Opinion

Last Monday, Sept. 14, Mississippi state auditor Shad White recommended the firing of tenured UM sociology professor James Thomas, citing a law banning strikes. Thomas had participated in #ScholarStrike, a nationwide call to professors to bring awareness to racial violence and justice. Thomas was not the only professor at the...

It has been six months since Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus on March 14 – and there is no end in sight. When I reflect on how this time has passed, I become more and more convinced that we must stop accepting...

The coronavirus has largely uprooted everyone’s lives — from the elderly all the way to young children. But perhaps the most socially affected have been school-aged children and young adults. Schools across the country are closed for the academic year, leaving students at home and away from peers. Is this...

Dear Editor,  I would like to add to the article in last Thursday’s DM about mass testing for COVID on campus.  The university calls mass testing “sentinel testing” or “surveillance testing.” We want to find out what percentage of asymptomatic people have the SARS-CoV-2 virus and are potential spreaders of...

It is no secret that American education is fundamentally flawed and unequal – beginning with K-12 school funding derived from property taxes and ending with disproportionate educational attainment along racial and economic lines. The COVID-19 pandemic and all of its chaos is changing how we approach education and what we...

The United States Postal Service is careening through an engineered crisis, hurtling towards failure. A 2006 law requiring that the Postal Service prepay retiree health benefits 75 years in advance — a provision to which no other government agency or private corporation is subject — has resulted in backlog and...

I had an odd experience that happened recently during the Black Lives Matter protests this summer. I purchased something in Oxford, and while the payment was processing, the Black woman behind the counter grabbed the stuff I purchased to help me take it to the car. When I asked her...

Since mid-March, government response to the coronavirus has been wide and sweeping. States like California, New York and New Jersey are still enforcing strict stay-at-home orders while others such as Florida, Texas and Mississippi have allowed citizens more discretion. Given the varying responses by the government from state to state,...

When it comes to a global pandemic, there is no one guilty party. People will die from the decisions that are made, but it seems that to the University of Mississippi community — from students to administrators, athletics and Greek organizations — the worst thing that could happen is taking...

To the Editor, It's been a long, hot summer unlike any we've ever known. The slightest whiff of fall in the early mornings takes many spirits almost immediately to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. To be clear, we all want football. However, the University of Mississippi should immediately reconsider and abandon use of...