| Friday, October 4, 2013 |  |
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| Mississippi State University researchers receive $10 million National Institutes of Health grant | |
 | Mississippi State University has been awarded a $10 million grant for five years of support from the National Institutes of Health to further research focusing on diseases that affect animal and human health. NIH's Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, or COBRE, provides competitive grants in support of multidisciplinary centers that strengthen institutional biomedical research capacity. The research will be conducted among three core centers at MSU: the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Institute of Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, and the Institute for Imaging and Analytical Technologies. The MSU-CVM will administer the grant and research activities. |
| Mississippi State researchers receive major grant | |
 | Mississippi State University has been awarded a $10 million grant for five years of support from the National Institutes of Health to further research focusing on diseases that affect animal and human health. "It is an extremely competitive process," said Stephen Pruett, MSU-CVM's head of basic sciences and principal investigator on the COBRE grant. "Most of the applicants are human medical colleges, so we were in the minority as a veterinary college. We have great leadership and a talented group of researchers that helped us achieve this." |
| Finding an antidote: Scientists work on making nerve agents obsolete | |
 | While the world has been tensely watching Syria and its use and supply of chemical weapons, a group of Mississippi scientists has been quietly working on a project that could render those weapons obsolete in the future. Researchers at Mississippi State University are in the second year of work on an antidote that promises to stop nerve agents' effect on the body before it does any damage to the victim. "We are extremely excited about the potential of this work," said Dr. Jan Chambers, a Giles Distinguished Professor and director of the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine's Center for Environmental Health Sciences who is leading the research effort. |
| C Spire to build $20M data center in Starkville | |
 | The parent company of C Spire Wireless will build a $20 million data center in Starkville, with hopes of selling more computer services to businesses. Ridgeland-based C Spire plans to break ground in November and complete construction on the first phase in November 2014, when customers would begin using the center. Plans were announced Thursday at a news conference at Mississippi State University's Thad Cochran Research Park, which will host the 22,000 square foot first phase. Two more phases are planned. |
| New data center coming to local city | |
| C Spire Wireless announced Thursday it'll build a $20 million data center in Starkville. The 22,400 square foot facility will sit on six-and-a-half acres and provide cloud services to businesses and to government entities in the region. "This project is going to bring direct job opportunities," said Parker Wiseman, the mayor of Starkville. "It's also going to bring indirect job opportunities to people in the area because you're bringing high tech capacity here." The data center will be built in the Thad Cochran Research Park at Mississippi State University. |
| School commission looks to university | |
 | The Commission on Starkville Consolidated School District Structure considered Mississippi State University's potential involvement with the future consolidated district at its Thursday evening meeting. Consolidation began earlier this year, when Gov. Phil Bryant approved House Bill 716, which called for the two districts to merge in July 2015. The bill created a seven-member commission to study the consolidation to prepare a report to the Mississippi legislature by March. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| Racial language up for discussion at Ole Miss | |
| It's what you say and how you say it that matters. There are lessons to be learned in life and that includes the semantics and ethics of racial language. That's the title of a seminar held on the University of Mississippi campus Thursday. The Department of Philosophy and Religion put together the conference to take a closer look at slurs during a very frank discussion. "Clearly this is a place where this type of discussion is both welcomed and a place where it is needed," said keynote speaker Ravi K. Perry of Mississippi State University's Department of Political Science and Public Administration. |
| MSU's Douglas Bammann earns Fellow designation | |
| Douglas Bammann, a Bagley College of Engineering mechanical engineering professor at Mississippi State University, is receiving the highest grade of membership from the Society of Engineering Science. Bammann was recently named a Fellow during the organization's 50th annual technical meeting at Brown University. He is the only member to earn the honor this year. Bammann joined Mississippi State in 2007 as a Billie J. Ball professor in mechanical engineering. Since that time he has served as the vice chair of the ASME applied mechanics division and materials division joint committee on consecutive equations. |
| Ashli Brown named state chemist, director of Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory | |
