Posted by DEAN SKIP RUTHERFORD – It’s always energizing to visit other schools from time to time, and this week I did just that with a two-day speaking and recruiting visit to the University of Mississippi. For those who have never been to Oxford where William Faulkner and John Grisham both made their literary marks and where, in 1962, James Meredith and Governor Ross Barnett engaged in one of the most memorable confrontations of the Civil Rights Movement, you should go. (There is now a statue of Meredith outside the building where he attempted to register for class. Its significance can’t be underestimated just like the importance of the Little Rock Nine Monument on the Arkansas State Capitol grounds). Oxford is an easy day trip from Little Rock.
While Ole Miss’ “Grove” is America’s best place to tailgate during football games and Oxford’s Square Books is America’s best independent bookstore, the Sally McMillan Barksdale Honors College, the Trent Lott Leadership Institute, the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconcilation and the Croft Institute for International Studies among many others on the Ole Miss campus are outstanding academic and leadership centers.
In addition to meeting with students, faculty and staff, I had the opportunity to visit with Clinton School graduate Katie Snodgrass who is on staff at the Croft Institute, as well as catching up with journalist, author and now professor Curtis Wilke and Ole Miss alumnus and former Little Rock resident Doug Hederman. Doug and his family generously donated the pavilion/stage in the Grove where Ole Miss holds its graduation ceremonies, pep rallies, concerts and other activities.
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