The
S TUDENT P RINTZ www.studentprintz.com
SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927
September 11, 2012
Volume 97 Issue 5
NATIONAL
USM ranked among nation’s top universities Tyler Hill News Editor The University of Southern Mississippi was ranked by Washington Monthly magazine as one of the top 100 universities in the nation. Southern Miss came in on the list as No. 69, surpassing public college rivals Mississippi State (No. 96) and the University of Mississippi (No. 196). Jackson State University ranked highest in Mississippi as number 47 on the magazine’s list.
Last year, USM was listed in the top 20 most popular universities in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Now, Southern Miss continues the streak of garnering national attention by receiving a good ranking. Washington Monthly’s rankings are based on three factors: social mobility, research production and commitment to service. The first factor, social mobility, “gives colleges credit for enrolling many low-income students and helping them earn degrees,” according to the magazine’s web-
site. The second factor is research production, which closely looks at undergraduate students who continue their education to obtain a Ph.D. The third factor is commitment to service, which examines how much students give back to the community during and after graduation. The social mobility factor was added this year to account for increasing tuition rates among the nation’s universities. Colleges that are both effective and inexpensive receive the highest scores. According to the Wash-
LOCAL
USM history professor releases newest book Tyler Hill News Editor Andrew Wiest, a history professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, recently released “The Boys of ‘67: Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam.” The book focuses on interviews with members of Charlie Company and their families. According to Wiest, it “follows a single company of men from before their drafting, through their training and service and through today.” These men were all part of the 9th Infantry Division, the only division drafted and trained specifically for Vietnam. Putting away the story-like entities, Wiest focuses on the hard, cold facts of the war. “It is very much the human story of war, of conflict and its effects on families,” Wiest said. Published by Osprey Press, “The Boys of ’67” took several years to organize.
“I first came to the story of Charlie Company in 1997 when I met a veteran of the company named John Young, who lives in Pica-
USM SOLDIERS
HELMET RULE
Jordan Moore/Printz
Jack Benedick, a second platoon leader in Vietnam, recounts a story from his pre-war days. A forum with Vietnam veterans and a book review of Dr. Andrew Wiest’s newest publication, “The Boys of ’67: Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam,” were held in the Polymer Science building Monday.
yune,” Wiest said. From that day he knew that he needed to write a book about this extraordinary group of men. He did not know if he was up for the task until 15 years later he finally was able to say that he had collected enough data. Wiest attended his first reunion of Charlie Company in 2006, when his “real” work began. “From that date, I started to gather interviews with the soldiers and their families (eventually at 70 interviews) and went to various archives to find the records of the company,” he said. In other words, Wiest has devoted six years to this project. John Young was the initial inspiration for the book. He was the only enlistee in Charlie Company; the rest were drafted. “He was and is so eloquent,” Wiest said. “His stories of his friends and comrades were so compelling. I knew that he had a special story about a unique group of men -- a story that had to be told.”
ington Monthly, they added this criteria to counter U.S. News and World Report ranking because they [U.S. News] focus on universities that “spend more and charge more.” This recognition also places a heavy influence on community service. It stresses the notion that the more college students give back to the community through volunteerism and service the better the university will become, something Vice-President of Student Affairs Joe Paul says has always been Southern Miss’s tradition.
DOWNTOWN
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Models Audrianna Strickland, Kirsty Schmitt and Hannah Jones show off part of Click Boutique & Gallery’s fall fashion line on Thursday night at Fashion’s Night Out.
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“We have, for a long time, been particularly proud of our student involvement in community service,” Paul said. “This is a great honor for Southern Miss.” Paul says that Southern Miss is going to continue the tradition of striving to make a difference and becoming an excellent university in the state. “We are blessed to be in a state with eight great universities,” Paul said. “We will try to be the best we can be and to distinguish ourselves as different.”
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INDEX Calendar ........................ 2 News .............................. 3 Feature ...........................4 Arts & Entertainment....5,8 Opinion............................6 Sports...............................7