I used to live adjacent to Vanderbilt and know the school well. I can't say anything about this person, but some oddities about he university that may be relevant here.
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The school is closely tied to Saudi Arabia's Aramco. The school of engineering has a program with Aramco that admits about 150 kids every year. They all live separate from the other students. Same buildings, but all arab floors. The ones I met were not at all radical types. Very nice people who genuinely enjoyed being in America. I saw it as a really positive cultural exchange.
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There is a huge underground animal/primate medical research facility that is an open secret on campus. It used to be jokingly known as "Gee's Monkey House". Tons of undergrads worked there as research assistants. A regular college ID with authorization could get you inside. No special security. It just wasn't talked about much because animal research is not popular everywhere.
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The school has its own on campus power generation facility that is not connected to the nashville grid. Its fossil fuel based and the exhaust is piped somewhere pretty far from campus. I have no idea where exactly. A tornado wrecked Nashville in the late 90s and took power down in the city for a week. Vanderbilt's campus was the only place in the city with electricity.
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The medical school is FAR more important to the administration than all of the other programs combined.
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It is located exactly adjacent to Music Row where all of the major studios recorded a majority everything(not just country) for 50 years. These studios are not so important now that everything is digital.