| Ashli Brown, an accomplished Mississippi State University researcher and administrator for the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory, is taking the helm of that state agency housed on the land-grant institution's campus. Brown has been named state chemist and director of the MSCL, effective Oct. 1 and pending formal approval by the Mississippi Senate. Previously, she served as the MSCL's director of research and agriculture forensics. |
| Scientists warn of possible water shortages; work on solutions | |
| When water runs clear and fast from a tap, it's often hard to believe there could be a challenge for individuals, farmers and communities to keep it clean and plentiful. Joe Street, associate director of the Mississippi State University Extension Service, warned that water supplies could be depleted, even in the South, where rainfall, rivers, streams and lakes are plentiful. This problem can already be seen in the Mississippi Delta, where producers must drill deeper to tap the Mississippi River Valley's alluvial aquifer. "Mississippi is fortunate to have abundant water sources, but we do not have infinite water supplies, so conservation is important," Street said. "Adequate access to clean water is vital to agriculture and all aspects of life, and this drives Mississippi State's involvement in water quality and conservation efforts. Agriculture is the driving force to the Delta's economy, so we must maintain an adequate water supply." |
| Mississippi declares emergency ahead of tropical storm | |
| Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency Thursday as Tropical Storm Karen was churning through the Gulf of Mexico. Karen could be a strong tropical storm or weak hurricane when it makes landfall late Friday or early Saturday. A hurricane watch was posted Thursday from Grand Isle, La., to Indian Pass in the Florida Panhandle. That area includes Mississippi's entire coastline. The likelihood of strong winds and heavy rains in Mississippi's southern counties created uncertainty about Friday night high school football games, and local officials will decide whether the games will be canceled or played. |
| Bryant: South Mississippi can benefit from state's booming auto industry | |
 | Mississippi has gone from zero cars manufactured in the state to 2.2 million in just 13 years, Gov. Phil Bryant told the Southern Automotive Conference on Thursday at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino. Most of the auto business is concentrated in north Mississippi but Bryant said, "I certainly think they will come" to South Mississippi. "That's one of the important reasons for the Port of Gulfport and the Port of Pascagoula," he said. "We are talking to Toyota now that's looking at exporting 7,500 of their automobiles to South America. We are the perfect location to be able to do that." |
| Mississippi blues: The cost of rejecting Medicaid expansion | |
 | As Americans across the nation begin to find out what Obamacare has in store for them, many of Mississippi's most needy will find out the answer is nothing. That is likely the case for William and Leslie Johnson of Jackson County, since the state decided not to expand the Medicaid program for the poor under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. As a result, nearly 300,000 adults there will fall through the cracks of healthcare reform. Many are the working poor -- truckers, childcare workers, mechanics -- who make too much money each month to qualify for Medicaid under Mississippi's existing criteria but not quite enough to get government help buying private health insurance on an Obamacare exchange. For the Johnsons, the struggle for health coverage has been a years-long battle. |
| Lawmakers decide how to handle shutdown for staffs, salaries | |
 | Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson changed plans to attend a health care forum today in Jackson in case he has to vote on legislation to end the government shutdown. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker has kept his offices in Mississippi and Washington open but has furloughed about two-thirds of his staff. Other Mississippi lawmakers also are making decisions about how the government shutdown that started Tuesday will affect their offices and their income. Gregg Harper, R-3rd District, asked the House chief administrative officer to withhold his salary during the shutdown. Reps. Steve Palazzo, R-4th District, and Alan Nunnelee, R-1st District, also have requested that their salaries be withheld. Neither has furloughed employees. |
| Head Start program closes amid government shutdown | |
 | Gift Magee was confused when her dad, Curtis, said she couldn't go to her pre-kindergarten class after it was closed due to the government shutdown. Three days in, Gift is still confused. Gift is among 900 pre-kindergarten children in Mississippi who can't go to school after federal funding for Five County Child Development Program in Prentiss wasn't renewed Oct. 1. In addition to education, the income-based Head Start program provides children between the ages of three and five with meals, health coverage and some transportation. The shutdown also put more than 220 Head Start employees in Mississippi out of a job. |
| Wicker takes cover as shots fired near Capitol | |
| Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said he was walking from the Capitol to his office on Thursday when he noticed a commotion involving police officers and heard gunfire. "I said, 'Oh my goodness. That was real,'" Wicker recalled. "It then became apparent to me that I did not need to continue in that direction." Wicker said he took cover behind a parked SUV, the biggest vehicle he could find. Police later said a female driver had rammed a barrier near the White House, then led officers on a chase that ended on Capitol Hill, where police shot and killed the woman. Capitol Police said a one-year-old child was recovered from the car in good condition. |
