THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Volume 103, No. 136
T H E S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I S S I S S I P P I S E R V I N G O L E M I S S A N D OX F O R D S I N C E 1 9 1 1
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Rally for Confederate symbol removal in Jackson Monday See thedmonline.com for details
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sports
Same-sex legalization affects state, campus Page 4
Rebels awarded at USA track championships Page 8
First same-sex marriage held in Lafayette County
their newly issued marriage license. Chatter amongst the group focused on finding someone to officiate their wedding. “When we arrived at work today we just thought it was going to be a normal Monday until someone asked Kurt where he was going for lunch and he said ‘to get married’,” Oxford resident Lance Herrington said. “We were all kind of giddy driving down here with excitement and also nervous.” Herrington said the majority of supporters who came to the courthouse were friends and colleagues from the intensive English program at the university. The main purpose of being there was to show moral and emotional support for both Kurt and Corey. “I think a lot of us didn’t want them to have to come alone to do what could be possibly a negative experience, but turned out wonderfully positive,” Herrington said. The excited group was soon in-
LOGAN KIRKLAND dmeditor@gmail.com
After State Attorney General Jim Hood sent a letter Monday to county circuit clerks giving them the green light to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, Lafayette County hosted its first same-sex marriage ceremony at the courthouse on the Square in Oxford. Anxious and nervous, Corey Blount, teaching assistant for the university’s intensive english program and Kurt Smith, project coordinator for the intensive english program, waited in the office of circuit clerk Baretta Mosely as the official paperwork was filed and the marriage license was signed. Upon receiving their marriage license, the couple was greeted with cheers as they left the office and entered into the lobby of the courthouse. The couple and their supporters moved to the steps of the courthouse where they posed for a picture holding PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: JAKE THRASHER AND LOGAN KIRKLAND
SEE MARRIAGE PAGE 4
Idol auditions today UM supports state flag redesign VIRGINIA SUMMER
vbsummmer@go.olemiss.edu
The Fox Network’s show American Idol will hold the last auditions for their 15th and final season at 9 a.m. today on campus in the Union Plaza. These auditions are a part of American Idol’s bus tour, which includes 11 destinations across the nation starting in Seattle and ending right here in Oxford. “We are expecting upward of 1,000 people to be here for auditions, but there is no exact number, there could be up to around 3,000,” said Jessica Evans, a data entry operator working for the Public Relations office at the University of Mississippi. “Being one of the only two southern audition locations besides Athens, GA, Oxford will definitely target many people coming from Birmingham, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans and other large surrounding cities,” Evans said The judges for the auditions
in Oxford will be a select group of the show’s producers who decide who has what it takes to go on to the next round of arena auditions to be held in either Savannah, Georgia or Little Rock. This will not be the first time the Idol Bus Tour auditions have been held in Oxford. In 2013, Ole Miss student Michael Simeon auditioned here at the Oxford Conference Center and made it all the way through the competition to Top 48. This past season, Simeon took American Idol auditions for a second try and made it all the way to the competition’s top 24 and top 12 for men. “I know people may be nervous or hesitant about auditioning, but I would just tell them to look at it this way: you can’t be any more not on the show than you already are. I would encourage anyone who is interested to go for it!” Simeon said. To be eligible to audition, contestants must be within the age range of 15- 28 and
SEE IDOL PAGE 2
CLARA TURNAGE
scturna1@go.olemiss.edu
A recent petition that received more than 64,088 signatures on Moveon.org exemplifies a movement that the University of Mississippi began almost 20 years ago. Discussion of the removal of the Confederate symbol from the Mississippi state flag has recently resurfaced following the massacre of nine African-Americans in a South Carolina church. Following the incident, those who saw the flag as a symbol of oppression created a petition that ignited the issue in many states across the South. In Mississippi, House Speaker Philip Gunn supported the removal of the Confederate flag; however, Governor Phil Bryant said on Thursday that he would not call a special session to consider the redesign of the Mississippi flag. Sen. Roger Wicker released a statement Wednesday saying that he believed the flag should be “replaced by one that is
SEE FLAG PAGE 2 Mississippi state flag flies outside of fraternity house.
PHOTO: LOGAN KIRKLAND