Alumni,Coaches,Faculty Back Student Effort To End Chant

By Barbara Lago and Mitchell Diggs
University Media and Public Relations

OXFORD, Miss. - University of Mississippi alumni, coaches and faculty are joining student leaders and Chancellor Daniel W. Jones in asking fans to stop chanting "the South will rise again" at Ole Miss athletics events.

"While the Alumni Association board and executive committee have not had an opportunity to meet since this issue has arisen, the officers and executive director have discussed it, and we fully support the university, chancellor, faculty and students in their goal of eliminating this chant from all events associated with Ole Miss," said the association's president, Charles C. Clark of Birmingham, Ala.

All of Ole Miss' head coaches - Houston Nutt, Andy Kennedy, Mike Bianco, Renee Ladner, Billy Chadwick, Steve Holeman, Joe Walker, Joe Getzin, Michele Drinkard, Ernest Ross, Mark Beyers, Missy Dickerson and Valerie Boothe - have endorsed the effort, said Athletics Director Pete Boone.

"The chant 'the South will rise again' reflects negatively not only on the university but also on the progress we have made in athletics over the past two decades. Chancellor, you have the support of myself and all our head coaches," Boone said. "We join the super majority of the Ole Miss family in calling for discontinuing the chant."

The move to end the chant began a couple of weeks ago, when senators of the Associated Student Body passed a resolution suggesting fans replace the chant. It was followed by another resolution passed by members of Ole Miss' Faculty Senate, who agreed with the chancellor and student leaders.

"We really wanted to support what the ASB is trying to do, and what the chancellor is trying to do, to eliminate this harmful and divisive language from our campus," said psychology professor Ken Sufka, the senate's chair. "We also wanted to communicate that we support the collective values represented in the University Creed."

Netscape founder and former CEO James Barksdale, a major Ole Miss donor, said he hopes the chant will end quickly.

"It is offensive to a lot of people who are very important to the university," Barksdale said. "It is not in keeping with the good manners of the majority of the student body at Ole Miss. Gentlemen don't knowingly hurt others' feelings or their pride."

The Rev. Will D. Campbell, who served as Ole Miss' director of religious life in the 1960s, said, "The University of Mississippi has made tremendous progress over the past four decades. That progress is the result of hundreds, if not thousands, of people investing their hearts, their time, their money and their lives into making Ole Miss great, beautiful, warm and welcoming. It breaks my heart to see anyone or anything tarnish their dedicated and loving work."

Patrick Weems, a May 2009 Ole Miss graduate and former One Mississippi member, who is working with youth groups around the state, agrees.

"If the chant prevents some people from having a good experience at Ole Miss, or it prevents others from coming here, the university should do everything it can to get rid of it," Weems said. One Mississippi is an organization open to students from all ethnic backgrounds that works to create a shared experience for all students at Ole Miss by replacing barriers to cross-cultural interaction with opportunities for exchange.

Beckett Howorth, Ole Miss' former admissions director, put it this way: "From my experience in admissions and as a fifth generation Ole Miss grad, I always thought it was critical that the university be - and be seen as - a place open to students interested in learning and personal growth, regardless of their political views.

"Spirit symbols need to be a common rallying point, not a battle line."

The central issue, Sufka said, is respect for others and their feelings.

"The point is not that we tell students and others how to think but what they should think about," he said. "That's really the key, because many of the people who are repeating this chant may not recognize the harm their words or actions may have. The problem is not with their intent when they say these words but in how the people who hear them interpret those words and the miscommunication that this creates."

Ole Miss Dean of Students Sparky Reardon said, "Having worked at Ole Miss for 30 years, I'm not surprised that the university's leadership has stepped up to help our students understand what they're doing. The only way that we overcome challenges of the past is when members of the university family assume responsibility for protecting the well-being of a place we all love."

"If we cannot get behind a student initiative that is trying to do the right thing, then we have failed our students," Jones said.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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