| Congressman Palazzo responds to D.C. chase | |
 | Congressman Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) spoke with WDAM Thursday afternoon about where he was during the Capitol's lock down after a car chase happened on the Hill. "I had just walked in from voting when the internal alert system telling us to shelter in place came on," says Palazzo. "We were told there were gun shots that had been fired somewhere in the Capitol complex. The congressman says it is "very fortunate" that his entire staff was in his office when the incident occurred. The high-speed chase transpired after a car attempted to ram into a barrier outside the White House Thursday afternoon. |
| Furniture Brands bidder plans to keep most workers | |
 | New-York based KPS Capital Partners apparently has extended the lifeline Furniture Brands International -- and its subsidiary, Lane Furniture Industries -- have been hoping to find. On Wednesday, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved an interim order allowing KPS to replace Oaktree Capital Management as the debtor-in-possession lender. The investment firm also said it plans to extend job offers to most of Furniture Brands' workers. That's a relief to the 1,400 Lane workers who work at four facilities in Northeast Mississippi. |
| UM leaders 'strongly condemn' play incident | |
| University of Mississippi leaders said on Thursday they "strongly condemn" a Tuesday night incident in which students disrupted a theater department production and allegedly used gay slurs. Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletic Director Ross Bjork issued a joint statement apologizing on behalf of the university's 22,000 students, its faculty and its staff for what occurred during a student performance of "The Laramie Project" on Tuesday night at Meek Auditorium. The story was first reported by the Daily Mississippian on Thursday morning and was quickly picked up by national websites. Part of the reaction was because of the participation of football players. |
| Negative spotlight again on Ole Miss | |
| An audience's bad behavior and alleged use of a homophobic slur at an on-campus play has Ole Miss embroiled in controversy and once again trying to fight a negative image. During a performance Tuesday of "The Laramie Project," a play based on the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, students in the audience repeatedly laughed during what were intended to be somber moments, and cast members reported hearing the use of a homophobic slur toward them. "It was them judging me as a person," said Garrison Gibbons, an Ole Miss student and cast member from Brandon who identified himself as gay. |
| University responds to 'The Laramie Project' incident | |
 | Multiple entities of The University of Mississippi worked to respond to "The Laramie Project" incident that occurred Tuesday night in the Meek Auditorium. After the publication of yesterday's front-page article in The Daily Mississippian, attention was brought to what one theater faculty member called "borderline hate speech" and homophobic slurs made by a mostly student audience at the theater department's production. Thursday morning, the university's Bias Incident Response Team, a committee of about five faculty members, met to gather facts about Tuesday night. The university released an open letter signed by Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletics Director Ross Bjork Thursday condemning the offensive behavior of the students in attendance at the Meek Auditorium Tuesday. |
| Ole Miss investigating freshman athletes' gay slurs | |
 | University of Mississippi officials apologized Thursday for the behavior of a group of freshman athletes who were among an audience that used "borderline hate speech" in verbally harassing student actors during a university theater production of "The Laramie Project." Michael Barnett, assistant chair of theater arts at the school and also chair of the Ole Miss faculty senate, said by phone Thursday that athletes from football and other sports were in attendance and that the athletic department was "treating the matter with utmost seriousness." |
| Ole Miss Apologizes for Gay Slurs During Student Play | |
 | The University of Mississippi's chancellor and athletic director issued apologies for the behavior of student audience members, including Ole Miss athletes, who reportedly uttered slurs at actors in a play about a gay man who was killed in 1998. Mississippi chancellor Dan Jones and athletic director Ross Bjork said in a joint statement Thursday that they were still working to determine who disrupted the play "The Laramie Project" Tuesday night at a performance on campus. The play addresses the abuse and murder of Matthew Shepard near Laramie, Wyo. |
| Ole Miss football players, students reportedly shout slurs during gay awareness play | |
 | An investigation is underway after allegations that students and athletes were using gay slurs at a school play, which was about a man who was murdered for being gay. Ole Miss officials issued a statement apology Thursday. It is a play that student actor Garrison Gibbons will never forget. Last year students yelled racial slurs after President Obama was re-elected. Most of the people said these actions of a few give the rest a black eye, but as long as incidents keep happening it is a scar that will not go away. "As much as we'd like to think it's 2013 and in 1998 when Matthew Sheppard got murdered was a long time ago, I think we were reminded by this event that there still is hatred," said Gibbons. |
