Each year the members of the Optimist staff produce more than 800 news, feature and sports stories for ACU and the Abilene community. To close the year we’d like to recap the top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by members of the editorial board:
1. Dr. John Stevens, the eighth president of the university, chancellor emeritus, professor emeritus of history, passed away Tuesday morning at age 88 after he suffered a massive stroke Apr. 23 and was hospitalized for more than a week at Hendrick Hospital.
Stevens spent his life as a student leader on a campus, professor and administrator – roles that spanned decades. After retiring, Stevens wrote “No Ordinary University: The History of the City Set on a Hill” reflecting the history of ACU. His funeral will be Saturday.
2. After the university shooting at Virginia Tech in April, students and faculty from ACU rallied around the fallen community and sent a banner with words of encouragement and held prayer vigils for the victims and their families. Cho Seung-Hui, a student at Virginia Tech, opened fire on his fellow students and professors in two locations killing more than 30 people before taking his own life.
3. After Rep. Bob Hunter announced he wasn’t seeking re-election to the Texas House after his more than 20-year career there, Mel Hailey, chair of the Political Science Department, ran as the Democratic candidate against Republican Susan King.
Despite Hailey’s popularity with the students, he failed to win the majority of the vote with King winning 58 percent of the vote compared to Hailey’s 40 percent in November’s election.
4. Danieal Manning was drafted to the Chicago Bears after opting not to finish his last year of school at ACU. In his first year in the NFL, Manning went to the Super Bowl with the Bears.
5. In the fall semester, four students studying abroad in Oxford, England, were dimissed from the program after violating the behavior contract all students sign before beginning the program.
While no official names or reasons could be released because of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which prohibits all schools that receive the U.S. Department of Education funding from disclosing student records, the students could have been dismissed for seven reasons including: substance abuse, sexual promiscuity, theft, making threats against another individual or any violation of local law.
6. In November, citizens of Abilene voted to ban smoking in public areas. The ban, which effectively took place during Christmas break, made it against the law to smoke in restaurants, stores, lounges, bars and even outside.
Many protestors started a petition in February in an attempt to have more people debate the logistics of the ban. Despite claiming to have enough signatures, the petition failed after most signatures were found to be phony or non-residents.
7. The 2006 ACU football team brought school spirit back to the field, beginning the season on a 7-game-winning streak before losing at home to Tarleton State, 37-36. The Wildcats made the postseason for the first time since 1977 when the team won the NAIA Division I national championship. The Wildcats finished with an 8-3 record after losing 30-27 in the first round of the playoffs to West Texas A&M in overtime.
8. During the summer, the Presidential and National Merit Scholarship board decided students with these scholarships could live off campus beginning in the fall semester if they were willing to give up part of the scholarship. The board decided the trade-off was fair with the board giving up the students’ influence in residence halls and the students giving up some money.
This decision was to be temporary until the board could decide upon a long-term plan. The previous plan called for all scholarship recipients to live in University Park Apartments their junior and senior years at ACU.
9. Construction plans have been set in motion to renovate the McGlothlin Campus Center beginning this summer. The renovation, which will incorporate a much larger food court and an extended Bean, will cause both the Hilton Room and the Living Room to be demolished to make room for the food court.
The Hilton Room and Living Room often serve as meeting places for social clubs, important announcements from the president and formal functions.
10. Because of a late beginning to the fall semester, pledging for men’s and women’s social clubs began the first week of classes. Traditionally beginning the second week of classes, students attended teas before the first day of classes and then immediately began rushing.
Rumors swirled that the way social clubs functioned will be drastically changed after last year’s trouble with three social clubs breaking rules but were proved unfounded when nothing changed besides shorter pledging periods.
