| Monday, October 2, 2017 |
| Mississippi State team testing reliability of Army vehicles | |
 | Mississippi State University will play a major role in testing the performance, safety and reliability of U.S. Army ground vehicles. The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center has named MSU as the contractor for the second phase of the Simulation Based Reliability and Safety (SimBRS) project. The maximum budget for the contract is $79 million over five years, subject to project needs. The research will be led by MSU's Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems with support from other university units and outside entities. The MSU-led team will use its advanced modeling and simulation capabilities to design computer simulation programs aimed at predicting the reliability and safety of Army ground vehicles. |
| MSU's Amy Tuck recognized as distinguished alum at Starkville Academy | |
 | Starkville Academy has added a new tradition to its homecoming festivities. In addition to the pep rally, themed dress-up days and games, the school will now present distinguished alumni awards during the game. For the award's inaugural year, four SA alums will receive the awards Dr. Kristen T. Fyke, Dale Peay, Clay Richardson and Amy Tuck. Prior to receiving the award, Tuck, a 1981 SA alumna spoke to high school students about her career and her time as a student at the school. Tuck currently serves as vice president for campus services at Mississippi State University, and served two terms as lieutenant governor. In her address, Tuck encouraged SA students to further their education and become leaders. |
| MSU Lyceum Series continues Tuesday with Derik Nelson & Family concert | |
 | A talented musical family from the Pacific Northwest brings a repertoire of velvet harmonies to Mississippi State Tuesday for the university's next Lyceum Series event. Derik Nelson & Family will be featured in an Oct. 3 concert to begin at 7 p.m. in the Bettersworth Auditorium of historic Lee Hall. General admission tickets are $25 each; $20 for MSU employees and senior citizens; $10 for children and free for MSU students. Purchases may be made online at events.msstate.edu. Performing together since childhood, the trio also includes its namesake's siblings, Riana and Dalten. |
| Mississippi State landscape symposium brings new ideas to gardens | |
 | Home gardeners and landscape professionals attending the 62nd Ed Martin Landscape Symposium Oct. 18 at Mississippi State University will gain insights on native plants, water use and smart landscapes. The event lasts from 9 a.m. to noon at the Bost Extension Center at MSU. Registration is $25 until Oct. 1 and $30 at the door. The event is hosted by the MSU Extension Service and the Garden Clubs of Mississippi Inc. Cory Gallo, an associate professor in the MSU Department of Landscape Architecture, will explore the aesthetics of sustainable water management in landscapes. He will discuss capturing and reusing water and ways to integrate water into landscape design. Bob Brzuszek, an MSU Extension Service professor of landscape architecture, will share tips and techniques individuals can use to create smart and sustainable landscapes. |
| On the Record: MSU-Meridian | |
 | Video: WTOK-TV goes "On the Record" to explore MSU-Meridian with Administrative Director and Head of Campus Terry Dale Cruse. |
| Appointments, Resignations, Deaths (10/6/2017) | |
 | Jeremy Clay, interim director of the office of technology management at Mississippi State University, was named to the post permanently. |
| Deputy Director Beth Fleming, a Mississippi State alum, enjoying her career at ERDC | |
 | Thirty years ago, a senior chemical engineering student from Mississippi State University went to work in the hazardous waste lab environmental laboratory of what was then the U.S. Army's Waterway Experimental Station. Sept. 1, that student, now Dr. Beth Fleming, was named deputy director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. A Louisville native, Fleming said a cousin helped her get the student job at WES by giving her the name of a classmate who was looking for a student worker. "I made contact with him, and just really bugged him until he gave me a job," she said. She returned to school to get her bachelor's degree, and had several job offers, but her time at waterways was imprinted in her mind. So she came back to the ERDC because she enjoyed her time while in Vicksburg. |
| Library hopes events expand horizons | |