| Science lesson: Speaker Gunn gets look at polymer department | |
| Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said he long had been aware of the reputation of the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Polymer Science and High Performance Materials. "Whenever the University of Southern Mississippi comes up, at least in my experience, polymer science is always in the conversation," Gunn said. "Brett Favre and polymer science." So, former Golden Eagles standout quarterbacks notwithstanding, when the opportunity presented itself to come take a closer look at one of the state's hallmark programs, Gunn decided to take a closer look. |
| 'Court on the Road' visits U. of Southern Mississippi | |
| The Mississippi Court of Appeals held court Thursday, but it wasn't in a regular courtroom. Court was held at the Thad Cochran Center on the University of Southern Mississippi campus as part of their Court on the Road program. "We're the only court that's qualified to do it," says Judge David Ishee. "The Supreme Court, by constitution, is required to sit in Jackson. We were created by statute in 1995, and therefore we are allowed to be a traveling court." |
| Army Will Close 13 ROTC Programs | |
 | The Army will close its Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs at 13 colleges and universities, including the University of Southern Mississippi, because of financial constraints. The reductions were ordered last month, before the government shutdown. Arkansas State University will fight to reverse the decision to close its 77-year-old ROTC program, Chancellor Tim Hudson said in a press release. So will Southern Miss and the University of Tennessee at Martin, officials said. |
| College Board likes Bynum for Valley State presidency | |
| William Bynum says that if he's named president of Mississippi Valley State University, his goal is to reverse the decline of the state's smallest public university. "I'm there to make sure I turn things around, that we get the university on a very solid footing," Bynum told reporters in a phone interview Thursday after he was announced as the College Board's preferred candidate for the post. Bynum, 51, most recently vice president of enrollment management and student services of Atlanta's Morehouse College, was chosen privately by the College Board after a months-long search. Officials said they examined more than 70 applications. A campus search advisory committee submitted names to the board, which then made selections and held two rounds of interviews. Bynum will visit the Itta Bena campus to meet with faculty, students and other groups Tuesday. |
| Hinds Community College incubator adds new start-up company owned by college staff | |
| The Hinds Community College-Utica Campus Business Incubation Center has added its newest business, D&J Solutions. The desktop publishing/events consultant company is owned and operated by Utica Campus employees Diana Brown, library assistant, and Joyce Woodhouse, administrative assistant. Brown says she and Woodhouse had been providing the services out of their homes for over a year, and after discussing it, they decided to take advantage of the services offered at the Business Incubation Center. The Business Incubation Center has office space to accommodate four businesses, and it is currently full. Other businesses are D. Gains Production and Kenyatta Films, both film production companies, and Modern Woodmen, a financial advisory company. |
| Push made to get U. of Florida students to study health insurance options | |
 | An estimated three million uninsured university and college students in the U.S. are eligible for health coverage under the ACA, said Rachel McGovern, a senior in political science at the University of Florida and vice president of the UF College Democrats. McGovern said she was confident about her future after graduation "knowing that we can get health insurance." She and others attended a news conference Thursday in front of the Student Health Center at UF to roll out a campaign by the Florida Public Interest Research Group to educate young adults about their health insurance options. |
| U. of Arkansas Receives Its Largest-Ever Federal Research Grant | |
| The University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Department of Education have received a $32 million federal grant aimed at improving educational opportunities and future careers for low-income teenagers with disabilities. The five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education is the largest federal research grant the university has ever received, UA officials said Thursday. "This grant will give us a significant boost in our goal of becoming a top 50 public research institution," Chancellor G. David Gearhart said. "This is a wonderful example of a land-grant institution working with other groups to serve the people of Arkansas." |
| UGA's Sigma Chi closer to a downtown Athens home | |
 | A University of Georgia fraternity is one step closer to calling downtown home. The Athens-Clarke County Planning Commission unanimously backed a special-use permit -- standard for a fraternity or sorority house in any part of town -- Thursday night. The plans, for 110 and 112 Foundry St., still need to go through the Historic Preservation Commission and the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission before it can move forward. Scott Haines, director of landscape architecture for engineering and architecture firm Williams and Associates and the Sigma Chi representative Thursday night, said they felt the F.M. Coker Building and former S&K Bike Shop building would be an "excellent location." The Coker building, which houses the Flagpole newsweekly, is considered a contributing structure to the downtown historic district. |
