Category: Class Articles
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By: Kathryn Abernathy
University reacts to ongoing efforts to contextualize Lyceum
The Lyceum: A Story of Prominence and Pain
When people think of the University of Mississippi, they often visualize the Lyceum. The oldest building on campus was constructed in the summer of 1848 and has since become a symbol for the university.
The Lyceum is the lone survivor of the six original buildings on campus. Even though it is such a staple for the university’s image, it is in the process of being contextualized. Language for contextualization plaques has been written, and it is now up to the administration whether the university will display the plaques.
“Contextualization is a process by which (the university’s) administration thought it was the best way to approach items on our campus, places on campus, locations, buildings that kind of have a troubled past in which they clearly have divisive racial connotation to them,” said Charles Ross, chair of the African-American studies program and a member of the contextualization committee on campus.
In March 2017, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on History and Context announced it would be changing the name of Vardaman Hall and working to contextualize seven other sites on campus. These include Lamar Hall, Barnard Observatory, Longstreet Hall and George Hall, as well as antebellum buildings, including the Lyceum, Barnard Hall, Croft and Hilgard Cut because they were built by enslaved people.
Architect William Nichols designed the Lyceum and used slave labor to construct it when work began in 1846. Ross said the story of the Lyceum’s construction needs be a part of the overall history of the building.
“It’s a symbol that represents the university on letterheads and corresponding literature, but the side of the story about how this structure actually came about and the individuals that were directly involved in helping create it and the sacrifices they made, that is something that is not a part of the mainstream narrative, so that is why the particular building was included,” he said.
Due to its longstanding history, the Lyceum has become a prominent building on campus. The building was used during the Civil War as a hospital for Confederate and Union soldiers and became an important place during the 1962 riots regarding the enrollment of James Meredith.
During the civil rights movement, Meredith was the first African-American student to integrate the University of Mississippi. His enrollment sparked controversy and riots in October 1962.
“The Lyceum was the centerpiece of the James Meredith riots because the registration office was in the Lyceum at that time,” said Dewey Knight, associate director of the Center for Student Success and First-Year Experience. “In order to register for class, he had to go into that building, and the two sides of people, people who supported his admission and those who didn’t, gathered and we got into this riot.”
Due to this association with the civil rights movement and the building’s 169-year-old age, the Lyceum was named a United States national landmark in October 2008.
“That’s the reason why when we restored it in 1999 and 2000. It took a year longer because when you do a historic restoration, you have to put the building back to the original as closely as you can,” Knight said. “The sheer presence it bears on that circle, every student that has ever been to this university, they identify with that building”.
This significant title has made some people feel it is even more important to have the Lyceum contextualized.
“It’s not simply white Southerners but African-Americans and other individuals that are very aware of the history of the Confederacy, what it stood for and how it was created,” Ross said.
There have been discussions about placing a plaque on the Lyceum that will tell the story of those individual slaves.
“Our committee has not been given the responsibility of making sure that these plaques are constructed and seeing that those plaques are placed in certain locations,” Ross said. “Our committee was given the responsibility of coming up with the language.”
Ross said it gave the university’s administration its wording for the plaques this May and now it will be the administration’s job to to make the plaque a reality, to tell this story of the Lyceum.
Junior psychology and nursing major Amelia DeWitt, an Ole Miss ambassador, is required to bring tour groups inside the Lyceum. Once inside, it’s up to her what stories she wants to tell.
“I think people have the right to know what has happened within the Lyceum walls, and during the past three years of giving tours, I have never had negative feedback about any of the stories I have told about the Lyceum,” DeWitt said. “It is an important part of campus, and most people are intrigued by the past of it.”
The university has been known to have a controversial past when it comes to race, and Ross feels that the university needs to do more than just contextualize.
“I’m ambivalent because I think that contextualization has been used as a justification for not doing more,” Ross said. “For people, like myself, who have been here for a number of years, the one thing that is very frustrating is this continuing perception the University of Mississippi has, that it drags its feet and is reluctant and not very proactive on issues of race.”
Oxford dealing with a Housing Crisis
It’s hard to imagine the city of Oxford having problems with housing when everywhere one looks there are new apartment complexes or houses under construction. However, it’s not the lack of places to live, it’s the lack of affordable places to live. Oxford has been facing an affordable housing crisis for quite some time and residents and students have begun speaking out.
Cristen Hemmins is on the board of LOU-Home Inc, a non-profit organization that is focused on providing affordable housing to the low income population of Lafayette, Oxford, and the university community, and she is a big advocate for getting the housing that is needed.
“LOU-Home envisions a integrated community where not only the wealthy can live in Oxford, but the people who do the hard work that make this such lovely community can too,” Hemmins said.
Many of the blue-collar workers such as firefighters, teachers, nurses, and construction workers are finding themselves unable to afford the housing here and have to live outside of the county.
“We’ve been trying to find land in the Oxford city limits, on which we can build affordable housing,” Hemmins said. “The problem is there’s not very much land left that hasn’t been used in Oxford, and then once we find land we have to get the city to agree to give it to us or let us buy it at discounted rates.”
Another problem they’ve come across is the phrase “NIMBY”, which stands for “Not In My Backyard”.
“When people think low income housing, they think I don’t want that in my backyard, it needs to go somewhere else,” Hemmins said. “So it can be hard even when we find land because the neighbors around say they don’t want it near them.”
Not only have locals been concerned with this issue, but this semester students at the University of Mississippi have also learned about the housing crisis in two classes. In Jennifer Sadler’s internet marketing class, students have used social media to bring awareness about the housing crisis to the community. In James Thomas’s affordable housing class, an honors course cross listed with sociology, students have gone out and surveyed residents about lower-level housing.
“We designed a survey looking at a variety of factors at the household level, such as the level of the actual dwelling, and the level of the neighborhood,” Thomas said. “Basically we sample a number of blocks in the county and students go in teams of two to administer these surveys.”
Thomas’s students have been out in the field for seven consistent weeks and he thinks they’ve gained a lot from this course.
“Often when we talk about poverty, students minds might not necessarily go to their immediate surroundings, so it gave them that first hand experience and knowledge of their community,” Thomas said. “Also, prior to the course when they thought about issues related to poverty, insecurity housing was never really something that was on their radar.”
One student, sophomore Lucy Healy, was surprised when she found out about the housing crisis.
“I would say that poverty and homelessness in general in Lafayette county is almost invisible,” Healy said. “We live in such a bubble in our apartment complexes and dorms, that we don’t see the hardships that these people are going through every single day just to have a roof over their head.”
One major issue the community has been facing is the the shutting down of the Riverside Place, an affordable housing property. 100 residents were told in February that they’d have to find a new place to live. Many are struggling because some can’t find places that will take their vouchers and some may not be welcomed by their neighbors to live among them.
“I think it’s really important for the community to understand there’s a real opportunity here for us to push our local policy makers on what kind of community we want to be to the people that need us most,” Thomas said.
Kathryn Abernathy 