Diversity: Ole Miss Ambassadors

Ciara Oakley

Diversity in the Ole Miss Ambassador Program

The University of Mississippi’s Office of Admissions hosts over three thousand prospective students and families yearly for campus visits with the student Ambassadors providing the tours.

The Ambassador Program is made up of nearly 100 members who are required to go though an application and interview process before being selected. The students’ chosen for this program range from freshmen to seniors, while also being diverse in other ways than just age.

“We expect the Ambassadors Program to be diverse every year and reflect the student body at the University of Mississippi,” Associate Director of Enrollment Services Jody Lowe said.

Members of the Ambassador Program are typically involved in many different campus activities such as the Associated Student Body, Student Programming Board, Orientation Leaders, various religious groups, Provost Scholars, Greek life, and other small campus clubs. Ambassadors also come from different racial backgrounds, cultures, and states from all over the country.

“We want them to be able to connect to prospective high school and transfer students in every area and walk of life,” Lowe said. “We do not expect them to all be Greek, or all be involved in other prestigious campus activities, we just want them to be friendly and outgoing, while also representing our University in the best way possible.”

The Ambassador program is predominantly made up of students from Mississippi, but the program is also represented by several other states including Texas, Alabama, and Illinois. To diversify the group even more, newly selected Ambassador Ife Olayemi from Nigeria is the first student chosen from a different country to serve in this organization.

“The Ambassador Program is one of my favorite organizations I’m involved in on campus because of all the different people in it,” Sophomore Bailey Haile said. “Everyone comes from different backgrounds, have different personalities, and not everyone is Greek, but we still are able to get along and have a good time during our office hours and special events.”

While it may seem like fun and games, the diverse group of Ambassadors are required to complete a certain number of tours a month, work special events, and write letters and postcards to stay active members. Also, prizes including t-shirts, gift cards, and book scholarships are given away at weekly meetings to keep the motivation going.

One thing the Office of Enrollment prides itself on is that visitors give such positive feed back on their experiences with the Ambassadors. Along with this, many students have reported making their decision to come to Ole Miss based on their time spent with an Ambassador.

The Ambassadors also create a great impact on parents; since they are usually the first student contact families have with Ole Miss, and are a representation of the student body.

http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/ambassadors/about.htm

Diversity at UM Residential College

How Diverse is Ole Miss?

John Monteith

Final

How Diverse is Ole Miss?

The University of Mississippi boasts itself as one of the nation’s top public universities. Students from all over the country come here to experience the South. However, only 20 percent of its students are minorities. Recent controversies, such as the racial sensitivity debate over the mascot and fight song, have caused several people nationwide to question how welcoming Ole Miss is to its minority students and how diverse it truly is.

A freshman here at Ole Miss has felt very left out and, as a result, she is leaving Ole Miss to complete her undergraduate degree elsewhere. She has asked to remain anonymous in order to preserve her preexisting relationships with people on campus.

“I had high-hopes for Ole Miss,” the woman said. “I had been told that Ole Miss wasn’t good to those not associated in Greek Life, but I assumed that wouldn’t be the case, and I was wrong.”

When personal circumstances left her unable to go through rush in the fall, she was instantly made to feel ostracized and excluded.

“My family suffered a great loss, which led me to want to establish a name for myself outside of the Greek system” she said. “I am by no means anti-Greek though, at my new school, I plan on going through rush and joining a sorority.”

The woman is not a minority, however. She is blonde, blue-eyed, Southern, and thin, not unlike many other female students on the campus.

“I would leave my dorm room and ‘GDI’ would be written on my bulletin board,” she said. “People who I thought were my friends stopped talking to me and inviting me to things. My car even got keyed.”

She is transferring back home where she feels that she can be herself, and will be accepted, regardless of her affiliations or circumstances.

“The main reason I’m leaving is that I need a wider range of people,” she said. “If you’ve seen one person, you’ve seen them all. If you’re different, you have no chance of fitting in at Ole Miss”

This form of discrimination does not just affect students. Faculty and staff members also experience rejection and discrimination. Detra Payne, an African-American theater teacher, has felt many shades of discrimination from students.

Payne was born and raised in Los Angeles Calif. When she graduated from college, her parents moved to Oxford, Miss. to teach at Ole Miss. Her mother’s death in 2009 brought her to Oxford to be with her father.

“I felt ready,” Payne said. “Twenty years prior, I would have never. The way things were 20 years ago to now is different.”

Payne teaches several theater classes at Ole Miss, one of which has 400 students. In the class, she has had people write expletives on the attendance roll and several heckle her during class.

“I think it’s very different for these students who have never had a black, female teacher,” Payne said. “So for somebody like me to come and be from L.A. and the person that I am, it threw them.”

Unlike the young woman, Payne feels like she has a strong support system, but she attributes that to the pioneering of her parents.

