Recently freed from a Nicaraguan prison, former magazine publisher Eric Volz visited Belmont University Thursday to speak to journalism students on the subject of “Media Ethics.” Volz, the stepson of former Belmont Associate Dean of Students Dane Anthony, offered a brief lecture on his experiences and took questions from the students for more than an hour.
Volz was accused of the 2006 murder of ex-girlfriend Doris Jiménez and served more than a year in a maximum security prison in Nicaragua before an appeals court overturned his conviction in December. Due to repeated threats on his life, Volz has remained in hiding since his return to the United States, but in a meeting with local journalists yesterday afternoon, he said, “If you stay in hiding forever, then they’ve won.”
He added that he chose Belmont for his first academic appearance on the subject due to the strong support he and his family received from the university during his imprisonment, especially noting a fundraising concert held last January. Volz’ future plans include the re-launch of his Web site to “generate dialogue around topics that matter and… address cross-cultural misunderstandings.”
For more on this story, visit the media coverage of Volz’ press conference below:
The Tennessean
NewsChannel 5
WSMV Channel 4
