by Kathryn Farris | Oct 19, 2020 | News, News Slider, Uncategorized
The final meetup of 2020 presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden is scheduled to take place Thursday, Oct. 22 up the boulevard at Belmont University. After an uncertain few weeks since President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and the cancellation of the second debate, Belmont is moving full speed ahead with debate plans. But those plans have sparked another controversy after officials announced microphones will be muted during portions so that candidates are able to make their points. President Trump has said he is displeased with this new rule sprung by his behavior at the first debate. Meanwhile, Belmont University has called for numerous area road and business closures, the majority of which will go into effect Wednesday. Belmont Boulevard from Portland Avenue to Bernard Avenue, is currently closed till Friday. Belmont Boulevard from 18th Avenue South to Delmar Avenue will close Wednesday at noon. Acklen Avenue from 17th Avenue South to 18th Avenue South closes at noon Wednesday. Acklen Avenue from 14th Avenue South to 15th Avenue South, closes 6 p.m. Wednesday. Delmar Avenue from 15th Avenue South to Belmont Boulevard, closes 6 p.m. Wednesday. Compton Avenue from 15th Avenue South to Belmont Boulevard, closes noon Wednesday. Caldwell Avenue from 15th Avenue South to 12th Avenue South closes 6 p.m. Wednesday. The excitement of a presidential debate is not felt by at least one Belmont-area business that already has been hit by COVID-19-forced closures during the pandemic shutdown. In an Instagram post to their more than 16,000 followers, local business Proper Bagel expressed frustration toward the road closures. View this post on Instagram ? please read ? thanks to the presidential debate taking place directly across...
by Taylor McKnight | Oct 12, 2020 | News, News Slider
Convicted killer Cyntoia Brown-Long, who became a Lipscomb alum by studying in the LIFE program while in prison, told students that God is ready to help them. “He is still there even when you can’t see him and he is working in your favor,” said Brown-Long in an interview with Dr. Kate Watkins at The Gathering. Brown-Long, who graduated from the LIFE program (she also got her GED) while incarcerated for the murder, shared her story during the interview October 13. Brown-Long — who said she was a victim of sex-trafficking — was given a life sentence at the age of 16, for the murder of a man who had picked her up for sex. She was charged as a prostitute and claimed self-defense during her trial. She served 15 years of her life sentence in prison, where she would earn her degree and reclaim her faith, she said. Celebrities like Rihanna and Kim Kardashian were drawn to her case and campaigned for her release. Through correspondence she met Christian rapper Jamie Long (aka J. Long), who she married while she was in prison. TV appearances drew the two together. Working with Lipscomb’s LIFE program — the Lipscomb Initiative for Education holds classes for inmates and with students who come to the women’s prison to study — she developed many skills that have helped her in the year since she was given clemency by Governor Bill Lee and released from prison. She also has frequently praised her husband for helping her recapture her faith. Brown-Long spoke about her way back to her faith during The Gathering. She said she...
by Schyler Jones | Oct 5, 2020 | News, News Slider, Opinion
With the presidential election less than a month away, those who have the opportunity to vote need to understand the power they hold. We were all taught about voting to some extent in school, but with everything else going on, why does it really matter? Heleena Kabtimer, a junior International Business Management major, said, “As a person of color and a woman, there’s so many times when voting in our history has not been provided to someone like me. Now that I can use my voice to vote in elections, all those people didn’t fight for me to not use it.” Suffrage is a privilege, a time when people get to use their voice to stand up for what they believe in. Concerning people who choose not to vote, Jessica Heffington, a senior Accounting major, claims she understands people choose not to vote for various reasons, but said, “If you choose not to, then you can’t be mad at the outcome.” Both Kabtimer and Heffington admit they did not vote when they first turned eighteen. The main reason was that it wasn’t a presidential election year. Local elections don’t garner nearly as much attention as federal elections, but looking back Kabtimer wishes she understood that local elections are actually just as important as federal elections. “Every town, city, and state is different and those who live there should have a say in what affects them every day,” Heffington said. A common obstacle to first-time voters is not knowing how the voting process works. Kiana Rafiei, a junior Psychology major, thinks schools need to better prepare students to go out...
