Greenwood Commonwealth. June 29, 2023.
Editorial: A Big Boost For Broadband
Although Mississippi’s congressional delegation was largely opposed to the 2021 legislation that is providing additional federal funding to expand broadband access in rural areas, this state is now excited to get the money.
On Monday, the Biden administration announced that Mississippi will receive $1.2 billion of the $42 billion provided in the Infrastructure and Jobs Act of 2021 to bring high-speed internet service to areas that don’t currently have it.
If you crunch the numbers, Mississippi will do quite well by the allocation. The state accounts for less than 1% of the nation’s population, but it will receive about 3% of the money. That’s because, being a heavily rural state, we have a higher proportion of unserved or underserved homes and businesses than the national average.
In making this week’s allocation announcement, President Biden echoed what others have said previously, including Brandon Presley, who as public service commissioner successfully advocated for allowing rural electric cooperatives, including Greenwood-based Delta Electric, to provide internet service as well as electricity.
The expansion of broadband today in the United States, said the president, can be compared to what happened in rural America almost a century ago when electricity was brought to thinly populated areas that didn’t previously have it. It required government help to make the investment initially work, since it’s a lot more expensive to provide the infrastructure for a utility when customers live far apart.
Although high-speed internet service might not be quite as central to a person’s comfort as electricity, it’s not far behind. In today’s internet-based world, having a slow or no internet connection is debilitating. It limits access to education, entertainment, health care, commerce and communication. It makes it difficult to do business. A place without good internet service is a place where few people in today’s America want to live.
Only two members of Mississippi’s congressional delegation — Rep. Bennie Thompson and Sen. Roger Wicker — seemed to recognize this when they voted two years ago for the legislation, which also included more than a trillion dollars for roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
Mississippi’s other senator and three House members let politics — namely being against anything that Democrats advocated — put blinders on them. It’s a vote they hope people in this state will forget.
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Columbus Dispatch. June 30, 2023.
Editorial: ‘Done Right Day’ for MUW sports
Almost from the moment he arrived as president of Mississippi University for Women in 2011, Jim Borsig set his sights on returning intercollegiate sports to the university, which had disbanded its athletics programs in 2003.
“I believe, done right, it adds to the overall intercollegiate experience, strengthens academics and is good for the entire student body,” Borsig said in April 2012 as he announced an exploratory committee to consider a return of sports.
In 2017, two years after Borsig retired, MUW resumed athletics, thanks in no small part to the leadership he provided and the continuing support and advocacy of his successor as president, Nora Miller.
By then, MUW officials had put together the pieces required to field sports teams, but whether or not the university could sustain remained a legitimate question.
To a great degree, the “done right” part of the equation was answered Wednesday when Miller was notified in a letter from the NCAA that MUW had met the requirements to obtain full active membership status in the NCAA Division III, a goal the university had set almost from the moment it began fielding sports teams.
For the past six years, MUW athletics have led something of a vagabond existence, piecing together schedules where opponents came and went almost seasonally, preventing any hopes of creating the rivalries that are always at the heart of collegiate sports. Postseason appearances were gained not on measurable achievements, but sometimes little more than being willing to make the trek to far-away venues.
That all changed in the blink of an eye on Wednesday. As a newly minted NCAA Division III program, The W will become members of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, composed of 10 schools from Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. It’s not an ideal geographical fit, but the conference affiliation does provide the consistency that is crucial to building schedules and creating a pathway to NCAA Division III championships, which MUW will be able to participate in during the 2022-23 season. Postseason appearances now will be earned on the field or court, as it should be.
Because the schedule of all athletic teams include non-conference opponents, MUW’s Division III status should open the door to competition with fellow Mississippi Division III schools Millsaps and Belhaven, as well as Birmingham Southern.
All these logistics will make life far easier for MUW athletics, but the most important aspect of attaining NCAA status is the credibility that status brings to the program. MUW was required to meet an arduous three-year qualification process, one implemented to ensure the school’s programs were well-established and sustainable. MUW couldn’t simply say it was in sports for the long haul. It had to prove it.
Wednesday’s letter from the NCAA was proof that MUW had effectively made that argument.
While 2017 will be remembered as the year sports returned to MUW, June 28, 2023 should be remembered as the day that MUW sports returned for good.
We congratulate Borsig, Miller, the MUW administration and staff, coaches, players and the larger MUW community on reaching this important milestone.
Go Owls!
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