Report: Ole Miss May Not Be Known As "Ole Miss" Much Longer

The Offices of the Professionally Offended must be a nice place to work. 'Cause there sure do seem to be a lot of people who make long careers of it.

ValuJet said:

http://www.universityherald.com/art...ties-possibly-including-ole-miss-nickname.htm

The University of Mississippi (UM) is making changes to their campus community to disassociate from the plantation-era Old South.
UM is changing the name of Confederate Drive, a short street near campus, to Chapel Lane. The school is also taking steps to highlight the historical significance the Oxford, Miss. campus holds.

"Our unique history regarding race provides not only a larger responsibility for providing leadership on race issues, but also a large opportunity - one we should and will embrace," Chancellor Dan Jones wrote in a new report.

Better known as Ole Miss, the school announced in a news release that Jones planned the report to work toward creating a more inclusive and diverse campus experience. The report calls for a new position as well, Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion.

Jones also wrote in the report that several faculty members felt the term Ole Miss was racist in its origin.

"Some object simply because it is a nickname and prefer the more formal name, and some express concern about its origin, believing that the term is racist," Jones wrote.

I started to post this on the Football Board, but it would have bounced here quickly any way. With Ole Miss' high expectations after a marquee recruiting class, the entire organization seems to be in upheaval over its identity. And this has been going on for some time. They are going to need luck and lots of it. And I expect they aren't looking at the potential fallout of alumni money falling off, not due to racism but because traditions are being stripped away bit by bit. Will be interesting to see how this unfold.

Is Ole Miss really suffering not only on the football field, but in top student recruitment because of their "Plantation-era" image? I have a lot of friends who went to Ole Miss and are proud of their school and its traditions, and no one I know is connected in any way to a "plantation."

As for the football prospects, all this upheaval can't be good for the product on the field.

I remember back in the day going to Ole Miss games in Oxford and Jackson, and the cheerleaders would come out with armloads of confederate flags, and throw them into the student sections. Imagine that.

They are going to need some new paint:

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From looking at their stadium picture above, looks like their stadium (i.e. school colors) and the Confederate flag colors are the same.

So, will Chancellor Jones change the school colors? However, no more Orange. There's already too much Orange in the SEC! And, change their name to Oxford University in America.

Dan Jones is about to be fired.

I can see the argument about "Confederate Drive" and Confederate flags (even though I don't agree with that argument), but how is the nickname "Ole' Miss" racist?

EDIT: Just read HSV's post. In that light, I suppose I see the argument there also. I always just assumed it was short for "Old Mississippi".

TIDE-HSV said:

Interesting. Most of their recruits, I'm sure, are totally unaware that the original "Ole Miss" referred to the mistress of the plantation. Her husband was traditionally "Ole Massa," or just "The Colonel," since most seemed to have a commission for somewhere or another. My wife grew up in Oxford and graduated from there, so I have a bit of close insight into the whole syndrome.

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I am surprised to read that. I always thought it was a reference to "Ole Mississippi" similar to referring to Virginia as "the Old Dominion." "Ole Miss" is a play on words for the term alma mater ("nourishing mother" in Latin) and the name of the state.
In slave narratives, while the pater familias is most often referred to as "Ole Massa" of just "Massa," the mistress of a plantation is commonly referred to as "Ole Missus" or "Missus." "Ole Miss" would denote an old single woman. I would wager spinster plantation owners were quite rare in Mississippi.
A couple of examples:
Missouri slave narratives. A dozen references to "Ole Missus," but not a single "Ole Miss."
Journal of American Folklore. On page 230, E. M. Backus transcribes North Carolina slave dialect as "Ole Miss' (with an apostrophe denoting a missing syllable or letter being dropped).
Tom Burton: Or the Days of '61 (published 1888), several references to "Ole Missus" and "young missus," but no "ole Miss."
This is not to say that the students in the 1930s that adopted the name were not thinking about plantation mistresses, however. I wasn't there at the time.
The term "Miss" may be patriarchal, but it is hardly racist, as the Ole Miss President says some interpret it.
Once again, we have folks mis-interpreting a cultural icon, getting offended by that mis-interpretation, and demanding that their mis-interpretation be accepted and endorsed as the only possible interpretation of the icon, and therefore, the icon must be suppressed. There is no end to that logical process. The more honest and rational response is to point out "No, the term 'Ole Miss' is not and was not intended to be a racist term. It is a play on words for alma mater and the name of the state. Please aim your offendometer elsewhere."