| On Wednesday the Starkville Public Library will host a presentation on Mississippi Archaeology Month with Mississippi State University professor Evan Peacock -- just one event the library is hosting to promote education through more than books. Peacock's presentation, "Why Archaeology Matters -- And What You Can Do To Help," will educate attendees about the archaeological heritage of Mississippi. He will bring with him displays of some archaeological artifacts and tools used during digs in the state, and some artifacts are on display now at the library. Like Peacock's presentation this week, the library hosts events where it invites presenters to come share their experience in their field of study with the community through seminars and talks. By hosting these presentations, the library hopes to provide a face-to-face opportunity to learn. |
| Aldermen to consider annexation study Tuesday | |
| Starkville aldermen may take the first step in a potentially lengthy annexation process Tuesday, if they approve going ahead with an annexation study. Consultant Mike Slaughter, of the Oxford-based firm Slaughter and Associates, presented plans for a potential annexation study to aldermen during a Friday afternoon work session at City Hall. Mayor Lynn Spruill said she wants aldermen to consider moving ahead with an study now in order to complete the annexation process before the 2020 census. She said she believes it is a way for the large number of people, including students who live near Mississippi State University's campus, who use Starkville's services to be accurately reflected in its population. Even if the city proceeds with an annexation study, Slaughter said the annexation process is lengthy and involves several steps. |
| Starkville schools score big at robotics competition at MSU | |
| Three local schools competed in the MS BEST Robotics competition hosted by Mississippi State University's Bagley College of Engineering's Department of K-12 Outreach on Saturday and two brought home top prizes from the competition. The competition was held at the Humphrey Coliseum on the MSU campus, with one half of the arena set up for competing and the other half designated as the "pit" where teams could repair and maintain their robots between rounds. Starkville Christian School, Starkville Christian Home Educators and Starkville High School were among the 23 schools competing in the competition. Starkville High School won first place in the competition. Bagley College of Engineering has hosted the event for 11 years. "This is our robotics day," K-12 Outreach Director Vemitra White said. "Just like game day, this is our robotics day." |
| Robotics Competition at Mississippi State | |
 | Mississippi State's Bagley College of Engineering hosts its' annual robotics competition. More than 500 hundred students from 23 school gathered at the Humphrey Coliseum on the MSU campus. Student built robots were timed as they ran through an obstacle course. The competition was open to public, private, and home school students. Organizer Dr. Vemitra White says she hopes the competition gives the students a glimpse into stem education at MSU while also providing leadership and sportsman skills. The competition is in its' 11th year. |
| Unity Park to honor two new civil rights contributors | |
| The Starkville Unity Park Advisory Committee will be accepting nominations for 2018 civil rights honorees beginning on Oct. 1 and continuing to Nov. 15. Unity Park was formed in 2014 in an area on Douglas L. Connor Drive beside the courthouse annex. It features plaques honoring Martin Luther King Jr., longtime physician and Starkville civil rights leader Douglas L. Connor, former Mississippi Gov. William Winter, Fannie Lou Hammer, Medgar Evers, and the 1963 "Game of Change" between Mississippi State University men's basketball team and Chicago Loyola's basketball teams -- the first time MSU played an integrated team. |
| Criminals, social media steal sense of safety at Bonita Lakes Mall | |
| A report of young men fighting and carrying guns at Bonita Lakes Mall in Meridian this summer sent some people scurrying for cover and many more to social media to lament crime at the mall. A review by The Meridian Star of four months of Meridian police responses to mall incidents found a few serious calls, however, most of the incidents could be encountered anywhere -- car burglaries, shoplifting and arguments over parking spaces. The Aug. 24 complaint was listed on the Meridian police report as an "unfounded call," and as a result was not reported by The Star. Meridian Police Chief Benny Dubose said last week there were no shots fired in the mall in this particular incident. So could social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter serve as an exaggeration tool more than an informational tool? "There's a lot of interest in fake stories," said Dr. Arthur Cosby of Mississippi State University's Social Science Research Center. "It's the same way rumors spread, except it does it quickly and with more people piling on if they tend to believe it." |
| Gas tax might not be unpopular for roads, bridges | |
