SERVING SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI SINCE 1927 • WWW.STUDENTPRINTZ.COM • AUGUST 25, 2021 | VOLUME 107 | ISSUE 1
VACCINE INCENTIVE
PG 3
K-POP PG 5
VOLLEYBALL PG 8
Welcome Back,
Golden Eagles
NEWS
AUGUST 25, 2021
MEET THE STAFF SM2 News Director
Charlie Luttrell charles.luttrell@usm.edu
Executive Editor
Mary Murphy mary.s.murphy@usm.edu
Sports Director
Austin Lindsey austin.lindsey@usm.edu
Entertainment/Features Editor Loren Jones loren.jones@usm.edu
Printz Reporter
Jennifer Shields jennifer.shields@usm.edu
Design Editor
Marissa Haas marissa.haas@usm.edu
The views represented in The Student Printz’s columns and editorials do not represent those of the faculty, staff or administration of The University of Southern Mississippi. We welcome letters to the editor representing similar and contrasting opinions. To be eligible for publication, all submission must include name, class distinction, major, phone number and email address. Submissions should be emailed to printzeditors@ gmail.com by 5 p.m. on the Friday before publication. Please limit them to 500 words or less. The Student Printz reserves the right to refuse publication or edit any material on the basis of clarity, space or journalistic ethics.
Opinions expressed in The Student Printz are those of the writer and not necessarily those of The Student Printz, its publication manager, USM, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning or the USM Board of Student Publications. Courtesy of Moffitt Health Center
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NEWS
AUGUST 25, 2021
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Vaccine incentive program comes amidst increasing concerns of Delta variant
MARY MURPHY EXECUTIVE EDITOR
new incentive program from the University of Southern Mississippi could lead fully vaccinated students to win big prizes. Said program, however, also reflects the state’s current rise in COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths. The program, which officially started July 30, was announced by the Office of Student Affairs the day before. Students can enter the contest, lasting until Oct. 15, by submitting their vaccination information to www.usm. edu/gotmycovidvax. Five names will be pulled each week during the contest’s duration, with each name winning a specific prize from the university. Said prizes are nothing to sneeze at, either. They include a $300 Barnes & Noble Bookstore Book Voucher, a $414 parking decal, $1,000 worth of
Courtesy of Moffitt Health Center
Dining Dollars, $2,000 worth of Housing and Residence Life Room Credit and Fall 2021 semester tuition, currently set at $4,602. As the contest lasts for 12 weeks total, it will cost the university a total of $58,938 to run and execute. Dee Dee Anderson, Southern Miss’s Vice President of Student Affairs, was the one to write the email initially announcing the contest. She strongly encouraged all students currently unvaccinated to get an appointment, especially as Southern Miss still aims to have in-person classes throughout the Fall 2021 semester. “We are so excited to have you back on campus this fall in classes, at athletic events and at student activities,” wrote Anderson. “The best way for you to stay healthy, stay connected and stay in class this fall is by getting your COVID-19 vaccine.” The incentive program comes as
the Delta variant of COVID-19 swamps the state’s hospitals and ICU facilities. The Delta variant, though it first spread throughout Europe and Asia in 2020, has become an increasing problem in the United States this past year. It is both a highly transmissible and deadly variant of the disease, which helped the global COVID-19 death toll surpass four million in July. The Delta variant is especially a problem for a state like Mississippi, with the Mayo Clinic only reporting 39.4% of Mississippians as fully vaccinated. As of August 19, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) has reported 5,048 new cases of COVID-19, with 54 new deaths. The MSDH also reports that 172 long term care facilities, containing those most at risk for COVID-related deaths, are currently in the middle of outbreaks. “We’re seeing a phenomenal
increase in daily reported cases of COVID, and this is entirely attributable to the delta variant[.]” Dr. Thomas Dobbs, a Mississippi State Health Officer, announced in a web interview. “[It] is sweeping over Mississippi like a tsunami.” The university’s administration has reinstated its indoor mask mandate and has reportedly relaxed its former hardline stance of “fully in-person” classes for the Fall 2021 semester. A vast majority of the Administrators for the university, including President Rodney Bennett, have heavily encouraged students to get vaccinated. That said, they have not yet mandated vaccines to attend class or go onto campus. Anyone still looking to get vaccinated can look for and schedule an appointment through www. vaccines.gov, or can call Moffitt Health Center at 601-266-5390.
