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The Daily Mississippian
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    Fall 2021 semester to ‘return to normal,’ chancellor announces

    Grove Grocery opens a second location

    ‘Change is in the air’: SMBHC dean to resign after 19 years

    University asks students, faculty how willing they are to receive the vaccine

    Oxford Police Department arrests alleged soccer field vandals

    Campus Walk suffers property damage from winter storms

  • Sports

    Baseball is back at Swayze: Ole Miss sits 5-2 after first home games

    Ole Miss track and field finished strong at 2021 SEC Indoor Championships

    Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

    Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

    Men’s basketball sweeps over No. 24 Missouri

    Track and field teams to compete in SEC Championships

    Ole Miss soccer hosts Samford for spring season debut

  • Arts & Culture
    Arts council unveils statue of Ron ‘Ronzo’ Shapiro

    Arts council unveils statue of Ron ‘Ronzo’ Shapiro

    Despite strict food business restrictions, Blenz Bowls comes to UM

    Despite strict food business restrictions, Blenz Bowls comes to UM

    Album review: Taylor Swift reminds the world of her unbridled imagination with “Evermore”

    The secret to The Luv Shak’s success

  • Opinion

    Guest column: We need new student housing codes for cold weather

    Opinion: The university needs to find its sense of shame

    Opinion: Students, vote in the municipal elections

    Letter to the editor: Understanding the truth of lynching

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  • News

    Fall 2021 semester to ‘return to normal,’ chancellor announces

    Grove Grocery opens a second location

    ‘Change is in the air’: SMBHC dean to resign after 19 years

    University asks students, faculty how willing they are to receive the vaccine

    Oxford Police Department arrests alleged soccer field vandals

    Campus Walk suffers property damage from winter storms

  • Sports

    Baseball is back at Swayze: Ole Miss sits 5-2 after first home games

    Ole Miss track and field finished strong at 2021 SEC Indoor Championships

    Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

    Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

    Men’s basketball sweeps over No. 24 Missouri

    Track and field teams to compete in SEC Championships

    Ole Miss soccer hosts Samford for spring season debut

  • Arts & Culture
    Arts council unveils statue of Ron ‘Ronzo’ Shapiro

    Arts council unveils statue of Ron ‘Ronzo’ Shapiro

    Despite strict food business restrictions, Blenz Bowls comes to UM

    Despite strict food business restrictions, Blenz Bowls comes to UM

    Album review: Taylor Swift reminds the world of her unbridled imagination with “Evermore”

    The secret to The Luv Shak’s success

  • Opinion

    Guest column: We need new student housing codes for cold weather

    Opinion: The university needs to find its sense of shame

    Opinion: Students, vote in the municipal elections

    Letter to the editor: Understanding the truth of lynching

  • Print Editions
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Guest Column: It’s time to stop ignoring economic inequality at UM

Seth SpencerbySeth Spencer
September 30, 2020
3 min read

On Sept. 16, a group of UM students protested university administrators’ flagging, non-transparent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the danger and uncertainty many campus workers confront each day. University leadership did not respond to their concerns. 

 

The Daily Mississippian reported a recent surge in the use of the campus food bank by students and staff who experience food insecurity, a reality that the pandemic has exacerbated for many individuals. No actions have been taken to address the systemic issues – amplified across racial lines – that contribute to food insecurity for UM students and staff. 

 

In a meeting with the Graduate Student Council over the summer, Chancellor Glenn Boyce dismissed graduate instructors’ pleas for the implementation of a minimum teaching stipend above the federal poverty line, claiming that “departments are allowed to pay a higher stipend, and we encourage them to do so.” In an all-too-familiar move, Boyce passed the buck. 

 

I paint this stark picture of the reality faced by many students and campus workers not to contribute to the surplus of negative news we as a community have experienced this year. Rather, I do so to highlight what seems to be the keystone of UM’s campus culture, the singular term that lies at the heart of the afore-mentioned issues: inequality. 

 

How is it that the state’s flagship university – with a whopping $736 million endowment reported in 2019 – continues to perpetuate these shocking levels of disparity among students and campus workers? Make no mistake, this culture of inequality at UM is 100% by design. It allows administrators to collect handsome six-figure salaries while instructors – who perform the brunt of the university’s academic labor – languish in poverty. 

 

It forces student workers, many of whom commute from places like Batesville because of Oxford’s exorbitant housing costs, to hold several jobs just to pay for basic necessities. It allows the university to pull in millions of dollars on the backs of its student-athletes while the athletes themselves don’t see a dime. To my fellow campus workers: how long will we endure this blatant exploitation?

