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Ghosts from civil rights era are fading away OXFORD -- University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat is well aware of the significance of the nation's first black presidential nominee, Democrat Barack Obama, arriving this week on the same campus where James Meredith broke the color barrier in 1962. When the international media spotlight returns for the Friday debate, the chancellor knows questions about race will come from the expected 3,000 members of the media. Feeling confident about the work the school has done in recent years, Khayat believes many journalists with opinions of the university forged by the riot...

Am having a senior moment...trying to remember a tune from the 70s (?) about a southern gal with the phrase 'you say you came from Ole Miss.' Does that ring a bell for anybody?

Ole Miss officials are expected to announce today that Houston Nutt has been hired as the school’s new football coach. Nutt, who resigned as Arkansas’ coach on Monday, had been working on the financial terms of a deal that was said to be worth $1.9 million per year. Georgia Tech was also believed to be seriously interested in Nutt, who went 75-48 in 10 seasons at Arkansas before resigining, citing unrest within the fan base. Ole Miss fired Ed Orgeron on Saturday after three disappointing seasons. Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Rick Neuheisel surfaced as a candidate over the weekend before...

A few weeks after Ole Miss brass announced that head coach Ed Orgeron would be back in 2008, the third-year coach was fired Saturday, ESPN.com has learned. The news comes a day after the Rebels lost to archrival Mississippi State 17-14, capping off a winless SEC season for the first time in over two decades. The Rebels dominated much of the game, but momentum swung after Orgeron opted to go for it on a fourth-and-1 at midfield in the fourth quarter leading 14-0. BenJarvus Green-Ellis was stopped and the Bulldogs staged a frantic rally. In three seasons Orgeron's teams won...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nACZJ5x_wBY An ode to the hapless Rebs!

Shortly after midnight (early Sunday September 30th) President Kennedy signed orders federalizing the Mississippi National Guard. The talks over some sort of "honorable surrender" by Governor Ross Barnett continued. The hope was for a situation where Barnett and the state troopers would stand aside when confronted by the federal force. This kind of politically beneficial event was achieved next year in 1963 when Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in the door at the University of Alabama in the face of federal orders to admit black students. But for now the move was on and Governor Barnett wanted to look good...

OXFORD, Miss. — One month after leading the Ole Miss women’s basketball team to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1992, coach Carol Ross abruptly resigned Wednesday night. She is expected to make a formal announcement this afternoon at a press conference on campus. Assistant coach Renee Ladner will be introduced as the team’s new head coach, according to a release from the university. Ross, an Ole Miss graduate, spent the past four years coaching the Rebels to a 77-50 overall record. She was Florida’s head coach for 12 years before returning to her alma mater at the...

Olive Branch's Smith charged with possession Ole Miss football commitment Cannon Smith was released from the Collierville Jail on a $7,500 bond Friday morning after being charged Thursday night with speeding and possession of ecstasy. Smith, 19, a senior quarterback at Olive Branch High whose given name is Frederick B. Smith, was driving a 2005 Mercedes late Thursday in Collierville when he was pulled over by police, Collierville Police Chief Larry Goodwin said late Friday night. An 18-year-old male passenger in the car was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Goodwin said the passenger was released...

Mississippi judge ignored his heart and relied on the law, denying bond for a Germantown man charged with killing an Ole Miss police officer. Judge Henry Lackey's decision after a three-hour hearing in Lafayette County Circuit Court in Oxford, Miss., on Wednesday leaves Daniel Cummings, 20, in custody for capital murder in the Oct. 21 death of Officer Robert Langley. "If I were to let my emotions and feeling overrule (me), I would grant bond," Lackey said in rendering his decision. "But under the law ... I believe I would be in error." More details emerged during the hearing about...

