UM Staff Appreciation Day

Members of the University of Mississippi staff were honored Friday for their faithful years of service to the students and campus in Oxford.

During the ceremony, staff members were recognized for their many years of service, while some were recipients of Outstanding Staff Awards, voted on by their peers.

Years of service to the University ranged from the New Hire Recognition, people serving less that one year, up to Hallie Cook's outstanding 44 years of service to Ole Miss.

Debbie Brinkley, Staff Council President, opened with gratitude toward each staff member for all of their hard work and dedication.

"They do the behind the scenes work," Brinkley said.

According to Brinkley, those who were voted Outstanding Staff Members had ideal and uniform qualities. They have trust, integrity, a vision for the future, desire for others to succeed, and a loyal dedication and commitment to the University of Mississippi.

"They make the university run," added Brinkley.

In between jokes and laughs, Whitman Smith, Director of Orientation Offices and Parent Services, recognized staff members for their years of service, calling the staff part of his family.

Chancellor Robert Khayat presented seven staff members with Outstanding Staff Awards. Also, he mentioned that the staff members are key components that helped the university move forward.

With records of service ranging from less than a year to 44 years, the working environment, the campus community, and the diversity and energy of the students have kept the staff around, Chancellor Khayat said in an interview later.

Chancellor Khayat also discussed the importance of developing relationships with the staff members.

When he started his job as Chancellor in July of 1995, Chancellor Khayat began to walk around campus every morning, and in doing so, met several staff members and developed several personal relationships.

Even though he jokes around with members of the staff, Chancellor Khayat emphasized the importance of having a personal relationship with the staff but not trying to be "one of the boys."

Staff Appreciation Day acknowledged the staff's hard work and commitment to Ole Miss, while honoring Chancellor Khayat's leadership and relationship with members of the UM staff.

Physical Therapy At Its Best

Fifteen years ago, in Batesville, MS., Michael Meurrier watched the movie "Regarding Henry" and decided to become a physical therapist.

Now, Meurrier, 30, works at the Starnes Athletic Training Center on the Ole Miss campus, where he serves the UM staff, faculty, students, and athletes with serious injuries and helps them regain mobility in their injured limbs.

Meurrier says his dream is only wanting to help people.

“I’m not driven to be a therapist for the Orlando Magic,” he jokes.

However, Meurrier says that his profession allows him to “impact patients’ lives in ways a doctor can’t.”

Physical therapy takes time, and because he spends up to five hours a week with some patients, Meurrier says that he is able to develop a relationship with each of his patients.

“In fact, I’m in a patient’s wedding next month.” Meurrier adds.

Although patients are smiling and laughing as they complete their exercises in the background, Meurrier admits that physical therapy definitely has frustrating and tough times.

“When a patient just isn’t getting better, it is so frustrating,” says Meurrier.

How does he handle situations like this?

“Persistence. Don’t let a bad day set you back,” Meurrier says.

Even though they try to create a positive environment where patients can laugh and have a good time, several patients endure pain and discomfort during their physical training sessions.

“I haven’t let tears stop me from doing what I have to do.” Meurrier says.

He has to look ahead into the patient’s future, he goes on to explain.

One of his patients, who had torn an ACL, was crying during her therapy. However, because he did what he had to do, she is now able to play basketball again.

Meurrier describes physical therapy as a pattern of peaks and valleys.

“When patients come in for therapy, they are in a valley. It’s our job to keep pushing them out of that valley, onto the top of their next peak,” Meurrier says.

Help Starting Your Small Business

A seminar designed to teach small business development will be held Thursday at the Small Business Development Center on the Ole Miss campus.

Don Fischer, Director of MSSBDC, said that the seminar, held in the Procurement Building at 1:00 p.m., will teach the development of successful small businesses by breaking the process down into smaller, more manageable steps.

"Half of small businesses fail in the first year," Fischer said.

"The biggest [cause of] failure is a lack of management skills and lack of an excellent business plan," he added.

However, 90 percent of small business owners who have attended the programs offered by MSSBDC have succeeded, Fischer explained.

According to Rhes Lowe, who attended Fischer's seminar and is now the owner of successful restaurant Market Rhes, "The hardest part is the best part."

During the seminar, Fischer will outline a successful business plan and give financial information necessary to process a loan.

Unlike the late night television commercials about starting your own business, which Fischer refers to as a "scam," the MSSBDC offers plans and keys to developing management skills, business plans, and good controls required for the success of a small business.

