March 6,2019

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SERVING SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI SINCE 1927 • WWW.STUDENTPRINTZ.COM • MARCH 6, 2019 | VOLUME 104 | ISSUE 19

NEWS • HATTIESBURG LARP CULTURE

SPORTS •LADY EAGLES DEFEAT UTSA

Maggie Matteson | Printz

Makayla Puckett | Printz

NexusLARP memebers participate in Larping.

Megan Brown one thousand career points.

PG 6

PG 12

Williams’ campaign sparks controversy CONRAD ACOSTA

Dr. Eddie Holloway retires after 40 years JESSICA FIELDS

PRINTZ REPORTER

oshua William’s campaign team obtained access to Imani Harris’s Facebook campaign page for Miss Southern Miss and changed the name, description and cover photo so that it became the Joshua Williams for SGA Vice President 2019 page at 1:37 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, causing some concerns to arise surrounding the ethics of his campaign tactics. Harris, a senior public relations major and the current Miss Southern Miss, said that she was approached by Williams’s campaign manager Chael Williams, a senior public relations major, who asked her for access to her old campaign page from when she was still running for Miss Southern Miss. Harris said the interactions regarding the Facebook page were brief and that afterward she had no further involvement with the page. She said she found this campaign tactic to be ethical, but that she can understand why some people might take issue with it. “In my mind, it was just a resource that I was about to delete, and I just said that he could have it,” Harris said. “In my human brain I could see why people would be apprehensive about it, but in my PR brain, it was just a campaign tactic, a transfer of resources really. I didn’t really think much about it because me, Josh and Chael all know pretty much the same people, so if they were going to add anybody, there wouldn’t be that many differences.” Williams himself said he shares this perspective, saying that this was simply a collaboration between two students. “[Imani] lent a helping hand. She recognized

#SPRINGBREAK #GREENBOOK #NFLCOMBINE #MARCHMADNESS

PRINTZ REPORTER

Courtesy Photo

that I might have needed a little bit of help getting my platform off the ground. Really all she did was hand over her Facebook page that had a couple hundred people on it, and I also have an Instagram that I grew from 0 to 300 followers myself,” Williams said. “Imani Harris is not in an executive position within the SGA, so she doesn’t have any pull with the powers that be so it was just a student helping out another student.” Harris said when she was actively using the

page, there were close to 600 people that were members. By the time William’s campaign team got access, it had decreased in numbers by almost half. The page currently has 297 members. Some people have voiced the concern that this campaign tactic provided Williams with an unfair advantage.

CONTINUED | PG 5

ddie Holloway, dean of students and vice president for student affairs at Southern Miss, will retire after 40 years. Holloway said he greatly appreciates his time at Southern Miss and will cherish all the memories, but it is time for a change. “I have some ambivalence about leaving because this is what I have enjoyed doing, and obviously I am concerned about what I will do with my time. But I’m into personal growth and development,” Holloway said. Holloway explained that one of his greatest accomplishments during his time at the university was being able to help students by being the dean of students. “Becoming dean of students was just a joy for me. I think a person’s life is heightened if their avocation becomes their vocation and if their playtime becomes their work time, so it’s really been an enjoyment,” Holloway said. Holloway has not only impacted students by being dean of students but also as a professor. Ashley Wood, senior psychology major, said she enjoys Holloway’s unique teaching style.

CONTINUED | PG 3

Southern Miss and MGCCC combat teacher shortage CALEB MCCLUSKEY ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

outhern Miss and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College partnered to help combat the teacher shortage in Mississippi by creating a new pathway for high school students looking to teach. “Everybody here knows that the state of Mississippi is in the midst of a teacher shortage,” Southern Miss president Rodney Bennett, Ph.D., said. “This new pathway will produce more highly qualified teachers for our state.” MGCCC president Mary S. Graham, Ph.D., said this shortage of teachers is what started the

conversation. “Over the last five years, there’s been a 40 percent decrease in the number of education majors pursuing teacher’s certificates and teaching degrees,” Graham said. Bennett said this new pathway will be more efficient in getting prospective teachers into class quicker. The program will be for handpicked students at the high school junior and senior levels that want to work in elementary education and special education. “Aptly named ‘Teacher’s College’ in reference to our Normal School heritage, this innovative program was designed to serve MGCCC collegiate academy students who want to become licensed teachers,” dean of the College of Health Trenton E. Gould, Ph.D., said. These juniors and seniors will be dual-enrolled

in their high school classes while taking courses at MGCCC to get their Associate’s. Once they finish the track on the coast, they will transfer to Southern Miss. Students that complete the track within two years will be eligible for the same licensure that five-year students complete. According to Graham, MGCCC provides a pipeline of students for Southern Miss with over 70 percent of their graduates transferring to Southern Miss. Both Bennett and Graham said they believe that their relationship together sets a powerful example for other colleges not just around Mississippi but also the entire country. “We are a model of working together here in the state of Mississippi that many other states revel,” Institute of Higher Learning commissioner Alfred Rankins, Jr., Ph.D., said.

Rankins thanked the leaders of Southern Miss and MGCCC for stepping up and finding a creative way to solve Mississippi’s teacher issue. “What a great day today is on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi,” Rankins said. “This agreement speaks to the core of what state colleges and universities are all about.” Rankins said he looked forward to more opportunities like this agreement across the state in the future. “The University of Southern Mississippi remains committed to meeting the needs of our state by providing high-quality education and research to all students,” Bennett said. “I cannot be more excited to collaborate with our colleagues and alumni from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.”


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