The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 96, No. 16, Ed. 1, Friday, October 19, 2007 Page: 1 of 22
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FRIDAY
October 19 2007
Vol. 96 No. 16
2 sections 22 pages
www.acuoptimlst.com
Sophomore slump
OThe
PTIMIST
no more?
Students' Association passes resolution to support
longer sophomore visitation time page 4A
Back in the day
ViewsYesterday looks back at editorials columns
and a cartoon from past opinion pages page 7B
Getting Buff
Wildcats get rematch with West Texas A&M
after playoff ousting last year page 1 B
University purchases text alert system
By Kehi Peace
Masagino Editor
The university purchased a new
alert sstcm this week signing a
contract for a svstcm that can text
message e-mail voice message and
send digital signals in emergency
or urgent situations.
"It's a significant commitment by
the university to provide the latest
technology of safety to the campus
community" said Police Chief Jim-
my Ellison. "Before Virginia Tech
these sv stems were cutting edge.
Grove
slapped
with six
figure
lien
By Mallory Edcnt
Pace 2 Editor
Three Abilene contractors
have filed liens totaling more
than half a million dollars
against Campus Crest LLC a
North Carolina-based compa-
ny that built the Grove apart-
ment complex.
John B. Painting Wagley
Construction and Mark Stalling
Electric Inc. are seeking pay-
ment for labor and materials
they supplied the Grove from
July to September according
to affidavits filed with the
Tavlor County clerk's office
during the construction of the
S10.7 million student housing
complex. John B. Painting filed
for $130000 plus interest
Wagley Construction filed for
almost half a million dollars
and Mark Stalling Electric Inc.
filed for $119005.79.
King Insulation filed a lien
against Campus Crest in Au-
gust for $11047.52 but re-
leased the company from the
claim two weeks later accord-
ing to an affidavit.
A lien allows a contractor
to attempt to receive owed
payment by attaching a claim
to a property according to the
Texas Property Code. If the
contractor does not receive
payment after the lien Is filed
they can sue for payment.
Grove management was
unavailable for comment.
Richard Wagley co-owner
of Wagley Construction said
he filed for nearly a half mil-
lion dollars originally and
was paid $ 100000 last week
bringing the lien amount to
$332907.60 according to
an affidavit filed on Oct. 12.
Wagley Construction provid-
ed site work including pav-
ing for sidewalks curbs and
gutters.
Wagley said he tried to
contact the Grove for pay-
ment once every day since
Sept. 25. He said he received
various responses including '
"the person who signs checks
Is not in the office" and "the
computer is broken." Wagley
said Grove management said
it would send money in "a few
days" but he received noth-
ing until last week.
Wagley said he had to file a
See WOVE page 5A
Since Virginia Tech these s stems
are expected."
But for ACU the April campus
massacre at Virginia Tech merely
expedited a process that was al-
ready in place Ulison said spur-
ring the ACU Crisis Response Team
to move forward with an alert svs-
tcm the team had been considering
since early I ebruary.
After sifting through a hand-
ful of companies that offer Instant
messaging capabilities Ellison said
the team settled on OMNILERT's
e2Campus sv stem. Three major fac-
Lffmna
EdZ3
ACU calling
ByJircdFitldi
Editor-in Chief
ACU will add another
team to its IPhone research
group less than a month
after naming faculty and
staff members to research
teams. The university is
calling for students with
IPhones to take part in re-
search for the phone.
All Interested students
with an iPhone Trio or
Blackberry' device can attend
a meeting from 1 1:45 a m. to
tors in the decision were a proven
client base quality and reliability
and cost.
"When vou weigh all of those
three things together there were
about three companies that rose to
the top" Ellison said.
The c2Campus svstcm came
without extra capabilities that drive
'up the cost said Jim Holmans a
proponent of the svstcm purchase.
"It gave us a lot of capability
and it didn't charge us for things
we won't be using" Holmans said.
Ellison said he hopes to sec the
all iStudents to research iPhone
1 p.m. Tuesday In the Mabee
Library Auditorium to be-
come part of student groups
Involved In the research of
converged mobile devices.'
