The
S TUDENT P RINTZ www.studentprintz.com
SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927
September 20, 2012
Volume 97 Issue 8
ON CAMPUS
Students speak out at search sessions Mary Margaret Halford Executive Editor
Stormy Speaks Chief Copy Editor On Wednesday, students, faculty, staff and community members came together to voice their opinions about the type of person they would like to see hired to lead the University of Southern Mississippi as the school’s tenth president. The Institutions of Higher Learning Board Search Committee held five presidential search listening sessions on campus, open to anyone, to hear feedback about what qualities people want to see in the new president. In addition to the sessions held in the Thad Cochran Center Wednesday morning, sessions were also held on the Gulf Coast campus. MC Price, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, attended a session and told the board she wants to see a president focus
mainly on the student body. “I said I’d like to see our new president focus on quality of students over quantity,” Price said. “The majority of the meeting focused on students wanting transparency between the student body and the administration.” Price added that the tone of the meeting remained “optimistic and very positive” as students detailed what problems they think the university has and how they would like to see a new president fix those issues. Van Arnold of University Communications said the sessions had audiences of anywhere from 30 to 200 people, and he estimated that a total of 750 people attended throughout the morning. Jazmyne Butler, a senior and Student Government Association president, said she was very pleased with the student turnout at the meeting. “I’m so proud of the students and all the great feedback they had,” Butler said. “It really speaks to the type of students we have at Southern Miss.”
Kelly Dunn/Photo Services
Southern Miss senior and interdisciplinary studies major MC Price speaks to the USM Board Search Committee at Wednesday’s listening session in the Thad Cochran Center. Price and other students gave feedback about the qualities they would like to see in the new president of the university.
Butler said the feedback that stuck out to her from the sessions included servant leadership, diversity, retention and academics.
“We have a high rate of students coming into this school, but we need to focus on keeping those students here and seeing that they graduate,” Butler said.
“I want what the students want; as SGA president it’s not about me, it’s about the students.”
See SESSIONS, 3
ON CAMPUS
USM celebrates 100 years of classes today Sitting in class today may feel like any other day to students anywhere, but at the University of Southern Mississippi, Sept. 20 marks a special day in its history. Today is the 100th anniversary of the day classes officially began at Mississippi Normal College. In 2010, the university celebrated its first 100 years of existence, which marked the year USM re-
ceived its legislative funding in 1910. Classes, however, were not held regularly at the Hattiesburg campus until Sept. 20, 2012. Mississippi Normal College, as USM was originally called, was established to train and prepare teachers already in the profession to receive a teaching license good for five years, which would lead the teacher to a four-year diploma program, lending itself to a lifetime professional license. The Normal College’s class of 1912 saw 227 members along with 17 faculty members. Stu-
dents attended classes in College Hall, which is currently under renovation and is one of the original five buildings still standing on campus. USM has grown exponentially throughout the last 100 years. Currently, more than 180 degree programs in six degree-granting colleges both at the undergraduate and graduate level are offered, and the university serves 17,000 students. The university prides itself on its diversity and currently enrolls students from all 50 states and 70 countries.
University Provost Denis Wiesenburg said he is proud of the university USM has become today. “Southern Miss will continue to grow and adapt to the fast-paced, ever-changing society we live in today,” Wiesenburg said. “Faculty members are creating knowledge and scholarship that is right at the forefront of their fields.” Wiesenburg also said some jobs students take when they graduate did not exist when they were born, and because of that USM plans to expand offerings both at the Hattiesburg and Gulf
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Coast campuses. Today marks the first day of the next century for USM to continue growing, changing lives and impacting the community and world. “We have built this university in the last hundred years and will continue to build it in the next hundred,” Wiesenburg said. “We want students, faculty and staff to pay attention to the past and acknowledge where we came from, while we move forward to the exciting future the Southern Miss family is proud to call ours.”
INDEX
Calendar ........................ 2 News .............................. 3 Feature ............................4 Opinion............................6 Arts & Entertainment......7 Sports..............................8