He's respectful, polite, say friends of suspect Chuck Cummings wants people to know his son, Dan, is polite, respectful and loves Ole Miss, not a 20-year-old who carelessly killed a campus police officer. "We've had an outpouring of support from people who knew Dan as a real polite guy," Cummings said in a telephone interview Friday. "I'm not aware of how he's being talked about. We've been too busy with details to keep up with it." Cummings' comments were the first public statements by the Germantown family since the younger Cummings was charged with capital murder in the Oct. 21...

OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone announced Monday that the school will retire the late Chucky Mullins' No. 38 football jersey during pregame ceremonies Sept. 3, when the Rebels open the 2006 season against the University of Memphis. "There are only a few people in this world that have the courage and competitive spirit to overcome the unbelievable obstacles Chucky faced," Boone said in announcing the decision to retire No. 38. "His legacy reaches beyond the football field and deserves to be memorialized as such. "It was decided that the ultimate way to honor Chucky Mullins and...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26axJdDKYWw&eurl=

Legendary Ole Miss football coach Johnny Vaught died Friday night in Oxford, Mississippi. He was 96 years old. During his tenure as head football coach at Ole Miss, his teams won six SEC championships, and three national championships.

OXFORD - A statue of James Meredith, the first African-American student at the University of Mississippi, will be the latest addition to a proposed civil rights memorial at Ole Miss. After sharp criticism recently for altering an earlier design, the Ole Miss administration agreed to the change this week as a compromise with student leaders. The memorial is expected to be completed by May. The statue of Meredith, who was admitted to Ole Miss amid riots in 1962, will be sculpted by Oxford artist Robert Moorehead. It's the newest change after Chancellor Robert Khayat faced stern criticism when he rejected...

While Hunter completed two combat tours in Afghanistan as an active duty Marine, Nothstine was deployed to the Al-Anbar province of Iraq in early February 2005. Nothstine joined the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, India Company for his deployment in Iraq. As a crew chief on an amphibious assault vehicle, which is used to carry and support the infantry in combat operations through the cities and towns of Al-Anbar Province, he was part of numerous combat operations. Hunter deployed to Iraq in late August for his third military deployment but his first venture to Iraq. He, too, was attached to the...

Two bodies identified in fraternity fire One body yet to be positively identified by Joy Douglas DM Managing Editor August 27, 2004 Two of the students who died in this morning's fire at the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity campus have been officially identified. Jordan Lowell Williams, 20, of Atlanta, and William Townsend, 19, of Clarksdale, perished in the fire that began at the ATO house around 4:30 a.m., according to a statement by Jeff Alford, vice chancellor for university relations, in a press conference at 3 p.m.A third body has not yet been positively identified. Howard Stone, 19, of Martinsville,...

Please keep the families of these three young men in your prayers. This is a devastating loss of the Ole Miss community.

Oxford, MS A fire swept through a fraternity house at the University of Mississippi early Friday and three students were missing, officials said. The three students, members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, were not immediately identified.

Ole Miss salutes soldiers' return from Iraq by Erin M. Smith In the background, the band played "Anchors Away" and "This is My Country," while university officials saluted seven soldiers who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. Dubbed "Operation Homecoming: Back from Iraq," National Guard Sgts. Jimmy Baker of Lafayette County, Jerry Ferguson of Coffeeville, Deborah Mills of Lafayette County, Jerry Skillom of Marks with Spcs. Robert Mister and Adam Peacock were honored with plaques celebrating their service to the country Monday afternoon in the Union. Along with the six National Guard soldiers, who also work for...

<p>Former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove will teach history and political science classes to undergraduate students at the University of Mississippi starting this semester, he told The Associated Press Tuesday.</p> <p>Minutes after watching his successor take the oath of office, the Democrat said he looks forward to working at his alma mater.</p>

<p>Howard Dean may be making headway on many college campuses, but here at the University of Mississippi he's not turning many heads.</p> <p>The national media paint Dean as the "Internet candidate"—a new kind of politician who's showing how campaigns of the future will be run. Maybe that's why he's not catching on at Ole Miss. Tradition reigns supreme here. At the football tailgates on Saturday afternoons, girls in cocktail dresses still mingle with boys in linen blazers. Dorms remain strictly gender-segregated (by mandate of state law) and alcohol is forbidden on campus (in theory, if not practice). Our most celebrated alumni are still beauty queens, quarterbacks and, of course, Trent Lott.</p>