| Two-day 'Sex Week' returns to U. of Tennessee | |
 | A two-day "preview" of Sex Week -- a racy student program that evoked outrage in the state legislature last spring -- will return to the University of Tennessee campus next week. The truncated event will run Oct. 8-9 and center on one event each evening. A pastor, sex educator, health professional, professor and student will host a panel discussion titled "Falling into Your Sexuality," said Brianna Rader, co-founder of Sex Week at UT. "There is a panel with representatives that you think about when you make decisions about your sex life," she said. "There will be two or three more general topics like sexual health, sexual assault, whether you can drink at a party and hook up." Last year, funds donated by academic departments were revoked when state legislators expressed outrage over the event. A last minute $10,000 donation from Planned Parenthood and the Unitarian Church allowed the event to go on. |
| Record number expected for U. of South Carolina parents' weekend | |
 | The University of South Carolina's record enrollment -- including its first freshman class of more than 5,000 students -- has ballooned the number of parents registered for the school's annual parents' weekend, which starts Friday. Nearly 10,000 people have registered for the weekend of events, featuring the USC-Kentucky football game, the school said. That's 2,200 more people than last year and more than triple the number who attended in 2006. Another 10,000 people are expected to visit campus without registering for official school events. |
| Texas A&M celebrating anniversary of minority admissions | |
 | Fall 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of Texas A&M formally admitting women and enrolling black students into the university, a milestone that is being recognized this semester through a series of on-campus events. Before 1963, a handful of women, daughters of faculty and a few wives of male students, were attending classes, and that year females were enrolled on a limited basis. It wasn't until 1971 that Texas A&M opened its doors to all women, regardless of their connection to the university or the male-female student ratio. Full admittance of black male students began in 1963 and both admittance policies were implemented under then-president Gen. James Earl Rudder. |
| Texas Sen. Tommy Williams to leave Senate; may take job at Texas A&M University System | |
| State Sen. Tommy Williams, an Aggie alumnus and chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, will resign from his Senate post to take a position at the Texas A&M University System, the Texas Tribune reports. Williams, a Republican from The Woodlands, was approached about a government relations position by A&M, according to the Tribune, which broke the news Wednesday evening. On Thursday, Williams announced he would not return for the 2015 legislative session, but made no mention of Texas A&M or future plans. Gary Scharrer, a spokesman for Williams, would not comment on the A&M speculation, but added that the senator was a very proud Aggie and very interested in the university system. |
| Government shutdown stops U. of Missouri Extension nutrition education | |
 | More than 100 nutrition educators will not be teaching in classrooms or community centers Friday because of the federal government shutdown. These educators are part of a University of Missouri Extension program that operates on a $10.4 million yearly budget comprised entirely of federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. These educators will receive a paycheck through Oct. 21 through a one-time payment from MU Extension. But after that, the university will be forced to lay off employees, according to an MU Extension news release issued Thursday afternoon. Michael Ouart, MU vice provost and director of cooperative extension, said in the release that he does not want to lose employees and the investment MU Extension has made in them. |
| U. of Missouri Arts and Science supplemental fee proposed at Faculty Council | |
| All colleges at the University of Missouri charge a supplemental course fee except for one -- the College of Arts and Science. Members of MU Faculty Council are looking to change that. A motion was made at Thursday's meeting recommending the dean of the College of Arts and Science, the provost and the chancellor "pursue the creation" of a "modest" fee. The College of Arts and Science currently has laboratory fees, but the motion argues that students in the college -- the largest at MU, with 36 undergraduate majors -- would benefit from a supplemental fee. Associate Professor of Political Science Cooper Drury, who helped draft the resolution, said the College of Arts and Science has met opposition from Provost Brian Foster in implementing a supplemental fee in the past. |
| OUR OPINION: Sex education need is a matter of reality | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal editorializes: "Mississippi State University's Social Science Research Center provides valuable and perhaps surprising information about how much a majority of Mississippi's parents want their children taught in sex-related education classes in public schools, and by age appropriateness. A majority of school districts in Northeast Mississippi have chosen an abstinence-only curriculum, which will work, if practiced. Continuing statistics about births to single women, whose children's fathers usually are single males, suggests the plea for abstinence has gone unheeded. ...The open-minded discussion of sex education in public schools should continue, realizing that not every method will work with every child." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State awaits the next step | |