"We want to understand
broadly how people are al-
ready using these devices"
said BUI Rankin associate
professor of English and
director of the IPhone edu-
cational research team. "We
ask people who are willing
to participate to meet help
us brainstorm to help us
with some surveys and to
help us test some things."
Also on Tuesday Rankin
said tw o representativ es f rom
the university will travel to
Seattle to attend EDUCAUSE
the largest educational tech-
nology conference in the U.S.
It will give ACU representa-
tives a chance to participate
in workshops and meet with
other unlv ersities brainstorm-
ing about the iPhone's capa-
bilities. ACU also applied for a
$100000 John D. and Cath-
erine T. MacArthur Founda
ACU alert sv stem launch in the next
few weeks.
Participation in the program Is
optional students must register
themselves online once the svstcm
Is running most llkclv through a
Web link Ellison said. To register
students will list their pro idcr cell
phone number and possibly fur-
ther Information with e2Campus
and all Information will be used ex-
pressly for the program Students
who arc not on a text-messaging
See ALERTS pugeSA
tion grant. The grant which
isn't awarded until early
2008 could help fund the
study of the iPhone if ACU
receives it. The foundation's
task is to fund the explora-
tion of best practices in ed-
ucation and technology.
Funding for iPhone re-
search comes from opera-
tion's budgets In Informa-
tion Services and the Adams
Center for Teaching Excel-
lence said Phil Schubert
executive vice president. He
said the university is assess
Enrollment
decline
creates
budget
shortfall
ByJircdFitldi
Editor-i Chief
The ACU budget Is taking a slight
hit this vear after university enroll-
ment slipped by almost 100 stu-
dents compared to last v car.
ACU set an almost $95 million
overall budget for the vear which is
S3 million more than the university
has this v ear.
Phil Schubert executive vice
president said ACU has a $1.8 mil-
lion contingency for just this sort
of situation and the difference is
not noticeable to the average per-
son on campus.
"I doubt it will be seen as signifi-
cant or highly visible throughout
the campus" Schubert said. "We
took little steps here and there to
tighten up."
Schubert added that after the
$1.8 million contingency the bal-
ance was manageable.
While the budget may be
crimped Schubert said service will
not be affected.
"I feel confident there won't be
any noticeable shortcomings in ser-
vice" Schubert said.
The university has looked into
saving money and Schubert said the
university has also brought in con-
sultants to help.
"We're working with some outside
consultants to help us Identify some
thing that wouldn't be apparent to
us Internally" Schubert said.
The budget is not the only thing af-
fected by lower enrollment numbers.
Tim Johnston associate vice president
of enrollment management Is looking
at solutions to raise enrollment Just a
couple of years after consecutive record-setting
enrollment numbers.
"My responsibilities are an thing
that has to do with bringing stu-
dents to ACU" Johnston said.
Competing with other universi-
ties for the same students John-
ston said the universltv's approach
wasn't quite right last vear.
"Our approach did not prov e suc-
cessful" Johnston said. "In most
competitive markets we found stu-
dents In that market and our'com-
petltlve response wasn't as aggres-
sive as other competitors."
To respond Johnston said the
university will have to do a few
things to satisfy its goals.
First Johnston said the university
will target an aggressive approach to
students its Interested in recruiting.
Using flag-ship programs to at-
tract students is another method of
bringing in students Johnston said.
He said the other way to recruit
Is the old fashioned wav: word-of-mouth.
To recruit Johnston said the
See IUDGET page 8A
ing other potential external
sources for funding.
Students could begin
testing the iPhone version
of myACU. Rankin said the
site http:my.acu.edurn
has been active for about
three weeks and research-
ers want to make sure it's
working before they offi-
cially release it.
Scott Lopez senior ex-
ercise science major from
San Antonio got his IPhone
See MUM page 5A
-t-
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 96, No. 16, Ed. 1, Friday, October 19, 2007, newspaper, October 19, 2007; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101960/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed July 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.