THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
T h e S t u d e n t N e w s pa p e r
Kelley Sharp exhibit featured at Southside Gallery Page 4
of
T h e U n i v e r s i t y O f M i ss i ss i p p i | S e r v i n g O l e M i ss
Cards and controllers and consoles: OMGA Page 5
Volume 103, No. 11
and
Freeze prepares for LouisianaLafayette Page 8
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Second Creed Week continues Oxford police issue citations to new ride-sharing service LOGAN KIRKLAND
ltkirkla@go.olemiss.edu
PHOTO BY: KAYLA BEATTY
Freshman business management major Katie Grantham signs the Creed Book in the Student Union Monday. For coverage of the Creed Week kickoff, see page 3.
The Oxford Police Department issued citations to new ride-sharing service Uber over the weekend, saying the vehicles violated the city’s taxi ordinance. The ordinance regarding vehicles for hire was amended in July. Police Chief Joey East said the amount of citations for illegal taxis that were given out over the weekend is something that is not common for Oxford. “As you see we haven’t made a lot of these in the past, but we are trying to kind of step up our awareness,” East said. East explained that when there is a violation of the ordinance the vehicle is considered an illegal taxi and the driver will be given a citation called a post arrest, similar to a speeding ticket. “It is an arrestable offense, but the officer will more than likely write them a ticket,” East said. “If they catch that same person doing it again, then more than likely they’ll
be arrested the next time.” East said Oxford has a lot of cab companies that come from outside of the city, especially during game day weekends and this ordinance is a way to help regulate those who are going to be doing business with students and citizens. East said on top of the outside companies coming in for game day weekends, Oxford is seeing an influx of Uber drivers whose services do not fit in with the ordinance. “I would say the majority of illegal taxis were Uber,” East said. “There’s a lot of things that they have to come in compliance for them to operate as a taxi.” When asked about the drivers involved with the citations, Kaitlin Durkosh of Uber Communications, said as a matter of policy Uber takes riders’ and drivers’ privacy seriously and will not disclose their private information. “I can tell you that Uber vigorously defends the rights of our driver partners, and will cover the costs of unjust citations,” Durkosh said. “Any
SEE CITATIONS PAGE 3
Center hosts program for first-generation students FERDERICA COBB
fscobb@go.olemiss.edu
The Center for Student Success and First Year experience will host a meet and greet today for firstgeneration college students who might be interested in their Students First Program. First-generation college students are students whose parents do not have a college degree. Being the first in their family to obtain a college degree is a great accomplishment for first-generation students, but it can be a challenge. John Aaron Howell from Bentonia, says that people from his small town rarely attend college, and especially not a four-year university.
“Being a first-generation college student is, I’d say, more challenging than being a second or third-generation college student because we don’t have the role models to look up to; if we have questions, we basically have to answer them on our own,” Howell said. The university, however, especially the Office of Admissions and the Center for Student Success and First Year Experience, has been very helpful in assisting Howell and making sure that being a first-generation student did not hinder him. Dylan Lewis, a sophomore from Mooreville, said being a first-generation student motivates him and makes him more determined: “It really gives me the opportunity to
push myself more and prove that I can do it.” Ruben Ruiz, a senior, said being a first-generation student has advantages as well as disadvantages: “(Being a first-generation student) is neat in the fact that I get to blaze my own trail, experiencing and learning everything for myself but daunting because I didn’t know what to expect or everything that was available to me,” Lewis said. The Center for Student Success and First Year Experience assists first-generation students through their StudentsFIRST (Freshman Interactively Reaching Success Together) program. Crystal Dunn, coordinator of the program and former first generation student, says that the program was created
after noticing that a large portion of students at Ole Miss were first-generation students and that they did not have many resources available to them for guidance. The main focus of StudentsFIRST is to help freshmen transition into college by informing them of the resources at their fingertips, helping them to get involved, and by providing peer mentoring and other programs to help them have a successful first year. Last year the program attracted a diverse range of students from different backgrounds. Dunn wants students who are the first of their family members to attend college to be open about their experience. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions,” Dunn said. “It’s also im-
portant for them to know that they are not alone and that there are a lot of first generation students here, and they’re all here for the same goal, which is to earn a college degree.” The biggest challenge these students face is financial difficulties, and Dunn hopes the program will eventually be able to directly assist with this, but said it will only be possible through gaining more university support for this program. According to the Office of Institutional Research, approximately seventeen percent of last year’s students attending Ole Miss were first generation students. The meet and greet will be held today from noon -1 p.m. in the third floor conference room in Martindale.