“I love telling [prospective students] how much ACU cares about the sciences. … [In labs], we not only train our students as scientists and engineers, but we also have the opportunity to talk about what is happening in their lives and spiritual development. That, of course, is what makes ACU special – the combination of excellent academics and a Christ-centered environment.”

That sentiment is also on display at the Halbert-Walling Research Center, with its mural celebrating trailblazing men and women of the sciences, including several ACU alumni, who were and are people of faith.

Science, including medicine, is a large part of the ACU community; the top major for ACU undergraduates is nursing. Science isn’t partisan or contrary to a life of faith, no matter who tries to make it out as such.

The ACU administration knows this. And yet, in the midst of the fourth wave of a global pandemic that is ravaging this country and leaving ICUs filled to capacity – including in Abilene – classes are starting without not so much as a vaccine or mask mandate, despite what the nation’s top scientists have recommended.

The Delta variant has shown to be more infectious and more easily transmitted compared to other variants of Covid-19, even in those who are vaccinated. Thankfully, the vaccines work, and few breakthrough cases lead to death. Until enough people are vaccinated, however, masks should be required to be worn indoors (at a minimum) to help blunt the spread of this deadly virus.

A beloved professor already died last school year from the virus. Are more deaths needed for the administration to take a stronger stance?

They didn’t shy away from saying they believe in science when it was time to thank those who donated millions to build and renovate state-of-the-art science buildings. Now, in the face of this deadly virus, isn’t a time to shy away, either.

– Sarah Carlson (’06)

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Early analysis suggests that most of the crowd were white middle-aged, middle class people: business owners, accountants, realtors. These are regular church-goers, leaders of small group Bible studies, Sunday school stalwarts who do not have clear ties to the far right. They sought to align the cause of Christ with one political party and its leader, erasing the line between Church and state. They fought for a man of questionable moral integrity with scant Bible knowledge who, by his own admission, has never asked God for forgiveness. 

During the recent Williams and Money lectures on campus, Jemar Tisby suggested that white Christian nationalism is contrary to the will of God. We agree. Conflating the two is a grave error and contrary to the Gospel message. The Kingdom transcends national and racial boundaries.

Let’s be clear: there aren’t two equal sides here. Sacking the Capitol, chanting about hanging the Vice President, and hunting down members of Congress, among other acts of violence isn’t the same as this past summer’s protests against police killings and ongoing racial injustice. The former aimed to nullify the will of over 81 million voters and perhaps start a new Civil War. The  latter aimed to build a more perfect union, where Black and Brown citizens can walk as freely in their communities as whites, enjoying equal protection under the law. 

We hope that many eyes have been opened, and that many white Christians, from Presbyterians, to Catholics, to southern Baptists, to members of the Churches of Christ will reject this form of nation-worship. If you are a person of faith, do you want to be aligned with Christians who stormed the Capitol and the party that fed those folks lies about the election? 

You have an alternative for politics and for faith. People are ready to receive you, where your devotion to Christ and a more perfect union is welcomed: the Christian Left. 

The Christian Left has a long history in the U.S., including among Evangelicals. You might be surprised to know that in the past, Evangelicals were some of the most prominent social justice warriors in our country. 

Some may think, “I don’t agree with storming the Capitol, but I vote GOP because Christians are pro-life, and Republicans are the pro-life party.” It is true that some Christians, namely Catholics, have held this position. Most Protestants, however, didn’t. Southern Baptists affirmed a woman’s right to choose for years after  the Roe v. Wade decision. It wasn’t abortion that aligned evangelicals and the GOP: it was racial integration of public schools. Christians are not inherently pro-life, Democrats are not inherently pro-choice, and abortion cannot be the only issue we vote on. If you are concerned about racial justice, abhor the violence of Jan. 6, and desire to help bring the beloved community into being here and in the next life, then the Christian Left has a place for you. 

At the national level, a range of allied Christian Left groups are at work today. These include the Institute for Christian Socialism, Christians Against Christian Nationalism, the Poor People’s Campaign, and the venerable Sojourners. 

On campus, we invite you to join the ACU Democrats. Our group is inclusive: members disagree on many issues. What unites us is our concern for the health and vitality of our democracy, and the safety and security of all our country’s residents, particularly the poor, the marginalized and the immigrant. You know, the kind of people Jesus spent time with. 

