University of Mississippi leaders plan to spend up to $10 million on tree removal and other debris cleanup on the Oxford campus because of an ice storm that caused widespread damage in the northern part of the state. 

On Monday, the IHL Board of Trustees unanimously approved increasing the amount of the university’s contract with Looks Great Services, a landscape service based in Columbia, to ensure the cleanup can be completed. The board, which oversees the state’s public universities, has to approve contracts that exceed $2 million.

Ole Miss will pay for initial services and seek reimbursements from other funding sources including Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and insurance, according to IHL. Ole Miss officials are still assessing the storm damage, and the final storm recovery costs are unclear.

“Snow, ice, power outages and blocked roads were just a few of the obstacles that stood before some of our universities including Ole Miss, Mississippi Valley State and Delta State University,” said Gee Ogletree, IHL board president. 

Classes and campus activities resumed Monday at the Oxford campus, two weeks after Winter Storm Fern coated roadways and power lines with ice, causing outages of water and power. UM college students were left reeling with the storm’s aftermath as residence halls and other campus buildings lost power throughout the week. Some students also struggled to find food. 

The storm damaged flooring in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, but the majority of campus buildings are safe, open and operating as normal, university spokesman Jacob Batte said. There is not yet a timeline for completing the cleanup efforts.  

Despite the overall storm damage, nearly 95% of the university’s Oxford campus trees survived the winter storm, Chancellor Glenn Boyce said in a letter to Ole Miss stakeholders last week. 

The university’s tree canopy, including oak trees in the Grove at the center of campus, is a key part of the campus character and landscape design.  

Other schools in northern Mississippi, including Mississippi Valley State University, Delta State University and local community colleges also sustained storm damage that resulted in extended campus closures. 

At Mississippi Valley State, storm damage included a tree limb breaking the window of an academic building. 

“We anticipated the power outage but not the tremendous amount of tree damage,” Michael Switzer, MVSU’s vice president of facilities management and capital projects, said in an email. “With a storm like this, you never know exactly what the impact will be.” 

The university’s grounds crew and contractors are working to clear the debris, Switzer said.