THE Daily
Thursday, October 30, 2025
MISSISSIPPIAN theDMonline.com
Volume 114, No. 10
JD Vance and Erika Kirk champion civic engagement at Ole Miss Turning Point USA event The vice president and TPUSA CEO appeared on the University of Mississippi campus for the “This is the Turning Point Tour.”
AIDAN PONIATOWSKI News Editor
More than 9,500 people packed The Sandy and John Black Pavilion on the University of Mississippi campus Wednesday, cheering and chanting as Vice President JD Vance and Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk headlined TPUSA’s “This is the Turning Point Tour.” Both exhorted students and community members to honor America by pursuing Christian civic values. “This generation inside of America — remember who she (America) is, or she’ll forget,” Kirk said. “I believe with all my heart that God placed you here, now, not by accident, but by assignment. There is no mistake that you are here in this stadium.” Vance referenced Charlie Kirk, Erika Kirk’s late husband who was murdered on Sept. 10 at a Utah Valley University event, throughout his speech, and he messaged to students that they should invest in family. “Charlie wanted you, more
OLIVIA CANGELOSI / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
Vice President JD Vance thanks the audience at the “This is the Turning Point Tour” stop in The Sandy and John Black Pavilion on Oct. 29. than anything, to invest in the things that were worth having, to build a life that was worth building,” Vance said. “The
UM College Democrats host town hall JESSICA JOHNSON Assistant A&C Editor
The University of Mississippi College Democrats, alongside several other organizations, hosted the Mississippi Rise Up Town Hall at the Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union on Wednesday in response to the Turning Point USA event on campus that featured Vice President JD Vance and TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk. “We need to build a coalition of love and people who have love and respect every human being, not just hate and demonizing,” Tennessee House Rep. Gloria Johnson, who was a featured speaker at the event, said. “They only win by divide. That is the only way they win because this is not left or right. This is not Republican or Democrat. It’s right and wrong. It
is the billionaire against the rest of us, and they know there’s a hell of a lot more of the rest of us.” Joining the College Democrats in organizing the event were other groups including the Environmental Coalition, UM Forward, Southern Progressives Alliance, UM Community Alliance Network, Lafayette County Democratic Party and United Campus Workers. Other featured speakers included UM Associate Professor of Sociology James Thomas, California Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at the University of North Georgia Matthew Boedy. Khanna, Heitkamp and Boedy joined the conversation via video conferencing.
SEE TOWN HALL PAGE 7
most important advice he ever gave you was: ‘Fall in love, get married and start a family.’” During a question-and-an-
swer session with students, Vance focused on political issues like immigration, U.S. involvement in Iran and Is-
rael and deployment of military troops in American cities, while Kirk focused on the TPUSA’s goals for mobilizing youth leaders across the country and her family’s faith that has guided their mission. Students braved the rain and cold temperatures on Wednesday morning to line up early for the event. A campus-wide statement from Provost Noel Wilkin on Monday, Oct. 27, said that the queue for the event would open at 11 a.m., but students could be seen lining up as early as 10:15 a.m. Bella Barron, a senior integrated marketing communications major from Austin, Texas, waited in line for four hours before the pavilion doors opened at 3 p.m. “We are going to camp out early just so we can be front row,” Barron said. “The first 500 people get signed hats and everything. I mean, I want to be super close and see it all, (and) be able to see everything.” Before TPUSA founder
SEE TPUSA PAGE 2
WEEKLY RESET
GRAD HOUSING
UM students share how they prepare for the week ahead starting at home.
Graduate students discuss some of the difficulties they face with housing.
SEE PAGE 4
SEE PAGE 5
Plans for proposed asphalt plant near Falkner Farms relocated to industrial park RAEGAN SETTLE Managing Editor
Oxford developer JW McCurdy withdrew his application to rezone property for a proposed asphalt plant near Taylor, Miss., on Tuesday, Oct. 28, following weeks of community resistance. McCurdy, owner of MR Construction, announced plans in a press release Tuesday afternoon to relocate the proposed plant — Magnolia Materials — from the original planned site on Mississippi Highway 328 to the Max D. Hipp Lafayette County Industrial Park north of Oxford off County Road 101. “I’ve lived in this county my whole life, and I plan on living here the rest of my life. Our site on (Highway) 328 is an outstanding industrial node, and that’s not changing,
ALANA BROWN-DAVIS / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
Lafayette County Max D. Hipp Industrial Park but I’m also happy to change for the sake of peace,” McCurdy said in the press release. Last week, opponents of the site on Highway 328 delivered two hours of public comment before the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors, resulting
in a decision to table the vote on the rezoning until the next board meeting on Nov. 3. The vote will no longer take place. The original proposed location was across the highway
SEE ASPHALT PLANT PAGE 9