 | A recent Millsaps poll rejecting the idea of increasing the gasoline tax might not mean Mississippians oppose a tax increase for road and bridge needs, one of the poll's sponsors and a leading advocate for spending more on transportation both agree. As a matter of fact, the Mississippi Economic Council cites four polls conducted between December 2015 and May 2017 showing majority support for "a plan that increased some taxes and fees to fund only fixing and improving our highways and bridges." The last MEC poll, conducted by Mason Dixon, finds Mississippians would support increasing some fees and taxes by an overwhelming 65 percent to 29 percent margin. Scott Waller, the interim chief executive officer of the MEC, said the Millsaps poll could be viewed as voters see roads and bridges as a priority and believe the motor fuel tax -- a user tax on those who use the roads and bridges -- should be solely directed toward transportation needs. |
| 'Religious freedom law,' House Bill 1523, will take effect Oct. 6 | |
| After more than a year of legal battles and national headlines, Mississippi's controversial House Bill 1523, often referred to as the religious freedom law, will take effect Friday, Oct. 6. On Friday, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied plaintiffs' request for a rehearing with the full panel of the Fifth Circuit. The plaintiffs had hoped to override the June decision in which a three-judge panel ruled unanimously that plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the law. Sunday's announcement validates this earlier decision. Gov. Phil Bryant, a vocal proponent of the law and the defendant in the two cases that challenged it before the Fifth Circuit, praised the court's decision. Although the law will finally take effect on Friday, the legal fight against it likely is far from over. |
| Analysis: Mississippi could have tough 2018 Senate race | |
 | Mississippi's most recent Republican primary for U.S. Senate was hard-fought and ugly, and it might be a preview of things to come in 2018. State Sen. Chris McDaniel came close to unseating longtime U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014 by portraying the Appropriations Committee chairman as a big-spending Washington insider who belonged to an out-of-touch political elite. Voters ultimately chose to keep Cochran, and his influence, for a seventh six-year term. After Donald Trump prevailed over U.S. senators and former governors in the 2016 Republican presidential primary and ultimately won the White House, McDaniel supporters see renewed momentum for an outsider candidate. |
| State's federal delegation praises GOP tax overhaul framework | |
| Guidelines for tax reform released last week by the White House and congressional leaders are winning praise from most of Mississippi's federal lawmakers. President Donald Trump's administration and key committees from the U.S. House and Senate have released a set of guidelines that sketch out a rough draft of legislation intended to overhaul the federal tax code for both individuals and corporations. Both of Mississippi's senators have indicated support for the ideas found in the document. Rep. Trent Kelly, who represents north Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, released a statement of support to the Daily Journal. Rep. Gregg Harper, of the 3rd Congressional District, and Rep. Steven Palazzo, of the 4th Congressional District, have both indicated support for the ideas contained in the document released last week. |
| Critics pan USDA plan to move food safety work to trade office | |
 | A Trump administration plan to shift work on international food safety issues to a trade office under the supervision of a former animal-drug company executive is sparking an outcry from internal and external critics who say the move signals the U.S. is more interested in promoting exports than in science-based public health standards. Current and former officials from both the Agriculture Department and the FDA have been raising alarm internally and publicly about the plan to take the office away from the USDA's public health arm and give it to the agency's newly created trade arm. At stake, they say, is the country's status as a global leader on food safety and quality. "I'm not so worried about my health being endangered," said Richard Raymond, undersecretary for food safety at USDA during the George W. Bush administration, who penned a recent op-ed arguing against the change. "I'm worried about the image." |
| Trump lashes out at Puerto Ricans after mayor's criticism of administration's relief effort | |
 | From the comfort of his New Jersey golf resort, President Trump lashed out Saturday at the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the ravaged island's residents, defending his administration's hurricane response by suggesting that Puerto Ricans had not done enough to help themselves. Trump's Twitter assault, which began early Saturday and lasted until evening, was set off by criticism from Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who on Friday had criticized the federal response since Hurricane Maria's Sept. 20 landfall. The president's comments were a breathtaking and racially inflected swipe at residents who have labored for more than a week to survive without electricity, running water, food or medical supplies. |