ACU Democrats Leadership team writes this in response to “Meeting all forms of violence with condemnation,” a column by editor-in-chief Owen Simpson.

ACU Democrats is an on-campus organization affiliated with Texas Democrats and Taylor County Democrats aiming to foster political community on campus by encouraging students to vote, hosting registration drives, informing voters and hosting engaging speakers on campus. Their leadership team consists of Dr. Dan Morrison, faculty sponsor; McKenzie McPherson, president; Trevon Hardy, vice president; Elizabeth Holland, political director; Andrea Ezquerra, secretary; and Shaden Lopez, communications director and treasurer.

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Carl Spain’s 1960 speech denouncing racist admission policies at Abilene Christian College is now widely celebrated in the ACU community. This seminal moment is enshrined on the photographic timeline in the lobby of Hunter Welcome Center, and it is featured in The ACU Century coffee table book. But Spain wasn’t the only voice calling the university to account. Months before, a group of his students requested a meeting with President Morris to question the racist admission policies and insist on integration of ACC.

Alexandria Buller’s letter to the editor places her in good company. Throughout our history, many of our students have connected deeply with our mission and insist we live up to the best of our Christian ideals. We need to listen to these students and develop a response that institutes meaningful and substantive change. We must welcome the moral clarity they offer because, just like Spain’s students in the 1950s, they are free from the power attachments and status quo pressures that often influence our own discernment.

We applaud ACU’s stated commitment to racial inclusion and cultural competence, as reflected in the third goal of the Strategic Plan. Recent months have seen significant strides. The recently launched Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action is taking bold steps to bridge racial divides. The university provided significant support with the new book, Slavery’s Long Shadow, which was written to supplement the undergraduate survey course in American History and religion. A group of faculty have been working on a Maymester course on Civil Rights that includes a tour through the Deep South. Starting this fall, the History and Global Studies department will offer a new interdisciplinary minor Gender and Multicultural Studies. These efforts are important, but further action is needed.

Alexandria’s letter represents many of our top students who are calling for Kingdom level strides toward inclusion, equity, and cultural competence. We agree with her call to strengthen curriculum with new courses, both in general education and within specific degree plans, which will strengthen the University’s goal for racial and ethnic inclusion and cultural competence for all students. We also call for strategic faculty hires and increased diversity in our administration to support this goal.

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Minority histories are often-ignored pieces of the American story. I would like to address African American history in particular due to ACU’s history of systematic exclusion of this group, with the hope that this can be the beginning of honoring the histories of all minorities on campus.

Since ACU began admitting African American students in 1962, the university has grown more diverse, and organizations on campus have demonstrated a commitment to facilitating further diversity. While this is certainly progress, one area presents a glaring disparity: academics. This year, ACU offered African American History for the first time ever. The class has been a success, with a larger-than-normal class size for history and half non-major students. It is clearly something students want and it brings revenue to the university (with an average of $500 per credit hour, the tuition paid for this class is more
than some professors make in a semester).

Though a triumph in itself, the class is being taught by Jeremy Elliott, an English professor, who said, “This was one of my minor fields. I feel like the academic equivalent of a first responder. We need a proper doctor here.”

This gap in education is embarrassing; one of ACU’s five strategic goals is diversity, but there doesn’t seem to be any urgency for expanding classwork to reflect this goal. It is imperative that ACU teaches African American history, not just to expand our understanding of the subject, but also because this history is fundamentally American history. Many students have little to no knowledge of the history of race in America. We have failed to equip students to think about these things, and it is impossible to address contemporary racial issues without a deeper understanding of our past.

I recently heard Reverend James Lawson, a leader during the Civil Rights Movement, speak. He stated, “Whether we like it or not, we cannot fully recapture the past. But we must recapture enough so we can be better humans today and avoid the same mistakes.” ACU has not done enough to recapture our own racial history and the larger American narrative. The university gives lip-service to expanding diversity, but we can’t seem to find the money to hire a qualified professor to teach African American history. We need to hire diverse faculty to teach this class and others like it, lest we implicate ourselves in a toxic moderation that goes nowhere.

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I was saddened that the Optimist was not able to endorse me this year, but I am comforted that I chose to rely on different measures that determine the impact of my campaign. As said in my speech today, the inherent needs of the student body are not so much tangible as they are systematic. As such, I advocate for reforms in Congress and in the constitution rather than a well laid out and specific Six-Point Plan (to Lauren’s and Tsion’s credit).

