Conversation regarding Ole Miss and the idea of progress is a lightning rod for the usual ahistorical mumbling. An eerie amount of opposition to Dr. Dan Jones’ 21st century approach at exorcising Robert E. Lee’s ghost from the halls of the Lyceum comes from those who participate in riling up this kind of kerfuffle.
Confusingly, predictably, problematic members of privileged groups are threatened by the empowerment of underprivileged groups. And for the past several years, this threat has materialized in the form of refusing to accept that a South that pooh-poohs the existence of slavery and ignores the shame and evil on which antebellum gallantry was built as, just simply, not a real place.
If the South will rise again, it will not be due to the racist-apologist politics that have characterized this place for so long. The Swanee Ribber has run dry. The tears of those who count victimization as not being allowed to sing racist songs and swing racist flags should be ignored.
And those who truly love the South and The University of Mississippi will understand this.
They will accept that being a decent human being is not the same as suffering from the horrors of political correctness. They will be socially responsible. They will lead so that the university can succeed and fulfill its role as a school rather than a day camp for young people with an idealized South imbedded in their expectations of the university and a vacation spot for the alumni whose engagement with the university begins and ends with the first and last kickoffs of the football season.
You can not call yourself an ally of the university and the promise of its successful future if you champion the hazy dismissal of our chancellor after his leadership has brought success after success to every aspect of this institution. You are cutting the dream short.
If you question his love for this place based off of his decision to prioritize acknowledging the consequences the tumultuous past instead of contributing to institutional racism by romanticizing it, then you are part of the problem.
If Dan Jones is a threat to the culture of the university, then I am deeply amused at the way the light of his leadership keeps the mediocre roaches scattering, scrambling to smush together crumbs in an attempt to build a case against him.
Thanks, largely, in part to Dan Jones’s leadership, The University of Mississippi wields an impact greater than almost any other public institution in the state.
For his dismissal, donors such as the Gertrude Ford Foundation are prepared to snatch their money back from the university, and as far as the threat of the loss of money goes, it is not yet clear where the IHL Board’s mouth is. If I could make a guess, it is somewhere probably closed.
But whether or not the IHL Board revisits their decision, or if they push forward and incur the consequences of ousting Dr. Jones, there is no excuse for undoing the work done on campus while he and Khayat served as chancellor.
It is time for those who claim to love the university to remain consistent. It is past time to commit fully to inclusiveness and the greater good of the university.
This is not the time to relish in the reanimation of the old guard.