| Mass shooting leaves more than 50 dead, 400 wounded on Las Vegas Strip | |
| A gunman opened fire on an outdoor country music concert from a Mandalay Bay hotel room late Sunday, killing at least 50 people, injuring more than 400 and sending the Las Vegas Strip into chaos. The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. As officers entered the suspect's room, 64-year-old Mesquite resident Stephen Paddock died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, police confirmed early Monday. Sheriff Joe Lombardo said officers found 10 rifles in Paddock's room, where he checked in at Sept. 28. The attack came during the last performances on the final night of the three-day Route 91 country music festival, which has been held for the past four years on a 15-acre lot on Las Vegas Boulevard across from Mandalay Bay. |
| Las Vegas shooting: Country music stunned by mass shooting at Route 91 Festival | |
 | The country music world took to social media in early Monday to express grief following a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip left at least 50 people dead. Singer Jason Aldean was reportedly on stage when a "lone wolf" gunman opened fire on stage Route 91 Harvest Festival held at the Mandalay Bay Casino. He confirmed is safety via an Instagram post. "Tonight has been beyond horrific," Aldean wrote. According to the festival's website Aldean was Sunday evening's headliner, Jake Owen, Big & Rich and Kane Brown also performed earlier in the day. But the shock was not limited to those present for the shooting. |
| Landshark wins in landslide in mascot vote at UM | |
 | Eighty-one percent of students voted in support of changing the official Ole Miss mascot from the Black Bear to the Landshark, the Associated Student Body announced Friday night. More than 4,100 students voted in the OrgSync poll over a four-day period that ended Friday evening. ASB President Dion Kevin III said he was pleased with the outcome of the poll. Kevin said that while the ASB expected the majority of voters to support changing the mascot to the Landshark, it was surprised by not only the level of support but also the total turnout. In order for the Landshark to become the official mascot for Ole Miss, university officials would have to agree to the change. |
| Rod Paige to deliver fall lecture at Delta State | |
 | The Delta State University Colloquia Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series continues this semester featuring Rod Paige, the former United States Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush. Paige's speech, titled "The Future of Higher Education in America," will begin at 6 p.m. Oct. 10, in the E.R. Jobe Hall Auditorium on campus. Paige served under Bush from 2001-2005. During his tenure, he helped create the No Child Left Behind Act, which was based in part on his work as superintendent of the Houston Independent School District. After the measure was signed into law in January 2002, Paige oversaw the new law's implementation. Delta State President William N. LaForge established the colloquia program when taking office in 2013. The platform is an ongoing series of top-flight lectures and addresses featuring prominent speakers. William F. Winter, former Mississippi governor, was honored as the first speaker in 2013. |
| South Mississippi is getting a major research center for diabetes and obesity | |
 | The 12th Annual Cleveland Clinic Obesity Summit has long been held in Ohio, but this year a live simulcast originated both in Cleveland and Biloxi. The two-day summit on Thursday and Friday at the Jeff Davis Campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College drew about 130 healthcare professionals to learn more about obesity, diabetes care and preventive strategies. Another 400 participated in Cleveland. The CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Delos "Toby" Cosgrove, came to the conference in Biloxi in part to see the facilities under construction at Tradition in Harrison County to research and treat diabetes. Gov. Phil Bryant, who spoke at the summit Friday, had proposed the idea of a center working to reduce obesity and diabetes in the state. Four buildings are now under construction at Tradition: a clinic in partnership with Memorial Hospital, a Nursing and Simulation Center for MGCCC, a pharmacy school and a facility for an osteopathic medicine program, both at William Carey University. |
| Mississippi students ignorant of civil rights movement | |
