WHAT'S INSIDE
NEWS
On-campus radio station KACU celebrates turning 30. Tune in. Page 3
FEATURE
OPINION
When education professor Jen Rodgers isn’t teaching, she’s the World’s Okayest Mom. Page 5
Would you give Trump or Clinton a bid to your social club? The Editorial Board casts its vote. Page 6
SPORTS
Volleyball and football prepare for conference home games this weekend. Pages 8
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Friday, September 30, 2016 Vol. 105, Issue 07
A student publication of Abilene Christian University since 1912
PLEDGE AND FIND OUT
ERIKA BOLADO STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Friends react to recieving their bids during call night. Call Night marks the beginning of three weeks of pledging for prospective members of social clubs. The pledges begin official pledging activities on Bid Night, which starts Friday evening at 5 p.m. and will continue late into the night.
Women’s clubs allowed up to 70 bids BY TAYLOR BUSH STUDENT REPORTER
This year, women’s clubs will be allowed to hand out around 65 bids to their prospective pledges, a number that has increased over the last few years. Tom Craig, director of student organizations and productions, said several women’s clubs will extend
invitations numbering in the 60s, with the most for one club being 70. When rushing started on Sept. 11, 402 women were registered for rushing. “Now that number has dropped to about 340,” said Craig. The number of bids women clubs are allowed to give out is dependent upon of the number of
prospectives involved in the process. “Clubs most likely are looking at extending about 60 plus invitations for each pledge class,” Craig said. “Depending on how many accept their invitations or bids, that will determine how many each pledge class has.” Some prospectives may choose not to accept their
bids for different reasons. Craig has been communicating with club sponsors and presidents and said some clubs are nervous about these numbers because they are higher than normal. “Alpha Kai is really excited for the opportunity to have a larger pledge class than we have had in the past,” said Alpha Kai Pres-
ident, Meagan McBride, senior speech pathology major from Burleson. “But we are anxious to find out the number of pledges we will have. While we hate to limit the number of girls we also know that there’s only so many we can accept due to the number of jerseys and pledge pins and SEE PLEDGING PAGE 3
Pemberton retires for health concerns BY HALEY REMENAR ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR
Dr. Glenn Pemberton, professor of Old Testament studies, will teach his last classes Friday as he prepares to retire because of health concerns. What started as a simple stress fracture in his foot ten years ago, steadily grew into almost unbearable pain. Pemberton suffers from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) also called reflex sympathetic nerve dystrophy. This disease causes the nerves in
his body to send pain signals to his brain even though his injury healed. PEMBERTON “ W e caught it early,” Pemberton said. “We did everything we were supposed to do to turn it around and it didn’t stop it.” Five surgeries, a wheelchair and a morphine pump that sends medication directly to his spinal
column were not able to solve the problem. But Pemberton continued to teach from a wheelchair, typing notes rather than writing on a whiteboard during his lectures. His students helped him pass out papers in classes and he had office hours at his house or online when needed. “The only thing I’ve ever really wanted to do was teach,” Pemberton said. “Working with students, writing, everything about it. I still love it.” Now the pain has become constant in both legs
up to his knees, hands and other parts of his body, sometimes so unbearable that he can’t speak during intense pain. “It’s very clear this semester that I can’t do this anymore,” Pemberton said. “And it breaks my heart.” Pemberton earned his undergraduate degree at ACU in 1985 and earned his Master’s in 1995. He taught for 15 years total, six of which he taught at Oklahoma Christian University. He started teaching at ACU in 2005 when he was hired to be chair of the depart-
ment of Bible missions and ministry. After five years he had to step down when his pain got worse. He was replaced by Dr. Rodney Ashlock, current chair of the department. “He is one of the most excellent teachers,” Ashlock said. “The real loss is that he’s one of the rare professors who is both excellent in the classroom and writing articles and publishing.” Known by many students as the author of the The SEE PEMBERTON PAGE 2
Council approves Allen Ridge rezone BY HALEY REMENAR ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR
The university now can begin development of the Village at Allen Ridge after the Abilene City Council approved a request to rezone the land in early September. ACIMCO, the university’s endowment management company that manages off-campus real estate, applied to rezone the land in August. The area includes 87 acres north of Ambler Avenue previously zoned as college university/corridor overlay. In a meeting Thursday Sept. 8, the city council unanimously voted to change the zone to a planned development district. Kelly Young, vice president for real estate development at ACIMCO, said this is just the first step with more designing and permit applications to come. “It lets us create something that is, we believe, very attractive, vibrant, energetic for this side of town,” Young SEE SING SONG PAGE 2
Annual crime report shows increased burglary “ BY ALLISON BROWN EDITOR IN CHIEF
The ACU Police Department in 2015 received one report of rape in a campus residence hall, arrested two on drug charges on campus and one on liquor law violations on campus, according to an annual crime statistics report released Wednesday. Other notable crime incidents for 2015 included 11 on-campus burglaries – up from 2014’s nine on-campus burglary incidents. There were two reported on-cam-
pus drug violations that did not result in arrest, down from 2014’s four incidents, and four on-campus liquor law violations not resulting in arrest, down one from the five reported in 2014. “In particular in 2015, we had a rash of burglaries at the abandoned Sherrod Park apartments,” said ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said. “To some degree, those spiked our burglary numbers. We are hoping to lower numbers this year by eliminating some of that with increased pa-
trolling in the area.” The residence hall rape offense occurred at University Park Apartments, which is considered a residence hall for federal law purposes, Ellison said. The suspect in the case was an acquaintance of the victim and the case was referred to the district attorney for prosecution. The Annual Campus Crime and Fire Safety Report, mandated by the federal Clery Act, is complied by Clery Compliance director, Sgt. Bob Delony. The
Students, faculty, staff and the community holds the key to reducing those numbers – not the Police Department.”
SENIOR INTERIOR DESIGN MAJOR FROM DALLAS
report is released each year at the end of September by ACUPD. It compiles crime statistics from ACU’s main campus, as well as ACU at CitySquare in Dallas and each of the three study abroad locations – Oxford, England, Leipzig, Germany
W W W. A C U O P T I M I S T. C O M
and Montevideo, Uruguay. One incident of non-campus burglary was reported at CitySquare in Dallas, and no incidents abroad were reported. The report helps community members see a broad
picture of campus crime over the previous calendar year, and Chief Ellison said community engagement plays the biggest role in reducing crime on and around campus. “We always want to remind everyone that students, faculty, staff and the community holds the key to reducing those numbers – not the Police Department,” Ellison said. The report also includes information on ACUPD’s SEE CRIME PAGE 2