THE
Daily
MISSISSIPPIAN theDMonline.com
Friday, January 31, 2020
Volume 108, No. 48
Athletics, donors, alumni support relocation ADAM GANUCHEAU Mississippi Today
The University of Mississippi’s top fundraisers, including the current athletics director, back the university’s proposal to move its Confederate monument. Keith Carter, who formerly
headed the athletics foundation before taking over as athletics director, joined the heads of the alumni association and university foundation in signing an April 8, 2019, memo supporting the university’s plan to move the monument from a prominent place on campus to an on-campus Confederate cemetery.
“We are in full support of the University’s decision to seek a more suitable location for the Confederate Monument,” the memo reads in part. The memo, which Mississippi Today obtained this week, was attached to former interim Chancellor Larry Sparks’ recommendation to move the monument and distributed to
board members of the three entities represented. Kirk Purdom, the university’s executive director of alumni affairs and Wendell Weakley, the University of Mississippi Foundation president also signed the memo. In a statement this week from the university to Mississippi Today, Carter, Purdom
Is Ole Miss’s best basketball not enough to win?
and Weakley reaffirmed their commitment to “the university’s efforts led by Chancellor Boyce to work with the IHL board” to move the monument. Last year’s memo and this week’s statement illustrates broader support behind moving the monument than previously
SEE MONUMENT PAGE 8
UM stops travel to China MADDY QUON
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BILLY SCHUERMAN/ THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
Tuesday night was a showcase of what level Ole Miss basketball can operate on with everything clicking, but also why that level might not be sustainable. SEE BASKETBALL PAGE 4
Kim and Kanye rent out Oxford theater ANNE FLORENCE BROWN thedmnews@gmail.com
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West bought out a theater for nearly 300 members of the Oxford community to see “Just Mercy” last night at the Oxford Malco Cinemas on Jackson Avenue last night — and they paid for popcorn, too. Earlier this month, Kardashian West posted an Instagram story announcing her and her husband’s partnership with
the non-profit organization Represent Justice to buy out movie theaters across the country for free screenings of the film. “I was just so moved after seeing #JustMercy that Kanye and I want to make sure you have a chance to see it too,” she wrote. “Get ready to be blown away by the incredible work of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative.” Stevenson authored the book from which the movie was adapted as a first-person ac-
KATHERINE BUTLER / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West bought 280 tickets for a showing of SEE THEATER PAGE 8 “Just Mercy” in Oxford.
The University of Mississippi is restricting university-related travel to China as a result of the recent outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. Provost Noel Wilkin sent out a university-wide email on Jan. 29, announcing that academic programs have been suspended or canceled by university partners in China. “Students may not proceed with UM-related travel to China and should check in with the UM coordinators of their program,” Wilkin wrote. Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global health emergency. According to the WHO, over 8,200 people across 18 countries have been infected with the virus. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, with some causing people to get sick and others circulating among animals. They usually affect the respiratory tract and sometimes the gut. They are usually associated with the common cold, pneumonia and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The China coronavirus emerged on Dec. 31, and has already infected over 8,000 people in mainland China alone. At least 100 more cases have been confirmed around the world. The WHO declared the global health emergency just hours after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed the first humanto-human transmission in the United States in Chicago. One woman inadvertently
SEE VIRUS PAGE 2