by Mckenzi Harris and Kathryn Farris | Oct 23, 2020 | News, News Slider, Politics
Last night, Nashville played a part in history as Belmont University hosted the final 2020 Presidential debate. Streets filled with demonstrations and protests, national media set up camp and two presidential candidates arrived in music city with the hopes of winning America’s vote. After some previously announced changes, Thursday’s debate was a stark contrast to the first meeting of these candidates in late September. Muted mics and stricter segments gave voters a chance to hear each candidates’ policies and plans. “This is a completely different debate than the first debate and I am really happy about that,” said political science professor Susan Haynes to the Q&A audience at SGA’s virtual debate watch party. “I was expecting just the chaos of the first debate where I couldn’t even weigh-in, just because you could hardly tell what was being said.” The 90-minute debate consisted of 15-minute segments on topics such as COVID-19, foreign policy, the economy, race, climate change and more. Key moments of the night included President Trump’s talk of an upcoming Covid-19 vaccine, he said “We have a vaccine that’s coming, it’s ready.” Currently, the FDA has not yet made approval for a Covid-19 vaccine. Four US clinical vaccine trials are in Phase 3 including Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. The FBI’s investigation on foreign election interference was brought up as part of the foreign policy segment of the debate. “They will pay a price if I’m elected,” said Former Vice President Biden, speaking on the interference by China, Russia and Iran. “They’re interfering with American sovereignty. That’s what’s going on.” One of the more “viral” moments of the night went to Joe...
by Mckenzi Harris and Kathryn Farris | Oct 23, 2020 | Galleries, News, News Slider, Politics
Tonight, Belmont University will host the second and final presidential debate. As part of the increased security surrounding the debate, freshman students from several campus dorms were forced to leave and stay elsewhere. Affected freshmen were sent to Gaylord Opryland to make way for secret service. “A week after we moved into campus things started transforming completely…and about three weeks ago, my residence hall found out that we would have to be moved off campus to Opryland hotel,” Says Becca Pavelich, a freshman at Belmont University. “I wasn’t complaining, Opryland is a beautiful place to go. It was just definitely a shock that we found out so close to the debate that we’d be having to leave.” According to the Belmont Vision, The university provides students with transportation, meals and internet access during their predicted 30-hour stint at Opryland. Pavelich says “we’re honestly not sure what time we get to come back to campus, but we were happy to be able to go somewhere as nice as Opryland.” For Pavelich, the experience of a debate on campus has been a positive one, she says “It is just so surreal. I’ve been watching the other debates and paying attention and to the news but it’s just so cool to think that all of that has been happening on our campus,” “It’s happening tonight on our campus and at our event center that we walk by every day. I know it’s just a great opportunity for our school to be exposed and it’s just an honor to have the president and former vice president here on campus.” Lipscomb University campus security is...
by Hannah Cron | Oct 22, 2020 | News, News Slider, Politics
Tonight, the final presidential debate between current President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will occur just down the road from Lipscomb at Belmont University. In light of this historic event, Lipscomb’s security team has spent weeks making plans to ensure that the campus remains as safe as possible. “For the last month, we’ve really been doing some deep preparation, just getting ready for this evening because we want the campus to remain safe and we want the experience for our students and the employees and any guests that are in the area to be as smooth as possible,” said Kyle Dickerson, Executive Director of Security & Safety. The security team has also been in contact with state and federal law enforcement in regard to making preparations for the night of the debate. “We’ve been talking with the law enforcement partners that are a part of the actual event itself, which includes TBI, FBI, the secret service, just a lot of the big federal entities that are a part of it but also some local entities as well. They’ve been giving us really good information that is helping us feel really good about the evening, which is nice. What they have said is that they are expecting typical things for a debate,” said Dickerson. One of the biggest concerns ahead of the debate is the traffic congestion due to the many road closures around Belmont. “What we think is going to be a really big deal is traffic congestion for the night,” said Dickerson. “Most people don’t go to traffic congestion as their first concern for something like this,...
by Schyler Jones | Sep 27, 2020 | News Slider, Politics
Many of us feel the weight of the upcoming election, and hopefully each of us will go out and exercise our right to vote. Many people, though, may not know where to start or how the voting process works. With a pandemic as yet another obstacle, it’s important to plan now for your vote. If you’re not yet registered to vote, most states allow you to register online with your social security number and driver’s license. The voter registration card will be mailed to you within 30 days. You must be registered to vote within 30 days of an election, so this would need to be done by October 5. Each state’s laws are different, but the ways you can get your vote counted are through mail-in voting, early in-person voting, or voting on election day. Voting by mail (also known as “absentee voting”) is an extra popular option this year amid COVID-19 concerns. In Tennessee, residents can vote by mail if they have an excuse. Some accepted excuses include being a full-time student outside of your county, being the caretaker of an ill person, or having an underlying medical condition. COVID-19 concerns do not fall under acceptable excuses in the state of Tennessee. To vote by mail, you must submit the request to your local county election commission office. Tennesseans must make that request by October 27 and return the ballot by November 3 at 8pm. The ballots can be returned by mail, or in some cases delivered in-person. Some people have claimed that voting by mail is unsafe and could lead to fraud, but many senior intelligence officials explain...
by Kathryn Farris | Apr 12, 2020 | COVID-19, News, News Slider, Politics
In an era of deadly pandemic-spurred social distancing and mandated hibernation, the 2020 presidential election seems to have been moved to the back burner. Concern over how to best campaign for national and local elections amid a global pandemic has been the subject of debate among Democrats and Republicans. Manny Sethi — a Republican first-time candidate running for Tennessee’s open Senate seat that’s being vacated by Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is retiring — said he misses the world of full-on rallies and public forums. Sethi spoke with the Nashville Scene on the loss of person-to-person style campaigning due to the virus. “What we’re trying to do is recreate that feeling through these virtual town halls,” he is quoted as telling the Scene. Virtual campaigning is becoming a popular solution for those running for office. Joe Biden — who is going to be the Democratic nominee after he overwhelmed Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday, spurring the latter to drop out — has been implementing virtual roundtables via live streams. Each of the “roundtables” cater to specific voter demographics. They also feature guests alongside Biden via remote video calls. “In some ways, this is the world that every digital person in every digital story you’ve ever written has said would come,” Biden digital director Rob Flaherty told BuzzFeed News. “We were just focused on getting him out there as soon as we could get him out there.” For President Trump, the halt on traditional campaigning is playing to his favor. As the sitting President, Trump’s coronavirus press conferences are broadcast daily and draw high ratings (averaging 8.5 million viewers). What stands in Trump’s way is the...
