by Schyler Jones | Nov 9, 2020 | News Slider, Politics
As millions across the country celebrated the results from the presidential election, much of the focus was on Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Harris will be the first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president of the United States. Harris, the daughter of immigrants, is no stranger to breaking barriers. Her mother, who came to the U.S. from India at the age of 19, used to tell her, “You may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.” Harris promised in her victory speech on Saturday to follow those wise words. Speaking directly to the children of our country, she said, “Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before. And we will applaud you every step of the way.” For women, especially women of color in the U.S., her election is personal. Shaniya Pleasant, a senior biology major, explained why representation matters to her. “I think that having a Black vice president elect is so important because I finally get to see someone who looks like me, who loves me, and wants the best for us in office for once,” Pleasant said. “It’s so vital because representation matters on all levels. And today a Black and South Asian woman is our country’s first female vice president elect, and that simply makes my heart swell.” Sarah Feldman, a junior nursing major, had similar thoughts. “In society today, women are viewed as less than, and from the time children are born they are taught to fit into...
by Mckenzi Harris and Kathryn Farris | Nov 8, 2020 | Galleries, News Slider, Politics
After a long election season, clarity finally came to the 2020 presidential race when it was announced by the television networks and other media that Joe Biden had secured the necessary electoral votes to take him to the Oval Office in January. The race to get to the necessary 270 electoral votes ultimately came down to Pennsylvania, a state that went red for Trump in 2016 but shifted blue this year. Up until Trump’s election four years ago, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin were considered the so-called “Blue Wall,” generally secured by Democrats. This year, they returned to that pattern. Another monumental moment for American history was made as well in the election of Joe Biden: Kamala Harris will become the first female, and woman of color to hold the position of vice president. Lipscomb students, interviewed in advance of Biden’s speech to the nation Saturday already felt like celebrating. “If Biden wins, I might cry of happiness,” said Audrey-Ange Tsafack, a Lipscomb biochemistry major. “I would be so overjoyed because it would bring me faith in humankind again.” Biden ran on the premise of “restoring the soul of the nation” after turbulent years of racial and political divide during the Trump administration came to a head this summer in a country already reeling from the COVID pandemic. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden went on to become a U.S. senator representing Delaware before becoming vice president for Barack Obama between 2008 and 2016. His policies focus on “building America back better” through defeating COVID-19, recovering and creating jobs as well as creating affordable healthcare. Saturday night, when his victory was celebrated in...
by Grant Bricker | Nov 7, 2020 | News, News Slider
Lipscomb, like school all around the world, has had to adapt its schedules to deal with the pandemic. Changes had to be made to accommodate holiday breaks and also to deal with COVID-19 regulations. Earlier in the semester, university leaders decided to cancel breaks for Labor Day in September and fall break in October. There likely are more changes to come as the school and students grapple with the impact of the COVID pandemic. “This is what we have consistently announced in the All Bisons Care plan,” said Kim Chaudoin, assistant vice president of public relations and communications. “All classes and exams after Thanksgiving break will be virtual.” All of the residence halls on Lipscomb’s campus will be closed from Nov. 21-28. Students will then be allowed to return to their dorms after Thanksgiving break. Any students who are unable to vacate their dorm room and go home during the break will need to have their exceptions approved by the dean of housing and residence life. Once classes begin after Thanksgiving break, there will no longer be any in-person meetings for classes or exams. This change only applies to those who are enrolled in undergraduate classes. Students may stay at their homes or return to dorms. The ability to move around on campus will still be the same. Students will be allowed to eat on campus, leave campus, and to socialize on campus. This is so that students who are unsure about their health after Thanksgiving break won’t have to worry about spreading or getting the virus. It will also make it so that students won’t have to spend...
by Erika Plunkett | Nov 5, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
Even though positive COVID-19 numbers on Lipscomb’s campus have risen in recent weeks, Lipscomb athletic director Philip Hutcheson remains positive about how Lipscomb athletics has managed the pandemic this fall. “I think the semester has gone really well considering where we are at,” said Hutcheson. “The NCAA made some decisions athletically in terms of how we were going to have to deal with this.” While much of Lipscomb athletics’ success with the COVID pandemic is due to the vigilance of the staff, coaches, and players, some pressing concerns were alleviated by some of the NCAA’s decisions. “We weren’t sure starting out if we were going to have fall sports or not, and then they [the NCAA] decided not to have fall sports,” said Hutcheson. “That took care of a lot of the questions we had about logistics and how to handle events and crowds and that sort of thing.” Fall sports may have been canceled, but practices and preparations for the spring continue, and so adjustments have had to be made to reduce the spread of the virus. “We’re still trying to deal with distancing, cleaning things a lot more often, or using different routing for how we come in and out of places,” said Hutcheson. “One of the things that’s different for athletes compared to the rest of the student body is we do a lot of testing of our athletes. Depending on the sport they play, they’re classified as either a high contact sport, medium contact, low contact. So basketball, for instance, is a high contact sport. They test more often. ” With these protocols, athletics has...
by Kathryn Farris | Nov 4, 2020 | BREAKING NEWS, News, News Slider, Politics
Tuesday night, Americans turned their eyes upon electoral maps and social media updates in order to catch a glimpse of the winner of the 2020 Presidential Election. However, a pandemic-caused increase in mail-in-ballots has led to uncertainty in certain swing states on who will take the victory. Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania are among “swing states” currently dominating headlines because of unreported ballots. However, what is clear is that this race will be far from a landslide for either candidate. The close race will likely be decided in the coming week and could be legally disputed. Wisconsin is currently favoring Biden, yet 5 percent of the vote has yet to be counted. However, the majority of those uncounted votes are from mail-in-ballots which have statistically favored democrats. Michigan is currently favoring Biden, yet officials say it could be until Friday Nov. 6th for all ballots to be processed and counted. Georgia is favoring Trump, but the race could come down to a number of votes and Georgia Democrats remain optimistic due to uncounted mail-in-ballots from blue counties. Pennsylvania currently favors Trump, yet officials have held that it could take up to Nov. 6th for final numbers. Nevada currently has only 67 percent of the vote in. The state went blue for Clinton in 2016, but Joe Biden currently maintains a lead of only 8 thousand votes. Political science professor, Dr. Susan Haynes talked with us on the instance that a decision wasn’t made on election day. “The constitution does have deadlines and dates, which you have the general election, and then you have the electors of the electoral college...
by Mckenzi Harris | Nov 3, 2020 | News, News Slider, Politics
As election day winds down and the nation gets closer to learning who will be president for the next four years, some Lipscomb students were eager to share their opinions about just how important it is for American citizens to vote. Political science major Austin Travis said voting is a key part of keeping a republic and the government running. “I think it’s so important,” said Travis, “Turning out to vote is how we keep our democracy and our system of government. Elective leaders don’t have a mandate to govern if nobody turns out for their elections. They don’t really know if they have the support of the absolute majority of the voting population because they just don’t turn out to vote.” Political science major Elena Walker said she was just thrilled to get the opportunity to exercise the right to vote in a presidential election for the first time. “It was exciting,” said Walker. “But I think also with the two options it was kind of hard to choose I think with the current political environment. “But it’s still important to vote, so I voted. I think its really important because there are a lot of countries around the world where people don’t even get the opportunity to vote. Especially being a woman, that’s kind of an anomaly in today’s world, so I think it’s really important that we exercise our right even whether or not we think it’s going to have an effect or not.” Lumination Network will have you covered with the details as the election day winds down and the decision is made. Check back here for more information...
