In our generation, we like to think we’re rebellious, so we’ve thrown norms and things we’ve been told are proper out the window. We want to turn the world on its head. We’ve got tattoos and piercings; we wear mohawks; we dye our hair in all the colors of the rainbow; we cuss, we chew, we date people who do.

So it is. The end of another semester, another year. It is hard to believe we’re here again, and that I’m here, writing a final column. This has been a good gig for me- a job I chose in an effort to make myself write more often, outside of papers and Blackboard discussions of course. I wanted to get in the habit of putting down what was going on around me. I think it’s been a good habit- a kind of semi-therapy. Here at the end, though, there are a few questions I still have- about the past year, about Belmont, about life in general. Feel free to mull over these this summer when you think of dear Belmont.

Terry White, director of Belmont’s Office of Campus Security, addressed the issue of sexual assault.

Sexual assault is obviously an unconventional topic for both the Vision and the Belmont community. I have been a student here for three years and I don’t recall there ever being a dialogue about this subject. Until this story idea came up, I had no idea what resources were available on campus in case it ever happened to me or one of my friends.

While the campus crime reports do not reflect rape on Belmont’s campus, this act of violence often goes unreported because of the stigma it carries.

Corner Court bustles with activity on a Monday morning. Bleary-eyed students try to jolt themselves awake with a cup o’ joe, but it’s not Starbucks coffee these students are in line for; it’s Rumba Roast, a fair trade organic coffee sold – for now – by Belmont University’s SIFE team and Conexion Americas.

As the 2008 presidential elections draw closer, David Beckmann and Bread for the World hope that the U.S. government provides more leadership in the fight against hunger.

Belmont’s Student Government Association, in partnership with Hands on Nashville, brought together more than 150 students for the annual Bruin Den Day.

On November 14, 2007, Regina Spektor collapsed on stage at the Ryman Auditorium during her sound check. The Russian-born anti-folk pianist was rushed to Vanderbilt where she was treated for an ear-infection that caused vertigo, but wasn’t able to perform that night—much to the chagrin of the hundreds who turned out to see her.

When the band was founded in 2001, it is highly unlikely that anyone in De Novo Dahl expected that seven years later they would be signed to one of the most prolific metal labels in the business. Considering that Roadrunner Records is filled with bands named things like “DevilDriver” and “Cradle of Filth,” it would surprise anyone that a quirky pop quintet from Nashville would be anywhere near their radar.