“I do have a lot of people who are supportive because they knew my parents, but I’m lucky to have that already set,” Payne said. “But I can only imagine what coming here as a new prof and you’re not from here and you happen to be black and you’re a female and you’re just new jack on the scene. They (the University) are kind of like ‘here you go, good luck to you’ and you can’t operate that way. You have to search for support, and I feel like it should already be there.”

Payne does offer some criticisms and subsequent solutions for the problems she has observed.

“We are in the 21^st century, but I don’t think the school is there yet” Payne said. “It feels like the education is not as important to them (students) as the partying. The University hasn’t been able to shift that thinking.”

Though both women have noticed similar problems, Payne sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

“If we’re trying to be the best campus in the South, then let’s do it all the way,” Payne said. “Raise the standards for everybody and we’ll do better.”

For more information about Ole Miss, visit: http://www.olemiss.edu/info/stats_facts.html

Diversity at Ole Miss' Newest Residence Hall

Wesley Sparkmon
Section 10
May 8, 2011
Final Project

Diversity at the Residential College

Since its opening in the fall of 2009, the Residential College at Ole Miss has been one of the most diverse places on the campus at the University of Mississippi.

When the Residential College, or RC, was built, the application process was a multi-step process requiring teacher recommendations, an essay and a minimum GPA for all hopeful residents. The applications were reviewed by a committee of RC residents and Residential College Coordinator Sue Gauthier. These applications were reviewed blind, so nothing besides the resume, essays, recommendations and GPA were known about each applicant.

“Our goal is to eventually have about 30% freshmen, 30% sophomore, and 40% junior/senior mix,” said Gauthier. “But that will take time as we are doing our best to change the concept that you liveon campus only your freshmen year.”

The RC, when built, struggled to fill the 464 beds until the Ole Miss Athletic Department decided to move freshmen football and men’s basketball players from Deaton Hall to the RC. Many of the Rebel tennis players from Germany and Sweden have lived in the RC since its opening in 2009. On the ladies’ side, freshmen tennis, basketball, volleyball and soccer players are placed in the RC by the housing and athletic departments. By combining the athletes with the academics who had already applied to live in the building was described by some residents as “the weirdest conglomeration of athletes and nerds in the Southeastern Conference.”

A second residential college building was opened in fall 2010 to just house the freshmen class of Ole Miss’ Luckyday program. This residential college did not require the application process to live in like the original Residential College, now known as the Residential College-South. As the new Luckyday Residential College was preparing for the new Luckyday class to move in, the applications came in and were reviewed for those wishing to live in the RC-South for the 2010-2011 school year and the new students moved into the building in August of 2010.

“I did a survey [fall semester of 2010] of our ethnic and minority numbers,” said RC Senior Fellow Dr. Daniel O’Sullivan. “19.7% of the RC-South membership belongs to a racial or ethnic minority. The [University of Mississippi] average is 20%, so the RC-South really is a representative cross-section of the university.”

With the representative cross-section of the campus within the building, diversity has been on the forefront of the RC-South by the people accepted. However, the diversity has not been entirely cultivated by the staff at the Residential College.

“Diversity is already in place by membership,” Gauthier said. “I think it is supported by both the efforts of the staff as well as developed on its own. Word is getting out about the concept of the residential college concept at UM, both in-state and out-of-state.”

With many of the old dormitories at Ole Miss being torn down or renovated, the increase of freshmen on campus and the success of the residential college in both practicality and diversity, the residential college system is a possible system to replace these dormitories on campus and at school’s throughout the state.

For more information on the University of Mississippi Residential College, visit www.olemiss.edu/rcollege

Where Is The Line With Title Nine?

Sophomore women’s basketball player, Maggie McFerrin, walked on to the Lady Rebels for the 2010-2011 season. After becoming a starter towards the end of the year, there was buzz about McFerrin receiving scholarship money for her contributions to the team.

After meeting with head coach, Renee Ladner, McFerrin was informed that she would not be receiving any scholarship for the 2011-2012 season. Onlookers wondered why, and linked this case to the recent violations of Title IX in the NCAA.

Title IX states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Ole Miss Executive Associate Athletics Director, Lynette Johnson, said “It’s nothing about women, it’s about the under represented sex. It doesn’t say the word ‘woman’ anywhere in the law. It is about equality for all student athletes.”

Equality for all student athletes isn’t based on numbers, but percentages. The Ole Miss Sports website posts their EADA (Equity in Athletics Data Analysis) report annually. After doing some simple math, one can see that Ole Miss does a nearly perfect job in carrying out Title IX.

Within Title IX, it states there must be equality from the recruiting process up to the scholarship offer, and beyond.

“There are two types of scholarships: an equivalency scholarship, based on percentages, and a headcount scholarship, based on each individual,” Johnson said. “Scholarships are decided by the coaches based on their assessment of a student athlete’s performance.”

