Optimist Editorial Board, Author at The Optimist

SA can clarify role, duty to students

March 21, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

This year, SA has come closer to "doing something" than it has in a long time. For a while now, the Students' Association has yearned to matter. This year's seniors look wistfully back at the days when, as they put it, "SA did something." This year has had its ups and downs, the lowest when Congress deadlocked over the "big shake-up" about SA ... [Read More…]

We must unite for our troops

March 20, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

And so it has come to this. We are at war. For all the pre-event sniping and debate, one thing must be paramount in this war of our generation: we must stand together. Our brothers, sisters and friends are on the ground, and some won't come home. The protests should stop, the bickering should cease and the anger should melt away to prayer and ... [Read More…]

UN approval not needed to justify war

March 19, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

On October 9, the Optimist raised concerns about President Bush's warlike rhetoric concerning Iraq. However, in the five-and-a-half months since, the president and his Cabinet have built an impressive case against Saddam Hussein. The case was such that on Feb. 12, the Optimist endorsed a small-scale war in Iraq. Now, with war again on the ... [Read More…]

Thankful for a ‘different kind’ of university

March 5, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

Freedom of speech is one of the guarantees in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Unlike public universities where students use this right regularly, it seems that at Christian universities, those outside and inside the university assume that this right is forfeited upon enrollment. The student body has recently been concerned about the ... [Read More…]

‘Wal-Mart-ization’ kills today’s church

February 25, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

As thousands of leaders in the Christian brotherhood have converged on the ACU campus this week, many of their home churches lay dying. The first-century church Paul describes in the epistles has given way to "mega-churches" that specialize in "the selling of religious goods and services." They are busting at the seams and padding their ... [Read More…]

Tragedies should serve as warning to students

February 23, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

Recent tragedies in Chicago and Providence, R.I., should be fair warning to university students to be wary of large crowds in small spaces. Earlier this week, several dozen people were trampled to death in a Chicago nightclub after security workers sprayed mace to break up a fight. The club did not have a permit to operate. Then a ... [Read More…]

Professionalism calls for second Sing Song review

February 21, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

For the second year in a row, the Optimist is running a review of Sing Song. Such reviews have come under fire in the past, but the arguments against them fail to recognize Sing Song's own importance and professionalism. As a publication that covers the ACU community and the events that affect it, the Optimist has long reviewed productions of ... [Read More…]

SA should unify student Chapel complaints

February 19, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

The time is now for the Students' Association to be the students' voice. Many members of the student body agree that something is wrong with Chapel, but agreement ends there. Some don't like the idea of a possible grading scale for Chapel. Others don't like break-out Chapels. Those who organized the alternate chapel Tuesday think students aren't ... [Read More…]

Displeasure up with Chapel absences

February 14, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

Students are expressing their displeasure with Chapel in more ways than through Students' Association meetings or letters to the editor. They're expressing it through their Chapel attendance-or lack of it. Among the flood of data presented at Tuesday's all-faculty meeting and Wednesday's Students' Association meeting, Brad Carter and Wayne Barnard ... [Read More…]

War should be small-scale

February 12, 2003 by Optimist Editorial Board

War with Iraq looms over our heads like a great shadow of uncertainty. Our generation has yet to see or experience a prolonged, full-scale war. America has been attacked, like Sept. 11 and the Oklahoma City bombing, and many remember the Persian War. However, a war on the scale of Vietnam or World War II is foreign to this generation. But war ... [Read More…]