Oxford Residents Run Into Housing Trouble: Reduced Prices

Oxford students and residents are having a hard time finding houses this time of yfear, mostly because of prices and the change in our economy. According to the Washington AP, a wave of foreclosures is forcing down the prices in most U.S cities. http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/04/home_foreclosures_reduced_by_b.html

Students looking for houses this year have came across a problem, expensive prices. Kimsey King, Ole Miss student, talked with relator, Dirk Bender, of Summitt Properties, and he explained why there is such a raise in the prices and what relators around the area are having to do to sale or rent out their houses, reduce the cost. "Two and half years ago, in 2008, the stock market crashed and it impacted our economy horribly," says Dirk. Because of this it not only impacted local Oxford residents, but also different real estate agencies. http://www.oxford4rent.com/

Recently, local agencies have had to lower their prices so it would not effect them as much. Since prices around the area have been reduced it has been easier on college students to find the right home compared to two years ago when the stock market crashed.

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

In a crowded library at this time of year, all around you may see the faces of panicked and flustered college students. Exhausted, stressed and procrastinating students will swarm the library every year at the end of each semester. You can almost feel their anxiety just by looking into their half-open, baggy eyes. Look at the desk each one of them have in front of them and you can be guaranteed to see a heavily caffeinated beverage such as coffee or Red Bull. Welcome to finals week at the University of Mississippi.

When desperate times call for desperate measures, students will go above and beyond anything you would expect. It’s not uncommon for students to go days without sleeping, consume incredible amounts of caffeine and even take controlled substances not prescribed to them. Most people, especially students, are familiar with these things. Kamilla Alves, a senior chemistry major here at the University, says it’s no surprise to witness students do outlandish things to get by during finals. “I’ve seen students not sleep for days at a time, and live off of caffeine and Adderoll” said Kamilla while drinking a Red Bull while studying Quantitative Chemistry. “My personal favorite was this one girl who brought a pillow, blanket and entire case of Monster energy drinks to the library.” But the anxiety is not joke, University of Mississippi counselor, Dr. Marc Showalter said he’s even seen students attempt to harm themselves due to stress and anxiety around finals time.

Students constantly will keep themselves awake into late hours just to study a chapter or two. Even our campus J.D. Williams library extends its coffee shop hours and stays open 24 hours during finals week. Students believe that extending the normal hours of the day will help them have more time to learn material for finals; however, students aren’t aware that that isn’t the case at all. In fact college students that get more sleep ultimately have a higher grade point average according to neurological [studies].

What seems to be a growing trend nowadays is the non-medical use of controlled substances. According to a Brown University [study], non-medical stimulant use among college students is second only to marijuana as the most common illicit drug used.

Dr. Marc Showalter said students should be aware of the dangers of taking someone else’s prescribed medication. “Students will take drugs that are prescribed for ADD…the facts are that that can alter your brain chemistry in a way that would help you if you actually had it, but most people don’t, and so it can be very harmful and dangerous.”

Substance abuse can even cause medical emergencies for students that don’t know how to use it. Director of Student Health, Barbara Collier said she’s witnessed it occur many times. “That’s the one we’ve actually seen in the building that we’ve actually had to send to the emergency room because of tachycardia.”

To put it simply, students should learn to prioritize and try not to overwhelm themselves. As it appears, it can have some detrimental consequences.

Grad School

Katy Dale

Jackson

Jour 102

7 December 2010

Grad School-Final Project

As the job recession is still in effect, a master’s degree is becoming more and more advised to get a good paying job.

The Graduate School at the University of Mississippi has seen a boost in the number of applicants over the years.

Jose Rodriguez, a Spanish grad student said, “I really would like to teach in Spain or be a professor somewhere after school.”

Rodriguez has traveled to Spain with the Spanish program at Ole Miss this past summer.

The number of students has gone up 12.5% since 2008 in the Grad school at Ole Miss.

Dr. Maurice R. Eftink, The Dean of the Graduate School said, “The numbers seem to be continuously growing.”

