Mississippi Rhodes Scholar Jaz Brisack shares passion for labor organizing in the South
Oxford • As an introduction to the conditions of the workers of the world, 16-year-old Jaz Brisack washed dishes at Panera Bread. At the national restaurant chain owned by a multi-billion dollar holding company, Brisack’s co-workers worried about scheduling shifts through family emergencies and living without health insurance. There the teenager realized first-hand how workers are powerless to bargain for better wages and benefits on their own.
Five years later, Brisack is a senior at Ole Miss and the university’s 27th Rhodes Scholar. She plans on taking advantage of the prestigious academic opportunity to study Political Theory in preparation for a career organizing workers and rebuilding the power of labor unions in the South.
“I want to bring what I learn back to be a labor organizer in Mississippi,” Brisack said. “I want to dive deeply into capitalism and what comes next. I want to study what conclusions people before came to and how that transfers back to the present.”
Last week, Brisack was one of 32 students from across the United States to be selected for the scholarship, which provides full financial support for a degree at the University of Oxford in England. Brisack has chosen to pursue a two-year Master of Philosophy program with a focus on political theory.
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