(University of Mississippi Police Department officers fold the Mississippi flag after removing it from the flagpole in the Circle Monday morning | Robert Jordan, Ole Miss Communications)
After weeks of debate on campus, the administration lowered the last standing Mississippi state flag in a ceremony at 7 Monday morning.
The University police, who have the responsibility of taking care of the flag, furled and sent it to University Archives for storage along with the resolutions approved by campus organizations last week calling for its removal.
Ole Miss is the fourth university in the state to cease flying the Mississippi flag. The flag has been taken down at the University of Mississippi Medical Center as well.
With the encouragement of multiple campus organizations, composed of both students and staff, interim Chancellor Morris Stocks and his senior administrative team made the final decision to remove the flag. Stocks and his team met on Friday after receiving the last resolution and then again for three hours on Sunday.
“There was full agreement by the senior leadership team,” Stocks said in a press conference hours after the flag was taken down. “We were careful in our considerations and our planning.”
Stocks said he contacted the preferred candidate for chancellor, Jeffery Vitter, Monday morning informing him of the administration’s decision and said Vitter understood their reasoning. He also contacted state officials, including the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the house, to make it clear this action was not meant as a form of disrespect toward the state.
(The American flag waves in the Circle alone Monday after the removal of the Mississippi state flag earlier that day | Ariel Cobbert)
“We love our state, and we’re proud to be a part of the state of Mississippi,” Stocks said. “We believe for us to accomplish our academic mission, this was the right move at this time.”
Stocks said if a new state flag is created which unifies the community, the school will proudly fly that flag. Until then, the administration is following its diversity plans to help make the campus more inclusive and welcoming, like placing markers in front of historic monuments such as the Confederate solider statue in the Circle to give them context.
The current Mississippi flag contains a Confederate battle emblem in the top left corner and was adopted by the state Legislature in 1894. In 2001, there was debate over redesigning the flag to remove the emblem. The referendum was defeated. Following the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, this past June, the Confederate battle flag debate moved to the forefront once again.
There have been debates discussing the legality of public institutions like the University not displaying the state flag. The Mississippi Constitution Miss. Code Ann. Section 3-3-15 addresses the displaying of the state flag at public buildings. This section describes how the flag should be displayed but is not worded in a way that requires the University to fly the flag.
The debate concerning the Confederate symbols and the state flag at the University escalated these past couple of weeks, even receiving national attention. There have been protests on both sides of the debate, including a rally organized by the UM NAACP in support of removal of the flag and opposition from the Ku Klux Klan multiple times. All protests remained nonviolent.
The National NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks issued a statement in response to the flag being removed from the Oxford campus. He said the persistent action of students, especially in the UM NAACP, is what helped push for action.
“The lowering of the flag shows that the voices of today’s youth and leaders matter more than traditions and notions of heritage at Mississippi’s public universities,” Brooks said.
University of Mississippi Interim Chancellor Morrie Stocks signs paperwork on Monday, transferring the Mississippi flag, which flew in the Circle on campus, to Archives and Special Collections in the J.D. Williams Library. Jennifer Ford, head of Archives, and Tim Potts, UM police chief, look on.
Buka Okoye, the UM NAACP chapter president, has been actively participating in the movement to take down the flag for weeks, like speaking in the pro-resolution rally Oct. 16 and attending the Associated Student Body meeting that adopted the resolution.
“I am ecstatic that the flag has come down here,” Okoye said.
Planning for this movement began after the shooting in Charleston, Okoye said. He worked with many other students to campaign for this change throughout the semester including the #FinsUp #FlagsDown initiative in the Grove, meeting with University leaders and organizing a rally with the intention of having student voices heard. Okoye and other resolution supporters faced opposition.
“When the KKK showed up and demonstrated in visceral hate for black lives and disregard of our values, it was pretty apparent a line had been drawn,” Okoye said. “Either your ideologies are whetted with theirs or ours. It is either hate and separation or acceptance and inclusion.”
Okoye said he stunned when he woke up Monday morning to the news that the flag had been lowered but thanked God and the University for making what he believes to be the right decision.
“Historically, our University isn’t the first to bend to social changes, especially those embedded in tradition,” Okoye said. “However, today is a day I can truly say that I am proud to be a part of the UM family and its love for all those who have support us throughout this campaign.”
Not all students on campus approve about the removal of the flag. Associated Student Body senator Andrew Soper has publicly voiced his opinion for keeping the Mississippi flag flying on campus.
“I believe as a Mississippi-funded university, we should fly the state flag of the State of Mississippi,” Soper said. “Ole Miss received over $7,000,000 last year from the state of Mississippi.”
Soper said members of ASB Senate receive financial aid from the University and state and the Faculty Senate members are paid with state of Mississippi money.
“They should be supporting the State that offers these funds,” Soper said.
Soper said Ole Miss has much to offer as the flagship university of the state of Mississippi. It has record enrollment and ACT scores for incoming students as well as outstanding athletic programs without any discussion of the state flag.
“It is unfortunate that some ASB senators, Ole Miss chapter of the NAACP and the liberal biased media have drawn attention to Ole Miss and the State of Mississippi flag again,” Soper said. “If at a later date the general population of the state of Mississippi vote by majority to change the state of Mississippi flag, I will support the new state flag as well.”
Soper said, in a democracy, the majority should always have say, and that has not been practiced with this issue.
Student and faculty governments and inclusive groups aren’t the only ones stepping into the public spotlight to take a stance on the flag. Recognizable faces from athletics are coming out in support of the removal of the flag.
Middle linebacker CJ Johnson was quoted in Sports Illustrated voicing his opposition against the Confederate flag in September. After the flag was lowered, Johnson said it was great that the University is moving in a positive direction and setting the stage nationally.
Coach Hugh Freeze had also previously stated he did not support the current Mississippi flag. He said he hopes the state will follow suit.
“I think it is time we all move forward together, and I think that is how we should go about it,” Freeze said. “I talked to Morris Stocks (Monday) morning, and hearing how the process went, I think it was very positive how the University handled it.”
-Lana Ferguson