“Students are wanting to continue their education and hopefully land a huge job right after college,” Rodriguez said.

The University of Mississippi has seen a boost in the number of student undergrads and grad students since the movie “The Blind Side” was released.

Ole Miss had to cut off registration early last spring since the number of applications exceeded expectation.

The Graduate School number of students went up 2.5% this past fall.

Erin Elliott graduated from the Ole Miss Graduate School with a Master’s Degree in Accounting and Taxation.

She was offered an internship this past summer with IFAC in New York City for the summer.

Her internship soon turned into a full time job.

“My boss asked me if I’d like to work here full time and I said yes of course,” Elliott said.

Most students who graduate from grad school are offered multiple job offers and internships.

“It takes hard work and perseverance to get through the classes, but it is definitely worth it,” Elliott said.

Monique Mouton, a sophomore at Ole Miss said, “I look forward graduating from Ole Miss and continuing my education here, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Mouton is studying criminal justice and hopes to go to Law school/ Grad school

Ole Miss has become increasingly popular which in turn is better for the school.

More money is being generated by the number of students coming from out of state, which means more money can be spent of programs offered by the school.

An extra two years of school can really pay off in the long run; grad school should be something everyone thinks about.

Who wouldn’t want to be in Oxford for an extra two years?

http://www.olemiss.edu/gradschool/

http://www.mississippi.edu/research/downloads/profile2009.pdf

Wikileaks: Safer Not Knowing

Wikileaks is an independent website which aims to expose secret information about governments and corporations was founded in 2007 by Julian Assange. Assange was born in Australia and is an activist and journalist. Wikileaks has put out many secret documents and has become quite controversial. The website can be accessed worldwide and so some of the documents released are leaked to our enemies.

The military has called out Wikileaks for posing a serious threat to our defense. The New York Times has an article that has a quote from the military. The military “…called it [Wikileaks] a threat to its operations in a report in March 2010.” They have a very good reason to call Wikileaks a threat. The website has released information that in the wrong hands could be devastating. There are those who believe that it is more important to know what our government is doing.

If we knew more about what really goes on in our government it would change the way we vote. We would be able to see what our politicians were doing and know the information was accurate. In the article, “Don’t Mention the Cables, Future Diplomats”, author Robert Mackey quotes a man who sees positive in Wikileaks. Mr. Brick, who served on the National Security Council said, “One of the best results of the Wikileaks release of thousands of State Department cables is that it moves up in time the moment when it is possible to have a reasonably informed discussion of policy making.” Mr. Brick is saying that if we know everything about the politicians, then the discussion will not have any hidden areas. The politicians will not be able to hide any prior mistakes.

Wikileaks could be a very useful resource. The only downside of the website to the common person is that it threatens their safety. The documents released by Wikileaks can be seen by almost anyone. However, many do not see as much risk in releasing these documents and are more driven to find out the secrets of our big corporations and government officials. Ultimately, people are safer not knowing all these secrets. Nothing is worth the price of compromising our national security.

Click Here to watch a debate about Wikileaks being a threat.

An Academic Oasis

A door shuts softly on the second floor of the Residential College. Lounge areas, which once welcomed laughter and conversation, are eerily silent. Two students break the silence as they walk the hallways discussing biology before disappearing into one of the many study rooms. As soon as the door shuts behind them silence returns to the empty floor.

This silence means only one thing on a frigid Monday night in December–final exams.

Exam time is one filled with much procrastination, cramming and stress for Ole Miss scholars. Libraries and computer labs across campus overflow with “off-campus” students seeking academic refuge from the outside world and its distractions. Combined with stress, the overcrowding of university facilities has become one of the worst nightmares for college pupils.

However, students of the Residential College seem to have the issue under control.

The Residential College at Ole Miss serves as a scholastic oasis for its residents. The Lucky Day Program sponsored dormitories convenient on campus locations are a great benefit for their students.

“Being on campus is an easy way to access the library, as well as study materials because everything is right here in front of you here,” said George Jackson, a sophomore living in the Residential College.

Residing in the same location as fellow Lucky Day scholars is beneficial for helping students stay on task during exam week.

