Dancin’ to the Beat Ethnos to include new dance groups, traditions and interests vol. 101, no. 21
wednesday, November 7, 2012
Arts Page 5
1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
election INSIDE NEWS English professor Al Haley to teach new course on short works Page 3
NEWS
Obama chosen for 4 more Romney wins Texas, Taylor County but loses key swing states in close election
popular vote. While the election as a opinion page editor whole was very competitive, there were very few changes At about 10:15 p.m. last night, from the way Americans votmost major news networks ed in 2008. Only two states, announced Barack Obama Indiana and North Carolina, will take a second term as displayed shifts with both president of the United state’s electoral votes going States. Obama collected 303 to Romney. Despite these electoral votes and defeated changes, victories in nearly Governor Mitt Romney by all the battleground states, just a small margin in the including Ohio and Colo-
david singer
Students perform in Wishing Well’s “Slam and Jam” Page 4
NEWS Hurricane Sandy hits east coast hard, affects students’ families
rado, helped Obama to win by nearly 100 electoral votes. Nationwide, the largest margins came in Washington D.C. where Obama took 91 percent of the vote and in Utah where 73 percent chose Romney. With no surprise Texas went Republican, but metropolitan areas like Austin, Dallas and San Antonio along with many border counties were won by Democrats. Romney won 76.1 percent of Taylor county’s vote and the local electorate selected Republican Randy Neugebauer see results page 4
design by asia todd design editor President Obama won well more than the 270 required electoral votes by winning the states colored blue, while Mitt Romney won the red states.
Voters refuse poll because of editorial
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OPINION Pura Vida a financial asset for the university, not a liability
mark smith editor in chief
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The Optimist Editorial Board’s endorsement of President Obama was mistakenly seen as an endorsement by ACU by many readers. Some local residents, after reading or hearing about the endorsement, refused to answer election poll questions from ACU students working on a class project. Dr. Lynette Sharp Penya, associate professor of communication, is the instructor for COMS 375, Persuasion. The entire class was working on a project, a political poll of Taylor County registered voters to predict the outcome of national and local elections. Penya emailed the Optimist on Oct. 21 to offer the poll results for publication on Friday, a few days before Election Day.
SPORTS Football team upsets No. 21 UWA on Senior Day in Shotwell Stadium
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SPORTS Soccer team’s high hopes for the season end in disappointment Page 8
ONLINE
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NEWS Local voters remember past voting experiences acuoptimist.com
VIDEO Local democrats and republicans come together to watch results acuoptimist.com
VIDEO ACU students share insight on the presidential election acuoptimist.com
brittany williams staff photographer Laura Kate Music, junior psychology major from Abilene, tears up a photo of Vice President Joe Biden at the College Republicans’ Presidential Election Watch Party after hearing that President Barack Obama had been re-elected for a second term.
Students’ reactions mixed
VIDEO staff report Frater Sodalis Haunted House scares thrillseekers on Halloween
acuoptimist.com
VIDEO Freshman Natalie Hudson’s talent for color guard exceeds limitations
acuoptimist.com
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If I was in a swingstate, I would have voted Obama.”
The Honors College hosted a Deep Dish Philosophy Night Tuesday, with the david wall goal of sparking discussion freshman sociology and history major from Bryan regarding this year’s presidential election amongst students in the Smith-AdStudents expressed exams Hall common room. citement about the re-elec-
tion of Democratic President Barack Obama. The Honors College provided pizza and drinks for the viewing party, which began at 6:30 p.m. As many as 50 students and faculty members filtered in throughout the night, many of whom were Obama supporters. However, when the election
tightened and stalled at around 9:45 p.m., the number of viewers dwindled to about 15. One television in the Smith-Adams lobby was tuned in to MSNBC, while another was stationed to Fox News. At approximately 10:15, MSNBC declared see reactions page 4
A lot of people were very angry and didn’t want to answer any questions.” staci stovall junior communication major from abilene
But the students ran into an unforeseen roadblock. Many of the local residents who answered the phone calls had mistaken the Optimist’s endorsement published on Oct. 23 as reflective of ACU’s beliefs and refused to participate because they disagreed with the endorsement. “A lot of people were very angry and didn’t want to answer any questions about the election because they thought we were supporting Obama,” said Staci Stovall, junior communication major from Abilene. “They were talking about the Optimist’s endorsement, which I didn’t know about until then.” Stovall said of more than 90 people she called, only six took the survey. see poll page 4
productions
Student acts to entertain in Ethnos The acts will be performed by groups such as the Chinese Scholar Students Association, SHADES Step Squad, Swing Cats and the Omega The annual Ethnos cultural show Dance Company will take place on Friday and Satur“It’s a good time to bond, beday with the goal of celebrating the cause they work really hard on it,” diverse range of cultures represent- said Adrian Patenaude, junior Ad/ ed by ACU’s student body. PR major from Thailand. “They People attending Ethnos will see spend a whole lot of time with each many different acts representing a other and everybody’s interested in wide array of cultures and countries. everybody else’s culture. We have
kyle knapp
student reporter
Abilene Christian University
all sorts of different cultures in each act. It’s just a huge cultural exchange and it’s really great.” Jeremy Foo, senior Ad/PR and political science major from Malaysia and president of the International Student Association, said the tickets this year will be more expensive than in previous years due to less funding. Tickets will be $10 at the door or $7 for single admission and $5 for
group admission when purchased in advance on their website. However, Foo said Ethnos has made efforts to balance the raised ticket prices with increased promotions for discounts. Foo said there were two significant promotional strategies being used for Ethnos. One promotion involves their see ethnos page 5