THE
Daily
MISSISSIPPIAN theDMonline.com
Thursday, September 7, 2023
Volume 112, No. 3
New year, new variant: COVID makes a comeback TANISSA RINGO
thedmnews@gmail.com
GRAPHIC: SEDLEY NORMAND / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
The start of the fall semester has brought an influx of new students, new experiences and a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases. Students across campus are suffering from the sniffles, and, in some cases, the more severe symptoms that have been known to accompany COVID-19. Director of University Health Services Alex Langhart explained that a rise in COVID-19 cases at this time of year is not out of the ordinary. “As we have experienced the past two years, the increased incidence of COVID-19 cases in late summer and early fall is expected,” Langhart said. “At University Health Services, we prepare for this as we do for flu season in late September and early October.”
Though University Health Services has not seen an alarming increase in cases, urgent care centers, where students experiencing illness are more likely to go, are seeing a surge. “There is definitely a rise in COVID positive patients,” Stephanie Barrett, nurse practitioner and Oxford Urgent Care co-owner, said Wednesday. Barret noted that patients were not just college students, but people of all ages from all walks of life. She also noted a lingering reluctance among the public to get tested. “The general public does not want to get tested because they do not want to quarantine for five days and be forced to withdraw from work and activities,” she said. Students, faculty and staff members who test positive for COVID should report
SEE COVID PAGE 3
New Authenticator app frustrates UM community
ELYSE LITTLETON
thedmnews@gmail.com
On the first day of school, Ole Miss’ technical support office, the IT Helpdesk, found itself swarmed with inquiries from confused students. Thanks to a recent university-wide switch from Google to Microsoft applications, students found
themselves unable to log into Blackboard, the learning tool that is crucial for classwork. The source of these difficulties was Microsoft’s Authenticator, a free app that stores account credentials and provides a secure way to verify your identity when logging onto a given program. As ransomware attacks against universities have risen in frequency, implementing se-
TACKLING OXFORD Local businesses scramble to prepare for the football crowds and share insight on their own game-day rituals. SEE PAGE 4
THROWBACK GAME Vice Chancellor Carter and coach Beard are looking to bring the history of the Tad Pad back to the limelight of Ole Miss Men’s Basketball. SEE PAGE 7
curity measures like Microsoft’s Authenticator is meant to prevent such a scenario happening at the University of Mississippi. Nishanth Rodrigues, chief information officer for the Technology Information Department, explained that the department and UM officials de-
SEE AUTHENTICATOR PAGE 2
GRAPHIC: SEDLEY NORMAND / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
Senate votes to keep GPA requirement for elections JORDAN ISBELL
thedmnews@gmail.com
Members of the Associated Student Body held the first formal senate of the 2023-24 school year on Tuesday, Sept. 5 in Auditorium Room 124 located in the student union. Senators debated and voted on three bills that involved internal incentives for senators, modifications for free food and giveaway regulations and removing GPA requirements for ASB senate, homecoming court
and campus favorite elections. After calling roll, issuing reports and inducting new senators into the organization, the first bill titled SB 23-6 was brought to the floor. The bill proposed modifications to the constituency engagement point system, an internal system in ASB meant to hold senators accountable for maintaining healthy relationships with the constituents they represent. The constituency engagement point system has recently been difficult to enforce, the issue coming to a head with SB 23-6 i. According to Madison
Waldrup, author of the bill and a sophomore integrated marketing communications major, this modification will make senatorial duties more manageable. “The code changes will decrease the number of points a senator needs from five to four, and there will also be a checkpoint in the middle of this semester, eight weeks into the semester, where senators will need to have completed their first two points. This will create accountability and make sure that
SEE ASB SENATE PAGE 2