Within the city of Jackson, Mississippi (Mississippi's capital), there resides three urban universities and one seminary (I believe I'm correct in my count). One of these universities is public while the other two are private. Understandably, the public university is much larger overall (more affordable tuition).
My two oldest daughters are university students within the largest south Mississippi city, Hattiesburg. There're two urban collegiate institutions there, one public and one private, the former of which is very close to the same size as the aforementioned public university in Jackson. Hattiesburg, MS is overall safe and thriving economically. It has a distinct character and strong sense of place.
This aforementioned public (& again, by far largest) university within the city of Jackson resides within the most unsafe / economically depressed region of the city. The institution itself is not walled off (security fencing) from the city as one of the two private institutions are, therefore like a traditional urban college, I'm fairly certain that it resides seamlessly within the urban fabric of the capital city of Mississippi. A city that's overall unsafe and floundering economically (Jackson is losing populace faster than any other city in America). This, in recent years, has led to an overall depressing character and undeniably hopeless sense of place relative to how the city of Jackson is perceived as a whole (think third world country).
My wife, Angie, graduated from Baylor University back in the early '90s. Baylor resides in Waco, TX. It's a city that, per my wife's commentary, combined with my own short stints visiting, is overall safe and thriving economically. It too had / has a distinct character and strong sense of place.
Taking all of that into consideration, under no circumstances would I allow a child of mine (no matter the gender) to enroll at the public university (the largest of the three institutions) within the city of Jackson. No. Matter. What.
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As a parent, seeing a child off - college bound - takes breathtaking courage. But it also requires parental guidance.
I can remember reading years ago of a Baylor University student who was killed via a hit & run there in Waco. He was riding his bike (alongside another student) after dark when it happened. The boy was a musician from the Midwest who'd chosen to attend Baylor in spite of no previous familial connection therein.
As you can imagine, the university was heartbroken, and the parents were devastated. Eventually, the driver was located and charged. From what I recall, the manslaughterer was a middle-aged white woman (educator within the local K-12 public school system) who was driving drunk.
This was tremendously out of character tragedy for the city of Waco, home to Baylor University.
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College students are within that "in-between" stage of life. No longer children but too, not exactly adults either. College provides a great petri dish experience for this age group to establish some independent work ethic via a semi-controlled environment.
This past week, a university student (from out of state) at the aforementioned public university in Jackson was murdered on campus (at a university-owned apartment complex). The suspects in this murder are also college students, but from other institutions outside of central MS.
What would you do / how would you react if your college student son / daughter was murdered on their college campus? Especially considering your child's supposed stellar track record as a student / human being.
Would you question the role that you played relative to agreeing to support your child's enrollment within that institution? Ultimately, how would you manage the emotional aftermath of seeing your child murdered not only during his most springboard season of life but at the very institution / within the very city where that springboarding was supposed to occur?
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This hits home with Rob.
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