<p>LOUISVILLE (AP) — Eli Manning of Mississippi won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award on Thursday as the nation's top senior quarterback, an honor his brother Peyton received in 1997. Eli Manning has thrown for 3,341 yards and 27 touchdowns this season, leading 17th-ranked Ole Miss to a 9-3 record. Ole Miss will play in the Cotton Bowl for the first time in 42 years.</p>

Ole Miss fans will be able to vote starting Wednesday on a replacement for Colonel Reb, the University of Mississippi's sidelined athletic mascot. School officials have released two designs, tentatively named "Rebel Bruiser" and "Rowdy Rebel." All UM students, faculty, staff, active members of the alumni association, Loyalty Foundation members and season ticket holders may register their preferences in an Ole Miss online poll beginning at 9 a.m. at http://www.olemiss.edu/athletics/poll.html. The poll will remain open through midnight Sunday. The new design will become the Rebels' on-field mascot and will be a registered trademark, used in a variety of formats including...

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Colonel Rebel will still get a new look but the makeover is on hold indefinitely, University of Mississippi officials say. Ole Miss officials on Tuesday delayed an online election for students, dues-paying alumni and others to choose a new image for the school's mascot. The athletics committee was "not enthusiastic" about any of the three proposed new looks that were to be put up for a vote, said Jeff Alford, assistant vice chancellor of university relations.The online vote was to have started later this week. Alford said it has been delayed indefinitely.University officials said earlier this...

The University of Mississippi is postponing indefinitely its search for a new mascot, after the leader of the university admitted mishandling the selection of a replacement for Colonel Rebel. "In hindsight, the timing and manner of the announcement added to the frustration," Chancellor Robert Khayat wrote Monday to about 25,000 alumni in a regularly scheduled fall e-mail. "Although we tried to make it clear that the only change was to update the mascot, some people were fearful of a larger plan. These fears were and continue to be unfounded." Ole Miss officials are meeting this week to decide what to...

Colonel Reb situation could have been handled much better Daily Misssissippian Sept. 23, 2003 Chancellor Robert Khayat said the Colonel Reb situation could have been handled much better in an e-mail sent to alumni Monday. In the e-mail Khayat signed, it was twice mentioned that the university "could have handled the matter much better." The fall message, tagged "Time to Move 'Forward Rebels'" in reference to the Ole Miss fight song, said "It is time to put quarrels behind us." The e-mail admitted the "timing and manner of the announcement added to the frustration." Additionally, Khayat said it was time...

As I'm sure has been discussed, the Ole Miss administration has decided to remove our mascot, Colonel Reb, not for offense reasons but for a more athletic mascot. I'm personal friends with our Chancellor Khayat, and he himself told me that it was not a race or offensiveness issue... ha. After explaining to him that an athletic mascot was a joke, he agreed. What we need is support. 94% of the students voted to keep the mascot but to no avail... yet. Please go to www.saveolemiss.com and click on the College Board. This group has power and can be affected....

University of Mississippi students will rally on the Oxford campus Thursday in hopes of saving Colonel Reb as the school's mascot. Organizers of the nonprofit Colonel Reb Foundation say they will call for a campus vote to let students voice opinions on the mascot, which the school has decided to dump. "He's a great mascot. He's the character we all relate to,'' said Ole Miss junior Brian Ferguson, 20, of Memphis, the foundation's chairman. "Colonel Reb is like our old grandfather, or our old uncle.'' The school, however, has no plans to permit a student referendum, officials said. "The decision...

