THE DAILY
T H U R S DAY, F E B R UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 9 | VO LU M E 1 07, N O. 7 3
MISSISSIPPIAN
T H E S T U DE 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
DEAN OF STUDENTS TO DEPART FROM OLE MISS
A SILENT PROTEST DEMANDS POWERFUL SIGNS
Melinda Sutton Noss is leaving the University of Mississippi at the end of the semester to take an administrative job at Southern Methodist University.
Students participating in today’s Black History Month March gathered last night to make posters. Some quoted leaders, others demanded action, all had lots to say.
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“It’s important that we indicate very clearly (that) we have not invited these groups to our campus. These are outside groups, and they do not align with our institutional values. They are not who we are.” Brandi Hephner LaBanc Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs & Dean of Students
PHOTO: CHRISTIAN JOHNSON
Ole Miss administrators held a public forum yesterday to allow students a chance to voice their concerns about protests and counterprotests occurring this week. Some students feel the administration has not taken proper steps to ensure students’ safety. Neither Chancellor Sparks nor Provost Wilkin was in attendance.
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WEAPONS POLICY
It is a rather unfortunate, and frankly damning, coincidence HADLEY HITSON
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Protesters and other campus visitors with enhanced concealed carry permits will be allowed to bring firearms onto the Ole Miss campus this weekend after the university brought its weapons policy into compliance with the state’s law on gun permits. At yesterday’s forum regarding this weekend’s Confederate protest, university officials fielded questions from students about this change to school policy. Before Feb. 15, no weapons of any type were allowed on campus unless they were in the possession of a University Police Department officer or other law enforcement official. Last Friday, the university put a new weapons policy into effect allowing campus visitors with enhanced concealed carry per-
mits to bring concealed firearms on to campus. “Mississippi has very liberal gun legislation,” said Erica McKinley, the university’s chief legal officer and general counsel. “It is a rather unfortunate, and frankly damning, coincidence that when we realized and got aligned on that policy, we issued it when we did.” McKinley said university policy was issued in order to comply with state laws and a recent amendment made to the state college board’s weapon policy. “Under no circumstances did we modify our gun policy to allow any person to bring a gun under circumstances that the law would otherwise maintain is illegal,” McKinley said. Confederate 901 — one of the groups protesting the removal of Confederate symbols on campus — insists they do not plan on inciting violence or bringing weapons of any kind
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University updates gun policy eight days before Confederate groups march on campus
PHOTO: PARKER GALLOWAY
University Police Department Chief Ray Hawkins answers questions from members of the Ole Miss community about upcoming protests and student safety. this weekend. “We’re not coming here to cause any trouble for the University of Mississippi,” a member of Confederate 901 said in a video posted to the group’s Facebook page. There is an open carry law in the state, so both Confederate and anti-Confederate protesters will legally be allowed to carry weapons on the Square and in the city until they reach the university boundary, according to UPD Chief Ray Hawkins. With a concealed carry permit, citizens are allowed to carry firearms in Oxford, but not on campus. “On Saturday, what we’re going to do is we’ve set up two areas that will be secure because you will be checked going into those areas, whether it’s the protest area or the counterprotest area,” Hawkins said. Students and employees of the university cannot have
weapons on campus, and visitors on campus who have enhanced concealed carry permits may not enter any university building with a firearm in their possession. “All of these groups have expressed a want for a peaceful protest, and we’re hoping that is what ensues,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Brandi Hephner LaBanc said. “We encourage folks to just stay away and not engage in the area.” The student-led counterprotest against Confederate symbols will now be held on Saturday at the Jackson Avenue Center instead of the original location in the Circle, Hephner LaBanc said at the forum. Hephner LaBanc acknowledged critiques of the university’s response to the Confederate protesters. Many people were angered by the mild language in university statements and the university’s apparent refusal to
“position itself in opposition to these outside groups.” She said administration made its decisions in attempt to curtail the energy around the protests. “It’s important that we indicate very clearly (that) we have not invited these groups to our campus,” LaBanc said. “These are outside groups, and they do not align with our institutional values. They are not who we are.” Two of the most prominent administrative voices were missing from the Campus Conversation: Interim Chancellor Larry Sparks and Provost Noel Wilkin. “A rather significant portion of our body is not here, and that’s our chancellor and our provost,” McKinley said. “Please do not assume by virtue of (the chancellor’s) absence that he isn’t tapped into this.”