[Video] High Rise evacuated because of flooding after pipe bursts, classes cancelled

[Video] High Rise evacuated because of flooding after pipe bursts, classes cancelled

Around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, the High Rise dormitory on Lipscomb’s campus was evacuated after a pipe had burst on the first floor. As of 7:47 a.m., High Rise has reopened to residents. All classes at the university are cancelled until this evening. The 5:00 p.m. block of classes will take place as scheduled. President Dr. Randolph Lowry says he was informed of the situation around 3:30 this morning. “I am so pleased how our campus has responded to it,” Lowry said. “This is a very complex campus. Students have been great. Very sorry to mess up their night, but we will have free Starbucks in the campus center for all High Rise residents.” “The key administrators were here quickly,” he said, “and we believe we have covered the contingencies and will be back to normal shortly.” From Lipscomb’s main website: Update 6:25 a.m. At 1:45 a.m. this morning a water pipe near High Rise Dormitory ruptured and has affected water service to parts of campus and will continue to do so at points during the day as we work to resolve the issue. We are very sorry for the inconvenience. For the safety and comfort of our students we are making the following accommodations: University classes are cancelled until 5 p.m. Evening classes will take place as scheduled. High Rise residents will be able to retrieve necessary belongings on an escorted and as-needed basis. Faculty/Staff offices are open. Employees are to report to work as usual. Please note: When the total water system comes back on, fire alarms will be activated. To guarantee safety, please observe fire safety...

Recapping the severe weather from March 2, 2012 with your photos and videos

NASHVILLE, TENN – On Friday, Mar. 2, the National Weather Service, along with the local news stations, warned the mid-state of the potential for severe weather. The meteorologists’ predictions were nearly spot on as the storms produced several tornado warnings as well as numerous severe thunderstorm warnings. Many students and faculty were advised to seek shelter on on campus, waiting out the storms in basements, closets, interior hallways and the backs of parking garages. Once the threatening storms had passed and the university had given the all-clear, those same students and faculty documented what the storm left behind. The following is a slideshow compromised of TwitPics, Instagrams and Facebook photos that those folks posted throughout the afternoon and evening. The following video is from Lumination correspondents Caitlin Selle and Kelly Dean. Check back with Lumination throughout the weekend for more on the storm such as videos, more pictures and other content. Until then, feel free to work backwards through the storm by following what our updates looked like today. Lumination would like to thank those that contributed to this story. [From 12:30] National and local weather experts are predicting severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes for Nashville and much of the Southeastern United States today. [UPDATE: 4:36] Severe Thunderstorm Warning still in effect for Northern Davidson County until 5:15 p.m. NashSevereWx Downtown: it’s not over. More intense thunderstorms coming, hopefully not as bad. Williamson Co continues to elude the worst of it. 3/2/12 4:33 PM [UPDATE: 4:25] All clear for now in the Nashville area. Loving the tweets, everyone. Keep them coming. Find the link at the bottom of the...

Commentary: Filling the seats of the stars

O.K., so I’m sitting there and here comes Keith Urban. And Eric Church … and, well, it’d be easy to lose count after spending the evening of Nov. 9 as a seat-filler at the 45th annual CMA Awards here in Nashville. Freshman Megan Anderson and I were two lucky Lipscomb students, among students from other schools, chosen to be seat-fillers because of our involvement in CMA EDU, a country music program that meets monthly on campus. Several hundred seat-fillers met outside Bridgestone Arena where their IDs were checked, and they were given wristbands and directions for the night. Of course, the purpose of seat-fillers is simple: to fill the seats.  Those seats are empty when the stars go onstage to perform or to present awards, so our job was to keep the arena looking filled up for network cameras. A group of aisle-fillers wore pink wristbands, and the seat-fillers wore blue wristbands. Each group was assigned a general area to sit or stand throughout the show unless they were separately asked to go somewhere else. Megan and I sat in the back-upper section of the arena with a clear view of the main stage. About eight rows in front of us was a small stage, where several artists such as  Church, Urban, Chris Young and Scotty McCreery performed throughout the night. As seat-fillers, we weren’t allowed to bring phones or cameras to the show to be as professional as possible. Going from watching the CMAs on TV to seeing it live on stage is amazing. Megan and I couldn’t believe our eyes. The biggest country award show I watch every year on TV,...

Bonnaroo, Tennessee’s 21st century Woodstock

Tennessee has always had a reputation as a place to hear great music. I know this well: I grew up in Memphis. In Memphis, it was common to see Elvis impersonators around the city. In fact, Presley’s home, Graceland, is the second-most visited house in the country behind The White House. And if you are looking for he real flavor of the city, stroll down Beale Street and listen to classic blues music no matter what time of day. Going to school at Lipscomb in Nashville has provided me with yet another type of music experience. And it’s not just the difference between Memphis blues and Nashville’s country music scene. While Memphis is a city known for its musical heritage, Nashville is known for its musical present, a place where where people from all over the world come to break into the music business. And it’s not just country music; it’s also rock, pop and more. However, in the last nine years Tennessee has garnered a reputation for another kind of musical experience: the music festival.  Oh sure, there’s the big CMA festival here in Nashville, but that is an outgrowth of the long-time Fan Fair country music festival. The type of music festival I’m talking about here is one word that has come to describe an experience: “Bonnaroo.” That modern — rock, hip-hop, country and more — music festival takes place only 50 minutes away in Manchester, Tenn. What began as sort of a jam-band celebration in 2002 has evolved. In its ninth year has become one of the biggest and most diverse music festivals in the world....

Elaine Kamarck speaks on America’s broken government

SWANG (LN)- Author, Lecturer of Public Policy, and creator of the Clinton Administration’s National Performance Review, Elaine Kamarck spoke to students and faculty during the Pizza and Politics Series on April 8, 2010 at Lipscomb University. Kamarck spoke on the topic: Is American Government Broken Beyond Repair: Jobs, Religion, and the Great American Recession. “The United States government has always struggled to be functional,” Kamarck said, after addressing whether our country is actually broken. Kamarck made points about how people had changed America as we know it today. Harry Truman was able to make the Marshall Plan, a plan for the United States to rebuild and create a stronger economic foundation for the countries of Western Europe, even though he was “not in good shape” as a president. Another person Kamarck mentioned was Rachel Carson, who (in the vernacular of the time) was considered an “old maid” from Maine with a low level job.. She did not have much going for her in life. She wrote a book called Silent Spring, which helped jump-start the environmental movement. “Wow, sometimes the power of an idea moves powerful people,” Kamarck said. “The founding fathers would be pleased with these stories. They wanted a country in which things happened in all sorts of different ways.” These improvements happened because an unpopular president enforced changes, or because a lowly woman wrote a book on environmental changes. Kamarck spoke highly of America and seemed to have hope for our country. Having a career in government and politics, Kamarck worked for the White House from 1993 to 1997. She helped to create the Clinton Administration’s...