“Being around people with a common goal really makes studying a whole lot easier in the fact that people here encourage you rather than distract,” Jackson said.

The Lucky Day program also provides the Residential College with tutors to help any resident with their studies.

Students such as Mason Money, a sophomore resident, have noticed the effort put forth by the Lucky Day and Residential College programs to advocate the importance of education to the scholar inhabitants.

“The staff have been really active in trying to help all of us prepare for this week. We have plenty of study rooms on each floor, personal space, and if extra help is needed to study, the extra help is available here for us,” said Money.

“It’s not only the newest dorm, but it also creates a great atmosphere for learning.”

The Residential College project at the University of Mississippi has been an important step in the education of college students. Some studies show that living on campus increases a scholar’s GPA between .2 and .9 on a scale of 4.0.

A Creative Outlet

The importance of fine arts education in high school and middle school students has become very well known throughout the nation thanks to programs like Save The Music and through lots of thorough research.

According to edutopia.org, there are many benefits from fine arts education. Some of those benefits are increases in reading, critical thinking, math, and verbal skills. It also increases personality traits like self-confidence and teamwork. These are all great things that every person could use improvement in.

Fine arts education has the potential to produce very well rounded students that become dependent on a certain creative outlet to deal with everyday stresses and to better express their self.

Emmalee Rainey, a sophomore at Ole Miss and psychology major, has been singing and performing her whole life. “It’s crucial for me to sing as my creative outlet. If I didn’t have a way to express myself then I might go crazy.”

When getting to college many students that were involved in high school arts programs lose their creative outlet because many arts programs are restricted to fine art majors.

However, in the Ole Miss Choral department there is a very unique opportunity for non-music majors. The Ole Miss Choral department has opened all of their chorus and ensemble groups to non-music majors. “I had no idea that this was even an option for me,” said Rainey. “It’s a great thing…it is perfect for students who have their heats in music but their head in business.”

A perfect example of that kind of student is junior geological engineering student, Elizabeth Stewart. She was a crucial part of the Ole Miss concert choir and women’s glee ensemble during her freshman and sophomore years. She said it was very hard to balance all of her engineering classes with all of the practices and concerts, but the hard work was worth the payoff for her. She says the program challenged her as a singer and made her a better-rounded person. “And the scholarships didn’t hurt either,” Stewart added. “I would definitely recommend the program to other students. It is a phenomenal program and if students enjoy music and want to continue to sing it is a good way to do that.”

Auditioning is very easy to do. An appointment time can be set up at any time by contacting the Ole Miss Choral department.

Haleigh Sanders

This is a video of Emmalee Rainey singing a song she is considering for an audition and talking about her true love of singing.

Giving Back Moves Everyone Foward

When a visitor steps on campus at the University of Mississippi and look up to see the red and blue banners that line the streets of the campus that read, “Experience Amazing” few would be able to quickly recall just how the university community is given the opportunity to experience all that it does. The University of Mississippi gives opportunities to students every year through the university endowment also referred to as the University Foundation.

The Foundation was formed decades ago in order to ensure that the future generations of the Ole Miss family would have more opportunities and always maintain high excellence in and out of the classroom. Although very few students are aware of the Foundation and everything that it supports most students are positively affected by its influence during their tenure at the university.

From funding major scholarships, to student trips and organizations the foundation is kept alive my major donors, alumni and grants from around the country; all with different motives for keeping the Ole Miss community alive. Foundations exist across the country and vary in size and purpose, easily accessible online at The Foundation Center, which explains the purposes, goals, and concepts of foundations from around the country.

One of the primary ways students are affected by funding from the endowment is through funding for student organization; Bill Rosenblatt, the Associated Student Body treasurer who is responsible for distributing these funds. Below is an interview with Bill where he explains the benefit of the Foundation facilitating student involvement.

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Although not every student is involved during their tenure at the university it is important for them to stay active post graduation. The Foundation encourages all alumni to give back to the university and to work to ensure that other students have the same opportunities as they did during their collegiate career.