THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Monday, February 23, 2015
Volume 103, No. 89
T H E S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I S S I S S I P P I S E R V I N G O L E M I S S A N D OX F O R D S I N C E 1 9 1 1
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Crime Blotter: Feb.13 - Feb. 19
First Look: Double Decker
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Rebel Hoops beat Tennessee 59-57
Students react to university’s weather decisions University supports NEDA week MAGGIE MCDANIEL
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COURTESY: JAIMIE HILL
Car of Jamie Hill, junior pharmacy major from Hernando, Miss., is seen Friday morning. It flipped as a result of icy weather conditions on Anderson Road.
LOGAN KIRKLAND
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As icy weather continues to affect driving conditions in Oxford, students have begun to criticize university officials’ decision to remain open. Jamie Hill, a junior pharmacy major, thought keeping campus open Friday led to very unsafe driving conditions for students who commute. “The roads were terrible,” Hill said. “I had to defrost my car for almost 30 minutes because the rain kept falling and refreezing on it.” Hill was driving to his 10 a.m. class when he hit a small patch of ice on Anderson Road. He used more caution as he continued on with his drive but later, he hit another slippery patch of black ice. “I tried to slow down, and there was so much ice I just fishtailed,” Hill said. “I hit the curb onto the sidewalk and then hit the wall at Lafayette Place and flipped over.” Hill walked away from the accident with only a few minor injuries but feels the situation could have been avoided if classes were cancelled or at least delayed until the weather improved. “They can’t get it right 100 per-
cent of the time,” Hill said. “After hearing about all of the wrecks, I don’t think they should have kept it open.” Ben House, junior political science major, said he was very surprised Friday when he woke up to find classes were not cancelled and still had to drive to campus. “I encountered a lot of black ice on the roads Friday morning,” House said. “I even slid off the road onto the shoulder on Anderson because my tires lost traction on the asphalt.” House said it was not fair to expect students who depend on the O.U.T. bus to come to class because the route was suspended. He was also very concerned that pedestrians, who were walking in front of cars at crosswalks, would be hit because of possible ice. “I’m not sure who makes the executive decisions on whether or not the roads are safe, but whoever did was very negligent,” House said. “Overall, I was really disappointed in the university’s decision to have class. They took on a huge liability risk that I don’t think they were fully aware of.” The University of Mississippi’s Crisis Action Team constantly monitors for various threats or incidents that could potentially
occur on campus. The team then interacts with an incident response team, which is in charge of responding to the event and getting campus operations back in order. Noel Wilkin, associate provost and member of the Crisis Action Team, said because safety is the most important factor, the team has a close relationship with both the county and city Emergency Management Administrators. “Any time that anybody has an accident, no matter what day it is, my heart goes out to those individuals,” Wilkin said. “We want all of our community to be safe.” University police chief Calvin Sellers, Dean of Students Melinda Sutton, Director of Physical Plant Ashton Pearson, Chief Communications Officer Tom Eppes and Wilkin are the five individuals who make up the Crisis Action Team. The team receives daily updates, giving them access to a seven-day projection of the weather. “It’s a focus of the crisis action team to monitor the weather,” Wilkin said.“As any event starts to evolve, we step up our monitoring, and we start to follow systems as they develop.” If there is a possibility that
campus will be effected by harsh weather conditions, the team will meet before the event occurs. As the event begins to unfold, the team looks over a checklist that covers all pieces of information required to fill out a recommendation form for closure. “Even with the most sophisticated technology available, they are still just predictions being made,” Wilkin said. The O.U.T. bus is administered through the city, meaning the university is not in charge of their operations. “That was a system decision that they made and then called us and told us that’s what they were doing,” Wilkin said. Wilkin said the decision to keep the university open was the best decision based on all of the information collected, saying the impact of the weather would be minimal. “I ask them when we interact with officials ‘do you see any reason why we would adjust our operation schedule?’ and each one of them said no,” Wilkin said. After a decision is made on campus operations, the team continues to monitor the weather conditions and work to make ad-
SEE WEATHER PAGE 3
The University of Mississippi Nutrition Clinic, sports dietitians and other organizations have set up several events this week to recognize National Eating Disorder Awareness. Hillary Ake, registered dietitian at Ole Miss, organized the week of events to support National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. “I think there are misconceptions of mental illnesses and eating disorders because they are kind of sensitive topics, and people don’t like to talk about them,” Ake said. “It is always good to put something like this in the spotlight, so that people are aware of it, and it can educate people.” This week is important to Ake and others involved in the events because they want to encourage students to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Meghan Edwards, fitness graduate assistant with the department of campus recreation, will be teaching a free yoga class Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. in the Turner Center. Edwards believes yoga promotes self-love and care not only on the mat but also in other aspects of life. “If poor body image and a related eating disorder is one of those places, yoga may help improve upon that image and serve as a reminder that it is important to love and take care of yourself, on and off of the mat,” Edwards said. In addition to the free yoga class instructed by Edwards, there will also be free surveys students can access online throughout the week. Ake said the surveys are designed to be confidential for students to take and to see what personal habits they may have with eating. If they realize they have any bad habits, Ake and others are there for support and guidance.
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