by Whitney Smith | Oct 24, 2016 | News Slider
Lipscomb’s political science department hosted another “Pizza and Politics” presidential debate watch party in Swang 110 on Wednesday evening for the last presidential debate before the election. Senior mechanical engineering and mathematics major, William Sisson said the third and final presidential debate differed from the prior two as both candidates were less aggressive in their attacks. “What you get is you have Trump being pushed less and less to be bombastic and to make himself look bad, and so I know there was a lot of criticism in the last debate about them being too antagonistic towards each other,” Sisson said. “I think Hillary backed off a little bit on that, and the result is that it ended up making Trump look a little bit better which is interesting.” Sophomore psychology major Jacqueline Herrera originally supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I – Vt.) in the primaries, but shifted her support to who she felt represented her best on the issues when Sanders did not become the Democratic nominee. “I also looked at third parties and who was more inline to the side of the issues that I am passionate about, and overwhelmingly they all coincided or correlated with Hillary Clinton.” Herrera said. “Things like LGBT rights, immigration rights and things like that.” With early voting in Tennessee opening on October 19 and lasting until November 3rd, the votes are already rolling in. Many students are voting in their first presidential election, some students find themselves torn between both major party candidates and some are unwilling to vote for either. For history major Patrick Russell, choosing a candidates in this election reflects a deeper...
by Whitney Smith | Oct 18, 2016 | News Slider
The political science department partnered with the Tennessee World Affairs Council to sponsor their third international career panel. The panel’s speakers featured ambassadors, a former United States Foreign Service Officer and representatives from the Peace Corps, the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program and Healing Hands International. Political science professor Dr. Susan Haynes said the panel selection process was strategically made to have a variety of experience and wisdom available for students. “We tried to get people in a broad range of careers from people who have had distinguished 50-year careers in the foreign service to people who graduated not too long ago,” Haynes said. “So people could talk about an entire lifespan with different countries under their belt, and some who had entered the career market more recently.” Among those in attendance was 2015 graduate Spencer Bailey. After graduating from Lipscomb with a degree in law, justice and society, Bailey now works for the US fund for UNICEF as a community engagement fellow. He said the event’s speakers event was full of advice and opportunities for students interested in international careers, and it was helpful for him, being someone new to the international job market. “I thought there was some incredible advice given on if you want to do international work then focusing on learning a foreign language and becoming an expert in that language, also in not trying to micromanage your career,” Bailey said. “Just in the short while since I’ve graduated just the different things that have popped up and the opportunities I never saw coming.” Michael McClellan of the US State Department presented some of the good advice...
by Whitney Smith | Oct 14, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Tennessee’s speaker of the House, Lipscomb alumna Beth Harwell, discussed the importance of President Ronald Reagan as a way of leaning into the screening of “Killing Reagan.” Harwell spoke of the former president and his importance to her and her political party, which has built a super-majority, thanks to the Reagan years. “I credit him with the transitions from the old, Southern Democrats to the Republican Party because he was loved in the South,” Harwell said. “He was one of the few Republicans that ran and started the whole movement of people feeling comfortable in the South leaving the Democrat Party for the Republican at the top of the ticket.” The Natonal Geographic special is based on conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly’s book of that title, a part of his successful “Killing Of” series. Lipscomb students gathered in Shamblin Theater on Wednesday evening for the screening of “Killing Reagan.” The story focuses specifically on the story of the 1981 assassination attempt of Reagan. Although the film focused on the events leading up to the assassination attempt, sophomore bioscience and philosophy major Maggie Ogletree said she appreciated the character development of the attempted assassin, John Hinckley, Jr. “I actually thought it was interesting how they took the time to look at Hinckley because I like how they respected him and spent time explaining him. It wasn’t all about Reagan,” Ogletree said. “I thought they did him justice.” Ogletree also enjoyed the portrayal of Reagan’s wife, Nancy, and the qualities her character added to the film. “Seeing her [Nancy] made it more personal and emotional,” Ogletree said. While O’Reilly is known for his conservative commentary on Fox News...
by Whitney Smith | Oct 12, 2016 | News Slider
A lot has happened in the political world since the last presidential debate with many new tweets, emails, videos and other controversies surfacing about both major party candidates. Lipscomb’s Political Science Department hosted a watch party for students to view the second 2016 Presidential Debate on Sunday night in Stowe Hall. For some, like freshman political science major Daniel Karlson, this debate had a very different tone than the first. “At the last debate, I came here in a shirt, tie and a ‘Proud to be a Republican’ button,” Karlson noted. “This time I came in in sweats.” “After tonight’s debate, I would absolutely be willing to wear that button because Donald Trump absolutely eviscerated Hillary Clinton. He was strong on policy and even on the petty engagement. I think he came out on top.” Clinton supporter and senior worship ministry major Zack Eccleston was not so sure there was an easy winner. “I didn’t walk away feeling there was a definite winner, which is upsetting because you obviously want someone to win, but I feel like both candidates tended to not answer the questions that were asked,” Eccleston said. “They both devolved into buzzwords.” According to an NBC poll, 44% of likely voters say that Clinton won the second debate. However, Karlson does not believe those numbers represent the consensus on Lipscomb’s campus. Karlson explained that he believed that most Christian universities foster more conservative political opinions from students. “I think that most Lipscomb students, like most students in America, are really torn because they’re obviously not happy with Donald Trump representing our party,” Karlson said. “That being...
by Whitney Smith | Oct 10, 2016 | News Slider
Mayor Megan Barry spoke at the Nelson and Sue Andrews Institute on Civic Leadership’s “Now That You Ask” event on Tuesday evening. Although the event was part of the conversation series hosted by Tom Ingram, leader-in-residence of the Institute on Civil Leadership, it was also open to the public. The conversation was centered around Barry’s personal life, her passion to serve and her major goals in office. Among those goals are the issues in which she centered her campaign around. “It’s pretty simple,” Barry said. “It’s housing, transportation, education, a strong economy, continuing to make sure we have jobs here, but also that quality of life that makes Nashville special.” At a year into her term, Barry has been able to stick to a major aspect of her campaign: transportation reform. Although last week the Metro Transit Authority (MTA) board approved a $6 billion, 25-year regional transportation plan, Barry told the audience there are still many avenues to explore before the plan takes effect. “I had a meeting today with the Mayors Caucus,” she noted. “When we get together, it is all the counties that surround Davidson and more. As the mayors in those counties, we all unanimously agreed today that the plans we have to be pushing at the state is the ability to have a local option for us to explore in funding mechanisms but also that the state needs to take some additional revenue.” While the impacts of this plan will outlast her time in office, Barry has taken steps in ensuring that she is focused on the future beyond her term. As the first female...