NEWS
AUGUST 25, 2021
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Eagle Direct may be new way students purchase textbooks JENNIFER SHIELDS PRINTZ REPORTER he University of Southern Mississippi has partnered with Barnes and Noble to launch a new textbook program. Eagle Direct Textbooks is a program designed to lower costs for undergraduate student’s required course materials. The official website for the program states that it “[reduces] the cost of traditional textbooks by an average of 40 to 50%”. “It’s a program that Barnes and Noble put together and is offering to schools that provides lower cost and better convenience [towards] materials for the first day of class rather than [waiting] for your financial aid to come through,” Andrew Beckwith, General Manager of Barnes and Noble at Southern Miss, said. “Southern Miss was convinced that the benefits of that would be a great enhancement
to campus in terms of equity and accessibility and student success.” Undergraduate students who utilize the plan will pay $20 per credit hour that they are enrolled in. However, the price range for each semester and each student may vary. “If you’re taking 15 credit hours, which is pretty normal, and it’s $20 per credit hour, you’re going to pay $300 for everything that’s required by your professors, so in most cases that is going to be a great savings,” said Beckwith. All undergraduate students are automatically enrolled in Eagle Direct. However, students have the option to opt out of the plan by going into their student account. Students have until the first add/ drop deadline, six days after classes start, to opt-out for the semester. “Everybody can look at the cost benefits for themselves and stay in the program or opt-out if they decide it’s not a good deal for them, cause some semesters it might not
be if you have a bunch of classes that don’t need any text[books], [...] but most of the time it’s gonna be a saving and a benefit for the greater population of the student body,” said Beckwith. Some students have already chosen to opt-out of the plan before the semester began. “Well, I opted out,” said Tishona Cage, a senior Criminal Justice major, “because I feel like you can find your books cheaper on like Amazon or, you know, on any other textbook rental places verus here. The $320 I just don’t think that’s justifiable, I guess.” Eagle Direct is not the only option for students for acquiring textbooks or other materials for class, either. Textbook Brokers has been a staple for Southern Miss students for years, and have stated they have the “lowest priced textbooks in Hattiesburg”. They were not able to respond to calls for a direct comment, but have been constantly emailing students to drop out of the program.
Moreover, students can also browse online for other options when seeking the best deal for their textbooks. Online textbooks rental companies, such as Chegg and Amazon Rentals, are other cost-effective ways students can save on course materials. All that being said, some students are excited about the introduction of the Eagle Direct Textbook plan. “I think as an incoming student it makes obtaining my textbooks really simple. I can get them all at one time, get them shipped to multiple places and I don’t have to worry about finding new or used ones. They just all come to me and I just give them back later,” freshman biology major Zachary Waits said. Whether you opt-in with Eagle Direct, visit Textbook Brokers or browse online, students at the University of Southern Mississippi have more options to purchase or rent low cost textbooks and other course materials than ever before.
NEWS
AUGUST 25, 2021
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Steven Moser to retire as Senior Vice President and Provost of Academic Affairs next summer
MARY MURPHY EXECUTIVE EDITOR
r. Steven Moser, the University of Southern Mississippi’s current Senior Vice President and Provost of Academic Affairs, recently announced that he will be retiring next summer. Moser, who will officially retire next June, has worked with Southern Miss for over thirty years. He started out as a professor in Southern Miss’s School of Music in 1990, also serving as the Director of the Pride of Mississippi’s marching band. In 2012, Moser was named Dean for the College of Arts and Letters. Dr. Denis Wiesenburg, the Provost of Academic Affairs before Moser, spoke highly of Moser just before he took over. “Dr. Moser is an accomplished academic administrator. He embraces our vision of shared governance and distributed decision making, works well with his faculty colleagues and strives to facilitate the realization of their shared goals,” said Wiesenburg. This foundation of academic administration would prove especially useful once Wiesenburg returned to the Department of Marine Science in May 2015. That same year, Moser was named Interim Provost as the university searched for a replacement candidate. Ironically, Moser told the Hattiesburg American that he was uninterested in remaining as Academic Provost beyond the interim of Wiesenburg’s departure. “It’s a very short appointment,” Moser explained. “My president has asked me to step in, and I am doing that.”
