Posted on 11/11/2009 10:54:32 AM PST by Dacula
JACKSON, Miss. — The University of Mississippi's first-year chancellor followed through on a promise Tuesday and asked the band to stop playing a pep song because some fans are chanting "the South will rise again" at the end of the medley.
"Here at the University of Mississippi, there must be no doubt that this is a warm and welcoming place for all," Dan Jones wrote Tuesday in a letter to the university community. "We cannot even appear to support those outside our community who advocate a revival of racial segregation. We cannot fail to respond."
Dan Jones said last week he'd ask the band to take "From Dixie With Love" off its play list if the chant continued during the Northern Arizona-Ole Missfootball game Saturday in Oxford. Jones said the chant was heard.
Jones, who became chancellor in July, did not specify how long the song at Rebels games will be off limits, but he said elected student leaders can request its return if the chant stops. The tune blends the Confederate Army's fight song, "Dixie," with the Union Army's "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
The band has played "From Dixie With Love" before and after athletic events for about two decades. The practice of some fans chanting "the South will rise again" started in the past five years or so.
A message left at the home of band director David Willson, who has held the job 19 years, was not immediately returned.
The university has struggled for decades with symbolism that some see as racially divisive, including its mascot and the waving of Confederate flags at games.
Nickolaus Luckett, a 20-year-old junior from Drew and co-chairman of diversity affairs for student government, said he doesn't like the chant or the song "Dixie," but believes Jones had offered a compromise designed to satisfy people with a broad range of opinions.
Luckett said Jones was right to ask the band to stop playing the song after some students continued using the chant.
"I think it was something that needed to happen," Luckett said. "He said he was going to do it and the students came and directly disobeyed him."
The university's alumni association and coaches and some high-profile financial supporters, including Netscape founder Jim Barksdale, have said the chant should stop. But some students and fans see Jones' move as a restriction on free speech.
Beverly J. Clark of Jackson, who took graduate courses at Ole Miss in the mid-1970s, said Jones should not take away the chant or the song.
"He's not taking into consideration the thousands and thousands of people who love Ole Miss. There was nothing harmful about that chant," Clark said. "They've been trying to put some meaning behind it that's just not there. It's just not fair."
Six years ago, university officials decided not to have an on-field mascot during sporting events, getting rid of the long-standing Colonel Rebel, a white-haired old man who carries a cane and resembles a plantation owner. At the time, school officials had said they needed a more athletic-looking mascot.
In 1997, student leaders approved a resolution asking Ole Miss fans to stop waving Rebel flags at athletic events. University officials then banned people from bringing sticks into games — a move that dramatically curtailed the decades-long practice of fans' carrying the flag.
Jones' predecessor, Robert Khayat, said the Confederate flag had been used by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and it was not in the university's best interest to use it as a symbol.
Two people were killed on campus in 1962 during riots when the first black student, James Meredith, was enrolled at the university. Federal marshals had to protect Meredith during the court-ordered enrollment.
They’re afraid “The South really Will Rise Again”.
ROLL TIDE
Telling college kids not to do something usually works great.
I didn’t know “The south will rise again” was code word for “Get to the back of the bus”.
Oh Brother.
OK.......then play this.............http://www.fightmusic.com/mp3/sec/Mississippi__From_Dixie_With_Love.mp3
Go Gators!
Oh God, not another one of this pc crap..Dixie is a great song.
Uh, Danny, in case you missed it the South DID rise again.
Au contraire! The good chancellor is about to learn a very unpleasant (to him) lesson. The rest of us are going to laugh at the highly predictable results.
More washing of history and tradition.
A few years ago, Temple tried to put an end to the Guess What, You're Gay (to the tune of “Na Na Hey Hey”) Chant, and not only did it not work, the fans came up with a “You Suck” chant when the band played the Executive Slacks song.
And that's Temple folks. I can't wait to see how the Ole Miss faithful are going to react to being pushed around and having tradition stepped on.
Weak-kneed, P.C., liberal. Probably a queer too.
Apparently chanting “the South will Rise Again” scares the meep out of people.
Yeah, you can see that from here “Now you kids stop doing that”.
Uh-huh...lolz
And in 1962 a Sports Illustrated cover featured the Ole Miss cheerleading squad; gorgeous gals wearing grey Confederate uniforms with highnecked tunic tops with brass buttons and mini mini cheerleader skirts.
Oh, and they paraded onto the football field with each carrying the Confederate battle flag.
(Racist even to remember it)
Sic semper tyrannis has just as many syllables.
Might make a good replacement phrase.
And a little latin in college “never hurt nobody”.
DJ stops the music at Ole Miss ping
It might as well be for Bama fans.
No freedom of speech at Ol’ Miss. Certainly wouldn’t want to send my child to such a P.C. place.
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