Feature www.belmontvision.com The student newspaper of Belmont University Vol. 56, No. 15 May 1, 2007 Miss USA returns! After becoming only the second Miss Tennessee to go on to earn the title of Miss USA, Belmont’s own Rachel Smith found time between a Letterman appearance and ribbon cuttings to greet old Belmont friends and faculty at a Curb Café special event, complete with red carpet. p. 2 A&E A family calls for justice Eric Volz, a Nashville native and stepson of former Belmont associate dean of students Dane Anthony, is currently serv- ing 30 years in a Nicaraguan prison for a murder that his family and thousands of others say he didn’t commit. Meanwhile, his story garners national attention and outcry in the press in support of an appeal to his case. p. 12 Sports Displace Me Belmont students joined thousands of other Americans across the country at one of 15 “Displace Me” sites, theis one in Hendersonville, on Saturday, April 28. Participants, each carrying only a water bottle and a box of saltine crackers, spent the day and night mimicking life in a Ugandan refugee camp. They made huts out of cardboard boxes and deco- rated them. The event was part of the nationwide Invisible Marathon Man Children movement, which aims to promote aware- Despite the impending weight of final exams ness about the civil war in Uganda and urge the and commencement gown fitting, Vision senior U.S. government to help stop the conflict. The writer Eric Detweiler found time to run in his event culminated a week of awareness at Belmont first-ever marathon, The Music City Marathon which included a screening of the documentary on April 28. Along the way, he discovered the finer points of declining Vaseline on Popsicle film “Invisible Children” and a fundraising dance- a-thon. Last year’s Global Night Commute, which PHOTOS BY CHRIS SPEED sticks and having certain limbs chewed on by People from across the region gathered on a field in Hendersonville to set up a toothless moose. imitated the lives of children in Gulu, Uganda, had makeshift refugee camp, top, and to watch a series of movies about life in p. 14 80,000 participants. Ugandan displacement camps. The movies were shown as a part of “Displace News See full story, pg. 11 · Me,” a nationwide effort to raise awareness of human crises. Campus housing faces squeeze By Liz Hunton STAFF WRITER Residence life did not give out more draw times than rooms available, Donovan said. For the first time, Belmont does not have “Belmont should be our The problem was a gender issue. enough housing spaces for male residents, home, and if we can’t There were enough spaces for all students and with a larger incoming freshman class, feel secure in our own that needed rooms, but more of the spaces residence halls will be pressed for space. were women’s rooms. There were not Hot, hot, hot! There are 16 male students without rooms home, then that’s a enough rooms for men, Donovan said. This Saturday, Belmont will offer a unique respite for its for fall 2007. Residence life monitored the housing students clamoring for an exam study break with Fiesta problem.” Belmont, Nashville’s largest Latin street fair which falls “We know that we are going to be able to selection process, and by the second day of on Cinco de Mayo (May 5). Attendance and parking are house those 16 students that are still waiting the draw they thought there might be a prob- free, and all festival-goers are required to pay for is their for housing. We know that…because we Marcus Haslam lem, Donovan said. Housing ran out the last own food, which a variety of vendors specializing in ethnic anticipate the number of cancellations will be freshman, entrepreneurship night of the draw. selections are happy to provide. greater than those 16,” said Anthony “Men generally tend to be later in the p. 19 Donovan, director of residence life. process. They tend to wait until the last Online These students are currently in a waiting dents, not including incoming freshmen, to minute to do things,” he said. queue called My Temporary Home, Donavan apply for housing, which would have put “There were some guys who went said. They should know their housing assign- them well under their limit. But, they got through the housing process and didn’t sign Check out www.belmontvision.com for: ments around May 15, the cancellation dead- 1,230, Donovan said. up when they had a chance to use their draw MORE STORIES line. They assigned each student a draw time times, and they decided to do it late in the