Source: Tetra Images / Getty
On Monday the University of Mississippi quietly removed the state flag from its place of honor, heeding the calls of those who say the banner’s Confederate battle emblem is detrimental to the school’s future. Interim Chancellor Morris Stocks waited until the flag was gone before announcing he had ordered it taken down and stored in the university’s archives.
Days earlier, the student and faculty senates voted to urge its removal from the Oxford campus, and on Sunday night a group of university leaders then met and agreed to take it down.
Stocks’ statement said “Because the flag remains Mississippi’s official banner, this was a hard decision. I understand the flag represents tradition and honor to some. But to others, the flag means that some members of the Ole Miss family are not welcomed or valued.”
The flag has flown for years in the Lyceum circle which is where deadly white riots broke out in 1962, when James Meredith was enrolled as the university’s first black student, under a federal court order and with protection from a phalanx of U.S. marshals.
Chris McDaniel, a state senator who lost a contentious Republican primary to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014, and insisted that “Ole Miss should fly it, as long as they remain a publicly funded university.” McDaniel, the tea party favorite posted Monday on his Facebook page “Universities are supposed to be marketplaces of ideas, not cocoons designed for coddling the feelings of the perpetually offended.”
On Monday there was no sign of protest as students walked to class. Months ago Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn said that it’s time to change the flag, but his fellow Republican, Gov. Phil Bryant, declined to call a special legislative session to debate it and said Mississippians themselves should to decide the flag’s future.
Since 1894, the Mississippi flag has had the Confederate battle emblem in its upper left corner. State voters decided in 2001 to keep it there, the last state flag in the nation to incorporate the divisive symbol.
The University of Mississippi has struggled with Old South symbolism for decades. The sports teams remain the Rebels, but the Colonel Rebel mascot was retired, and fans mostly stopped waving Confederate battle flags after sticks were banned in the stadium.
Athletic director Ross Bjork, has said the flag makes recruiting more difficult. He was also a part of the leadership team that met with the interim chancellor during the weekend and praised his decision to remove it.
For more information click here
Text “LIGHT” To 37890 for your chance at ticket giveaways and news before anyone else!…Standard Messaging Rates Apply