The seminar is free for those who pre-register. For more information, visit mssbdc.org and click on workshop.

Mississippi Women Exhibition at Ole Miss

An exhibit of Mississippi women proudly proclaims the accomplishments of Mississippi women through early June in the Faulkner room of the J.D. Williams Library at Ole Miss.

Greg Johnson, curator of blues archives and assistant professor at Ole Miss, conducts an excellent tour of "In Her Own Words," and gives the history of Mississippi women and their contributions to daily Mississippi life.

Not proud or arrogant, these women were just your “everyday Mississippians doing their thing,” says Johnson.

Among the various cases exhibiting the success of women, is a case displaying a May 1944 issue of Mississippi Business Woman magazine promoting the interests of the state’s early working women.

Beside the magazine, Charm, a fashion magazine from New York, shows a color cover of a beautiful model of the stylish 1950’s, but it’s what’s inside the magazine that grabs your undivided attention--an article about a young woman working on the ever famous square in small town Oxford, Mississippi.

She, along with three other women, solely ran and operated every aspect of the Baker’s dress shop, from buying and selling clothes, bookkeeping, alterations, and cleaning. Pictures in the article exhibit women carrying out all the tasks necessary to keep a business successfully up and running.

A few cases over, however, resides a case containing the photographs of the famous Eudora Welty. As most know, Eudora Welty is most well known for her literary attributions to Mississippi, as well as American, literature.

Nonetheless, one single photograph in her book One Time, One Place epitomizes Mississippi women -- whether well known globally, nationally, or not known at all.

A picture of an African American woman, in her Sunday dress and church hat, laughing with a smile so wide, it almost won’t fit on her face. She has ecstasy, ambition, kindness, and power—a woman who not only could make a difference for herself, but a difference for the state of Mississippi and America.

Looking at Different Web Sites: News Sites vs. Sites Frequently Visited

Many clump all Web sites into one category and place it in a single file entitled "The Internet."

Looking at the millions of Web sites available at the world's fingertips, we realize that each Web site was designed to perform a specific duty and for a specific purpose. Some Web sites allow some to spend all day shopping without stepping foot outside, while others give breaking news--whether national news or daily celebrity gossip.

The Web site for the Washington Post displays large fonts, bold words, and blue headlines broadcasting latest news updates. Pictures beside the article teaser offer descriptions of the emotion of the article or show who the article may be about.

Click on Facebook.com, and you immediately see the "motto" of the Web site: "Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you."

After logging in, we are instantly updated on our "mini-feed" about who is in a relationship with who, who wrote on who's wall, and even who has an upcoming birthday. By users uploading pictures, facebookers are able to look into the lives of others and see what that person does on the weekends, who they hang out with, etc.

Another example is that of Salon.com.

Similar to the Washington Post Web site, it offers daily news about politics, books, movies, sports, and the latest news on the presidential election.

Yahoo.com seems to be a one-stop place to find just about anything. Yahoo has a small box where people can find popular news videos, news updates, e-mail, daily horoscopes, maps, and movies.

Along with all of these features, it also offers a search engine that allows you to take your Internet surfing a few steps further by connecting you to other Web sites that offer information about the topic of your interest.

Agreeing with Pol Pot: The Other Side of the Story

Soldiers of the Khmer Rouge.

An influential Pol Pot.

A chilling video including photographs of vitcims, museums, and murals illustrating methods of torture and execution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SI8RF6wDE

"Pol Pot's Charisma" by Socheat Som:
http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/pol_pot1.htm

"Return to the Killing Fields" by Dith Pran:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE6DA163DF937A1575AC0A96F948260

In an event of mass genocide, torture, execution, etcetera, etcetera, the finger usually points in one direction or at one person. For example, when the Holocaust is mentioned, most immediately think of Adolf Hitler. Mention September 11, 2001, and many think of Osama bin Laden. When someone discusses the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Pol Pot's name is immediately associated with the atrocities of the Killing Fields. However, could one single individual successfully murder over one million people within the course of four years? Moreover, if a single person had killed that many people, wouldn't drastic measures have been taken to stop the killings and that individual? Most realize that in order to get by with such high rates of execution and torture, one person could not do it alone-- he or she would have to have some help. Hitler had his enormous army of Nazis helping him out with the relocation and extermination of Jewish people, just as bin Laden has his Al-Qaeda followers conducting suicide bombings and bombing specific targets, such as the World Trade Center. Pol Pot did not kill over one million Cambodian people alone. He had followers, which, in turn, means that he had a group of people who believed that what he was doing was what was best for Cambodia. In fact, these followers of Pol Pot so adamantly believed in him and his Communist ideals that they became soldiers of his Khmer Rouge regime and executed hundreds of thousands, possibly over one million, Cambodians, which, now, brings us to the question-- should the blame be placed solely on Pol Pot for the monstrosity of the Killing Fields in Cambodia?


