THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
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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Volume 104, No. 81
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Reels: the five man (and woman) band
University NAACP chapter receives national award
PHOTO BY: ASSOCIATED PRESS (EARL GIBSON III/WIREIMAGE)
Winners of the Chairman’s Award speak onstage during the 47th NAACP Image Awards at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Feb. 5 in Pasadena, California. Among them, Dominique Scott, Tysianna Marino and Buka Okoye, members of the UM NAACP chapter and James Thomas, the chapter advisor, who accepted a national award for their work on the University campus this school year.
The University of Mississippi branch of the NAACP received the 2016 Chairman’s Award at the NAACP Image Awards in Pasadena, California on Feb. 5. “The entire experience was surreal and extremely overwhelming,” Dominique Scott, secretary for the UM branch who accepted the award with members Tysianna Marino and Buka Okye and chapter advisor James Thomas. “I was on this stage in front of my heroes. Groundbreaking women of color, who unapologetically assert their value in the world.” The chapter received the award in recognition of its work to take down the Mississippi state flag from University grounds in Oct. 2015. “When the screen went up and we looked out into the crowd, fists raised, every able bodied person in the room stood up and applauded us,” Scott said. “I almost lost it. If you look at the video, I am barely holding back tears, because all of the emotions that hit me at once.” DM STAFF REPORT
ASB to present resolution to rename Vardaman Hall Associated Student Body senators will present a resolution to remove the building name from Vardaman Hall on campus in a committee meeting tonight. Co-author of the resolution Allen Coon said he and the four other co-authors seek to change the name of Vardaman Hall because it honors a man whose platform was ideas of racial violence and white supremacy. James K. Vardaman was a Mississippi governor from 1904 to 1908 and U. S. Senator from 1913 to 1919. The hall was built in 1929
to serve as a boys dormitory. Coon said many people who are opposed to changing Confederate symbols on campus feel the history of the symbol will be lost if items such as the Confederate memorial are removed and buildings such as Vardaman are renamed. “We want to make sure that we are not doing that,” Coon said. “This resolution not only seeks to change the name of Vardaman Hall, but also seeks to contextualize why that name was changed.” A portion of this resolution requests that a plaque or inscription
be placed noting that the building was formerly named after James K. Vardaman, providing a rationale behind the changing of the name, Coon said. Coon said campus is actively talking about the issues of race and how it affects students. He said, with a renewed spotlight on these issues, it is very likely that other ASB senators will be receptive to this resolution. “I think we have momentum,” Coon said. “I think we all understand that we have an obligation to take action.”