The Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College accepted 376 freshmen during the honors college fall convocation Tuesday. The students hail from 27 states and 3 foreign countries with 54 percent being Mississippi residents.
“Tonight we recognize brilliant scholarship and brilliant scholars,” said Morris Stocks, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, who opened the ceremony. “This freshman class is the largest, brightest and most diverse in our history.”
Following Stocks’s introduction, Douglass Sullivan-González, dean of the honors college, welcomed the class of 2018 honors college initiates and introduced Camille Paglia as the guest speaker.
Sullivan-González acknowledged the timing of Paglia’s visit, and her accompanying lecture on feminism and Southern women as it relates to events on campus.
“It is serendipitous that Professor Paglia arrives at The University of Mississippi during the week of rush,” said Sullivan-González.
Paglia, a cultural critic and feminist, has written several novels on the topic of feminism. Paglia’s lecture focused on feminism and the Southern woman and the virtues of being a young Southern woman in today’s society.
“Let young women rule in their fresh and nubile beauty,” Paglia said.
After the lecture, Paglia held a brief question-and-answer session, which was followed by a reception in the lobby of the Ford Center.
The class of 2018 is the largest freshman class the honors college has admitted thus far. The admission of this freshman class brings the total enrollment of the honors college to over 1,200 students.
The average honors college freshman this year has an ACT score of 30.3 and an average high school grade point average of 3.93.
The increase in students has prompted a necessary expansion to the honors college, which is currently undergoing renovation.
The university is installing a 13,000 square foot addition in order to accommodate further expansion to the honors college student body. The project, expected to finish next year, will add four new classrooms as well as additional study space for students.