 | The civil rights movement was once a footnote in Mississippi social studies classrooms, if it was covered at all. Then, in 2011, Mississippi became a "model" for other states when new social studies standards set an expectation that students learn civil rights in depth. But despite those new expectations, most school districts in the state where the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till mobilized black Americans still use textbooks that give local civil rights milestones short shrift. An analysis of Mississippi public school textbooks by the Hechinger Report and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting shows that, for at least some grades, all of the state's 148 school districts rely on textbooks published before the model standards appeared as part of their social studies material. At the local level, however, motivated teachers are scrambling to fill the gaps between materials available at school and the standards they're expected to meet. |
| Mississippi gets $15 million for new charter schools | |
| Charter schools could grow more rapidly in Mississippi, fueled by $15 million over five years that the U.S. Department of Education awarded to the state Thursday. The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board plans to use 90 percent of the money to subsidize the startup of new charter schools over the next five years. The money could help the state lure experienced charter school operators who so far have largely shunned Mississippi, or approve local independent applicants who might not otherwise be able to raise enough money to open. Charter board Executive Director Marian Schutte called the grant "a tremendous stimulus to Mississippi's nascent charter school sector." Mississippi would get $4.2 million in the first two years, with the remaining money contingent upon congressional appropriations. |
| Students, officials talk urgency of AU Alerts after Tiger Transit assault | |
 | A recent sexual assault incident reported on a Tiger Ten weekend late-night bus has created a discussion about when Auburn University students receive emergency alerts -- and when they don't. The university's department of Campus Safety and Security issues AU Alerts as emergency notifications and "timely warning" emails for non-emergency situations of which the campus should be aware. Campus Safety did not send out an AU Alert after the alleged rape on the bus earlier this month. "AU Alerts go out for urgent, official notifications," said Chance Corbett, interim director of Campus Safety and Security. "Typically, when we have an emergency, it's something that is a threat or something they need to take immediate action to do." Some students say they wouldn't mind being alerted for more types of incidents. |
| LSU to require freshmen to live on campus next fall... with some exceptions | |
 | Most LSU freshmen will be required to live on campus starting in the fall of 2018, the school announced Friday. "The research shows that students who live on campus in their freshman year do much better academically," said Steve Waller, assistant vice president for residential life and housing. Waller also said he does not expect lots of pushback over the new rule, which includes a variety of exceptions. "We are the only public school in the state of Louisiana that does not have a residency requirement," he said. The requirement will be the first of its kind since the 1970s and one that is sure to have an impact on LSU area rentals. A freshman class of around 5,000 is expected in 2018, which means freshmen on campus would grow by around 900 students. |
| LSU announces task force to revamp Greek life, root out dangerous behavior | |
| Two weeks after LSU fraternity pledge Maxwell Gruver was declared dead after a night of drinking at the Phi Delta Theta house, school officials have created a task force to review policies governing fraternities and sororities with an eye on eliminating dangerous behavior. "Many of our Greek organizations represent all that is good about our university. They volunteer, fundraise for charities and provide opportunities for students to make lifelong connections that extend far beyond their time at LSU," President F. King Alexander said in a statement Friday. "However, a small minority of these groups engage in behavior that undermines all these benefits, and that will be identified and discontinued." While an investigation is still pending into Gruver's exact cause of death, LSU officials have sharply signaled they want a culture change as it relates to Greek life. |
| U. of Florida resident dramatizes surgery in 'Grey's Anatomy' | |
 | In the season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy" on Thursday, a patient is rushed into the hospital after being in a car accident. The patient is on a gurney, and to his side is Dr. David Hall, performing chest compressions and making his television debut. Hall, a fifth-year surgical resident in the University of Florida College of Medicine, was a medical communications fellow for the 14th season of "Grey's Anatomy." He worked on the first 10 episodes with writers and medical consultants, and he makes a brief appearance on screen performing CPR on that patient. "It was really fun," Hall said in an interview Friday. "It was the culmination for the scene that I helped develop and write." When working on "Grey's Anatomy," the show's writers will structure and write episodes but leave spaces for doctors consulting on the show to create medically plausible scenarios. |