 | In December 2008, Dan Mullen was hired in Starkville as a whiz-kid coordinator fresh off tutoring Tim Tebow at Florida, taking a job no coach has left with a winning record and with modest resources compared to gilded Southeastern Conference peers in Tuscaloosa, Athens, Gainesville and Baton Rouge. There's little doubt Mullen, 41, has lifted Mississippi State (2-2, 0-1) out of relative doldrums, guiding the Bulldogs to a winning record in his tenure and three consecutive bowl games. Yet the question looms about whether there's any potential remaining to maximize as No. 10 LSU (4-1, 1-1) arrives at 6 p.m. Saturday in Davis Wade Stadium. |
| Miles not overlooking Bulldogs | |
| Les Miles has not lost much during his tenure at LSU. In nine years on the bayou, Miles has lost just 22 times and has had the uncanny ability to bounce back the following week. "The Hat" is 20-1 following a defeat losing back-to-back games to Ole Miss and Arkansas in 2008. LSU is coming off a 44-41 emotional road loss at Georgia last weekend. Miles gave his team 48 hours to reflect then turned his focus to traveling to Mississippi State Saturday at 6 p.m. "I insist that we do that," Miles said. "It's certainly best for us." Miles is 8-0 all-time against the Bulldogs and LSU has won 13 straight in the series. But Miles will not let his squad neglect the task at hand this weekend. |
| LSU TE Travis Dickson grew up Mississippi State fan | |
| Travis Dickson grew up taking Saturday treks from Ocean Springs to Starkville, joining his family garnering the maroon and white. His father, Dick, played in Davis Wade Stadium. His parents met on the Starkville campus. His grandfather played for Ole Miss, but he pledged his allegiance to Mississippi State. Dickson returns to his childhood football cathedral Saturday, where he donned Bulldog attire and rang cowbells. Only this time he's a visitor wearing gold and purple as LSU squares off against Mississippi State at 6 p.m. |
| Former Mississippi State OF Van Cleve found dead | |
| When Straton Karatassos closes his eyes he can still see Dan Van Cleve flying horizontally through the air in pursuit of a fly ball in Omaha. "He's fully extended, parallel to the ground," said Karatassos who's worked for Mississippi State for 41 years. "That picture says a lot about him and the kind of competitor he was." The moment will live on in Mississippi State history forever. The former Mississippi State outfielder was found dead Wednesday night in his home in Jackson. He was 51. Van Cleve was the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Bulldogs in 1985 which advanced to the College World Series in Omaha. |
| Lewis dismissed from MSU basketball team | |
| Mississippi State senior center Wendell Lewis has been dismissed from the men's basketball team by coach Rick Ray for "conduct detrimental to the team." The 6-foot-9, 258-pounder was granted a fifth-year of eligibility from the Southeastern Conference after fracturing his right patella in practice eight games into last season. Lewis averaged 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds during his 98 game career earning 13 starts. "I am saddened by the actions we had to take because we brought Wendell back to give him an opportunity to complete his senior year on the court healthy and earn his degree," Ray said in a statement released by the university. |
| Mississippi State boots forward Lewis | |
| Wendell Lewis became the second player in 20 days to be removed from the Mississippi State men's basketball team. Second-year coach Rick Ray announced Thursday he had dismissed the 6-foot-9 forward due to conduct detrimental to the team. "I am saddened by the actions we had to take because we brought Wendell back to give him an opportunity to complete his senior year on the court healthy and earn his degree," Ray said in a press release. When contacted by the Clarion-Ledger, the basketball coach would not comment on Lewis' dismissal nor on having two players leave the program in the last two weeks. |
| Private schools to remain part of MHSAA | |
| The proposal to drop private and parochial schools from the Mississippi High School Activities Association never made it to the executive council for a vote at Thursday's fall meeting in Clinton. "It died before making it to the floor," said Larry Williams, the MHSAA District 1 secretary from Nettleton. Smithville principal Chad O'Brian introduced the proposal in August, saying the state's 13 private schools in the MHSAA have an unfair advantage in recruiting students. |
| Faculty advocate for new N.C.A.A. division in F.A.R. governance plan | |
| Many faculty members may resent the money and power big-time athletics programs wield on campus, but the fact is that college sports are bigger than ever and they're not going anywhere. With that in mind, the Division I Faculty Athletics Representatives Board, which represents the designated academic-athletic department liaisons/watchdogs at institutions nationwide, proposed its own plan detailing how the National Collegiate Athletic Association should be restructured. NCAA governance has been a hot topic of late. |
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