Tennessee delegates to display Belmont Debate08 pins, stickers during Roll Call
In anticipation of hosting the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate on Oct. 7, Belmont University is taking to the floors of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The night before the respective candidates at both conventions accept their nominations, delegates from Tennessee will don Belmont University Debate08 stickers and lapel pins. Representatives from Tennessee will introduce the state as the host site of the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate at Belmont University before Tennessee’s roll call at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. The Democratic National Convention is taking place in Denver this week, and the DNC Roll Call is scheduled for today between 4-6 p.m. Central (3-5 p.m. Mountain). The Republican National Convention follows next week in Minneapolis, Sept. 1-4.
“The national conventions have long been viewed as the kickoff into the final stretch of the election season,” Belmont President Bob Fisher said. “It is an appropriate venue for Belmont to make its first push on the national stage as the eyes of the world turn from the conventions to the series of presidential debates. As host to the first presidential debate to ever be held in Tennessee, it is something we are glad our citizens and delegates are celebrating with us.”
Signs of the debate have been popping up around Nashville for several months. When travelers arrive at Nashville International Airport they are greeted by Debate08 Welcome signs in baggage claim. Billboards, banners throughout downtown Nashville and the Belmont campus and a 45’x12” banner adorning the university’s bell tower tout Belmont’s role in the 2008 election.
“Our goal is to be sure that the whole world knows that a town hall debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.,” Fisher said. “We are proud to have received this honor and hope to instill that same sense of pride in our students, alumni and friends throughout Nashville and the rest of the country.”

Featured lecturers include Michael Bérubé, Daniel Frick and Masood Raja
As part of Belmont’s year-long programming to celebrate the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate, the School of Humanities will be hosting its seventh annual symposium Sept. 7-15 based on the topic “Debate, Dissent and Dialogue.” Focusing on the nature of argument and language in discourse, especially political, the symposium will feature talks by Family Professor in Literature at Pennsylvania State University Dr. Michael Bérubé, Marshall College Writing Center Director Dr. Daniel Frick and Belmont alumnus and current Kent State University faculty member Dr. Masood Raja.
The Humanities Symposium seeks to fulfill the classical definition of what a symposium should be: a gathering of friends for the purpose of intellectually stimulating conversation on a matter important to humanity, time and place. More than 20 academic lectures and special events will be held during this year’s eight-day symposium, including the viewing and discussion of two recent films, the William Wilberforce biopic Amazing Grace and the Edward R. Morrow-inspired Good Night, and Good Luck.
Assistant Professor of English Dr. Bonnie Smith, who also serves as director of Belmont’s Writing Center and helped with symposium planning, said, “Debate, dissent and dialogue are three quintessentially human activities relevant to the life of our students and community not just in the ‘here and now’ of an election year. Rather, debate, dissent and dialogue are acts of compassion essential for members of a free society. Our symposium will invite deeper conversations about the nature of debate, suggest that dissent is a patriotic deed, and provide opportunities for students, faculty and staff to dialogue on an array of issues related to film, philosophy, literature, politics, history and language.”
Bérubé—who will speak Thurs. night Sept. 11 and participate in a panel on Fri., Sept. 12—is the author of six books to date as well as the editor of The Aesthetics of Cultural Studies and, with Cary Nelson, of Higher Education Under Fire: Politics, Economics, and the Crisis of the Humanities. He has written more than 150 essays for a wide variety of academic journals such as American Quarterly, the Yale Journal of Criticism, Social Text and Modern Fiction Studies as well as more popular venues such as Harper’s, the New Yorker, Dissent, The New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, the Nation and the Boston Globe. His book Life As We Know It was a New York Times’ Notable Book of the Year for 1996 and was chosen as one of the best books of the year by Maureen Corrigan of National Public Radio.