THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Friday, May 6, 2016
Volume 104, No. 136
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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Ole Miss to face Georgia in weekend series
Their presence ‘blessed our lives’
PHOTOS BY: ARIEL COBBERT
LEFT: Friends and family attend memorial ceremony for the faculty, staff and students who died this school year. TOP RIGHT: At the memorial ceremony each gardenia flower represents a loved one lost. BOTTOM RIGHT: Brandi Hephner LaBanc, vice chancellor for student affairs, speaks at the memorial ceremony Thursday evening at the Paris Yates Chapel.
HANNAH HURDLE
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A memorial service was held Thursday at Paris-Yates Chapel on the University of Mississippi’s campus to honor students, staff and faculty who have died this past academic year. The names of the deceased were read aloud and the bells at Paris Yates Chapel were rung
23 times to honor each individual. Afterwards, the University String Quartet played the Ole Miss Alma Mater. “When we lose a member of the Ole Miss family, we are touched individually and collectively in different ways,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Brandi Hephner LaBanc said. Former Daily Mississippian Editor-in-Chief Logan Kirkland read his piece, “Mourning the
loss of a friend I never knew.” “We are all a part of the Ole Miss family and when one of us dies, we all feel the repercussions of the loss,” Kirkland said. “My words here will never articulate the beauty of the lives we have lost, but I hope they make you understand that you do not mourn alone because losing a friend that you never had can and will change your life.” A list of those who were being
honored was read by University Staff Council President Sovent Taylor, Faculty Senate Chair Michael A. Barnett and Associated Student Body President Austin Powell. Gardenia flowers perfumed the air as visiting family members and friends placed them in remembrance. Ole Miss staff members remembered included Robert S. Forster, Donald H. O’Dell and Ronny J. Tackett, Robert B.
Albritton, Ward Charles Barnes, James Ronald Bartlett, Goberdham Bhagat, James P. Chambers, James Jerome Cooke, Thomas Ashley Crowe, Columbus Burwell Hopper, Robert Lawrence Jordan, Frances B. Maxey, John Willis McCauley, Henry Pace, James E. Shollenberger and Kenneth A. Stead, Jr. were the faculty commemorated
Typically, newly commissioned second officers have to wait a few months before leaving again for training experience in the branch they will serve. Graduates will enter a branch-specific leadership course which will determine whether they become infantrymen, cavalry, aviation or another type of officer. “Commissioning marks both the end of an incredibly challenging and eye-opening college experience and the beginning of a chapter that will allow us to take the lessons we’ve learned and use them in active-
ly changing lives and leading our soldiers in combat,” Cadet Harry Phillips said. Phillips, a Chattanooga native, will graduate with an English degree this Saturday. Afterwards, he will serve as an infantry officer in the National Guard while educating children through Teach for America after graduation. Once graduates assemble, they will take the oath of commission and swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It is a significant moment
in their military careers and education, one that Phillips said civilian students may not grasp. “One thing many people do not understand is that the commissioners are not just joining the military but are being appointed as Army officers by the (President of the United States) due to his “special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity and abilities” of the new second lieutenants,” Cadet Buckley Dowdle said. An Olive Branch native, Dowdle will serve as an ordnance officer in the logistics
branch with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He will graduate with a degree in Accounting. “Many will be commissioning into the Mississippi Army National Guard, enduring the rigors of serving both their nation and their state while also excelling in civilian careers,” Dowdle said. “Others will serve in the active duty component of the Army, serving and deploying as full time soldiers.” Dowdle said lieutenants will serve as platoon leaders leading between 30 and 50 soldiers within a year of graduation.
SEE MEMORIAL PAGE 3
ROTC holds second lieutenant promotion, graduation LYNDY BERRYHILL
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Graduation can signify the beginning of a new job, internship or uncertainty for students. For a select few, however, it means taking the next step toward serving their country. More than 20 University of Mississippi ROTC cadets will receive their degree, commission and promotion to second lieutenant at 5 p.m. next Saturday at Fulton Chapel on campus.