| U. of Missouri System officials tackle resolving diversity issues | |
 | Since the fall of 2015, when the University of Missouri launched a system-wide campaign to show it intended to be more diverse and inclusive in response to Columbia campus protests over racial issues, the system has become slightly more ethnically diverse but the campus has not. When black students in an organization called Concerned Student 1950 disrupted the Homecoming parade and camped on Carnahan Quadrangle, they made up 7.3 percent of the largest student body in school history. This year, according to the official enrollment figures, black students are 6.8 percent of a campus that has contracted by 13 percent. The white student population remains unchanged at just under 77 percent of the student body, with increases in Hispanic, Asian and students listing more than one race. The university is working to improve the climate for all students and to do that it will study the data for direction, Chancellor Alexander Cartwright said. |
| U. of Missouri Police annual report shows on-campus reports of rape tripled from 2014-2016 | |
 | Reports of on-campus rape tripled between 2014 and 2016, according to the University of Missouri Police 2017 annual report released Wednesday. In 2014, there were six reports of rape on campus. In 2015, there were 12. Last year, there were 19, according to the report. MU Police Lt. Kevin Rogers said the increase might be because students are more comfortable reporting the crimes to authorities. "We hope that students are comfortable reporting these incidents to either the police department or security authorities such as the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX," Rodgers said. Reports of stalking and domestic violence also increased during the same time period, according to the report. |
| Inside the Free-Speech Case That Caught Jeff Sessions' Eye | |
| In his speech at Georgetown University this week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would begin intervening in public colleges' handling of disputes over free speech. And first on the administration's agenda is a lawsuit against Georgia Gwinnett College, a public regional institution that enrolls about 12,000 undergraduates in Lawrenceville, Ga., about 30 miles from Atlanta. The Justice Department has filed a brief supporting the complaint of a student who is suing the college over his claim that its policies and practices prevented him from religious proselytizing on campus. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative advocacy group, is representing the student in court. While other campus conflicts have captured nationwide attention in recent weeks, the Georgia Gwinnett case focuses on basic principles of both free speech and religious expression. |
| Louisville faces 'perfect storm' of academic problems and sports scandals | |
 | In 2012, the University of Louisville was invited to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, a prestigious appointment that put the school in competition with athletic and academic powerhouses, such as Duke, the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia. That school year, the men's basketball team coached by Rick Pitino won the NCAA national championship, the football team won a BCS bowl, and the baseball team made the College World Series. On the academic side of campus, President Jim Ramsey was riding a swelling endowment and building new academic buildings and student housing, completing U of L's transformation from a small, private commuter school into Kentucky's second major research university. Five years later, there's hardly a corner of that campus free from crisis. |
| Body language says volumes for students | |
| Angela Farmer, an assistant professor of educational leadership at Mississippi State, writes: "Sometimes it is difficult to hear what a student is saying because his behavior is speaking too loudly. Comical as this may sound, student behaviors can tell a lot about his interest. Students come to school with a myriad of background experiences, including life lessons, parental context, academic exposures, athletic aptitudes and even tragedies. What educators must process, in addition to ensuring that they focus on academic outcomes, is each student's history. In order to realize this academic promise, however, many times layers of nonverbal barriers must be acknowledged and unpacked in order for a space to be cleared for learning to occur." |