I apologize, that it seems I only advocate for minorities; however, my intentional advocacy stretches to minorities and the entire student body, including the Optimist Editorial Board, as I value all perspectives. I cannot, however, apologize for advocating for minority issues as it’s very clear that minorities are the community that requires great amounts of advocacy, as they are the least likely to graduate and retain at ACU. When I speak about the minority condition I’m referring to ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, sexual, disabled, and religious minorities.

I apologize for the misinterpretation. The $8,800 figure was an annual estimate for a $2.50 reduction, not a $2 reduction per semester.  I hope this is communicated more clearly in my published manifesto with accurate calculations. Furthermore, I am willing to lower the executive wage to as low as $9.00/hr but it truly depends on the willingness of my supporting cabinet. Conclusively, I see $3,520/sem ($7,040/yr) as a significant amount for our student needs.

I apologize that my policies seem vague and not as practical as Lauren’s thorough Six-Point Plan. I see the importance of the innate disconnection between our divided community and SGA. I encourage students to read my manifesto, as policies are more clear and comprehensive on there. The changes I advocate for may not be as enticing or tangible but result in a direct student cohesiveness within the community.

Finally, I apologize for the interpretation of mimicking Lauren’s answer in planning to work more with the Optimist. Our methods in this regard are rather similar. I am glad the Optimist asked for a more detailed response from me via google sheet, in which I am more clear about my intended methods, including working with The Optimist to address issues of disconnection between SGA and the student body through my policies as I think the Optimist is essential to the student experience.

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I would be remiss if I did not begin by thanking the Optimist for their endorsement of our campaign. Tsion and I truly and deeply appreciate this honor. In these next few sentences, I would like to clarify part of our heart and plans for SGA, if elected. Above all else, Tsion and I desire for campus to be a thriving center for community and change, driven by students and their ideas. Truly, students are the harbingers of change with powerful insight and plans for the future. As a result, we sought their advice before running or planning a platform. Tsion and I cannot count the amount of conversations between students, where we asked, “What do you want from ACU?” After hearing their replies, we formulated the Big Six, our platform. This platform served to address the prevalent issues discussed with students. In other words, Tsion and I have been listening to students this past year, in preparation for working to build a plan of action with them, to make their dreams, goals, and vison for campus a reality. No one or two people can know or understand the needs of an entire campus. As a result, we sought out students in the early planning stages, because we needed and wanted their input. We understood that our destination was a connected, thriving community of students on campus, who felt heard and represented by SGA. If you desire to reach a destination, but don’t know the way to reach the end, without a map or plan of action, you won’t reach the end you were desiring. Our purpose with specificity in the platform is to reach the destination and vision students showed us, by building a map with their suggestions, which we like to call “The Big Six.”

Once again, thank you to the Optimist. Also, thank you to all the students who have supported us and continue to support us in our campaign for SGA. Thank you for being open with us, sharing your experiences, knowledge, and heart, and ultimately, making us a better and stronger community.

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Dear Optimist,

I am a senior citizen and a graduate of the University of Texas Austin.  I picked up your newspaper on a visit to the Welcome Center last week.

I read Lauren Franco’s article and was impressed by her passion.  I have lost so many loved ones and now at 69 they inspire me with memories of past kindnesses, glorious friendships, and memorable times when I was a happy kid doing mischievous things, but adults were always nearby to straighten me out with a tender hand.  I think we call this familial love.  I remember when I was an English teacher in Taiwan and heard the term for the first time, filial piety, which meant the deep respect  and gratitude children have towards their parents in that culture.  Lauren seems well versed with the love and the piety comes right after that in a coordinated fashion.   She has learned the esteem of helping others and the modesty of knowing she fails, and she says “often.”  A humble servant is born.

I also read Ashley Alfred’s column and support the young lady.  Make your school special in its own uniqueness.  Apparently Chapels is part of the curriculum, part of your class regimen.  Make it a meaningful part of your life and not just an obligation.  How?  Self-discovery.  What to do?  Read Psalms before attending.  Read a short passage from your favorite book with messages for worship.  Contemplate as you go to chapels; integrate the message with something immediate in your daily life.  Never stop thinking, as Lauren writes she never stops helping others.