Of course, there are ample reasons to point the finger at Pol Pot for what happened in Cambodia from 1975-1979. People were murdered, tortured, separated from families, homes, loved ones, the list could possibly go on for forever. After reading some of the accounts of those who survived the Killing Fields, many can quickly see why so many despised the actions of Pol Pot. He recruited thousands of young soldiers to kill a significant portion of the Cambodian population. People were placed in labor camps and forced to work unreasonable hours for little to no pay, and they were given little if any food to eat. Many died because of the lack of sustenance, and the lack of nutrition and medical care caused many to die from diseases like malaria. According to Dith Pran, a survivor of the Killing Fields, Cambodians were given such meager rations of food "because the Khmer Rouge wanted [Cambodians] to become so weak [that Cambodians] would not have the strength to rise up against [them]" (2). Also, Pran talks about seeing engines of automobiles melted down to use as tools for farming, and the tires made of rubber were melted to make shoes for Khmer Rouge officials, while "the rest of the population walked to work, barefoot" (2). After surviving the torture of the Killing Fields, Pran was runited with his sister; however, because both were so malnourished and thin, they did not recognize one another (Pran 2). Thus, the monstrosity and brutality that Pran and several others endured give legitimate reasons and excuses for solely blaming Pol Pot because the executions and torture were carried out under his leadership.


Even though executions, torture, deportations, and separations occurred under the dictatorship of Pol Pot, soldiers of the Khmer Rouge were acutally the ones carrying out the heinous acts. Therefore, Pol Pot must have done something to persuade people that his ideals would better the country of Cambodia. In his article "Pol Pot's Charisma," Socheat Som makes reference to David Chandler's biography of Pol Pot when he describes the leader as very likable. Pol Pot presented himself "as calm, self-assured, smooth featured, honest, and persuasive, even hypnotic when speaking to small groups" (Chandler 5). Pol Pot was exposed to the ideals and practices of Communism while studiying at a French university. When he returned to Cambodia, Pol Pot became a teacher at a college in Phnom Penh. Most would probably agree that teachers and instructors play a very influential role in the lives of growing and learning students. Because so many students often look to their teachers as role models, Pol Pot was able to influence many young people by the ideas of Communism (Som 1). Also, many consider college students to be vulnerable because they are searching for their place in life. Many of those students probably found their place behind Pol Pot as a member of his Khmer Rouge regime.


I am by no means endorsing Pol Pot's actions nor am I arguing that he does not deserve any blame for what happened in Cambodia during those four monstrous and brutal years of 1975-1979. However, the point does need to be made that Pol Pot did not see to the torture and murder of over one million Cambodians alone. Although he was making sure that his soldiers and followers did carry out the executions, many many others were on Pol Pot's side when they joined the forces of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot thought that by murdering thousands of intellectual Cambodians or forcing them to become slaves, he was making everyone of the Cambodian country on an equal plain. Although recognizing Pol Pot's intentions as a rational way of thinking seems to be completely irrational on my part, the only way to completely understand why Pol Pot killed so many Cambodians is to put his side of the story into a rational argument. Obviously, several people agreed with his philosophy enough that they were willing to join the Khmer Rouge and barbarically execute and torture hundreds of thousands of people daily. By acknowledging (but maybe not agreeing with) the reasoning behind Pol Pot's destrution of millions in the Cambodian population, we are better able to understand Pol Pot and develop a more accurate, logical, and valid opinion of the occurrances based on evidence rather than an irrational opinion based on emotions.