| Quickie budget hearings produce few surprises | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: "The Legislature's quickie budget hearings produced few surprises last week. Schools, colleges, and universities, as usual, asked for lots more money while legislators, as usual, focused on holding down spending. One unusual aspect, compared to recent history, was the absence of a looming budget cut due to revenue shortfalls. State tax collections for the first two months of this fiscal year are 10% higher than last year and 4% ahead of the revenue estimate. Last year, the state collected millions less than expected and suffered three mid-year budget cuts by Governor Phil Bryant. Tempering this good news was the continuing outlook for slow revenue growth due to what state economist Darrin Webb called the state's 'lackluster' economic performance. Fitch and S&P ratings also project 'relatively slow' economic growth." |
| MDE hard-pressed to explain contracts, purchasing | |
| The Clarion-Ledger's Geoff Pender writes: "Mississippi education officials have thus far been hard-pressed to come up with reasonable explanations for glaring problems with contracts and purchasing uncovered by two governmental watchdog agencies and the media. Last week, both State Auditor Stacey Pickering and the state's legislative watchdog 'PEER' committee blasted the Mississippi Department of Education and vowed further investigation into its contracting and purchasing. Their reports raised questions of cronyism, obfuscation, violations of state procurement laws and regulations and lack of anybody at MDE or the state Board of Education giving a flying flip about it. Prior media reports had already raised the cronyism and flying flip questions. So far, the explanations from MDE have been of the 'nuh-uh, 'taint so, nothing to see here' variety and, 'whoever did that is no longer here and a dog ate the paperwork.' Explanations from the board have been nonexistent -- odd, given serious issues have been raised over spending of millions of taxpayers' dollars under its watch." |
| All things ancient | |
| The Dispatch's Birney Imes writes: "While most of us would declare the study of Latin and Greek terra incognita, Bob Wolverton would argue vehemently otherwise. Wolverton, 92, professor of classics at Mississippi State University, has been a regular traveler in the ancient world since he was a ninth grader in Shelbyville, Indiana. There, after enduring two years of industrial arts in the seventh and eighth grades and facing more of the same ('I was awful at it.'), Wolverton saw Latin as a way out. He still waxes nostalgic about those high school encounters with the ancients. ...Since 1977, when he was hired as v.p. for academic affairs at MSU, Wolverton has held forth on the classics, first as an administrator, then professor and now as an instructor and revered elder." |
SPORTS
| The secrets of SEC football's alternate uniforms | |
 | Ideally, the delivery truck pulls into campus a couple weeks before the truck's contents will be used. Sometimes though the truck arrives just in the nick of time, the day before the game. The delivery guys begin unloading stacks of cardboard boxes, each containing alternate uniforms to be worn by that Southeastern Conference school's football team. A hundred to 150 sets of helmets, jerseys, pants, socks, cleats and more. Specially made for one specific game. Tradition is a big part of college football's appeal. That's certainly the case in the SEC, where many teams' uniforms today look much like they did 30 years ago or even back further. Many SEC fans like it that way. Tradition can be comforting and compelling, but sometimes it can start feeling like a museum and any brief deviation can be fun. And young people -- including current SEC players and teenagers being recruited for future seasons -- often enjoy a flashier, more contemporary look. As Mississippi State assistant athletic director Lee VanHorn puts it, "Usually new swag is good swag for players. As long as it's something new and fresh and not the same jersey they wore last week, usually it excites them." |
| Mississippi State women face bigger bull's eye entering season | |
| Nearly everything has worked out like Vic Schaefer thought it would. When he was hired to replace Sharon Fanning-Otis as Mississippi State's women's basketball coach in March 2012, Schaefer talked about building a program. He discussed the initial "sense" he and his wife, Holly, had that there was a hunger on campus and in the state to create a title contender in a sport that hadn't attracted much attention or been consistently competitive in the Southeastern Conference. Schaefer talked about working hard and selling the program. He even referenced the great baseball movie "Field of Dreams" and modified one of its iconic lines to describe the potential he believed MSU possessed when he said, "if you build it, they will come." Schaefer finished his comment by saying, "We're going to win here, and there's no doubt about it." It's telling to look back on the road Schaefer and his program have traveled in that time as MSU prepares to kick off its 2017-18 season. |