Those 16 males will be put in available based on his or her credit hours. Students last night of the draw, and there weren’t • SISTER HELEN PREJEAN, author of “Dead Man spaces. Residence life will try to honor stu- were to go into the online-housing selection spaces available for them,” he said. Walking,” addresses death penalty issues. dents’ original roommate requests, but that at their specified time and choose an avail- Oliver Hughes, 19, a freshman from • ALCOHOL ABUSE growing problem on U.S. may not be possible, he said. able room to live in for next semester. Kansas majoring inSeemusicHOUSING,business,pagedid n8ot· college campuses. Residence life expected 1,170 current stu- Housing selection was March 22 and 26-29. Page 2 The Belmont Vision, May 1, 2007 What’s next? By Adaeze Elechi SENIOR WRITER Smith’s primary passion is education. “I have such respect for educators and When December grad Rachel Smith was education in general because you can’t get last seen on campus, she was wearing the anywhere without a great education,” Smith same black cap and gown as a few hundred said. other about-to-be alumni. When she returned But the 21-year-old beauty queen realizes in late April, she wore a designer suit created that as much as she may love education, her just for her and a crown with a value of a calling is not to be a teacher in a classroom. year’s tuition. “I don’t think I have the patience to be a Smith, who won the Miss USA 2007 title teacher,” Smith said. over 50 competitors March 23, experienced But in journalism she found a way to the campus welcome in the Curb Café, combine her interests and her passions. which she entered via a red carpet on the day “I have always been fascinated with tele - President Bob Fisher proclaimed “Rachel vision, film and the entertainment industry,” Smith Day.” Smith said. “And when I combined [that “[It’s] emotional,” Smith said in an inter - with education], I got journalism.” view with Harry Chapman, Belmont’s direc - Last fall, Smith became the managing tor of development. “It’s so good to be back. editor for The Belmont Vision. Belmont is my family and my biggest fans and supporters.” The “product of NBC and Donald Tuning in Trump,” as she calls herself, voiced her plan for the year as Miss USA in line with the advice she has received so far: Rachel Smith, Miss USA 2007 and a “I have been given a lot this year,” Smith December ’06 journalism grad said. “What won me the crown was my from Belmont, will compete for the humility and gratitude. I just can’t lose sight of being humble and grateful for the opportu - title of Miss Universe later this nity I have been given.” month. The event will be televised That opportunity became official as live from Mexico City at 8 p.m., Smith, a Clarksville, Tenn., native and the Monday, May 28, on NBC. daughter of Rodney and Beverly Smith, rep - resented Tennessee in the Miss USA pageant on NBC with a worldwide audience watch - ing as she was in the top 15, the top 10, the “She’s so pleasant to be around,” Jacklyn top 5. Then there was one. Tara Conner, Johnston, Vision editor for fall ’06, said. Miss USA ’06, placed the tiara on Smith’s “[She] always had great ideas for the paper.” head and her yearlong journey as pageantry Smith graduated in December at the end royalty suddenly began. of the fall semester. She got to educate her “It was like one minute I was shopping at campus and work with other students who TJ Maxx and the next, I had designers make were interested in the same thing as she was: clothes for me…and people ask me who I’m informing people. Smith recalled her experi - wearing,” Smith said. “I don’t think [the ence as managing editor for a semester. novelty] will ever wear off.” “It was an absolute pleasure…I feel very Smith’s journey to this crown began some honored to say that I worked as the manag - way back, when she was a toddler. Her ing editor for The Belmont Vision,” Smith PHOTO BY AMY KADISH Miss USA 2007 and former Belmont student Rachel Smith is welcomed back father and grandmother entered her for a said. “I have so much respect for the [facul - onto campus by students and faculty. Upon her arrival, Dr. Bob Fisher mall pageant. ty] advisers for the Vision , Angela Smith and proclaimed April 19 Rachel Smith Day. “They had me in some thick white stock - Linda Quigley. They constantly pushed me ing, some patent leather shoes, in some to be my best.” hideous little dress with my hair in pigtails,” Smith encountered this form of motiva - Smith said.