The university could be penalized for not flying Mississippi’s state flag if Senate Bill 2057 passes in this year’s legislative session.
The bill states that all governmental entities that receive state funds– including public colleges and universities– must display the state flag Monday through Friday of each week or the state can withhold 25 percent of the monthly salary of the entity’s administrative head.
Bill 2057 is just one of several bills addressing the controversy surrounding the Mississippi flag. Senate Bill 2081 would change the design of the Mississippi flag to the Magnolia flag, Bill 2737 would provide a statewide referendum for removing the Confederate Battle Flag from the flag’s design and Bill 2522 would establish a commission to redesign the flag.
House Bill 333 would also challenge the removal of the state flag from campus in 2015. The bill would give control of certain matters related to the “support of school spirit displayed both on and off campus during intercollegiate athletic competitions” to university alumni by means of a mailed-in ballot. Specific issues identified in the bill are the flying of the Mississippi state flag, the playing of “Dixie” and “From Dixie with Love” at any event and the university’s mascot, each of which are past points of contention for the campus.
An underground radar revealed more than 2,000 bodies in a University of Mississippi Medical School construction site near the hospital in 2014. The bodies have yet to be removed. The school requested the attorney general’s permission to cremate the bodies in 2015 but was denied.
Senate Bill 2713 would give the medical center permission to cremate or reinter the bodies, providing it releases any available identification of the corpses, including headstones or markers.
After controversy from a similar bill passed in 2016, the Mississippi Legislature is again considering a marriage protection bill that states spiritual leaders cannot be forced to perform marriage ceremonies or provide accommodations for certain people if doing so violates his or her religious beliefs.
The bill is similar but far shorter than House Bill 1523, which was passed into law in 2016 but was blocked by a federal judge.
House Bill 654 would amend the Mississippi Code of 1972 so that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected from discrimination in connection with housing development and loans.
Also under consideration are five Blue Lives Matter bills (640, 647, 646, 747, 754, and 2376), which would classify crimes against police as hate crimes. Other bills would classify peace officers (615), firefighters and emergency personnel (2129, 2674) as possible victims of hate crime and increase the penalty for hate crimes (2129).
Of the more than 1,200 bills in the house still in consideration, eight would increase the state minimum wage (8, 366, 820, 821, 1077, 1078, 1081 and 1082).
Seat belt regulations (398, 539, 894 and 895 ), the requirement of cursive in primary education (233, 417, 552 and 1160) and equal pay between genders were also proposed numerous times.
