The Belmont University bookstore is selling items relevant to the election and the Belmont presidential debate, which took place in Belmont's Curb Event Center on October 7.  Available items include Belmont Debate '08 T-shirts, shoulder bags, bumper stickers and notecards, as well as Barack Obama's and John McCain's books, The Audacity of Hope and Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them.

Students gathered in Belmont's Neely Dining Hall today to hear the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus give her speech entitled "How would Jesus vote?"

Belmont students gathered in the Beaman Student Life Center tonight to watch Swing Vote, a movie starring Kevin Costner as the man whose single vote will determine the outcome of a presidential election.

Belmont students and faculty gathered in the Beaman Student Life Center today for a convocation event titled "Faith-Informed Political Science," in which a panel of three political science professors discussed what role their Christian beliefs play in their ideas about politics.

Belmont University is a student-centered Christian community according to the school's mission statement. 

There are more than a dozen active Christian ministry organizations on campus including Campus Crusade for Christ, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. 

At Belmont, a predominantly Christian school, many students are outspoken about their religious beliefs.  But these beliefs don't necessarily determine student opinion on the presidential candidates.

In a mock presidential election held at Belmont on Tuesday, John McCain emerged victorious.  But out of more than 5,000 undergraduate students at Belmont, only 143 turned out to vote.  McCain won the mock election by nine votes.

Deana Claiborne, a former president of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, spoke to Belmont students and faculty about women's suffrage and the importance of registering to vote for the upcoming election.

Claiborne discussed the history of women's suffrage, explaining the importance of figures like Susan B. Anthony and Molly Todd, the founder of the League of Women Voters of Nashville.

Belmont students gathered tonight in a Jack C. Massey Business Center classroom to watch and discuss Man of the Year, a comedy starring Robin Williams as a comedian who runs for President of the United States.  The viewing was hosted by Belmont's James Madison Society, an organization that promotes understanding of political issues.  The event was followed by a discussion lead by political science professor Dr. Nathan Griffith. 

Belmont University hosted the Official Debate '08 Block Party from noon to 6:30 p.m. today in celebration of tonight's presidential debate.

Locals comprised most of the crowd though the event was intended primarily for Belmont students, faculty and staff.

Supporters of both parties came to the Block Party, but Obama supporters outnumbered fans of McCain.

With the Belmont University town hall presidential debate tonight, the campus has undergone major changes.

Some Belmont University students are excited about the presidential debate taking place on their campus this Tuesday. Others feel inconvenienced by the extra security measures or excluded from the event because Belmont has scheduled fall break to coincide with the debate.

Most Belmont students are leaving campus today for fall break, which the Belmont administration scheduled to coincide with the presidential debate.  Those students who stay on campus who are not official debate volunteers will be locked down in the residence halls for several hours the day of the debate.

Ken Burns, an Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award winning documentarian best known for his films "The War," "Jazz," "The Civil War" and "Baseball" visited Belmont University this week and gave a "Telling the American Stories" lecture Thursday night.

On Wednesday morning, he conducted a question and answer forum with a group of Belmont students and faculty. He also granted an interview to Belmont Vision reporters, in which he talked about the pros and cons of the college generation and feelings about the current election.

Founder of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, John L. Seigenthaler, and his son John M. Seigenthaler, an award-winning journalist, spoke on the significance of new technology in media coverage of the presidential election to a Belmont audience on September 26. The Belmont Vision covered the lecture.