Mascots vanish from Pas, GC sidelines for 2003 08/29/03 By THOMAS WARNER Pascagoula High has decided to go without a costumed mascot this season, while trying to re-evaluate exactly what sort of symbolism the traditional figure should project. Tryouts for the Panther mascot were not a part of last spring's regular cheerleader tryouts and the school is not going to have someone dressed as the Panther during the fall football season. "We are going without one this year and we're concentrating specifically on getting our cheerleaders ready for competition," said longtime PHS cheerleader sponsor Melinda Mitchell. Pascagoula and George...

<p>With the Colonel Rebel sports mascot on its way out at the University of Mississippi, almost 60 designs for a replacement have been submitted in a contest sponsored by Ole Miss.</p> <p>Among them: A drawing by Peggy King of Taylorsville, who can just see the Ole Miss Pythons putting the squeeze on their opponents.</p>

The Ole Miss Colonel Rebel situation has gone from silly to ridiculous to sublime. Word out of Oxford this week is that the school is holding a nationwide contest to come up with a new Ole Miss mascot for "a figure who demonstrates a fighting spirit, exhibits independence, and challenges the status quo," according to Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone. Huh? The creator of the winning design will receive a $5,000 cash prize and two South Zone season tickets to all Rebel home football games for three years. I guess that is on top of the $30,000 that was...

OXFORD (AP) — The University of Mississippi has announced a nationwide contest to come up with a new Ole Miss mascot. Athletics Director Pete Boone said Tuesday that contest rules call for “a figure who demonstrates a fighting spirit, exhibits independence, and challenges the status quo.” “The decision to replace the 20-year-old mascot with a new energetic, vibrant figure has generated a great deal of interest,” Boone said. “We’ve decided to open up the process for people to send us their suggestions and let our supporters have a voice in the selection.” Ole Miss officials have said they want a...

<p>Abdelhaleem Ashqar was "easy to get along with" as a University of Mississippi graduate student during the mid-1990s, one professor remembers.</p> <p>But a 2002 ruling by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler of Washington, D.C., describes Ashqar as acting as a "senior Hamas activist" while at Ole Miss. Hamas, also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a militant group founded in 1987.</p>

<p>OXFORD — University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat tried Friday to ease the fears of those who are worried that the nicknames Ole Miss and Rebels — like the Colonel Rebel mascot — will be replaced.</p> <p>A 12-paragraph op-ed piece written by Khayat was posted on the Ole Miss athletic department Web site.</p>

You won't see his picture in the post office, but Clarksdale businessman Hartley Kittle is now listed as public enemy No. 1 by the outd-of-sync administration at Ole Miss. And with that, Kittle becomes the darling of the "vocal minority." That's how Athletic Director Pete Boone referred to the defenders of traditions at the Oxford-based campus. And here's what Kittle said in the state's largest publication in Mississippi - The Jackson Clarion-Ledger: "They took the flag, we don't have 'Dixie' and now it's Colonel Reb. They can say whatever they want, but they'll realize the deal when they count the...

Today we can be thankful we live in a country where we're free to choose our allegiances: Republican or Democrat, Mac or PC, Leno or Letterman. Saints or winners. Oops. We meant sinners, of course. But as you grill those hot dogs and enjoy fireworks on Independence Day, consider how some longtime Ole Miss fans are feeling these days. They've had their last hotty toddy with Colonel Reb -- and they didn't get the chance to say a proper farewell. A few weeks ago, the university said it will sideline its Colonel Rebel mascot, the familiar Southern gentleman with the...

<p>YOU'VE heard the term "hot button issues." I call them "send button issues." Somebody writes a column about the issue. And readers immediately respond with often emotional e-mail.</p> <p>Colonel Rebel at Ole Miss definitely rates as a "send button issue." Your responses to my Thursday column touched a nerve — mine.</p>

<p>To some, remaking the University of Mississippi's mascot is no more, or less, important than losing your own hair. To others, it's no more, or less, important, than losing your own head.</p> <p>No matter what you think about it, though, it appears that the head of Colonel Rebel is going to roll, to be replaced by a more modern head-to-be-named, according to Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone.</p>

Oxford, Miss. -- The Colonel Rebel mascot is out for this football season while the University of Mississippi searches for a new image. Athletic Director Pete Boone said the "Southern plantation-look" man with a big head, floppy hat and clothes and cane will off the sidelines while Ole Miss considers what it will do about its mascot.The Colonel Rebel logo, however, is still an official trademark of the university, university officials said Wednesday.Boone said the change is not part of any plan to completely overhaul or change the school's longtime nicknames "Ole Miss" or "Rebels.""It's an idea we've been thinking...

