by Madeline Smith | Apr 24, 2015 | News Slider
Even though Lipscomb students are accustomed to being around heroes, thanks to the Yellow Ribbon program, encountering the man who killed 9/11 terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden is something unusual and memorable. Former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill, who claims he was the one who fired the fatal bullets at bin Laden during the storming of the terrorist’s compound in Pakistan, came to speak with Tom Ingram for Lipscomb University’s Nelson & Sue Andrews Institute “now that you ask” series Thursday night in Stowe Hall in the Swang Business Center. The hall was filled of members of the Lipscomb community, as well as the Nashvillians who came to hear from the man who was involved in such missions as the rescues of Marcus Luttrell, Captain Richard Phillips and the killing of terrorist bin Laden. O’Neill recounted where he was on 9/11, the difficulties of training for the SEALs and his feelings on being the one to kill Osama bin Laden. O’Neill is a part of the elite SEAL Team Six, and has been a part of over 400 missions in his 16-year career with the Navy SEALs. Three of his missions have been turned into blockbusters “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Captain Phillips,” and “Lone Survivor.” “Captain Phillips was good but not very accurate,” O’Neill said. “Zero Dark Thirty did a good job of portraying the CIA portion of the mission, but Lone Survivor was the most accurate movie.” O’Neill is a bit of a controversial topic for the Navy, after revealing — despite instructions otherwise — that he was the one to shoot bin Laden. Although the Navy has publicly criticized O’Neill for revealing private information, he said...
by Janice Ng | Mar 5, 2014 | News Slider
Former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has done it all. Tuesday night, Bredesen spoke at the most recent “now that you ask…” conversation series hosted by Tom Ingram. Lipscomb’s Shamblin Theatre was full of attentive students and community members listening to Bredesen talk about his early life and career. During his term as governor, Bredesen tackled education, finance and health care in Tennessee, establishing large financial reserves, a statewide Pre-K program and a children’s health insurance program. Bredesen was also mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999, during which he recruited the NFL Tennessee Titans and the NHL Nashville Predators. However, before Bredesen accomplished those tasks, he started out on a track quite far away from politics. “I wanted to be a forest ranger,” Bredesen said. “In high school, I had no interest in politics at all. But when JFK became president, I realized that politics was something that good people could do, and make it good.” Bredesen then recalled his interests shifting from forest ranger, to geology, to physics. “When Sputnik was launched, I thought it was a sign that I should go into the sciences,” Bredesen said. “The hard sciences are a good field to go into.” Bredesen got into Harvard College “almost on a whim,” where he studied physics. “Growing up near Cornell University and Columbia, I always thought I’d go to one of those colleges, but I applied late to Harvard and ended up getting in,” Bredesen said. When Bredesen finally became involved in the political world, the losses seemed more than the wins at the beginning. “There were a lot of losses, but I learned a...
by Brianne Welch | Nov 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
Lipscomb president Randy Lowry sat down with Tom Ingram for the newest installment of the “Now That You Ask…” series Tuesday night, shedding light on his time as president of the university. President Lowry is the 17th president of the school. He has been the president for the past seven years, and in his tenure, student enrollment has increased by 82%. Before coming to Lipscomb, Lowry had only visited once before. “I had heard of it, but I really didn’t know much about it,” Lowry said. Since Lowry became the president at Lipscomb, there have been many changes to the way things are done. Lowry was asked how he has succeeded in making so many changes to the institution. “Well, enrollment had been down for several years, the budget had been adjusted for each of those years, and what I think we found was a community that was really hungry for a new future, a new level of engagement, a sense of success,” Lowry said. “So, a little bit of hunger gives you the opportunity as a leader to move things fairly quickly.” Lowry went on to talk about some of the changes he is the most proud of and what else there is to do at Lipscomb. “I’m proud of our engagement with the community. When I arrived it seemed to me we were a little comfortable in Green Hills and a little removed from whatever was going on in the life of the city,” Lowry said. “People encouraged me to engage, and the city has been so responsive to us.” Lowry said that while he believes that...
by Erica Aburto | Oct 2, 2012 | News Slider
Lipscomb will host a debate watch party Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 7:15 p.m. in Shamblin Theatre, welcoming the first of three debates this month between incumbent Barack Obama and Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. The watch party is free and open to the general public. Pizza and refreshments will be provided, along with political insight by a panel of experts. Before the debate begins, attendants will be polled on relevant issues, submitting their answers using “clickers.” Afterwards, political experts will advise the attendants on what to look for in the remainder of the presidential race leading up to the election. After the panel of experts informs the audience about what to look for, the debate will be shown at 8 p.m. Jim Lehrer, host of NewsHour on PBS, will be moderating the debate live from the University of Denver. The debate will focus on domestic policy, with the moderator opening each of the six segments with a question and allowing each candidate two minutes to respond. To conclude the debate watch party, a political panel of experts will discuss and analyze the candidates’ performances throughout the debate. The panel will consist of former Chief of Staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Senate Republican Policy Committee member Tom Ingram; former congressional candidate and now Chief of Staff to Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) Lisa Quigley, and a Lipscomb student voter. Photo courtesy of the Associated...
