Opinion
Arguments for the American way: Freedom of Speech is necessary to preserve all other freedoms
Benjamin Franklin famously said after the Constitutional Convention to a group of citizens patiently awaiting the verdict of the deliberation that the founders had created “a republic, if you can keep it.” Those words echo in the ears of Americans today, struck with biting polarization and ferocious partisanship. As...
Letter to the Editor: Young people should value human lives over their own social lives
Dear Editor, In the opinion piece published last Thursday, Sept. 17, with the title “Social isolation because of COVID-19 is hurting young people,” the author seemingly fails to realize that wearing masks and practicing social distancing, while protecting the wearer, primarily prevents the wearer from spreading the disease. Fortunately, young...
Opinion: Change at UM should not come at the costs of students’ lives
Last week, an anonymous group of current and former housing workers published an open letter to the university detailing a series of demands. These demands — hazard pay, personal protective equipment, mandatory free testing, food and housing security in the event of campus closure — are necessary to protect student...
Opinion: Education has always been political. Let James Thomas keep his tenure.
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...
Opinion: Mississippi, we must demand a social safety net
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...
Opinion: Social isolation because of COVID-19 is hurting young people
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...
Letter to the Editor: UM asymptomatic testing is free, but there is a cost if we don’t participate.
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...
Opinion: The pandemic is an opportunity to reimagine access to education
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...
Opinion: The USPS is essential. We recognized that too late.
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...
Guest Column: A perspective on George Floyd from a former Minneapolis resident
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...