<p>He may be old, but Colonel Reb has people talking.</p> <p>While a consulting group has been hired to study the longtime sports mascot and whether he should be updated or lost to history, Ole Miss fans are taking sides and debating the issue.</p>

Oxford, Miss. -- Colonel Reb, the mascot at the University of Mississippi, may soon be in for major changes. Ole Miss athletics director Pete Boone said Monday that the mascot, decked out in red and blue and outfitted like an 18th century Southern gentleman, should no longer represent sports teams at the Oxford school."It doesn't fit anything we do," Boone said.Coming up with an alternative has been a problem, so Colonel Reb will stick around at least through the 2003 football season, Boone said.It's possible there could be a change for the 2003-04 basketball season, he said."We have made a...

OXFORD, Miss. - Colonel Reb, the mascot at the University of Mississippi, may soon be in for major changes.Ole Miss athletics director Pete Boone said Monday that the mascot, decked out in red and blue and outfitted like an 18th century Southern gentleman, should no longer represent sports teams at the Oxford school."It doesn't fit anything we do," Boone said.Coming up with an alternative has been a problem, so Colonel Reb will stick around at least through the 2003 football season, Boone said.It's possible there could be a change for the 2003-04 basketball season, he said."We have made a stab...

<p>The University of Mississippi's Colonel Reb, the old Southern gentleman who serves as the Rebels' sports mascot, could be in for a makeover to reflect the 21st century.</p> <p>"It doesn't fit anything we do," Ole Miss athletics director Pete Boone said Monday. Colonel Reb is "an 18th-century person," and it's not logical to keep that mascot around representing Ole Miss sports teams, he said.</p>

<p>A sizzling sex column in the University of Mississippi's student newspaper has spawned a religious-based, organized firestorm of angry e-mails to school officials, the State College Board and others.</p> <p>As of Wednesday, at least 2,000 e-mails flooded state College Board headquarters in Jackson and offices of Ole Miss leaders in Oxford. Copies also went to Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, an Ole Miss graduate who appoints board members.</p>

Even now, more than four decades after the fact, it is such a strange and repulsive image, so preeningly masculine, so crackling with smirky bonhomie and threat. Who are these guys, anyway? In particular, who is the handsome, slick-haired fellow in the middle, the one biting the end off his cigarette while he swats the air with his stick? And who are the cronies watching -- or pointedly not watching -- while he takes his swing? And where are they? And what are they doing there?''And,'' Paul Hendrickson ponders early in this deeply impressionistic journey back into a blinked...

Three African-American students at the University of Mississippi have been accused of writing racist graffiti on doors outside rooms of two other black students in the Kincannon residence hall on the Oxford campus.

Former National Republican Chairman Haley Barbour has filed paperwork necessary to begin recieving contributions for a run for governor in 2003, a spokesman said.Henry Barbour, Haley Brobours nephew and spokesman, said the elder Barbour filed a statement of organization last week.Haley Barbour had recieved campaign contributions and was required by law to file the statement within 10 days of taking the funds, Barbour said.

Editorial: Guardsmen receive overdue recognition October 02, 2002 Four decades ago, one of the most shameful episodes in American history took place when a mob tried to prevent James Meredith from becoming the first black man to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Two people were killed and more than 200 were injured as a result of the riot that ensued. National Guardsmen and U.S. Marshals withstood bottles, bricks and verbal venom from hundreds of white people who set blazes and fired shots in their fight against integration of "Old Miss." Murray C. Falkner, the National Guardsmen who led the...