by Cory Woodroof | Oct 2, 2012 | News Slider
A sprinkler in the High Rise dormitory was briefly activated late Tuesday night, creating an evacuation situation for the hall’s residents. A sprinkler on the fifth floor flooded the floor’s hall and reached the stairwell, sending water down the stairs into the basement and rooms of a few first floor residents. High Rise resident T.J. Ojehomon relayed the details of the accident. “We had an incident where a gentleman on the fifth floor apparently hit his sprinkler,” Ojehomon said. “When you hit one individual sprinkler with enough pressure, it will signal an emergency and go off until the fire department gets there, so we had several guys throughout High Rise trying to move the water that was flowing.” Kim Chaudoin, director of University Communication and Marketing, said she spoke with Lipscomb Security and Safety and offered these details. “There was some minor flooding, more accurately water accumulation, on the fifth floor where the sprinkler broke,” she said. “Water went down stairs to get in some rooms in the basement and first floor. … It’s a bit of a mess for the boys whose rooms got some water in them, but most of the dorm is OK. No problem with anyone sleeping there tonight.” Ojehomon said that saving the students’ belongings was a top priority. “[The water] pretty much took out all of [the resident’s] clothes, which we’re trying to save right now by washing them in the laundry room, but all of his clothes were soaked and ruined. A lot of his electronics could be damaged.” According to Ojehomon, around 30 to 40 High Rise residents helped and continue to help...
by Emily Snell | Sep 20, 2012 | News Slider
A former student, who was wanted for an on-campus burglary that took place in February, was arrested on campus Thursday morning. Around 10 a.m., Lipscomb Security recognized Shaun Immanuel Saunders, 27, thanks to a “be on the lookout” alert related to his previous offense. Hunter Patterson, a May graduate who happened to be on campus, witnessed the event. “I was in the amphitheater and saw two Lipscomb security guards escorting a restrained individual across campus,” he said. “They were about to go through the square, it looked like.” Saunders was turned over to Metro Police officers soon after. His bond was set at $25,000. According to an affidavit from Metro Police, Saunders had not attended Lipscomb for a year prior to the burglary. The report said surveillance video from Feb. 16 showed Saunders in the student center and then showed him in a classroom, stealing an iMac computer. He also appeared on surveillance video with the iMac and a flat screen TV near the loading dock, where he was putting the items in a silver vehicle. This is the second arrest that Metro Police, with help from campus security, has made on campus within the past seven days, including a man who was arrested on campus Saturday afternoon for public intoxication. Brad Wyatt, director of security, said in his five years at Lipscomb, campus security has never needed to call Metro onto campus for an arrest prior to this week. Continue to follow Lumination as this story develops. Sydney Poe, Nicolette Carney and Cory Woodroof contributed to this...
by Emily Snell | Aug 27, 2012 | News Slider
Two armed Campus Security and Safety officers are on patrol during every shift this semester. Brad Wyatt, director of security, and Phil Ellenburg, Lipscomb’s general counsel, said the university has been working on the arming process for a few years. “For the last five years, we’ve been really intentional about upgrading all of our security and safety, emergency planning, everything across the board for the institution,” Ellenburg said. “We’re trying to improve and increase our professionalism. Over the last five years a lot of improvements have been made, but over the last two years, we’ve had a very intentional process where we’ve done several things, and the arming component was a part of that whole process.” Ellenburg said there weren’t specific events that prompted the decision to begin the armed patrols over the summer, rather it was “a normal step in enhanced service.” Wyatt said Lipscomb’s security and safety department, in recent years, intentionally has been hiring officers who would fit the qualifications for an armed officer. The department created a “Security Officer II” position, which requires an advanced security background for example as a police officer, military police officer, armed hospital or prison security officer. Wyatt and Ellenburg said all of the university’s security officers are licensed with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, which handles both unarmed and armed security licensing. “Our internal policies as far as training and standards for officers are a lot higher than the baseline for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance,” Ellenburg said. In addition to licensing, Lipscomb hired a security expert from the Boston area to analyze the campus...
by Nicci Carney | Aug 25, 2012 | News Slider
Record-setting enrollment, the start of a new semester and changes to overflow parking have students concerned about the on-campus parking situation. Most of the overflow parking lot at Stokes Elementary School has been closed for Lipscomb parking, and the closest parking lot near the campus is at Lipscomb Academy’s football field, 10 minutes away from campus. Students affected the most by this change are the upperclassmen, commuter students. Lipscomb senior Gillian Pulley said she is not happy about how parking has been managed since she has been a student here at Lipscomb. “I feel like parking should not be as bad as it is,” she said. “As an upperclassmen, I don’t want to park 10 miles away or 10 minutes walk away from campus.” Students say parking far away from campus is not only inconvenient, but at night, it can become an issue of safety. “When I leave campus and come back late at night, I can’t find parking near my dorm, and I have to park very far away,” said freshman Michaela Canter. Junior Daniel Cal said the move from Stokes to the high school football field could result in even more difficulty getting to school on time. “We already had a far walk [from Stokes],” he said. “Now that we are at the football field, it’s that much farther. If you’re already late, then it makes it that much harder.” Kim Chaudoin, director of University Communication and Marketing, sent emails to students and faculty announcing the sudden changes to parking and updating the Lipscomb community mid-week. “Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we...
by Cory Woodroof | Aug 16, 2012 | News Slider
Student complaints about parking on campus–already one of the hottest topics at Lipscomb–will likely grow even louder when students return to class Monday without the normal amount of overflow parking available in the Stokes lot. Lipscomb officials announced late Thursday that most of the parking at Stokes, located on Belmont Boulevard, no longer will be available for university students and faculty, and instead those cars will be directed to park by the Lipscomb Academy high school football field lot and take shuttles to class. “For the last several years we have been fortunate to be able to use the parking lot at the Stokes Elementary School property while that facility is not being used by Metro Nashville Public School system,” wrote Kim Chaudoin, director of University Communication and Marketing, in an email. “However, due to an unexpected and sudden decision by Metro Nashville, only a small portion of that lot will be available for Lipscomb’s use this fall.” The high school football field, located at Caldwell and Lealand lanes, will be the new source of overflow parking, and shuttle buses will be available to transport students to campus. The shuttles will be available every 15 minutes for those parked at the football field in the mornings from 7-8:30 a.m. and in the afternoons from 4:30-5:30 p.m. The shuttles will pick up students at the football field’s ticket booth and will drop off at the by Allen Arena. During other hours of the day, a shuttle will be available every 30 minutes. The university is asking all students that arrive on campus after 8 a.m. to park at the football field. The university email said the buses...
