Headlines
The Village Family Apartments at Ole Miss Prepares to Close
Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Communications
The Village Apartments at Ole Miss, which houses families, graduate students and student housing staff on campus, is set to close in August.
According to Jennifer McClure, assistant director of marketing for Ole Miss student housing, the university has been in discussion for several months about the future of the apartments.
“There is just not enough quality of life left in the buildings to continue to maintain them beyond August 2016 as residential facilities,” McClure said. “The units have far exceeded the life expectancy of the 1940’s construction.”
The apartments sit on Chucky Mullins Drive and West Road near the law school. Multiple apartments from The Village were torn down to open the new law school in 2011, and just six apartment buildings remain on campus.
“At this time, the plan is to return control of these properties to university administration,” McClure said.
A Look Back
Becky and Ed Meek
Dr. Ed Meek, former assistance vice chancellor of public relations at Ole Miss and the Meek School of Journalism and New Media namesake, started his marriage and career while living at The Village.
“After Becky (wife and Ole Miss alumna) and I got married, we headed to Oxford in an old 1949 Plymouth,” Meek said. “We spent our honeymoon in those apartments because I had an 8 o’clock final exam the next day on June 25.”
According to Meek, he and his wife paid $47.50 a month for their fully furnished apartment in 1960. The Village had one and two bedroom apartments available for married students.
Ed Meek takes a break from covering the news of James Meredith’s arrival on campus to make dinner at his apartment at Ole Miss. Courtesy: Ed Meek and “Riot: A Witness to Anger and Change”
“They were a God-send,” Meek said. “We were living off $5 a week- that’s how much I made.”
While living on campus and studying for his Bachelor of Science in Journalism, Meek covered the arrival of James Meredith, the first African American student to attend the university.
Recently, Meek wrote a book about this particular experience. “Riot: A Witness to Anger and Change” is a book of Meek’s photos he took of the actual 1962 riot that took place on campus as Meredith enrolled into classes. Proceeds from the book benefit the Meek School of Journalism and New Media and it can be purchased from the Yoknapatawpha Press.
Meek said most of the other tenants that lived at The Village during his residency were law students who became notable attorneys such as Oscar Jordan, an attorney on the Mississippi gulf coast, and Punchy Walters.
Becky Meek irons a shirt inside The Village Apartments. Courtesy: Ed Meek and “Riot: A Witness to Anger and Change.”
Today, the apartments seem to assist many foreign families looking for affordable housing in Oxford.
“They (the apartments) were so important to my generation,” Meek said. “There were no apartments (in Oxford). Housing as we know it today did not exist.”
According to McClure, there are no plans for new construction to replace The Village.
“University administration will determine how those buildings will be used in the future,” McClure said.
Emily Newton is a staff writer for hottytoddy.com and the editor of Experience Oxford magazine. She can be reached at emily.newton@hottytoddy.com!
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ZCWoods
January 20, 2016 at 12:48 pm
…Maybe the remaining buildings should become some sort of ‘slice of life’ museum, as a tribute to early Ole Miss history.
While they may have “far exceeded the life expectancy of 1940’s construction”, they still seem to hold quite an irreplaceable legacy.
Anonymous
January 20, 2016 at 4:46 pm
My wife and I lived there in 76-77. Building 123 apt.4
Deanna Graves
January 20, 2016 at 5:54 pm
I graduated a year ago and my first thought was, “Parking!”
Billy Hancock
January 20, 2016 at 7:42 pm
My wife, Sheila, and I lived in the village from the beginning of the fall semester 1969 until I graduated in 1971. We have very pleasant memories of our time in that community. I’m not sure this is correct, but as I recollect, the size of our efficiency apartment was 17.5 by 17.5 feet and rented at $52.00 per month. We had great friends friends there, outdoor grilling, tossing frisbees. Great Memories! Our old building is still standing. I’d like to stand in our old apartment one more time, while I – and the old building – can still stand.
Sara Pugh
January 21, 2016 at 11:07 pm
My husband and I lived in two different Village Apts in 1968 and 1969. Prior to that in 1067 we lived in an upstairs apt on 11th street. Many memories from the married student apts: everybody who owned a pet would take their pet and run when a report that the building inspector was coming; however, I never saw an inspector. An Asian family living below us had a ping pong table in the living room area of their apt and we heard them playing ping pong at all hours. Also, the ping pong table took up all of their space….never did figure out where they sat down. I remember when Johnny Cash performed a concert at the Tad Pad and I was sick and we couldn’t attend. I raised our bathroom window and listened to the entire concert because our apt was right across the street and the music was so loud I could hear it. My husband and his friend often stayed up all night studying for pharmacy school tests. they drank so much coffee that all I could remember the next morning was them coming through our only bedroom to the bathroom all night long and the toilet flushing, so I didn’t get any sleep either. So many more memories about living in the married students apts and the low standard of living we existed in, but we were content and happy. If only the young people of today had to do the same. I believe it would be good for them!
Nikki
January 25, 2016 at 1:19 am
I currently live in the Village with my husband and daughter. They aren’t in the best shape and I have plenty of issues with the apartments but they have also been a godsend for the past 3 1/2 yrs. if it wasn’t for family housing there’s no way I could have ever come back to school. My only wish is that housing would have considered offering us info on reasonable and comparable housing off campus like they do for their “traditional” students instead of suggesting places like The Hub that aren’t set up for families and my husband, daughter, and myself would all have to pay to rent separate rooms! The lack of family housing options is appalling in Oxford and I wish they would have taken that into serious consideration.
Bobbye Wiley
April 8, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Never lived in them but I do still have 2 chest of drawers that I got when they were redoing and getting ride of “old” stuff..got them for my daughters for wait for it…$5 apiece!!! And they are still standing..THEY don’t need or use them, but I do!! This has been at least 30+ years ago!! Not quality..but they are STILL standing!! Hate to see this leave the campus even though I never used it I know a lot of people benefitted from them.