Ole Miss students return to campus
For two weeks, the University of Mississippi was closed because of the impact of Winter Storm Fern.
OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI) – Operations at Ole Miss are back in full swing on the main campus.
For two weeks, the University of Mississippi was closed because of Winter Storm Fern’s impact in the Oxford location.
Students returned to in-person classes for the first time on Monday.
“It’s been good. Today went very smooth. Everything is really like back to normal. Only thing around campus is trees, but everything else is pretty normal,” said Tanysia Williams, a sophomore at Ole Miss.
Winter Storm Fern hit Lafayette County, Oxford, and the Ole Miss campus particularly hard.
For days, parts of Ole Miss were without power, but meals were still provided to the students.
Olivia Hall lives in an off-campus apartment but stayed in Starkville during the first week of closing to be safe.
“Everything at my apartment was perfectly fine, but Oxford itself … it was just destroyed. There were trees down, power lines down, and a bunch of road closures,” said Hall.
There are still piles of debris across campus, but the university made sure the walkways and high traffic areas were cleared before students officially returned.
One hot spot on the first day back was Pak Mail — the student mailroom.
“Here and down at our other locations, it’s going to be a madhouse with how many students are going to be coming in and out. There’s not going to be a chance to sit down today,” said Olivia Hall, student worker for Pak Mail.
Other students shared how grateful they are for the community’s support during hard times.
Ole Miss also made accommodations for school assignments.
“They actually made it very easy for us. They moved all the due dates back a week, so everything that was due like the week of the storm is now due like this week or next week,” said Williams.
The semester will end at its original scheduled time.
Ole Miss contracted with a private company for debris removal.
University crews are also working on minor damages to some buildings around the campus.
