Athletics Director Ross Bjork’s decision to remove the song “Dixie” from all university sporting events has sparked a heated debate among students, faculty and community members.
The decision to remove the university’s unofficial anthem is an attempt to make Ole Miss a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all fans, Bjork said in a statement Friday.
Professor Charles Ross, director of African-American studies, said he commends Bjork and the athletics department for making the decision.
“I think it is an example of our institution moving forward,” he said.
Andrew Soper, Associated Student Body senator and Our State Flags Foundation member said the removal of “Dixie” was not an inclusive decision process.“This was not voted on,” Soper said. “It is an authoritarian decision made by one man and was a non-inclusive process. No stake holders, students, or alumni had a say in whether to keep it or ditch it. Tens of thousands of graduates have loved, cherished, and flourished under this tune.”
According to Soper, the athletics department does not demonstrate the key principles outlined in the UM Creed: fairness, civility and personal and professional integrity.
“This goes against the Ole Miss creed,” Soper said. “This is not a fair process and was behind closed doors. This was not professional and a direct contradiction of the term integrity. By definition, integrity is the quality of being honest and the state of being whole and undivided.”
Buka Okoye, former UM NAACP president, said this decision, along with recent changes, has allowed the university to make positive strides towards a more inclusive environment.
“It is always great to see the university moving in a more inclusive direction with respect to its recent policy changes in the past year to make this a more hospitable academic space,” Okoye said. “However, it is necessary that we maintain the ability to educate our community alongside those policy changes.”
Okoye also said it is important to create a dialect among those who would like to see the university step away from its legacy of honoring the Confederacy and those who believes there is an attack on the culture and recognition of the Confederacy.
“To reconcile these differences, we need to have public discussions and sometimes debate about what the right thing to do is and then we need to take action from there,” Okoye said.
“I know what that feels like and it is nothing I wish on other people. I can only hope that our administration recognizes this behavior and does what is necessary to fix it.”
“Dixie” was first played in 1948, but the band has limited the playing of the song throughout the last few years. The band did not play the song during games in both the 2015-2016 football season and the 2015-2016 basketball season.
The song was played 14 times in the pregame Grove concert and during the pregame show during the 2015 football season and the song was not included in the on-field performance at the 2016 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
