MISSISSIPPIAN HOMECOMING 2025 THE Daily
theDMonline.com
Thursday, October 9, 2025
Volume 114, No. 7
The University of Mississippi celebrates Homecoming Week across campus with the help of a mechanical shark and a parade that leads to Saturday’s football game.
MISS AND MR. OLE MISS
HOMECOMING KING AND QUEEN
SEE PAGE 5
SEE PAGE 7
GRACE ANN COURTNEY / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
Online master’s teaching program debuts at UM for spring semester CHANCE MARLOWE News Staff Writer
The Mississippi Department of Education allocated more than $2.9 million to continue the Mississippi Teacher Residency Program (MTR) last month for institutions across the state. For the first time, this list of institutions includes the University of Mississippi, which is set to receive $242,733. The MTR program is designed for prospective elementary and special needs educators with a bachelor’s degree in a field other than education to obtain licenses or supplementary endorsements by completing an approval program in “geographical critical shortage areas,” according to the state Department of Education’s website. For Kristina Livingston, assistant professor of elementary education and coordinator of the new Master of Arts in Teaching program, the MTR program’s goal
PHOTO COURTESY: UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI
Kristina Livingston
is to make sure these schools are staffed with quality educators. “We know there is a teacher shortage, not just in Mississippi — this is a nationwide issue,” Livingston said. “We want to make sure
SEE TEACHING PAGE 2
FCC Commissioner warns of threats to free speech NOAH WALTERS
Assistant News Editor
Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez believes the Trump Administration is violating the First Amendment of the Constitution by threatening broadcasters with investigations for airing content that criticizes the president and his policies. Gomez urged students to “push back against bullies” who try to suppress the freedom of the press. Gomez made the comments during her “First Amendment Tour” stop on Oct. 2 at the Overby Center on the University of Mississippi campus, sponsored by the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation. “I am visiting colleges (and) community centers. I’m doing all sorts of different events throughout the country … because I think it’s important to have people understand that their First Amendment (guarantee to free speech) rights are actually being violated almost every day by this administration, and we need people to speak up and push back,” Gomez said. Gomez explained that the FCC’s mission is to provide licensing and resources to broadcasters. “The reason we license broadcasters is because they use the airwaves which we manage, and as part of the licensing of those airwaves, the broadcasters do have some obligations. One of them
JACK KIRKLAND / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
Anna Gomez speaks during an interview on Oct. 2 in the Overby Center.
is to serve their local communities and to offer them a diversity of viewpoints, not just by an individual broadcaster but by having multiple broadcasters that can enable that diversity,” Gomez said. As the sole Democrat on the current three-commissioner panel, Gomez has a limited say in what the commission pursues. Instead of promoting a diversity of viewpoints, Gomez said, the two Republican FCC commissioners have led efforts to censor other viewpoints via threats and investigations. “The FCC has been weaponized by
SEE FCC PAGE 2