Freedom Forum helps fund journalism center
Thanks to a $5 million grant from The Freedom Forum, The University of Mississippi (UM) is planning to renovate its journalism facility and build a center devoted to studying journalism and politics in the South, Chancellor Robert Khayat announced in late August. The building and the center will be dedicated to Charles L. Overby, chairman and CEO of The Freedom Forum. A member of the university’s Alumni Hall of Fame, Overby attended Ole Miss from 1964 to 1968 and edited the Daily Mississippian. “Journalism and politics have made the South distinctive and colorful, for better and for worse,” said Overby at the announcement. The Overby Center – which Khayat said would be located in the school’s department of journalism – is designed to bring together various features of the school’s journalism, law and Center for the Study of Southern Culture programs. According to journalism department chair Dr. Stuart J. Bullion, the center is also designed to give students, faculty, journalists, government leaders and the public a chance to take part in symposia, workshops and other educational programs. Khayat said that $2.5 million of The Freedom Forum gift would fund an endowment to support the journalism programs. The remaining $2.5 million, which is being set aside for facility renovation and construction, will be matched by university, state and private sources.
