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MISSISSIPPIAN T h e S t u d e n t N e w s pa p e r
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The University
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M i ss i ss i p p i | S e r v i n g O l e M i ss
Freshman orientation welcomes incoming students to their new home
KATIE WILLIAMSON | The Daily Mississippian
Zachery Newton, international studies major, leads incoming freshmen out of Fulton Chapel.
BY MICHAEL BORKEY jmborkey@go.olemiss.edu
Each summer, groups ranging from 300 to 400 incoming freshman flock to campus for two-day orientation sessions, which is an estimated 2500 students preparing for the fall semester. This time is dedicated to help make the students’ transition from high school to college a smooth one. “The main goal is to make them feel at home,” orientation leader Anna Marie DeLee said. “We want to make sure they know that they have a support system here who wants to help them succeed.” Among the things that the incoming students do at orientation are sign up for classes, attend various seminars that help them learn more about the offerings of the college experience at Ole Miss and small group exercises that help the students get to know each other. “In the groups we try to help them make a connection with each other,” DeLee added. “Since half of the student body is from out-of-
state, the connections and friends they make are that much more important.” With such a large out-ofstate population, Ole Miss presents students with a great opportunity to branch out and make connections with others in similar situations. “Being from the Midwest, I don’t really know anybody coming to Ole Miss,” said Anthony Heumann, an incoming freshman. “Orientation helped me a lot because I will now have some familiar faces around campus when I get here in August. It’s nice knowing other people coming here from all over the country, it kind of gives me a clean slate.” However, students aren’t the only ones being orientated this summer. The parents are also important to the orientation staff, as they need to feel comfortable with the decision their child has made for their college experience. “The parents need orientation just as much as the students do,” DeLee said. “It is important for us that the parents leave orientation with complete confidence that their kids made
the right choice. We want them to know that we will take care of their kids when they are here on their own.” The students and their parents are separated for most of the activities done at orientation. This allows the students to enjoy their first college experience on their own, while allowing the parents to see first hand that their kids are in good hands. “Orientation has been very informative to us parents,” said Tricia Meyers, a parent of an incoming freshman. “Experiencing this has helped me feel more comfortable leaving my child here. They’ve shown me first hand how they will support the kids, it’s been very nice for me.” The information they’re gathering isn’t the only thing that is important to the parents while attending their students’ orientation. The atmosphere at Ole Miss is also a big plus for them. “The delivery has been great, they have made it fun for everyone. The staff seems like they are having fun,” Meyers added. “I can really tell that they want the See ORIENTATION, PAGE 4
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A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
High court sends back Texas race-based plan WASHINGTON (AP) — Affirmative action in college admissions survived Supreme Court review Monday in a consensus decision that avoided the difficult constitutional issues surrounding a challenge to the University of Texas admission plan. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the court’s 7-1 ruling that said a court should approve the use of race as a factor in admissions only after it concludes “that no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity.” But the decision did not question the underpinnings of affirmative action, which the high court last reaffirmed in 2003. The justices said the federal appeals court in New Orleans did not apply the highest level of judicial scrutiny when it upheld the Texas plan, which uses race as one among many factors
in admitting about a quarter of the university’s incoming freshmen. The school gives the bulk of the slots to Texans who are admitted based on their high school class rank, without regard to race. The high court ordered the appeals court to take another look at the case of Abigail Fisher, a white Texan who was not offered a spot at the university’s flagship Austin campus in 2008. Fisher has since received her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the lone dissenter. “In my view, the courts below adhered to this court’s pathmarking decisions and there is no need for a second look,” Ginsburg said in a dissent she read aloud. Justice Clarence Thomas, alone on the court, said he would have overturned the high court’s 2003 ruling, See TEXAS, PAGE 5
A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
Blues Legend Bobby “Blue” Bland dies at 83
GRENADA, Miss. (AP) — Bobby “Blue” Bland, a distinguished singer who blended Southern blues and soul in songs such as “Turn on Your Love Light” and “Further On Up the Road,” died Sunday. He was 83. Rodd Bland said his father died due to complications from an ongoing illness at his Memphis, Tenn., home. He was surrounded by relatives. Bland was known as the “the Sinatra of the blues” and was heavily influenced by Nat King Cole, often recording with lavish arrangements to accompany his smooth vocals. He even openly imitated Frank Sinatra on the “Two Steps From the Blues” album cover, standing in front of a building with a coat thrown over his shoulder.
“He brought a certain level of class to the blues genre,” said Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, son of legendary musician and producer Willie Mitchell. Bland was a contemporary of B.B. King’s, serving as the blues great’s valet and chauffer at one point, and was one of the last of the living connections to the roots of the genre. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and was an influence on scores of young rock ‘n’ rollers. Born in Rosemark, Tenn., he moved to nearby Memphis as a teenager and became a founding member of the Beale Streeters, a group that also included King and Johnny Ace. Upon his induction, the Rock See BLUES, PAGE 4