Opinion

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...