
"I think it all ties toguher real
well" HufTman said "Maybe we
don l have the ame number of
students as other schools but we
can have the same tnvi-
ronment they hive at
their football games "
Huffman said that
student turnout and
participation in the
Wild Zone was a little
more than he exptctid
"People w ere engaged People
were aenve' he said "lm excit-
ed to see how this llimg can grow
and really explode "
Some students were also glad
to see the support shown m the
Wild Zone
"It was good to see all the stu-
dents sitting together in one sec-
tion" said Chns McLain senior
accounting major from
Mesquite
Huffman said
things like students
standing up the entire
game and painting
their faces purple and
white show how
much enthusiasm they have
He was also pleased by the stu-
dents at the game who stayed
through the second-half rain
"I was surprised to see people
staying" Huffman said "I was
really impressed "
Huffman the Trcshman
Action Council and the Student
Involvement Team were all heav-
ily involved in promoting the
Wild Zone And they hope it
tats for awhile
"We want to stick with it at
least through the whole foot-
ball season" said Josh Jones
senior youth and family min-
istry major from Arlington and
member of the Student
Involvement Team
Huffman said he thinks stu-
dents will respond to an atmos-
phere promoting school spint in
sports other than just football
He said he wants to hive sections
where students can come and
show their excitement for ACU
athletics in basketball volleyball
and any other sport
"The concept for the Wild
Zone is for every sport'
Huffman said
An overall promotion of fun
and excitement through things
like the Wild Zone will be
pushed all year Huffman said
"If we keep doing the right
thing our students are going tc
appreciate it and respond"
Huffman said "It will really
pay off "
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 89, No. 11, Ed. 1, Friday, September 29, 2000, newspaper, September 29, 2000; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101672/m1/1/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.