Jessica Barnett
Editor
From day one, it felt like this semester set itself apart from every semester before it. It’s almost as if the campus got dumped into an alternate but mostly similar universe, where it’s close enough to reality that we assume it is but just different enough that we feel the need to comment on it.
I say “we” because all it takes is attending one class or eating a meal on campus to hear other students saying the same.
Lauren Trimm
Reporter
Enrollment has gone up 11 percent. Fall 2016 has the largest group of international students yet. More students are obtaining degrees, with a 206 percent growth since 2011.
Recent awards include the highest-ranked Mississippi university on Washington Monthly’s “Best Bang for the Buck” list, a fifth year on the Washington Monthly’s list of Top 100 Master’s Schools in the nation and another year on U.S. News & World Report’s top 20 public Southern regional universities.
Lauren Trimm
News Editor
Several projects are being planned on campus in order to continue making improvements, including remodeling The W's Demonstration School and demolishing Taylor Hall and Keirn Hall.
The first major project is the renovation of the Demonstration School. Originally home to the state's first laboratory school for teaching, the school provided education for students in kindergarten through fourth grade as well as university students seeking degrees in education. The demonstration school was also home to the first African-American member of the W faculty in 1970.
Editor's Note: This is part two of a story that was printed in The Spectator on Sept. 23, 2016. Part one of the story can be found here.
Anush Aryal
Reporter
He didn’t speak to his roommate for three days. Now, he understands that his roommate was going through the same experience and they could have made things better had they hugged and consoled each other.
Anush Aryal
Reporter
Amun Kharel could be considered just another average guy from Kathmandu. Kharel played various sports on the weekend, supported FC Barcelona and lived all his life with his family. It was an easy-going life until he got the itch for more. He found himself yearning for higher education in the field of management information systems, but more than that, he wanted the education in an international setting. He soon found himself considering life as an expatriate in the United States.
There can be a separate column for how ugly or beautiful the process from thought to action is, but the fact remains that Kharel eventually decided to move his life across the Atlantic. On Aug. 4, he joined a record-breaking group of international students, the largest group ever to enroll at Mississippi University for Women. Each student had his or her own dream of life in America, but also the sinking realization that home was now thousands of miles away. They were now segregated from the lives they had lived so comfortably.
Monica Kizer
Reporter
Mississippi University for Women will honor the first six African-American women who integrated the school 50 years ago with the “Those Who Dared” celebration.
The first African-American women to attend the school were Laverne Greene Leech, Barbara Turner Bankhead, Diane Hardy Thompson, Jacqueline Edwards, Mary Flowers and Eula M. Houser Thompson. Students, faculty and staff are all encouraged to attend the events.
Kathleen Gartman
Reporter
The W Theatre Department will present a readers’ theatre version of Michael Farris Smith’s short story, “Chasing Rabbits,” on Sept. 22.
Smith is a published author and associate professor of English at The W. He has two published books and two more set to be published in 2017 and 2018.
Casanda Anderson
Reporter
Stark Rec Center hosted a one-day badminton tournament for W students on Sept. 1.
Similar to tennis, badminton is played with a racket and net but uses a birdie or shuttlecock instead of a tennis ball. The objective of the sport is to use the racket to hit the birdie over the net in the hopes that the opposing player will be unable to hit it back.
Lauren Trimm
News Editor
The W’s Student Programming Board sponsored 100th Night in Pope Banquet Hall on Sept. 7 at 6 p.m.
100th Night honors W seniors and takes place 100 days before graduation. It has been a tradition since 1992. In the past, this event occurred once in the fall for December graduates and again in the spring for May and August graduates. However, this 100th Night is different.
Asia Duren
Reporter
MUW has been dealing with how to implement a state law regarding firearms on campus.
The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning charged public universities with defining non-sensitive areas where visitors with an enhanced concealed carry permit would be allowed to bring firearms in February of this year.