TIDE-HSV said:

I do believe that the confederate naval banner (the confederate infantry battle banner was square) used to hinder their recruiting efforts.

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Army of Tennessee battle flags after the spring of '64 were rectangular.



Army of Northern Virginia flags were generally square.

ValuJet said:

I am from there originally and grew up believing "Ole Miss" simply was short for "Ole Mississippi" and never heard any different. "Southern Miss" may support that. I don't know why the supporters or the school itself would ever have adopted a term from the pre Civil War era.

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"Southern Miss," apparently, has to go as well.
It's racist.

Sounds like a marketing attempt by the university.

When I heard the term explained as TIDE-HSV did above, I was actually surprised they hadn't changed it already.

Then, reading Tidewater's explanation gives me some pause. They are in a bind either way. If they don't change it, the fervor from the offended will grow louder and louder. See the Redskins saga. If they do, it's going to upset most of their alumni, and they will probably see a drop in cash flow.

But at least if they do change it, it should be far simpler than changing the mascot, which resulted in nothing but confusion. The University of Mississippi has a nice ring to it. Not sure what they'll do about those iconic helmet logos, however.

GreatDanish said:

Sounds like a marketing attempt by the university.

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I recall a while back that the University of the South spent $38,000 to hire a marketing firm to better sell the brand.
They came back with "The University of the South" is "too southern." So they recommended the University change the marketing to "Sewanee, The University of the South." Money well spent, no doubt.

Maybe with this slogan can fool applicants from New Jersey into believing the University is in Ohio (or vice versa).

TideEngineer08 said:

When I heard the term explained as TIDE-HSV did above, I was actually surprised they hadn't changed it already.

Then, reading Tidewater's explanation gives me some pause. They are in a bind either way. If they don't change it, the fervor from the offended will grow louder and louder. See the Redskins saga. If they do, it's going to upset most of their alumni, and they will probably see a drop in cash flow.

But at least if they do change it, it should be far simpler than changing the mascot, which resulted in nothing but confusion. The University of Mississippi has a nice ring to it. Not sure what they'll do about those iconic helmet logos, however.

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The Rebels nickname comes from the fact that the entire student body enlisted in the Confederate Army, mostly in Company A, 11th Mississippi Infantry ("University Greys") in the Civil War. At Pickett's Charge, every member of the Company A, 11th Mississippi was killed or wounded. Some University of Mississippi students probably enlisted in other companies or other regiments, and not every member of the University Greys was a student at Ole Miss, but the linkage between that company and that university is pretty tight.
At the edge of the Grove, is a monument to the students of the University who fought in the war. It is the only Civil War veterans monument I have ever seen with a Greek inscription. The University monument honors the courage and self-sacrifice of the University students when their state called.
I understand in the present day the desire to appear more inclusive, so the flags and playing Dixie had to go, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. The "'Ole Miss' is a racist term" assertion is, I believe, an assertion too far.
On the other hand, there is stupid stuff like this that goes on at Ole Miss. This is probably what was on the University President's mind when he spoke about the name change. I'm just not sure changing the name will stop knuckleheads from putting a noose on Meredith's statue.

TIDE-HSV said:

Well, all I can say is that my wife grew up there, lived all of her life there and has a degree from there, in the early '60s. She said that the common understanding at the time was that "Ole Miss" was paired with the Colonel in the minds of the students. It surprised me, because I thought it was short for "Mississippi." Of course, they could have all been wrong. There's not one in one hundred there who really understands the origin of "Hotty Toddy." (It has nothing to do with drinking, as most of them think.)

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Okay, I'll bite. What is the origin of "Hotty Toddy?" I thought it was inspired by the VPI cadet Band's name.