Volume 99 Issue 44
Thursday, March 19, 2015
www.studentprintz.com PAGE THREE
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NEWS Big Event
Students to participate in community service Saturday.
PAGE SEVEN
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F E AT U R E
OPINION
S P O RT S
Former contestant, student to record EP album.
New facility near completion for the College of Business.
McNelis, Lady Eagles prepare for first round of WNIT.
‘The Voice’
Scianna Hall
Basketball
The Pride wins major awards in Ireland
Courtesy Photo
The Pride of Mississippi enjoyed a successful trip to Ireland over spring break, as they were awarded the title of Best Overall Band at Limerick International Band Championship Sunday. The parade featured 1,100 musicians from Europe and the U.S. The following Tuesday, the Pride was awarded Best Adult Band at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin.
Alan Rawls
Managing Editor Of the 24 bands that performed in the Limerick International Band Championship in Ireland on Sunday, The University of Southern Mississippi’s marching band The Pride of Mississippi was awarded the title of Best Overall Band. The parade featured over 1,100 musicians from Ireland, Europe and the U.S., about 130 of whom were from Southern Miss. The victory came as no surprise to Steve Moser, the dean of the College of Arts and
Letters at USM. “The Pride was outstanding today,” Moser said on Sunday. “(They) excited the crowds in Limerick and were the great ambassadors for The University of Southern Mississippi and the state of Mississippi we all know them to be.” Only two days later, The Pride of Mississippi won the award for Best Adult Band at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin. Each year about 500,000 spectators line the streets of Dublin to see the parade, and it is broadcasted via webcast throughout the world. According to James Standland,
the director of the Pride, it was not the band’s first time performing there. The Pride also marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the late 1990s. “Needless to say there is an excitement with our students that I have never seen,” Standland said. “These students rehearsed and prepared for the performances and are very deserving of this unique international achievement.” The Pride performed music familiar to any Southern Miss fan, including the university’s fight song as well as the band’s rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Standland also noted
that the band was extended an invitation by Guinness to perform at the brewery following the parade Tuesday. Doug Morin, a graduate assistant with the Department of Bands and the Pride, said the parades were unlike anything he had experienced before. “Even the pageant —as the Irish refer to them— ahead of us turned around because they were impressed by what they heard,” Morin said. “It was really awesome to hear them cheering for us and a lot of times people would cheer and yell ‘Go Mississippi’ to us,” said Mallory Jennings, a sophomore
math licensure major and a drum major for the Pride. Abbe Adent, a junior interdisciplinary studies major who plays the piccolo, explained that the Pride originally did not know they were competing Sunday. “In the Limerick parade we thought we were an exhibition band,” Adent said. “Being unaware that we were competing meant that we were just focused on having fun making music, and I think that helped the performance a lot.” “This trip is something that every single student will remember for a lifetime,” Standland said. “It was that special.”
ON CAMPUS
University proposes parking plan, transit system Lindsey Kelley Printz Reporter
On Monday, Chief Financial Officer Douglas Vinzant proposed a new plan to the Student Government Association for parking that would completely overhaul the current decal system for both the Hattiesburg and Gulf Park campuses. Vinzant said many
installations should be made, such as installing blue emergency poles, traffic signage or handicapped accessible sidewalks. However, there is currently not enough money in the decal system to pay for all the improvements needed. “We have too few people that were trying to use the revenue for what they pay with parking decals to pay for a whole lot of things that everyone can benefit
from, “ he said. According to Vinzant’s figures, there were 14,739 students enrolled for the 20142015 academic year but only 8,667 parking decals sold. This discrepancy in numbers creates a lack of funding for each year and, if allowed to continue, would result in parking decals costing $153 in fiscal year 2016. “This still wouldn’t be enough,” Vinzant said. “To make up the
discrepancy, each decal would need to be $200.” His proposal, University Access and Transit Service, would create a transit system for the university with the ability to use the student ID as a bus pass. Along with the added public transit, the goal would be to pave all gravel lots on campus, such as the Hillcrest and Montague lots. In this system, all students
in both Hattiesburg and Gulf Park campuses would share an overall fee for parking and capital improvements, generated to SOAR accounts. This would pay for the new transit system plus all improvements made to parking lots and sidewalks. This fee would not be in addition to the current decal, but completely replace the decal fee. The fee would also
see PARKING, page 3