Photo courtesy of Southern Miss That “short appointment” turned permanent in Nov. 2015. An official press release from the University said that Moser’s appointment was in large part due to the significant organizational overhauls he helped implement to Academic Affairs during his then-four month
tenure. Said overhauls not only helped improve enrollment rates at the university, but also improved communications both interdepartmentally within and between the Hattiesburg and Gulf Park campuses. Moser continued his improvements to Aca-
demic Affairs as its official Provost. He worked to diversify the campus both on a student and an administration level by combining previous expertise with newer analytic techniques. Moser was incredibly involved with adjusting tuition costs and creating scholarship opportunities for students at the university, allowing more students to be able to attend. He also helped expand the Center for Faculty Development, including the creation of Faculty First Week, a program designed to help newer professors learn the ropes of university life. “Dr. Moser has served as Provost during what I consider to be one of the most transformative periods in recent institutional history,” University President Rodney Bennett wrote in an Aug. 6 email. “His leadership has shaped the University in countless ways as he has advanced critical initiatives across every category.” Moser’s work as Provost proved especially vital during early 2020, as COVID-19 unexpectedly halted university functions. He was one of the main people responsible for expanding fully online class programs from the university, which helped thousands of students remain in school during the pandemic. Even with his impending retirement, Moser still hopes to streamline university procedures with the Vision 2020 program, making it so the school’s growth can remain stable over a long period of time. “Provost Moser will be tremendously missed, but as his expansive body of work demonstrates, his upcoming retirement is certainly well-deserved,” said Bennett. There is currently no Interim Provost that will take over for Moser, and, as of writing, little is known about the procedure to pick the next Academic Provost.
PHOTO GALLERY
AUGUST 25, 2021
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Eagle Walk is finally repainted post-COVID SEAN SMITH PHOTOGRAPHER
ENTERTAINMENT
AUGUST 25, 2021
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Popular K-pop star V sports Black and Gold sweatshirt on web show LOREN JONES ENTERTAINMENT/FEATURE EDITOR n June 16, 2021, someone from The University of Southern found something that shocked many American Korean pop (K-pop) fans. BTS, a seven-member boy band, is known around the world as a shooting star of the K-pop industry. Their fan base is one of the largest ones among the music world. This is not that shocking, as they have achieved several world records over the course of their career with their latest three songs, “Dynamite”, “Butter” and “Permission to Dance”, all making number one on Billboard’s Top 100. What was shocking to
Photo courtesy of Southern Miss’s Official Twitter
fans, especially to those from Mississippi, was what one member, V, wore in episode 142 of Run BTS. Run BTS is the group’s video show that can be found on YouTube, Vlive and Weverse, where the members gather together to do a variety of activities. In the opening of this particular video, as the members are all coming in to sit at a table, viewers saw V wearing what appears to be a USM Golden Eagles crew neck shirt. While many saw this on in the original video, other fans found out through the official Southern Miss Twitter account. The post also added, “If the rest of the guys need a sweater, just DM us your shirt sizes.” A lot of people were shocked
that a popular K-pop superstar wore a shirt from a Mississippi college. But the shock was not bad. Many people who saw the post were extremely excited. Several commenters stated that they could not believe that V was wearing the sweater. Others said that seeing him wear something from their home state was amazing to see, and that they wanted one, too. However, there were some commenters that stated that the photo posted was fake or that the sweater was a knock off. One commenter even claimed that the shirt was from an Italian design house series, as another BTS member, Namjoon, wore a fake Indiana State University from the same series. While the photo of V wearing the shirt is not fake,
since it is in the whole video, there is no way of knowing if the sweater is really from Southern Miss or not. Either way, one question remains: if the shirt is real, how did V come to own it? One way is that a student and fan of the group sent the shirt to them. Another theory could be that he found it while in the U.S. on one of their concert tours. Again, there is no way to be sure one way or another. While there is no sure answer on a lot of things, as BTS has not acknowledged the post, one thing is very clear. Many fans that went to or are currently attending Southern Miss are proud that V possibly unintentionally gave the college a shout out.
SPORTS
AUGUST 25, 2021
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Southern Miss volleyball showcases new team in first exhibition match
AUSTIN LINDSEY SPORTS DIRECTOR outhern Miss Volleyball returned to the Wellness Center Complex on Aug. 20 in an exhibition match against Mississippi State, previewing its team for the upcoming season. The Lady Eagles kicked off the match by taking the first set 25-23 from the Lady Bulldogs, thanks to a block from Reagan Leinen and senior Kinsley Hanback. Southern Miss was only able to take the first set, however, as the Lady Bulldogs rallied for three consecutive sets at scores of 25-21, 2519 and 25-22 to win the game 3-1. Mississippi State was led by the performance and athleticism of senior Gabby Waden, who ended the game with 17 kills on a .444 hitting percentage. On the other side of the net, one Golden Eagle standout was freshman transfer Mia Wesley, who ended the night with 15 kills and 11 digs. “She’s a really good player, who’s impacting us on the outside and as a six rotation player,” Southern Miss Volleyball Head Coach Stephanie Radecki said. Radecki also said she believes most
Charlie Luttrell | Printz
of the team’s newcomers will have a direct impact in their first year. “Mia Wesley, (sophomore) Leinen is very powerful on the right and I think she can help us a lot, as well as (true freshman) Cara Atkinson. She played middle for us tonight[. Really] strong, athletic and gives us some height,” Radecki said. Radecki went on to state her optimism for the upcoming season
and the switch back to a fall schedule season. “We were able to focus on a lot of things that we weren’t able to focus on last year[,] so it’s been really good,” Radecki said. Senior Lauren Talbert played in the exhibition match as the team’s libero, which is an open position for the team after the loss of four-year veteran Madison Lawler.