Psychological Effects of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge

Pol Pot . . . Leader of the Khmer Rouge

When people think of human genocide, mass executions, unbearable torture, and blatant brutality towards members of the human race, most immediately think of Adolf Hitler or Sadaam Hussein. However, one that is not as well recognized as Hitler or Hussien is Saloth Sar, also known as Pol Pot. When I first heard the names Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime, I had no clue who or what they were. After conducting research, however, I became aware that what Hitler is to a person of Jewish faith, Pol Pot is to most Cambodians. In the years during the Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot sucessfully murdered around 650,000 people from urban areas of Cambodia and about 675,000 people from the rural areas via "execution, starvation, overwork, disease, and denial of medical care" (Kiernan 4). In most situations, Pol Pot killed the intellectuals of Cambodia because he saw them as a threat to his Communist ideas, and he considered the peasants to be the "true working class of Cambodia" (Tep 81). When most hear of the number of fatalities that occurred in during the reign of Pol Pot, most shudder to think of the pain and suffering that the victims went through, and more than likely, immediately identify Pol Pot as a madman without any human feelings or emotions. Although the brutality and monstrosity of the Khmer Rouge caused insurmountable amounts of suffering for those who were killed, as well as those who survived, the only way to really understand the executions in Cambodia is to look at the goals that Pol Pot was attempting to reach with his plan.

Although acknowledging that Pol Pot's actions have logical reasons behind them seems to be repugnant for those who were killed, the only way to truly understand Pol Pot is to put him in a rational light. According to Steven Vincent, those who carried out the torture and executions saw the murders as a "logical step in eliminating Cambodia's poverty, corruption, and disease" (1). Most of us in the United States would consider human genocide to be barbaric, devilish, corrupt, irrational, the list could go on. However, when we look at the situation through the eyes of Pol Pot, we see that genocide, execution, and torture was the only way he thought that he could purify his country. Also, he punished people working in the rice fields with severe beatings in order to make them work harder and/or faster. In Pol Pot's mind, these whippings, probably prevented others from "slacking off" and taught them a lesson. Although we usually do not beat children to the point of death or severe injury, do we not give them spankings to correct their behavior? His actions were extreme, and we definitely do not have to agree with the way he carried out the "purification" of his country. However, when we emotionally detach ourselves from the executions, we can see logic (however rational or irrational it may be) behind the motives and actions of Pol Pot.

Regardless of the logic behind Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's actions, most would agree with the fact that the brutality and the suffering the victims endured is tragic. Most people hate to see others enduring pain and suffering. However, as much sympathy as we can feel for those victims, we will never entirely understand the actual effects of the monstrosity that occurred in Cambodia unless we personally went through it. The various methods of torture and execution included "electric shock, fingernail extraction, and near-drowning in vats of water, as well as merciless beatings and roasting on heated metal bedframes" (Branigin 1). Obviously, we can see the suffering that the victims of Pol Pot physically endured, but what about the others? What about those who watched their friends, family, and even perfect strangers go through all of this torture, yet they came out alive? What about the prison guards and officials of the Khmer Rouge regime who carried out the torture? Indeed, all of these groups of people suffered in different ways. In one article, Richard Rechtman analyzes the psychological effects that the Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime caused. In the article, he discusses one of his patients who had recurring dreams of what he survived/witnessed in the Killing Fields of Cambodia (Rechtman 8). Although he survived, the patient said that he felt as if he belonged among those who had been killed in the mass executions of the Khmer Rouge regime (8). Also, Rechtman points out that the executioners had to mentally force themselves to believe that those who were killed did not contribute to the country and thus, must be executed (5).

After hearing of all of the trauma, torture, and executions that the people of Cambodia endured, many (myself included) may have a hard time sypathizing with Pol Pot and those who carried out the murders and and torture sessions. However, when we step back to look at who all have suffered, we realize that even the "barbarians" endured some form of psychological pain. For example, according to Rechtman, the prison guards and Khmer Rouge officials had to dehumanize the victims in order to make themselves believe that Cambodia would be better off without them (5). Also, Rechtman discusses S21 The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, a documentary in which two survivors meet with the executioners from Tuol Sleng. In the documentary, the prison guards, "without any guilt, without any awareness of the horror they describe, they merely and clearly expose the daily job of an ordinary extermination prison guard: insulting, hitting, and killing. As they put it, they never thought they were killing human beings" (Rechtman 4). Although these officials do not suffer in the same way that victims and survivors do, this documentary presents the obvious psychological dehuminization effects of continual murder. We see that the brutality and monstrosity of mass genocide is long-lasting, and it extends much farther than those who were murdered. It also included the witnesses-- whether it be with recurring nightmares or shakes or coldsweats with the mention of Pol Pot's name, as well as the killers and executioners who served under the leadership of Pol Pot.