Seth Davis

Reporter

*On the morning of March 20, the State Board of Education voted to recommend the relocation of MSMS to Starkville. This action will now go to legislation, and if passed, MSMS could be moved as soon as 2026.*

Change is not something new for the Mississippi University for Women.

The W has undergone two name changes in its existence. In 1982, it began admitting men after a Supreme Court decision deemed single-sex admissions unconstitutional. In1987, the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, or MSMS, would open its doors on campus.

It’s been a fixture at The W ever since, but that could change in the near future.

President Miller and alumni at Charter Day 2025
Photo courtesy of MUW’s Facebook

On Feb. 24, a joint press conference was held by The W’s president, Nora Miller, Columbus Mayor Keith Gaskin and District 2 president supervisor Trip Hairston to address the vital importance of MSMS to The W amid threats of relocation.

Gaskin has a strong relationship with both The W and MSMS and was in Columbus documenting the beginnings of MSMS in 1987 because he was working then as a photojournalist. Before becoming mayor, he worked as the executive director of the MSMS Foundation. He has seen the ups and downs The W and MSMS have faced together, and he knows The W’s campus is exactly where MSMS belongs.

“The W has a long history of programs in gifted education and studies,” Gaskin said. “That is another reason it [MSMS] was selected to be on this[The W’s] campus.”

In 2024 the Mississippi state legislature voted on whether to close down three colleges within the state and to possibly merge The W with neighboring Mississippi State University.

Both of those votes failed, but another bill - SB2715 - was the only motion that carried any momentum out of that year’s legislative session. SB2715 was the first major push to relocate MSMS, which, unlike the university it resides in, has largely been unchanged since its inception.

The proposed legislation called for developing a plan to move the residential high school and its funding to Mississippi State University that July and for ownership to be transferred completely by July of 2025. This bill would also die on the Senate floor. However, interest around moving the school has kept swirling. On Feb. 7, 2025, the Mississippi Department of Education sent a request for proposal to Mississippi State and The W regarding where MSMS should be located.

While the future of it staying on The W’s campus is in question, moving MSMS would not be an easy task.

There have been questions raised about the high school’s financial support, the timeline and cost of moving or maintaining MSMS and campus safety and accessibility for students.

However, the first key issue is that of financing MSMS and whether that falls to the community or the state government.

The idea of MSMS needing better state funding is not novel. MSMS does not receive any funding from the city of Columbus. The high school relies instead on outside donors such as the MSMS Foundation and its funding from the state, which has not kept up with its needs. This has become a larger problem as more facilities need maintenance and renovation.

The W’s President Nora Miller thinks that financing should not be completely in the community’s hands, but the high school should be receiving more funds from the state.

“I don’t think it should be a burden limited to this location. It is a state school. There’s the state school for the arts, there’s the state school for the blind and deaf, those are funded by the state. This one should be funded by the state also,” Miller said. “They need to pay what it takes for this school, too.”

Both universities have proposed budgets for the state funding what MSMS needs and helping with funding. A larger problem is how much time and money are needed to facilitate either moving or renovating it.

MSMS’ main academic building
Photo by Emma Caroline Brown

SB2715 was originally slated to have a timeframe of one year before transferring ownership of MSMS to Mississippi State. Now, Mississippi State is prepared if it is only given a year to facilitate the move.

In its proposal, MSU stated that it was prepared to house students in temporary quarters if the high school is moved in time for the 2026-27 academic year. Despite this, there have been doubts cast on the feasibility of this relocation happening in just a year.

“I don’t see how any residential facilities are going to be constructed and available on a timeline like that,” Miller said.

Both universities’ proposals also have different expectations in the cost of relocating MSMS, and there is a noticeable gap between the two.

In The W’s proposal, it was estimated that renovating either Fant or Peyton Halls would cost $22 million each. Constructing a new residential building entirely was estimated to be $35 million.

Mississippi State’s proposal requested a far greater estimation of $85 million. This would supply brand-new facilities for the high school and its students and be completed before the 2027-28 academic year.

Expanding Mississippi State would be very costly, and there are already concerns with the size of the campus and how it would impact students.

Gaskin has personal experience in working with The W and MSMS, as well as maintaining contact with alumni from both institutions. During the news conference on Feb. 24, Gaskin used his experience to address a common concern of 16-year-old MSMS students being on the large campus of MSU.

“I have to agree with many of the MSMS alumni who have boldly said that they would not have been ready for that [MSU’s] campus when they were at MSMS.”

In 2023, Starkville had 26 crimes per 1,000 residents, while Columbus had eight. The cities had equal violent crime rates, but Starkville has a noticeably higher poverty rate at 32.5%, while Columbus has a poverty rate of 21.6%. The biggest difference between the two places is still the campuses.

There are almost 23,000 students enrolled at Mississippi State, compared to The W having just shy of 2,300. This difference in the student body’s size has prompted concern from Miller about the integration of high school students into a less familiar and connected community.

“I do think that The W campus, the size of the campus, is more welcoming. For a 15- to 17-year-old’s first time away from home, I think our campus size is much more manageable and I think there’s more connections with our students and with our faculty,” she said.

MSMS is officially neutral regarding the relocation and the proposals, but students from it and The W like it being where it is.

Studies have found that the majority of MSMS students feel safe at The W and are happy with the school being there. It is consistently ranked one of the highest-performing high schools in America.

Bella Settlemir, a junior at The W, agrees that keeping MSMS at The W is preferable.

“I personally think it’s kind of crazy that it’s going to move because it being on campus helps The W out a lot. It brings in a lot of people, it’s a bunch of partnerships,” she said. “As a whole, how I think of high schoolers, it’s a pretty good-sized campus for them, and if they move to State, it’s a huge difference.”

There are many obstacles in moving MSMS. Supporters of relocating it or maintaining it are considering the wants and needs of these students and their communities. Both sides agree, though, that the school needs attention and better funding to support the students.

“I think the worst thing that could happen is the status quo,” Miller said. “I think that if the decision is made not to relocate and they don’t fund what’s necessary, that’s the worst that can happen to us.”