www.belmontvision.com The student newspaper of Belmont University Vol. 60, No. 3 October 28, 2010 CONTENTS Halloween at Belmont ..............................................8 College of Law honors donors ...................................2 Seven days a week ...................................................9 Election 2010 politics as usual ................... ............ 3 New basketball season coming up ...........................10 SIFE team takes 3rd at World Cup ........................... 3 Eszell era begins for women’s basketball ..................11 Rose Park renovations on track ................................ 4 Men hope to build on last year’s success .................11 Bike sharing: This wheel’s for hire .............................4 Pierce Greenberg: Don Meyer at Belmont Nov. 9 .......12 Kathy Mattea’s new album is ‘Coal’ ...........................5 Bruiser: a job worth bearing ....................................12 Erin Carson: News saturation kills debate ..................6 Cage the Elephant .................................................13 Cassidy Hodges: Facebook, Apple protect my heart .....6 Eat your heart out: Fake dates with Cassidy & Kevin ..14 Hillsboro Village: pancakes, pop culture, popsicles ..... 7 Beat ‘n’ Track: Chase Foster ....................................15 Page 2 The Belmont Vision, October 28, 2010 College of Law honors donors By Dulce Torres Staff Writer The College of Law will be the newest academic addition to Belmont, bringing another professional degree to the university’s growing list of programs. The next step toward the law school came with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site – the corner of 15th and Acklen avenues – and the announcement that it will be called the Randall and Sadie Baskin Center. “This is the single largest commitment that I have ever made in my life,” said Randall Baskin, Brentwood-based founder of the Conti- nental Life Insurance Co. He and his wife are longtime friends of Belmont, and Randall Baskin has served on the board of trustees. The Baskins provided a $7-million leadership grant that will go toward the program and the building, which is expected to cost $32 million and will open in fall 2012. The first students will begin in Fall 2011 and will use other classrooms at Belmont while the Baskin Center is completed. Projections are for the school to have 100 students to start in 2011. Students will be added each year to reach a capacity of about 350. “They successfully will be creating a new law school in this state for the first time in many, many years,” Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “It is a very positive step for Nashville.” The city is also home to Vanderbilt University Law School, estab- lished in 1874, and Nashville School of Law, established in 1911. For the moment though, the school will not try to compete with other law schools. “Being a new school, we’ll have to work our way up the system,” Belmont College of Law Dean Jeffrey Kinsler said. “Nashville was a big draw for the law school because of a better lifestyle than bigger, crowded cities,” Kinsler said. “The Christian mission [of Belmont] has also been a plus.” The law school’s outreach for diversity shows 20 percent racial and ethnic minorities in admissions to date. Current admissions data also shows that 60 percent are female. Kinsler said he also expects signifi- PhotoS by Dulce torreS cant faculty diversity. “We don’t typically get international students but we will have Groundbreaking for the Randall and American diversity,” he said. Sadie Baskin Center marked the of- Kinsler said he’s confident in demographic studies that indicate ficial beginning for the building that that more lawyers will be needed in Tennessee. “The law school was will house Belmont’s College of Law. The day’s events included, clockwise designed to pick up the need now.” from top, a cake modeled after a To start, the law school will have a three-year program focusing on scale rendering of the facility; U.S. skills, practice, professionalism and ethics. Rep. Jim Cooper and Nashville “We plan to offer some concentrations that complements Belmont Mayor Karl Dean, who spoke at and Nashville, mainly entertainment and music business law,” Kinsler the ceremony; Randall and Sadie said. Baskin, donors and longtime friends The school will also have its own placement department, and it is of Belmont, for whom the building is named; and remarks by Jeffery Kin- already building relationships with law firms. sler, dean of the Belmont College “If anybody can handle legal education right, it’s probably of Law. The building is scheduled to Belmont,” said Rep. Jim Cooper, who represents the 5th District of open for students by Fall 2012. Tennessee in Congress. Hotels filling up for May 2011 By Kevin Heim Staff Writer When graduation rolls around this spring, Belmont seniors can expect to celebrate with over 1,500 Vander- Gimme sHelTer bilt graduates as well. The two schools share a May While hotels