| Bulldogs turn in spirited effort in first practice | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball got the 2017-18 season underway with a spirited three-hour workout in Humphrey Coliseum. Vic Schaefer's Bulldogs began the workout with individual post and guard work on each ends of the court in Mize Pavilion. The Dawgs then made the move to transition work before switching to the main arena floor to work on shooting drills from various spots on the floor. "I liked the way we ended with our conditioning. Our kids went hard, and as we get in better shape, things will clean up a little bit," Schaefer said. "I told them before we started that I want to see people compete and come to the top. I'm hopeful every day someone is going to step up and make me want to play them." The Bulldogs open the season Nov. 10 against Virginia in the second half of a doubleheader with the men's team. That contest tips at 8 p.m., |
| Kyle Field water pump under review after brief shutdown during South Carolina-A&M game | |
 | Workers continued Sunday to investigate what caused a water pump at Kyle Field to malfunction during an Aggie football game, briefly sending fans outside the stadium to use the restroom. The restrooms were shut down for less than 25 minutes as crews resolved the issue by switching the water pumps from an automatic to a manual setting, according to officials. Social media exploded when an announcement was made at the game between Texas A&M and South Carolina that fans would need to leave the stadium to find a bathroom in a nearby building. Typically, reentry is not allowed to the stadium once a person leaves, but fans were allowed access with their ticket. Karen Bigley, communications manager for finance and operations at Texas A&M, said testing will continue this week to make sure the upcoming game doesn't see a repeat of the problem. |
| Auburn president: Report claiming end of Jay Jacobs' tenure 'inaccurate' | |
| A report claiming that Auburn is moving toward ending Jay Jacobs' tenure as athletics director is inaccurate, Auburn University president Steven Leath told the Opelika-Auburn News in a statement late Friday night. Kevin Scarbinsky of AL.com reported Friday evening that Leath and the board of trustees held a conference call to begin laying plans to remove Jacobs from the position he has held since Dec. 22, 2004. "The report is innaccurate," Leath said. "Jay Jacobs is the Athletics Director, and I have had no such conference call with the Board of Trustees." Auburn's athletic department is in the midst of a tumultuous few months that have seen pair of separate scandals in two different sports. |
| Athletes, band members find ways to protest during anthem | |
 | When members of teams across the National Football League knelt during the national anthem before their games on Sept. 24, it was a defining moment for the protest against racism and police brutality started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last year. It also raised a question: Would the movement, which had gained more steam than ever before -- thanks, in part, to President Trump's tweets lambasting it relentlessly -- spread to college athletics? Over the last week, coaches of football teams across the country fielded questions about kneeling, institutional policy and where they stood on the issue. For the most part, college teams are in the locker room during the anthem, so there isn't an opportunity to protest. At the same time, at least one college issued an order for players to stand during the anthem. |
| Might 'death penalty' be on the horizon for Louisville basketball? | |
| After the University of Louisville men's basketball team was linked to a widespread kickback scheme that federal officials have been investigating, as the U.S. attorney for New York revealed last week, the public pondered: Would the program, one of the top performers in the country, be killed? The National Collegiate Athletic Association hasn't imposed the "death penalty" on a Division I program since 1987, when the football team at Southern Methodist University was punished for repeated violations over a number of years, including payments to players. But Louisville, at least on the surface, seems to fit the basic criteria -- multiple significant violations of NCAA rules -- for a competition ban, which usually lasts at least one season. It's the most severe punishment the NCAA can hand down. Former NCAA officials and experts offered mixed assessments of whether the association has maintained the clout to carry out the death penalty now, or whether Louisville's indiscretions would even warrant it. |
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