Posted on September 21, 2010

Ole Miss Says Bye Y’all to Mascot

UPI, September 20, 2010

Ole Miss students and alumni are hotly divided, struggling to find a new mascot replacing antebellum plantation caricature Colonel Reb, school officials say.

{snip} but allegiance to Colonel Reb is as divided as the old North and South, The New York Times reported Sunday.

“There’s no more of a noble cause than continuing the tradition of Colonel Reb,” said Levi West, Colonel Reb’s doppelganger. “Everyone loves the guy.”

“These are new times, we need a new image. But we also just need a mascot,” said Ellison Brown, 21, an African-American junior from Jackson.

As far as merchandising goes, this summer Ole Miss announced a ban on the sale of anything with Colonel Reb’s image on it {snip}.

Colonel Reb diehards are not going quietly into the southern night and a group of them have gathered 2,000 signatures on a petition against a new mascot.

“Over. My. Dead. Body,” said Mack Allen, 36, an alumnus from Memphis, who wore a T-shirt to a recent football game that read, “Colonel Reb–Loved by Many, Hated by Few.”

{snip}