To Ashley and Lauren, “Thank you for your contribution to my life.  Thank you for helping your school.”

Lauren, as you write that you often fail, pls let me offer this to you.  With Chapels or Abilene, and many other things in life, it is what you bring to the endeavor, place or person that determines what you receive.  Don’t be too hard on yourself nor judge too severely.

Humility:  I always have something to learn; something I can do better.  Oh God please help me.

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An oft-quoted saying with regard to free speech goes something like this: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”  Often mis-attributed to the 18th-century French philosopher known as Voltaire, the quote certainly reflects the budding “freedom” movement of that era, which blossomed strongly with events like the American Revolution and texts like the Bill of Rights.

To be sure, this statement is wholly modern—it reflects modern sensibilities—but it is not particularly Christian.  I write this because ACU’s chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom has recently erected a “wall” on campus that they intend to tear down as a celebration of Veteran’s Day and a commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.  

However, per YAF’s instructions, the ACU chapter has inscribed various things on their wall that they claim to be “ways in which their freedoms are being infringed upon.”  As of Thursday afternoon, the phrases mirror those found at the YAF website: “microaggressions,” “safe spaces,” and “trigger warnings.” Presumably, these phrases are meant to reflect concerns expressed by many cultural observers about a perceived “fragility” on the part of college students; see, as just one example, George F. Will’s September 12 column in the Washington Post.

Unfortunately, critiques of these ideas, and of the policies and movements that encourage us to be mindful of them, often degenerate into attacks on the individuals who might ask us to be mindful of them, or whom they might benefit.  And as a university, this is where things get difficult. As an educational institution, we seek both to challenge and to care for one another, and sometimes those aims clash with one another.

On the one hand, it is critical to our mission for learners to be exposed to ideas that challenge them.  We know that the process of “doing difficult things” helps us learn in ways that rote repetition of simple tasks does not.  We want to reason well, and one way to build cognitive “muscle” comes from lifting difficult intellectual and conceptual weight.  To these ends, free speech is a critical component, as we must be able to hear views with which we disagree.

However, in many cases, we want to learn, and yet we face difficulties that are not of our own making and over which we have little to no power.  Just to name a few: we may come from families marked by divorce or addiction; we may have been abused, neglected, or otherwise traumatized; we may have experienced significant losses in the recent or distant past.  As we learn, we may become overwhelmed—not through hot-button topics or social issues, but rather because a course’s subject matter hits close to home, through discussing child abuse in a social-work class, grief in a psychology class, or the exploitation of workers in a business class.  Learners such as these may benefit from institutional policies that express care for students.

And this is where our Christian identity is crucial.  Free speech is an American virtue, but it is not necessarily a Christian one.  The letter of James specifically teaches us to be “quick to listen and slow to speak” (1:19).  Paul’s letter to the Romans includes instructions to “honor one another above yourselves,” to “bless and not curse” those with whom we disagree, and to work hard to live at peace with everyone (12:9, 14, 18).  Jesus himself blesses the merciful and the peacemakers (Matthew 5:7, 9).

As a result, on the principles of free speech, I do not reject the building of our “wall”; the end of World War I (the source of our Veteran’s Day celebration) and the end of Russian Communism are events celebrated by many Americans.  But I would encourage the builders of that wall (and all of us) to examine ourselves. If we are followers of Christ, the one who had everything but gave it up for us and for our salvation (Philippians 2:5-11), is it really best to demand our own rights of free speech?  Should we really build a wall, write phrases on it that allude to our brothers and sisters, and literally break it down with hammers? How is that possibly hospitable? As Paul says regarding disputes among Christians, “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?” (1 Corinthians 6:7).

To my brothers and sisters who feel that their speech has been infringed by movements in higher education that call us to care for one another: let’s talk—conversation is welcome here.  And to my brothers and sisters who are sometimes overwhelmed by life (that’s most of us, I daresay), who are sometimes overlooked, who are ignored, and who are otherwise disadvantaged by those of us in places of cultural superiority: you are welcome here.  Let’s keep talking.

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Dear Optimist Editorial Board:

I am writing as a faculty member to encourage you to consider a larger slate of endorsements each political season.  There are important races this year, for example, for Governor and State Representative, and even a local school bond election.  Only considering and giving one endorsement misses the opportunity to assist your college and other readers in knowing about candidates and issues.

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