Lipscomb alumna, Cyntoia Brown released from prison

Lipscomb alumna, Cyntoia Brown released from prison

Lipscomb alumna Cyntoia Brown — the subject of debate and outcry about the unfairness of her sentence — was released Wednesday morning from Tennessee Prison for Women. Former Gov. Bill Haslam granted Brown clemency at the close of his term in January of this year. In 2015, Brown, now 31, earned an associate’s degree through Lipscomb’s LIFE program, which brings traditional and non-traditional students together for classes at the Tennessee Prison for Women. In May, she graduated with a bachelor of professional studies degree, majoring in organizational leadership. Brown is a Nashville woman whose case sparked national attention to the human sex-trafficking epidemic, due to the controversy surrounding her sentencing. At age 16, she was convicted of aggravated robbery and first-degree murder. Brown’s defense argued that she was forced into prostitution after a life of abuse. In her testimony, Brown described being picked up for sex by Johnny Mitchell Allen, a 43-year-old Nashville real estate agent. In her trial, Brown said she believed he was reaching for a gun and intended to do her harm, so she felt threatened and shot and killed Allen in what she says was an act of self-defense. Her age at the time of the sentencing was a hot topic for activists. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles violate Eighth Amendment prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment. Brown’s original sentencing was that she will eventually be eligible for parole, but not until she’s 67 years old. Brown has displayed gratitude for the educational opportunity offered by the university and the prison system. “I want to thank those at the Tennessee...
Lipscomb’s HumanDocs film series continues quest to educate

Lipscomb’s HumanDocs film series continues quest to educate

To co-curator Ted Parks, Lipscomb’s documentary screening series HumanDocs means far more than an earned chapel credit. Now, students who attend an installment of the series, typically nestled in a time-friendly slot on a Wednesday night, do earn a credit, but like most chapel opportunities, the impact goes far beyond the met requirement. The HumanDocs film screening series aims to teach its attendees about issues facing our world through the art of the documentary, which fits right in with the genesis of the documentary form. “My sense is that documentary has always been a form that has had an alternative distribution to commercial film,” Parks said, “and it’s always, from what I know about it, been used to raise consciousness about issues.” Parks says that at the beginning of the documentary, filmmakers were more able to pursue the issues and topics that they were passionate about because of the leniency of not working within the confines of commercial requirements. “Documentary filmmakers are not in it to make a buck,” Parks said. “They’re in it because they want to tell a story that they think will impact the world, and I really like that part of documentary film in contrast with commercial filmmaking.” Parks, an associate professor, said that HumanDocs was born out of his Hispanic Cinema class. He would have students volunteer at the Nashville Film Festival as part of the course, which got Parks wondering if Lipscomb could forge a more formal bond with the festival. “I wanted to try to develop a closer relationship between Lipscomb and the Nashville Film Festival, so talking to my colleague and...