THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Volume 106, No. 37
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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AG Jim Hood visits campus, UM adds 4 out-ofshares vision for Mississippi state recruiters after enrollment decline SARAH MCCULLEN
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
PHOTO BY: TAYLAR TEEL
Attorney General Jim Hood visits campus Tuesday. Hood graduated from Ole Miss undergrad in 1988.
SLADE RAND
MANAGING EDITOR
J
im Hood is a busy man. After 13 years as Mississippi’s attorney general, the Chickasaw County native is well-acquainted with his home state’s strengths and weaknesses and has yet to let his passion for public service die.
Just yesterday, Hood announced Mississippi would receive $1.47 million of a multi-state settlement with General Motors Co. over its failure to acknowledge the installation of faulty ignition switches in 2.1 million autos across the nation, and today, he spoke on campus with a class of Ole Miss students studying governance. “A lot of hot issues, hot
potatoes, are thrown at the attorney general,” Hood said. Hood seems to be used to the demands of his job now, though. He briefly served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General and said many states deal with the same issues Mississippi faces today. He said attorneys
SEE HOOD PAGE 3
The University of Mississippi has hired four new regional admissions counselors to recruit more out-of-state applicants after overall enrollment dipped slightly this fall. This year, 23,780 students enrolled on all University of Mississippi campuses after an all-time record of 24,250 in 2016. There were 3,697 new freshmen this year, while last year, there were 3,984. Director of admissions Whitman Smith said the cause for the drop in applications is unclear, but that this year, Ole Miss has brought on recruiters in Florida, Georgia and the Washington D.C./Virginia area and added an additional recruiter in Texas. Previously, the university only had employed one out-of-state recruiter, and they were based in Texas. Smith said these recruiters live in the area where they recruit. “We’ve always had regionally based Mississippi people — two on the Gulf Coast and two in Jackson — but to go in one year from one out-of-state recruiter to four is a huge change,” Smith said. Smith added that Ole Miss has had always had consistent growth in applications, so much so that it started to tighten outof-state admissions require-
ments in 2011. This year, outof-state students comprise 41 percent of the student body. “We finally started to see what we wanted to see, and that was a slight leveling off of out-of-state applications,” Smith said. “That was primarily because we just couldn’t offer all our students a place to live or a place to eat and a place to park.” In 2016, there were 9,397 out-of-state students, including 2,326 from Texas, 2,159 from Georgia, 1,288 from Florida and 517 from Virginia. Smith said in-state applications had been “remarkably consistent” over the last 20 years, but they are now at a stand-still. “Mississippi does not show a lot of potential growth in high school graduates over the next several years, so it just made sense to go to large population centers with more high school graduates,” associate director of admissions Jody Lowe said. Mississippi’s graduation rate is 82.3 percent, which is slightly under the national graduation rate of 83.2 percent. Lowe said the presence of strong community colleges and the abundance of universities create “fierce competition” for the students who are graduating. “You’re just not going to grow your freshman class solely from
SEE ENROLLMENT PAGE 3
Students participate in Warren Buffett conference KATHRYN ABERNATHY STAFF WRITER
Last weekend, 20 Ole Miss students traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, to visit for a group Q&A session with Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. This was the first time Ole Miss was invited to attend the Q&A session and tour three Omahabased businesses owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Students toured Nebraska Furniture Mart, Borsheims Fine Jewelry and Oriental Trading Company. Ten universities and business schools attended
the event, and each school was given the opportunity to ask Buffett two questions. “I was incredibly impressed with our group. A significant amount of time and effort was required on the part of the students in order to ensure this would be a successful trip, and they were more than willing to accept the challenge,” Stephen Fier, associate professor of finance and the faculty adviser for the university’s Mu chapter of Gamma Iota Sigma, said. “Our students did an excellent job representing the School of Business
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Administration as well as the University of Mississippi.” Fier got a chance to talk to the students who attended, and he said they seemed to have genuinely enjoyed hearing from Buffett and observing how some of the Berkshire Hathaway businesses operate. “In my opinion, the primary objective of this trip was to provide our students with a unique opportunity that would enhance their educational experience, and I believe we succeeded,” Fier said. Students who are members of the Financiers Club and
IN THIS ISSUE...
Local artist brings mental snapshots to life at Southside Gallery
SPORTS
Volleyball prepares for Missouri
Fresh off A&M win, Rebels turn their attention to Wednesday night’s matchup with Tigers PAGE 6
PHOTO COURTESY: DR. STEPHEN FIER
Students participated in a question and answer session with CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett. Gamma Iota Sigma, a risk applications to participate management, insurance and were selected on the basis and actuarial science of academic achievement, honor society, submitted
SEE BUFFETT PAGE 3
SPORTS Restaurants reject calls to boycott
A Tupelo restaurant decided not to air NFL games, and Oxford businesses are not following suit PAGE 7