by Cole Gray | Feb 5, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
The struggling NJIT Highlanders (9-16, 1-8 ASUN) fell to the Lipscomb Bisons (15-11, 7-2 ASUN) 87-63 Saturday night in Allen Arena, as the Bisons earned their second win in seven days over the last-place team in the ASUN. Though the first half was a similar affair to last Saturday’s rock fight — Lipscomb’s lowest-scoring win of the year — Nathan Moran’s five second-half three pointers helped the Bisons open up a big lead in the last 20 minutes. The Bisons shot 10-of-16 from three in the second half, and 61.5% from the field, scoring 53 points in the half and stretching the lead to 26 late in the game. “Shots fell for us a little more readily,” coach Casey Alexander said on the difference between tonight’s contest and last week’s road win. “Nathan did a lot of that on his own, but really there wasn’t anything strategic. We were able to put a run together, and I think that that lifted the burden a little bit, and we were able to play with more confidence.” The Highlanders were without leading scorer Damon Lynn for the fourth straight game since he ended his season (and college career) by tearing his right Achilles against FGCU on Jan. 21. The senior guard was averaging 20.6 points per contest this season and is NJIT’s all-time leader in points scored. Without Lynn, NJIT struggled to find offense of any kind and resorted to force-feeding two-time ASUN Newcomer of the Week Abdul Lewis all over the floor. The sophomore forward, averaging 18 points and 14 rebounds in the previous five games, chipped in a game-high 21 points...
by Cole Gray | Feb 2, 2017 | News Slider
Though the newly-announced Soundwaves waterpark will be open only to guests of the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, officials say it will provide many part-time jobs. Jenny Barker, a spokeswoman for the company, said that the exact number of part-time jobs created by the waterpark is not currently calculable. The company hasn’t broken ground on the Soundwaves park yet. However, a release from last week announcing construction of the waterpark noted that the project is estimated to generate 699 full-time equivalent jobs once it is completed in fall 2018. That doesn’t mean that all 699 of those jobs will be full-time. The “full-time equivalent job” metric simply represents 40 hours of labor. The employer may hire a single full-time employee, two 20-hour-per-week part-time employees, or perhaps four students that each contribute 10 hours per week to add up to a single full-time equivalent position. Essentially, the “699 full-time equivalent jobs” statistic means that Gaylord estimates that the Soundwaves waterpark will require an additional 27,960 hours of labor per week. Though some of that labor will be accounted for by the suppliers of the waterpark, the resort will have many positions to fill as well. “We would love to be seen as an employer of choice among Lipscomb students,” said Barker, who is an alumna of Lipscomb’s communications department. The waterpark will need lifeguards, as well as food-beverage staff for the new dining options that are part of the new project. Both of these positions will likely be filled by part-time workers. Lifeguards across the country make a median pay of $9.15 per hour, according to Payscale, a company...
by Cole Gray | Jan 19, 2017 | News Slider
Worship Chapel will not meet this Thursday, Jan. 19, as it transitions to a biweekly schedule for the rest of the semester. Hosted in Collins Alumni Auditorium, Worship Chapel is led by a team of students and consists of five to seven a cappella songs sprinkled with biblical readings. It often leads the other breakout chapels in attendance. Chapel Coordinator Jamie Keiser said that the decision to make it biweekly partially came about due to student behavior during the service. “Last semester, we noticed that a lot of students were going to Worship Chapel because it was the quickest to get out,” Keiser said. (Though the chapel period runs from 10:55-11:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the semester, Worship Chapel generally ends around 11:30.) “And they can kind of just do whatever in that chapel.” In theory, students that traditionally attended Worship Chapel by default will try other breakout chapels that interest them, and the biweekly Worship Chapels will be attended by students that are eager to participate, not just those seeking the easiest option. Sophomore Grant Malone admitted that many students use their phones or work on homework during Worship Chapel. However, he noted that it is an “interactive” option that keeps students engaged, especially compared to some of the traditional, lesson-based breakout chapels. “It doesn’t feel like a lecture or another class,” said the psychology major, who regularly attends Worship Chapel on Thursdays. “If I’m sitting down listening to someone speak at me, I’m going to be on my phone.” Malone added that he expected students to be frustrated at first with the new schedule, but that they would quickly...
by Cole Gray | Dec 9, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The new hole below his right knee matched the old one in his left. It matched the hole he had surgically repaired in June 2015. That surgery forced him to sit out his first off-season and limp through his sophomore season. They told him it would go away with rest, but that’s the same thing they said last year — before it came back. Lipscomb guard Aaron Korn had lived through this before, and he didn’t know if he could get through it again. “I was having doubts if I was going to be able to play this year,” the junior said. “I had doubts that it would never be the same or that I would ever be healthy again, because the exact same thing happened last year. It started creeping in, and I didn’t know if I was gonna play or be the same ever again.” But the stress fracture healed on its own, and Korn is averaging career-high minutes and has improved in every single statistical category this season. Just months after wondering about his future in college basketball, the six-foot-four guard is leading Lipscomb in three-point percentage at a blistering 44% clip, averaging the third-most rebounds on the team and has been playing at least 19 minutes in all but two games. Korn developed a stress fracture in his left tibia, just below the knee, about a month after the last game of his freshman year. Team trainers shut him down for the rest of the off-season workout period, but once he tried to return, something wasn’t right. The fracture was still there. He underwent surgery, including...
by Cole Gray | Nov 15, 2016 | News Slider
Chemistry students are concerned about the presence of asbestos in the chemistry department on the fourth floor of the McFarland science building, but a professor in the department is adamant that students are not at risk. Asbestos is a naturally-occurring fiber that was used in construction, insulation and manufacturing for its fire-resistant qualities. In 1955, a study discovered that asbestos workers are ten times more likely to develop lung cancer than the rest of the population. Public and non-profit private schools are required by the Environmental Protection Agency to protect students and employees from asbestos exposure. The asbestos in McFarland is contained in the tile floors that cover the various chemistry labs in the “Old McFarland” hallway, and in the approximately seventy-year-old lab benches. Senior chemistry major Rachel Brooks said that the asbestos in the floor is something that she jokes about with her classmates, but it is still a danger that they must remain aware of. “Because of the damages that asbestos can do, the department and the students have been jokingly saying, ‘we really need to get rid of the asbestos because if we drop something in the floor, and it’s heavy enough, it will crack the tiles,’” Brooks said. “And as soon as the tiles crack, that’s the danger. Even just a hairline fracture, it’s a danger.” Though she confirmed the presence of asbestos in the chemistry department’s tile flooring, chemistry professor Dr. Linda Phipps said students don’t have much to worry about. “As long as the floors are in good shape—and through McFarland, they’re usually buffed and waxed and held down—those [asbestos-containing tiles] don’t pose...