The women’s basketball team can offer 15 full scholarships. With 10 females on the 2010-2011 roster, and three graduating, it’s hard to say why McFerrin still didn’t receive scholarship.

However, McFerrin is relentless. “Quit? That’s not an option; I love the game, that’s why I play. If I don’t receive money for one year, I’ll try harder and hopefully get it the next.”

As far as Title IX is concerned, Johnson is adamant that it has improved athletics. “It is vital.” She said. “I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Title IX. I’m a woman and look at my office! It tremendously helps the under represented sex, as well as many other student athletes that are often overlooked.”

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ole/genrel/auto_pdf/EADA2010.pdf

How Diverse is the University Of Mississippi?

Croft Institute of International Studies.

Jordan Wulforst

Weakley

Journalism 102

11 May 2011

When students think of the University of Mississippi, most would think of the years of southern tradition that the schools represents.

A smaller school located in the heart of the south, would never be seen as a school with a lot of diversity. However many students from all around the world choose to attend Ole Miss.

This is especially the case for freshman Alex Williams, 19. “I am one hundred percent Irish and most everyone in the family went to Trinity College Dublin in Ireland,” Williams said. “I chose to be different.”

Williams resides in Columbia, South Carolina, a state where she also contemplated attending school.

Williams choosing to attend a University other than Trinity College Dublin, was a shock and somewhat of an upset to her family she explained. Her decision on the University of Mississippi had to do with most of her friends attending the school as well.

As for her thoughts on diversity at Ole Miss, “I don’t really feel like the minority at this school, there is a lot of diversity. But the fact that I grew up in the states makes me feel like I belong. I am used to the American ways and customs.” Williams said.

With a slightly different opinion to student Alex Williams, a Crosby Hall Residence Assistant, Kesha Rena, also commented on student diversity at Ole Miss.

"There could absolutely be more room for diversity, even though I do believe this is a pretty diverse campus," Rena said. "It is definitely not overflowing with different races, but racial diversity os evident."

There are various opinions about diversity on the Ole Miss campus and students are not afraid to voice their opinions about it.

According to the University, the number of students that attend Ole Miss will grow in the years to come. Along with the size, diversity may increase as well, raising even more opinions.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W6F49RjRlo

For more information on international programs and studies at Ole Miss visit: http://www.international.olemiss.edu/

Ellie Turner
Section 10
Final          

          Ole Miss will forever be scarred by the James Meredith era that impacted civil rights in Mississippi, but the university has been on the road to a more diverse community since then.
          Robin Street, a journalism professor, remembered her dad telling stories he saw first hand of James Meredith being enrolled to the university. She recalled the explanation of riots that left the university in the national news. Her father led Ted Kennedy around the campus after a night of terror to show him the damage.
          It’s hard to believe that there ever was a time like that in America, especially Mississippi. To say that civil rights have come a long way is somewhat an understatement.
          Even though riots are not breaking out all over campus and African Americans walk the campus everyday, there is still progress to be made when it comes to a more diverse community. At the turn of the 21st Century, all types of people came out of the woodwork proud of what they believe in and who they are.
          Perhaps the most recent movement towards diversity is the fact that homosexuals are petitioning the government for equal rights to marriage.
          Though some homosexuals are open and willing to stand in the midst of judgement and, at times, ridicule, one man showed his insecurity when asked if his name could be published in this article. He is a gay nursing student and he has many friends, but he doesn’t feel comfortable letting the world know his sexual orientation.
          “People treat me differently when they know I am gay and they don’t approve,” he said. “It is harder than most would think to be who you are when society as a whole doesn’t accept your choices as normal.”
          Street said that her goal for diversity on the campus is mostly that students will be accepted for who they are and what they choose. Tolerance is the key according to her. Street decided to create Diversity Rocks week, which focused on the different aspects of diversity on campus, because she wants to have a hand in making a more accepting environment. More information is on the Diversity Rocks webpage that can be accessed at http://diversityrocksonline.org.           
          Though there will always be something we can do better, Ole Miss is taking steps in the right direction in order to change the image most people have branded in their minds from our racist past. Black students are being accepted more, but now other minority groups are being neglected. This scenario begs the question: “Will there ever be full tolerance of all minority groups?” According to Kaitlyn DuBose, the answer is probably not.
          “To me, there will always be people grouped by like characteristics that are not socially accepted,” she said. “For instance, with the war in the Middle East, the majority of Americans still treat Muslims like they are outsiders and assume they are all dangerous.”
          Street, along with the anonymous student and DuBose all agree that there will always be room to grow in tolerance of diversity, but as long as Ole Miss is making an effort, the community will be a better place. Maybe one person can sleep better at night knowing that there are others willing to stand up for the acceptance of all people no matter their sexual orientation, physical conditions, race, ethnicity or anything else that make them a diverse person.