NEWS PAGE 4 | THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN | 30 September 2013 | NEWS
Lott Leadership hosts high school debate tournament
TYLER JACKSON | The Daily Mississippian
A high school debate contestant prepares for his round Friday afternoon.
By KENYA ASHBY kiashby@go.olemiss.edu
This past weekend, the Lott Leadership Institute hosted a high school forensics tournament on the campus of The University of Mississippi. Three hundred twenty-eight students from 24 schools participated in the two-day event. The tournament was comprised of several categories including events in the interpretation of literature, limited preparation speaking, storytelling and various styles of debate. The tournament allowed students to “break down speech topics and literature and create arguments with them,” according to Director of Forensics JoAnn Edwards. “The speeches were based on research and required a lot of practice and rehearsal,” Edwards said. “The competitors
were then evaluated by judges who determined their strengths and weaknesses in communication.” Edwards emphasized that the weekend was a successful recruitment tool. “The tournament is not only a valuable recruiting tool for the department, but also allows students to get to know and engage with the campus,” Edwards said. Win or lose, Edwards believes the success of the event cannot be reduced to scores. “The main point is to encourage these students to be better communicators and to make them better advocates for change,” Edwards said. Currently, the Stennis Center at Mississippi State University and the Lott Leadership Institute at Ole Miss are the only two collegiate programs in the state that host high school speech and debate tourna-
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ments. Mississippi State University holds a novice tournament, which is aimed at freshmen. Edwards said Ole Miss hosts the only full-scale tournament in the state that incorporates people in a variety of events, not just novices. In addition to awards given for excellence in singular events, competitors and schools compete for sweepstakes and scholarship awards. The Rose Bui Memorial Scholarship, an individual sweepstakes award, is given to the student who does the best in three events in memory of a deceased team member from Biloxi. Schools who have the most students advancing to final rounds of competition are honored with sweepstakes awards. The top school receives the the Glenn Menna Traveling Sweepstakes Award named in honor of Glenn Menna, the former Director of Forensics at Lawrence County High School. Madison Central High School received this year’s Menna Sweekstakes Award and Israel Lyons of Hattiesburg High School was honored with the Bui Award for individual excellence.
CELL,
GREEK,
Lewis Hall is notably one of the few campus buildings not indicated as having its own highspeed wireless access, despite the presence of such access in all the surrounding buildings. Other such buildings are the Turner Center, Paul B. Johnson Commons and the Ridge North Residential Hall. “There’s a particular spot on campus, right near Alumni Drive, where I lose reception completely sometimes. I mean, calls drop, and I can’t even call people back until I drive far enough away,” senior art major Elizabeth Wilson said. The university’s Wireless Network Access home page notes that some buildings have undergone complete hardware upgrades to extend and improve wireless services, courtesy of the Office of Information Technology, and progress will continue throughout the year. Despite day-to-day service issues, campus inhabitants now no longer have to worry about poor service on gamedays. Stealth poles have been installed in the Grove as part of the university’s DAS project, which refers to a Distributed Antenna System contracted by the university with a company called NextG Networks. A DAS is a vendor-neutral network of antenna nodes that are designed to promote and support high cell bandwidth use and capacity needs within one specific area. Such systems have been installed in airports, shopping centers, cruise ships and sports arenas with great success. The DAS addresses cellular service but not Wi-Fi, though there is the possibility of further additions to improve Internet capabilities in the future. As of November 2012, the university’s Department of Facilities Planning reported that DAS covering the Grove, the Circle, Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and the Ford Center is complete and fully functioning.
both active and potential members in our organization because we understand that you don’t have to break down a person to ‘better’ them.” “Behind the Campus Walls” also highlights political figures who came from the Greek system, namely former president George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Trump and other figures. Total Frat Move writer BlutarskyTFM responded with an article regarding fraternity life shortly after the release of the documentary. With colorful language, the author begins by stating the documentary is an attempt on Iran’s part to undermine the reputation of the United States. The writer said filming at Ole Miss must have been “a bit of a culture shock for those freedom haters.” He also said the Grove on gameday is “a pretty great mix of both tradition and debauchery.” The TFM believes that the Iranian response to this documentary of Greek life will be positive. When it is viewed, people in Iran will see “fraternity men having a great time surrounded by attractive women.” At the conclusion of the TFM documentary review, the author at TFM states that the descriptions of fraternity life given by the Iranian documentary are “a pretty accurate explanation of what fraternities are all about. Access to alcohol, majestic houses and top-secret networks built upon alumni relations.”
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