THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Friday, September 5, 2014
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Volume 103, No. 9
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Group requests records about football, religious services LACEY RUSSELL
dmeditor@gmail.com
A national non-theistic organization has requested records concerning religious practices associated with The University of Mississippi football program. Sam Grover, staff attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, sent an open records request to the university on Wednesday after reading an article that ran in The Washington Post on Aug. 29. The article highlighted the role of religion in college football in the South. Grover provided a copy of the letter to The Daily Mississippian. “We would like to examine certain records related to chaplain John Powell and The University of Mississippi (‘University’) football program,” Grover wrote. “For the purposes of this request, ‘Football Program’ means the university football team, which includes all coach-
es and football personnel, paid or unpaid, who regularly access the team’s facilities.” The letter, addressed to university attorney Lee Tyner, continues with seven specified requests ranging from policies concerning coach- or clergy-led prayers, schedules related to religious services, email communications between football staff and Powell, records related to financial payments of Powell and job descriptions of football program chaplains. The foundation, based in Madison, Wisconsin, is a nonprofit organization with the purposes of advocating the constitutional principle of separation of church and state and educating the public on matters relating to non-theism. “The university is a public institution; it’s a state-funded university,” Grover said in a telephone interview. “As a state-funded university, it rep-
Photo By JONATHAN NEWTON | The Washington Post
John Powell, Ole Miss football chaplain and Fellowship of Christian athletes staff member, leads a worship service for the Fellow-
SEE RECORDS PAGE 3 ship of Christian athletes in the football meeting room at the Manning Center in August.
Brothers & rivals
Wilkins brothers to face off for first time in Nashville BROWNING STUBBS
bbstubbs@go.olemiss.edu
Photo By: ANDREW PERRY | The Vanderbilt Hustler
Brothers Jordan, left, and Trey Wilkins will face each other on the field during Saturday’s game.
For those of you who don’t know redshirt freshman running back Jordan Wilkins, you better get to know him fast. Wilkins might be the strongest back the Rebels have this season, and he is on pace to be a cornerstone for the future. This weekend’s game versus Vanderbilt is not only a big game for Ole Miss, but it’s also big for Wilkins as he will play against his brother Trey Wilkins, who starts at wide receiver for the Commodores. The senior caught one pass for 19 yards in the Commodores’ 37-7 loss to Temple last week. The Vanderbilt receiver is two years older than Jordan and mentored him throughout his football journey. Jordan received his first carries as a college football player with 5 rushes for 21 yards. This will be the first time the two brothers have
played against each other as they both played on the same high school team at St. Benedict at Auburndale in Memphis, Tennessee. The Wilkins’ brothers broke many school records while attending St. Benedict. Trey owns the school’s alltime record for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Jordan, on the other hand, owns the school’s alltime record for rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. Amazingly, Jordan also owns the school record for 298 rushing yards in a single game. Jordan also led his team to the first ever win over Briarcrest Christian School in 2011, where former Rebel Michael Oher played high school football. The two brothers gained their athletic gifts from their parents, Billy and Angie Wilkins. Billy used to play for the Buffalo Bills in the NFL
SEE BROTHERS PAGE 6