page_title: University of Mississippi
section_title: Historical observations and remembrances
hierarchical_section_title: University of Mississippi / History / Integration of 1962 and legacy / Historical observations and remembrances
caption_attribution_description: English: A plaque outside the Meek School of Journalism and New Media declaring the Ole Miss campus declaring it a historic site in journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists.
context_page_description: The University of Mississippi is a public research university in Oxford, Mississippi. Including the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, it is the state's largest university by enrollment and promotes itself as the state’s flagship university. The university was chartered by the Mississippi Legislature on February 24, 1844, and four years later admitted its first enrollment of 80 students. The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". According to the National Science Foundation, Ole Miss spent $137 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 142nd in the nation.
  Across all its campuses, the university comprises some 23,258 students. In addition to the main campus in Oxford and the medical school in Jackson, the university also has campuses in Tupelo, Booneville, Grenada, and Southaven, as well as an accredited online high school. About 55 percent of its undergraduates and 60 percent overall come from Mississippi, and 23 percent are minorities; international students respectively represent 90 different nations.
context_section_description: In 2002 the university marked the 40th anniversary of integration with a yearlong series of events titled "Open Doors: Building on 40 Years of Opportunity in Higher Education." These included an oral history of Ole Miss, various symposiums, the April unveiling of a $130,000 memorial, and a reunion of federal marshals who had served at the campus. In September 2003, the university completed the year's events with an international conference on race. By that year, 13% of the student body identified as African American. Meredith's son Joseph graduated as the top doctoral student at the School of Business Administration.
  Six years later, in 2008, the site of the riots, known as Lyceum-The Circle Historic District, was designated as a National Historic Landmark. The district includes:
  The Lyceum
  The Circle, including the flagpole
  Croft Institute for International Studies, also known as the "Y" Building
  Brevard Hall, also known as the "Old Chemistry" Building
  Carrier Hall
  Shoemaker Hall
  Ventress Hall
  Bryant Hall
  Peabody Hall
  Additionally, on April 14, 2010, the university campus was declared a National Historic Site by the Society of Professional Journalists to honor reporters who covered the 1962 riot, including the late French reporter Paul Guihard, a victim of the riot.
  From September 2012 to May 2013, the university marked its 50th anniversary of integration with a program called Opening the Closed Society, referring to Mississippi: The Closed Society, a 1964 book by James W. Silver, a history professor at the university. The events included lectures by figures such as Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the singer and activist Harry Belafonte, movie screenings, panel discussions, and a "walk of reconciliation and redemption." Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers, slain civil rights leader and late president of the state NAACP, closed the observance on May 11, 2013, by delivering the address at the university's 160th commencement.
caption: A plaque outside the Meek School of Journalism and New Media declaring campus a historic landmark in journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists
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