by Anna Sawyer | Oct 2, 2020 | News, News Slider
The fall semester here at Lipscomb has been a unique transition for everyone. This change has been a new experience for both students and professors in which many classes have been constructed to accommodate for those learning remotely. Due to the pandemic, a virtual approach has been shown to become the norm within education; Lipscomb has been working especially hard to regulate safety guidelines both on and off-campus. It has already been a month since Lipscomb has returned to campus, and this year has proven to be a new experience for everyone. Lipscomb is running on the “Lipscomb Flex” model for hybrid learning. With the student life team actively working on creating events for this year’s student experience, many events have been open to students on campus and remote. “It’s kind of hard to get involved because a lot of the stuff is on campus,” said Brianna Benkley, a Lipscomb freshman commercial music major who is currently remote in Massachusetts. With many on-campus events, it is difficult for students like Brianna to get involved, but there have been many opportunities for remote students to still participate. For Freshmen Orientation, the Lipscomb QuestWeek team provided freshmen with fun and entertaining videos and zoom meetings that allowed students to still have a warm welcome to the semester. “I still feel like part of the community even though I’m far away.” With The Gathering and Breakout Chapels moving to virtual and small group options, Lipscomb continues to encourage the positive spiritual formation of its students. Breakout Chapels have still allowed remote students to interact with other students through Zoom meetings. There have...
by Isabella Cantwell | Sep 30, 2020 | COVID-19, News
Life is slowly starting to seem more normal. Campus has opened back up, familiar faces are back on campus and students have reunited with their friends yet again. But how does campus look from a freshman perspective? With Quest Week and classes being mostly online, how are the freshman making friends? “There are not as many events so we have to come up with more creative ways to meet people,” says Madison Head, a freshman on the women’s golf team. Head has some unconventional ideas for ways that freshmen could get more involved. “I wish that we could have a version of quest week again, but have it be in person instead of online,” said Head. “I feel like a lot of people make friends that way, and we didn’t get to experience it.” With out a doubt, Covid-19 has affected the social life the class of 2024. Sadly, that’s not the only way that the novel coronavirus has affected new students. Karly Falanga, another freshman on the women’s golf team, has struggled more with the academic side of “Zoom University” than the social side. “Classes are a lot harder when they are taught through zoom. I feel like I’m teaching myself,” says Falanga. Upperclassmen are in more specific courses with smaller class sizes, so they get more in-person classes. The freshman are primarily all online or in cohorts, attending class every other week. Not having the in-person class experience may affect grades and GPA’s drastically. Being a freshman in college during a pandemic is not easy. However, the obvious setbacks that come from a very strange and remote...
by Kathryn Farris | Sep 23, 2020 | News, News Slider
So far, this year has consisted of a local tornado, wildfires burning up the west coast and the southeast facing an unprecedented number of hurricanes. However, extreme weather events like these are not predicted to disappear when the clock strikes midnight this new year’s, they just might be becoming the new normal. “Climate change is happening; we are seeing the effects now, and we can anticipate that the effects will continue into the future and likely become more severe,” said Emily Jones, Director of the Institute of Sustainable Practice at Lipscomb. Jones said, “What we know is that the Earth’s atmosphere moderates and plays a huge role in climate and that the earth does go through cycles of warmer and cooler periods based on a host of different factors,” “Carbon dioxide, methane and a handful of other manmade or human released substances in the atmosphere contribute to warming.” According to NASA, the planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century. “This doesn’t mean that warming is equally spread out across the globe,” says Jones “Sometimes that means some places are wetter than usual or drier than they were historically… the phrase climate change is more broad than global warming because global warming is talking about one change to climate and climate change encompasses other changes like changes in weather patterns.” These changes in weather patterns are demonstrated by what’s been occurring this year. On the west coast, higher temperatures have dried out vegetation, creating the perfect breeding ground for massive wildfires and making them harder to contain. “With regard to hurricanes,...
