“You can’t go home again.” That’s the old saying. I went back to Lipscomb today. Went to University Bible and had lunch on their food court. My friend Dustin was in town. I hadn’t seen him in several years. We were at Lipscomb together. And during our tour we were reminded about how old we were. Ten years ago in 1993 we entered Lipscomb as freshmen. While the rest of these kids were 8 years old. Just entering 3rd grade.
University Bible is some kind of hybrid Bible class and chapel combined. All takes place in the Allen Arena. And nobody is taking notes. They’re just sitting there like its a typical chapel. Makes me wonder how hard the final exam is on it. Or if they even have a final exam.
So the history goes, David Lipscomb gave his farm to use as a Bible college. There is a clause in there that says all students must have chapel and a Bible class everyday. If they don’t, the farm reverts back to the Lipscomb family, which I’m sure would develop it for a cattle farm. In the middle of Green Hills.
So students take Bible and chapel everyday. On the schedule, you’re in Bible for 5 hours a week, but only get credit for 2 hours for some odd reason.
Changes? Fundamentally nothing has really changed much. The kids are still preppy. Thursdays mean everyone wears Greek letters on their shirts. Someone should remind them that they’re not part of a real fraternity, only an imaginary frat otherwise known as a social club. The word “fraternity” is equated to social drinking by Lipscomb’s definition.
The kids are walking around with backpacks and seem to be overly concerned with fickle things. Like whether or not AIM works on Lipscomb’s network.
The facilities have changed. Allen Arena is nice. But at the same time they haven’t done anything with the Burton Bible Building. I have been told they are going to tear it down and make a fine arts building. Then build another Bible building elsewhere on campus. There are some strange proceedures on Lipscomb campus. Like the McFarland building. It was built with government funds, so therefore no Bible classes can be taught there. Whild Ward lecture hall (attached to McFarland) was built with donated funds. So therefore they are able to have Bible classes there.
On the food court, Dairy Queen is gone (I still miss it), yet Pizza Hut is still around. Only this time with cinnimon bread and breadsticks. I wish they had that when I was there. Sub Connection is there for all your pseudo Subway needs. Why can’t they belly up some money and get a real life Subway or Jersey Mikes in there? I can remember during my senior year taking my lunch to class. Eating a sub sandwich in Systems Analysis. I also remember having a mouthfull of sandwich when a professor asked me a direct question in regards to the class discussion. All I could do was sit there and swallow a whole bite and attempt to answer the question. During my senior year Lipscomb didn’t give me room for lunch. So I managed to squeeze it in during the 15 free minutes after chapel before and during class.
Like I said before, my freshmen year at college were some of the best prolonged time in my life. Things never rally were the same after our freshmen year. We tried to recreate the magic during the sophomore year. But you can’t prolong it. Whatever past is past. As if the classes somehow get harder or students just get more and more jaded.