Approximately 70 students attended a rally Thursday at the University of Southern Mississippi in support of a group of students in Louisiana who have come to be known as the Jena Six.

"We wanted to show our support," said Brandon Dobson, 21, president of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, the 16-person group who organized the rally at Southern Miss. "Since we are unable to actually go there, we wanted to show our support here. We wanted to bring attention to it at USM because everybody knows about it, but nobody is doing anything."
 
Dobson said the goals of the rally were to get more information out into the community and raise money for the families of the Jena Six to ease court costs. Organizers say they collected more than $200.   more »

More than a year after Phi Beta Sigma fraternity conceived a plan to offer free condoms in MU residence halls, Chancellor Brady Deaton is expected to respond to a revised proposal.

The response can be expected early next week, Missouri Students Association President Rachel Anderson stated in an e-mail.

Anderson said Deaton drafted a response to the condom proposal, and she met with Deaton and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs on Monday.

Scroggs said if the plan were approved, the university would still need to find funding for it. She said there is no money set aside to implement the plan.

“I think people thought that this would happen right away, but there was no plan for implementation,” Scroggs said.

Scroggs said there is also not a plan for distributing the condoms. She said the task force charged with creating the proposal for Deaton’s consideration had looked into the cost of tamperproof machines to dispense the condoms.

Running out of the SGA Office, carrying a folder with papers bulging out of both sides, Morgan Pippin, SGA President, is running one of his daily errands.

Pippin's job as president is time consuming. Pippin attends about 10 meetings per week, has to put in 20 office hours, makes sure that the student body stays informed about different issues, and serves as the student body's voice to the faculty and staff.

"If there is an issue that a student comes to me about, I try and let someone know within 48 hours," Pippin said. "I go to the source that needs to be told about it."

Pippin ran for president after his first year on the SGA.

"I had ideas for the University and wanted to implement them for the student body," Pippin said.

He campaigned with signs, Facebook flyers, cups, T-shirts and sidewalk chalk. He wasn't surprised when he won though.

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity has dedicated this week to acts of philanthropy, community service and entertainment.

Brandon Dobson, a senior medical technology major and president of Phi Beta Sigma, said the fraternity has been holding an entire week's worth of events for the past three or four years.

"[It's] to get freshman frat students psyched about the year," said Dobson.

There have been various events going on throughout the week across campus. Melissa
Carpenter, secretary for student activities, said the fraternity assisted with the blood drive on Tuesday, hosted a wellness fair, a hop contest and a rally for the Jena 6."   more »