 

I invoke the solemn words of Civil Rights legend U.S. Rep. John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to do something.” 

 

Here is what I see when I look around the campus of the University of Mississippi:

 

I see graduate instructors living on the edge of poverty.

 

I see campus workers furloughed in the spring now struggling to pay their bills.

 

I see student housing workers performing their residential duties with no hazard pay and inadequate PPE.

 

I see Greek organizations take in millions of dollars annually while their staff members struggle to earn a living wage. 

 

I see campus staff fearful to return to campus as crowds descend on Oxford for the beginning of football season.

 

These are the things I see. However, what is most unsettling is what I hear: the deafening silence from UM administrators. To members of university leadership: What do you see? More importantly, what concrete steps are you taking to dismantle this institutional inequality?

 

Seth Spencer is a Brooksville, Florida, native and a graduate instructor and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English.

In Case You Missed It

Baseball is back at Swayze: Ole Miss sits 5-2 after first home games

17 hours ago

Ole Miss track and field finished strong at 2021 SEC Indoor Championships

17 hours ago

Fall 2021 semester to ‘return to normal,’ chancellor announces

17 hours ago

Grove Grocery opens a second location

17 hours ago

‘Change is in the air’: SMBHC dean to resign after 19 years

17 hours ago
Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

23 hours ago

Guest Column: It’s time to stop ignoring economic inequality at UM

Seth SpencerbySeth Spencer
September 30, 2020
3 min read

On Sept. 16, a group of UM students protested university administrators’ flagging, non-transparent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the danger and uncertainty many campus workers confront each day. University leadership did not respond to their concerns. 

 

The Daily Mississippian reported a recent surge in the use of the campus food bank by students and staff who experience food insecurity, a reality that the pandemic has exacerbated for many individuals. No actions have been taken to address the systemic issues – amplified across racial lines – that contribute to food insecurity for UM students and staff. 

 

In a meeting with the Graduate Student Council over the summer, Chancellor Glenn Boyce dismissed graduate instructors’ pleas for the implementation of a minimum teaching stipend above the federal poverty line, claiming that “departments are allowed to pay a higher stipend, and we encourage them to do so.” In an all-too-familiar move, Boyce passed the buck. 

 

I paint this stark picture of the reality faced by many students and campus workers not to contribute to the surplus of negative news we as a community have experienced this year. Rather, I do so to highlight what seems to be the keystone of UM’s campus culture, the singular term that lies at the heart of the afore-mentioned issues: inequality. 

 

How is it that the state’s flagship university – with a whopping $736 million endowment reported in 2019 – continues to perpetuate these shocking levels of disparity among students and campus workers? Make no mistake, this culture of inequality at UM is 100% by design. It allows administrators to collect handsome six-figure salaries while instructors – who perform the brunt of the university’s academic labor – languish in poverty. 

 

It forces student workers, many of whom commute from places like Batesville because of Oxford’s exorbitant housing costs, to hold several jobs just to pay for basic necessities. It allows the university to pull in millions of dollars on the backs of its student-athletes while the athletes themselves don’t see a dime. To my fellow campus workers: how long will we endure this blatant exploitation?

 

I invoke the solemn words of Civil Rights legend U.S. Rep. John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to do something.” 

 

Here is what I see when I look around the campus of the University of Mississippi:

 

I see graduate instructors living on the edge of poverty.

 

I see campus workers furloughed in the spring now struggling to pay their bills.

 

I see student housing workers performing their residential duties with no hazard pay and inadequate PPE.

 

I see Greek organizations take in millions of dollars annually while their staff members struggle to earn a living wage. 

 

I see campus staff fearful to return to campus as crowds descend on Oxford for the beginning of football season.

 

These are the things I see. However, what is most unsettling is what I hear: the deafening silence from UM administrators. To members of university leadership: What do you see? More importantly, what concrete steps are you taking to dismantle this institutional inequality?

 

Seth Spencer is a Brooksville, Florida, native and a graduate instructor and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English.

In Case You Missed It

Baseball is back at Swayze: Ole Miss sits 5-2 after first home games

17 hours ago

Ole Miss track and field finished strong at 2021 SEC Indoor Championships

17 hours ago

Fall 2021 semester to ‘return to normal,’ chancellor announces

17 hours ago

Grove Grocery opens a second location

17 hours ago

‘Change is in the air’: SMBHC dean to resign after 19 years

17 hours ago
Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

23 hours ago

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