Deep South College Road Trip: University of Mississippi
A walk through the 990-acre campus of the University of Mississippi, or Ole Miss , and its surroundings offers a peek into the history of the South and the civil rights movement. Several stately antebellum buildings served as hospitals during the Civil War, and William Faulkner's home is a university museum nearby, south of the town square.
At the heart of the first and largest university in Mississippi stand both a monument to Confederate soldiers and a statue of James Meredith, the first African-American student admitted to the segregated school in 1962 after he sued for the right to enroll. Bullet marks from the rioting that followed can still be seen on the Greek columns of the Lyceum, the university's first building.
Despite this history and the size of the school -- the undergraduate population sits at just under 17,400 -- students say that today the environment feels open and welcoming. Black students now account for about 13 percent of the student body; a little over three-quarters are white. Over the last couple of years, students and the NAACP have called to have the Confederate monument and Mississippi state flag -- which depicts a Confederate flag -- removed; the state flag is gone, and a plaque adding historical context is being added to the monument.
[Discover other colleges and universities in Mississippi.]
"I have seen in my time here just such an inclusive style about the campus," says Cole Putman, a senior social work major from Brandon, Mississippi. He points to programs put on by the university's inclusion and cross-cultural engagement center on such topics as Native American and LGBT history and Black Lives Matter, for example.
Administrators keep an open-door policy so students can feel comfortable reaching out. Faculty, too, make themselves accessible. The result is the culture and feel of a smaller institution, students say. "They've told me since day one, 'We're here for you.' Ole Miss does a really good job at letting students know that they're not alone," Putman says. And it's only "about a 10-minute walk from anywhere across campus," says Ryley Blomberg, a junior majoring in math education from Belleville, Illinois.
Students can choose from over 100 degree options. One multidisciplinary opportunity can be found in the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence, which brings business, accountancy and engineering students together to learn the ins and outs of manufacturing. They get hands-on experience in a space that resembles a modern factory and learn the communication, management and marketing skills needed to run a successful manufacturing business. The center accepts 50 students each year.
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Ole Miss is home to one of the country's 12 Chinese Language Flagship programs, part of the Department of Defense's effort to foster education in critical languages. Students who complete the five-year undergrad program become proficient in Mandarin while completing a major of their choice. They spend two summers in China as well as a final capstone year studying in the country that includes four months of an internship.
Athletics are a big part of the culture; the recently expanded football stadium seats 64,000. Tailgating on the Grove, a grassy area filled with trees, is a major attraction. Other than football, sports events are free for students.
Off campus, the city of Oxford, with a population of about 22,000, has lots to offer history buffs interested in Civil War-era sites and music lovers. The square downtown is a hub of boutiques, restaurants, bars and coffee shops.
Nine bus lines run through the campus and throughout the city, and students ride for free. They can also rent a bike, helmet and lock for the semester for just $25.
Deep South College Road Trip:
-- Xavier University of Louisiana
-- Tulane University
-- Millsaps College
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News "Best Colleges 2017" guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
Briana Boyington is an education Web producer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at bboyington@usnews.com.