in the West End area 14 graduation date, which means the families of grads are heavily booked around the May could have a hard time finding a hotel room. 14 graduation ceremonies at Belmont The Marriott at Vanderbilt is already sold out for May’s graduation weekend. A spokesperson at the hotel and Vanderbilt, there are places to said they began taking reservations in June and filled up sleep just a few miles away. quickly. Several other hotels nearby are sold out as well. • Hilton Suites Brentwood; $131 and One of the few West End area hotels still taking reservations for that weekend is the Loews Vanderbilt. up; 615-370-0111 The cost is $499 per night for the right to sleep before • Hampton Inn Brentwood/ I-65 S; graduation in style. $118 and up; 615-373-2212 This unlikely confluence of graduations began more than a year ago when the academic calendars were set • Homewood Suites Brentwood ; $122 for both Belmont and Vanderbilt. and up; 615-377-3332 Luckily, the families of Belmont’s Class of 2012 won’t have to compete with Vanderbilt families for • Holiday Inn Express Brentwood; rooms. Vanderbilt is set to hold their commencement $99 and up; 615-221-5001 festivities the weekend before Belmont’s. The Belmont Vision, October 28, 2010 Page 3 Election 2010 politics as usual By Hilli Levin Staff Writer Tea party candidates like Christine O’Donnell and Carl Paladino have been picked on for Evenf i you aren’t interested in politics, chances are you’ve seen a large amount of media their often-surprising remarks. Similar stories on figures such as Nancy Pelosi and President coverage, from Fox News to “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” on the Nov. 2 midterm Obama have also gained traction. elections this year. Many Americans are noticing the increasing partisan divided. There are two ways to This rise in interest “seems to be driven by the Tea Party phenomenon and general frus- look at this partisan media trend of pointing out the worst of both parties, said May. Scholars tration with the government,” said Vaughn May, chair of the political science department at argue the country is either “losing civil discourse,” making it increasingly difficult to Belmont. discuss political differences, or this spectacle is driving more voters to the polls and gener- The midterm elections happen two years after every presidential election. This year, the ating interest in politics, May said. elections will decide all 435 seats in the U.S. House, 36 seats in the Senate, and 37 governor- As far as talking points for this election go, economic issues have been front and center, ships. he said. Social issues like unemployment, the national debt, and government spending are The “Tea Party phenomenon” began in 2009 as a conservative fringe movement that has also among the most popular issues, he added. been making strides among Libertarians and more conservative Republicans alike and has The elections are next week, and Republicans are projected to make gains. “It will turn driven out many moderate Republican candidates during this campaign. This sudden rise in out to be a good year for the Republican Party,” said May. “I think they will get the House, popularity has caused the media to scramble to cover this movement as it unfolds, and since but probably not the Senate.” it seems to be one of the most popular political movements in recent memory, the coverage May said that even though this election and the candidates have had their fair share of has kept increasing. media bombardment, it really doesn’t seem to be much different than in years past. SIFE team takes 3rd at World Cup By Erin Carson e ditor “Each team represented their own country’s culture It’s been quite a year for the members of Belmont’s by wearing native dress (for Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) team. In May, they won us, cowboy hats and cowboy the 2010 national championship, and this month they trav- boots), chanting and singing eled to Anaheim, Calif., where they represented the entire songs, and dancing,” she United States in the SIFE World Cup and finished in third said. “The ongoing theme of place. the competition was that the “This was an experience of a lifetime,” 2010 Belmont world is flat because from our graduate Wesley Rainer said. Rainer, with two other 2010 seats we could see Germany, grads and nine current Belmont students, took part as either Singapore, Brazil, Kenya, presenters or observers in the competition. They were one etc.” of 39 teams from around the world that participated in three “The whole experience rounds of competition. By the final round, only the U.S., from winning the national Egypt, China and India remained. competition to placing third SIFE is a non-profit organization that “works with in the world has been a whirl- leaders in business and higher education to mobilize wind and has surpassed all of university students to make a difference in their communi- our expectations,” Richardson ties,” according to their website.