RIP Col. Reb?

I wonder how much longer before the wealthy alumni just absolutely turn on Ole Miss?
I get why, ostensibly, they're trying to get rid of things like Col. Reb and the playing of Dixie. But at some point it just becomes flipping the middle finger at everyone who went there before you, in order to satisfy a contingent that can never be satisfied. No matter what Ole Miss does -- or the state of Mississippi, for that matter -- there are people who will never be able to look beyond what happened in the early 1960s.
It's a losing battle.

 

I don't see the big deal.

They will still be the Ole Miss Rebels. They just won't have an elderly plantation owner holding a cane as the mascot.

 

Let's just all give up on race relations, then. :-\
If it's a losing battle and all.

Listen, the Ole Miss thing, and my father graduated law school there, would be so easily worked out if some of the very people that you mention (the ones who attended in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s) would stand up and tell about all the good things they remember about the university that didn't involve Col. Rebel or Dixie.
Stand up and say, "Hey, let's do move forward and away from these (perceived by some as being) racist symbols while not forgetting this or that" or whatever things they have memories of outside of Dixie and Col. Rebel.

It's sort of akin to the Muslim thing we are seeing nationally and internationally. (Hear me out on this)
Not enough peaceful, happy Muslims are standing up and saying "We don't condone extremist Muslims and let's do move forward or away from this negative shadow, but let us also point to good and positive things that we think our religion stands for."

As for the thread title here, Col. Rebel was bid goodbye more than 5 years ago.
A person dresses up like him and meanders through the stands during games but that mascot is not allowed by school officials anywhere near the field.
The vote today was to begin searching for new mascot that the university can adopt.
Ole Miss is a solid university with many opportunities for all races and genders.
I wish they could move forward because it winds up casting a negative light on the endeavors and offerings of the whole state when people in other states and countries read or hear about this sort of thing.

 

I 100% disagree.

 

Not saying that at all. I'm saying that it's been almost 50 years, the state has made great progress in the area of race relations, and the first thing people outside the state bring up about Ole Miss still isn't Faulkner or Grisham, last year's presidential debate, the success of the football team or the number of scholars it pumps out.
It's James Meredith and the 1962 riots. Still. Fifty years later.
This vote, and many of the things they've done over the years, have been an effort to change that image and it still hasn't happened. Ban the flag, and people ask why they still play Dixie. Ban Dixie and they want Col. Reb gone. Ban Col. Reb and they complain about how long it took to get it all done.
So all of these things end up being meaningless on both sides of the debate. One side does it in an effort to atone, but it doesn't want to give up all of the memories that made the place special to them. The other side will always want more, or constantly remind how long it took to get it done. It's like an emotionally abusive relationship. Both sides need to give a bit, but neither wants to completely give up the past.
Change the mascot, ban anything and everything that reminds people of Mississippi before 1962, and maybe -- maybe -- by 2062 Ole Miss will be perceived differently. You also won't have the same school you started with. Might as well raze the place and rebuild it in Tupelo.

 

You lost me at "the success of the football team." Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa????

 

Try to keep up.
No matter what changes are made at Ole Miss, there will always be people who say it's not enough or didn't come fast enough. They want Ole Miss to abandon its past, but at the same time are unwilling to forgive or forget it. Until that contingent is willing to acknowledge that Ole Miss, and Mississippi, are not the same places they were in 1960, gestures like this vote are meaningless.

 

Ole Miss should change because it's the right thing to do -- irrespective of what others think. And still, successes on the football field ???

 

I was trying to list a few positive reasons people might talk about Ole Miss. The football team has done well lately. Was it that hard to grasp?

 

Yes, hard to grasp mainly because they haven't done all that well lately, or ever really with the exception of a few years of Manning-quarterbacked teams. They were a top 5 preseason team last year and ended up third in their division. Sorry to pick nits, but this is a sports journalism board.