HOUSING GUIDE INSIDE THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Friday, February 10, 2017
Volume 105, No. 85
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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Students, faculty take stand against the travel ban
PHOTOS BY: CAMERON BROOKS
JONATHON GIBSON thedmnews@gmail.com
M
ore than 100 students and professors rallied Thursday under the flagpole in the Circle to show opposition to President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning travel from seven majority-Muslim countries.
A local branch of Academics United organized this demonstration in conjunction with other college campuses across the nation. Many Ole Miss students and faculty members there said had already been personally affected by Trump’s executive order.
Graduate student Saeed Arab is completing his fourth year of a Ph.D. in engineering science at the university, and said he must now put his graduation on hold because of the ban. “I just hope for a day when everyone can be treated equally,” Arab said. “A day when peo-
ple are judged by their intentions and actions, not by their religion or nationality.” “We are a diverse group of students, post-docs, and employees attending universities all across the United States,” Academics United said via Facebook. “We all have dreams
of not only receiving the best education possible, but also serving the nation that has granted us this valuable opportunity.” The group organized through social media sites to contact students all over. To protest the
SEE RALLY PAGE 6
Weathering the storm
Ole Miss running back signee Isaiah Woullard was nearly killed in a tornado that destroyed his home. But an offer from his ‘dream school’ came as he was picking up the pieces. BRIAN SCOTT RIPPEE thedmsports@gmail.com
The game he plays is fast and violent, leaving no room for fear or trepidation. Ole Miss signee Isaiah Woullard – Mississippi high school football’s all-time leading rusher – is fast and fierce. A running back, like his father Reggie who played for the Rebels in the 1970s. His high school coach Joey Hawkins calls him a “one cut” back, plowing over any defender trying to contain him. But in the early hours of Saturday, Jan. 21, Woullard
found himself held captive, trapped in a bathroom in his home in Hattiesburg. Moments earlier around 3:30 in the morning, his mother had awoken to storm sirens going off. Joyce Woullard flipped on the television as the power flickered on and off. There was a storm coming. The wind outside their home was howling loudly. The TV flipped back on long enough to display a map on the screen, she saw her sons’ school – Presbyterian Christian School – on the screen. She heard the meteorologist mention a tornado and then the name of a
nearby street. It was coming, and fast. “I’ve often heard when other people tell their experiences, that when they see a tornado or are in or tornado they say it sounds like a freight train,” She recalled. “Well, I’m glad I heard that because it sounded like a freight train. I could hear it coming so I hit my husband and said ‘Get up! It’s coming.’” Joyce and Reggie woke up Isaiah and his 14-year-old brother Cameron and got them into a bathroom. Fifteen seconds later, sounds of pop-
COURTESY: ZAC CHAMBLEE
Isaiah Woullard, Mississippi’s all-time leading rusher, smiles after signing with Ole Miss on National Signing Day. Woullard received an offer from the university on Tuesday, SEE WOULLARD PAGE 10 Jan. 31, the night before National Signing Day and just days after his home was destroyed by a lethal tornado.