Thanks to everyone who helped to make Respect Mississippi, and its members have have an incredible year. So much was accomplished this year.

- Lots of Meetings
- Beginning of discussion of Race on campus in the mainstream.
- The OMazing Race
- The Black and White Affair
- One Mississippi Retreat
- Continuation of One Mississippi, after the retreat

We hope that all of the Seniors who are graduation, have an excellent time going forward, whether it be more college, or on to work. If you are returning next year, or an incomming Freshman, We encourage you to get involved with Respect Mississippi, and to bring your friends.

Have a great and restful Summer!

Thanks

Respect Mississippi

Hello Everyone !

It has been such a long time, i hope that everyone is doing
great. For the past month, many people have asked about the
next dialogue meeting. I am sorry for all of you who feel
like we have been slacking on this. So this ends today. We
will have our next dialogue meeting, THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2008
IN THE UNION LOBBY. THE MEETING WILL START AT 6:00 PM. I
know that this comes as a short notice, but i hope to still
see many of you there. For the rest of the month of April,
we will try our best to have these dialogue meetings every
week, so make sure to mark your calenders and tell all of
your friends!! If you have any questions at all or any
concerns, just email me --> mccole1@olemiss.edu, or even
call me --< 601-421-0033.

Love you all!!

Melissa Cole

Great meeting last night, attended by 37 folks to follow up on the recent retreat on social segregation. I'm also sending this out to folks who participated in the OMazing Race last fall. We'd love to have you get engaged with this group.

We'll meet again to elect positions and have committees report out on their work. We'll meet on Wed. March 19 from 6-7 p.m. in Barnard Observatory's lecture hall. And Ollie and I are working on a social gathering for April and will keep you posted on that. Have GREAT and SAFE spring breaks!!

peace,
susan

Here is a summary of the notes I took last night.

Vision

Welcoming environment, diverse campus, feel like a family, equal access to all resources of the university, level playing field, equality of treatment, awareness of the problems,

awareness
equity
social harmony
diversity
education
service

Functions

(from the DM)

Housing: hall assignment system does not 'intentionally segregate'

Natalie Dickson and Victoria Howell

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: News

Data compiled by the university shows that student concerns about the racial makeup of the freshman residence halls Martin and Stockard are justified.

The data, collected from the housing department, supports students' concerns that the population of students living in these dorms is overwhelmingly white.

A group of more than 75 students recently attended the One Mississippi retreat focusing on diversity on the Ole Miss campus, and they raised concerns about the lack of diversity in residence halls.

"The general consensus from the retreat was that students felt the dorms were divided," retreat attendee Artair Rogers said.

Hey you guys,

I am sending this message to inform you about the the first annual Educators' Choice Awards sponsored by The Multi-cultural Affairs Programming Support Committee, along with the School of Education and BLSA. I think this will be a great event but a good turn-out will make it better. So I encourage all of you try to attend. The program will be Wednesday, February 27 at 7pm-10pm.

Follow the link below to join the facebook group and get more info:

http://olemiss.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10180892492

Thanks!
~ Nickolaus Luckett

Dear Respect Mississippi.

I know you emphasize dialogue in your meetings, and I
thought you'd be especially interested in this Wednesday's
brownbag on "Black Men, Masculinity, and Myth."

Please come, contribute to discussion, and bring your lunch.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mary Carruth
Isom Black History Month Series

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 12 noon, 203 Union Ballroom

"Black Men, Masculinity, and Myth"

By Jerry Watson, Assistant Professor of Social Work,
Mississippi Valley State University

Jerry Watson is former Director of Community Partnerships at
DePauw University where he taught "Psychology of Men."
He has given international presentations on African American
men in St. Thomas, Ghana, West Africa, and Senegal.

Sponsored by the Sarah Isom Center

The following article appeared in the Daily Mississippian on February 19, 2008

Marti Covington and Eddie Smith

Sitting cross-legged last Friday evening on a wooden deck, wind in the trees above me and the murmur of a lake in the background, I found myself opening up to a circe of eight strangers about one of the more difficult experiences in my life: a time when I, as a black woman, had been treated differently because of my race.

As I gazed around the circle of Ole Miss students that made up my group - one of eight small groups at the past weekend's One Mississipp Retreat at a lakeside camp in Louisville - I felt certain the three black students there would understand the all-too familiar feeling of exclusion, anger and hurt I was trying to convey.

The following article appeared in the Daily Mississippian on February 20, 2008.

By Robert Reece

Last weekend, I was honored to be one of the 80 student leaders to travel to Louisville, Miss., for Respect Mississippi's first One Mississippi Retreat.

Like many, at first I was skeptical about the effectiveness of such an event and by attending, I was simply hoping that it wouldn't be a waste of time.

I've witnessed many similar events that turn out to be nothing more than a bunch of people sitting around saying nice things to each other while they hug and hold hands with no real goal in mind.

Often people are too worried about offending one another to make any real progress, and without trust and honesty progress will never be made.

THe Following article appeared in the Daily Mississippian.

Victoria Howell

Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: News

Respect Mississippi, an organization whose purpose is to reconcile issues of diversity at
Ole Miss, is planning a retreat for student leaders to discuss the problems of and potential solutions to racism in Mississippi.

The retreat will take place at Lake Tiak O'Khata Feb. 15 to Feb. 17.

"We are not trying to reform the structure but cause more interaction," Nick Luckett, director of recruitment for Respect Mississippi, said of the upcoming One Mississippi Retreat.

The idea came from a series of talks with Dean of Students Sparky Reardon, Director of the William Winter Institute Susan Glisson, local Episcopal priest Ollie Rencher and the leaders of Respect Mississippi.

Professor Edwin T. Arnold, Department of English,
Appalachian State University

"The Torture Deaths of Henry Smith and Sam Hose and the
Creation of the Modern Lynching Narrative"

Tuesday, February 19
8:00 p.m.
Ford Center Studio Theater
Admission is free

Professor Arnold's media-assisted lecture is based on
material from a full-length study forthcoming from the
University of Georgia Press. It deals with a pair of
infamous spectacle lynchings in turn-of-the-century Georgia
and explores the efforts of one rural community--Professor
Arnold's own childhood home--to find reconciliation and
healing in the wake of the violence. The lecture is open to
the public and is jointly sponsored by the University
Lecture Series, the Department of English, the Department of
Southern Studies, and the Department of History.

Dr. Susan M. Glisson
Executive Director
William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation
University of Mississippi