“It [was] kind of a last-minute decision. She (Talbert) has led our team in passing stats all preseason and I felt like [she] deserved that opportunity tonight,” Radecki said. Lawler led the team this past season with 303 digs, the second most in the Conference USA division. “We will take it day by day,” Radecki said. “Madi was a starter for me as libero since I came here as a head coach[,] so it’s a huge role to fill.” Radecki noted that, despite the loss, the team has depth and energy on its bench, which will be vital for the upcoming season. “I think the best thing is that we have some really big weapons on the bench that we didn’t even use tonight that I think are always going to be ready to help us be successful,” Radecki said. “Our bench had a great attitude tonight and a great personality and that’s so important with a sport like volleyball, a momentum sport where things can change so fast, so I’m excited about the depth of our team this year.” The Lady Eagles officially open regular season play against Mississippi Valley State in the Wellness Center Complex next Friday, Aug. 27, at 3 pm in the Southern Miss Classic Invitational.
Southern Miss Football nears fully vaccinated mark CHARLIE LUTTRELL SM2 NEWS DIRECTOR s the Southern Miss football team approaches the start of its season, the team is close to becoming fully vaccinated. Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain announced in an interview on the 4th Street Sports Show that the team will surpass a 90% vaccination rate once some players receive their second doses. “I’m excited about it,” McClain said. “It gives us an opportunity to go and compete. We can’t just dismiss what’s happening, but it gives us a layer of protection that is really important.” Head Coach Will Hall noted that his staff is nearly “100%” vaccinated. Southern Miss’s vaccination milestone comes as the country suffers a rapid increase of COVID-19 cases due to the transmission of the Delta variant. Mississippi has been one of the hardest-hit states by the recent wave of the virus, recording a seven-day average of nearly 3,500 new cases per day as of Aug. 18. According to Mayo Clinic, Mississippi also has the third-lowest percentage (44%) of population with at least one dose of the vaccine. McClain and Hall attributed the team’s vaccination rate to the team’s
Charlie Luttrell | Printz
effort to educate each other on the topic. “Over the past month, we’ve about doubled our [vaccination] numbers,” Hall said. “We’re feeding them [the team] information from professors, doctors, we’ve had people come in with family stories and coaching staff members [to educate] them on stories of their experiences with it. Most importantly, those are just stories. The facts that were given are coming from medical people.” McClain said the inclusion of medical experts was important to help players avoid misinformation about the vaccines.
“People make their own decisions, but one of the things that was important with our program was to give the right information, so we brought those medical experts in to talk face-to-face with them and ask questions,” McClain said. Last season, Southern Miss had four games impacted due to COVID-19 issues, three of which stemmed from positive cases on the team. Redshirt freshman linebacker TQ Newsome, who got COVID in February, said he got vaccinated to protect others, including his teammates. “I just want to do my part, and
everyone has gotten on board and is doing their part,” Newsome said. “It’s really about doing it for your team -- it’s an altruistic motive. Everyone understands the mission is to win a championship, and we can’t do that without everybody.” During the entirety of last year’s sports schedule, Conference USA required players to receive three COVID-19 tests each week. Now, McClain said that only unvaccinated players will have to go through those testing protocols. “From a student-athlete perspective, it’s an encouragement to be vaccinated, unless you have reasons not to be, so [you] don’t have to go through the testing protocols,” McClain said. McClain noted that the circumstances of testing protocols could change throughout the season. Other football teams have also pushed vaccination efforts as the fall season approaches, including state neighbor Ole Miss. In a press conference on Aug. 8, Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin said that the entire team, including staff, were fully vaccinated. Hall said that he hopes the team soon reaches the same status. “We hope to get them all [vaccines] done, and we feel good about where we’re headed with,” Hall said.