The Mississippi flag is effectively removed from exterior public display at Mississippi State University.
MSU Chief Communications Officer Sid Salter confirmed to The Dispatch this morning that all exterior displays of the state flag — which is emblazoned with the Confederate battle flag emblem in its upper left corner — are gone. The university’s student newspaper, The Reflector, first reported the news on Monday evening.
The Drill Field at the university’s Starkville campus only flies the United States flag, while Salter said the state flag flew at five exterior locations through the 2015-16 school year. Those included the Wise Center, home to MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine; the Hunter Henry Center; the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES); the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Center for America’s Veterans and the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park.
Salter said over the summer “building managers,” comprised of both vice presidents and deans, with each facility began requesting MSU President Mark E. Keenum allow their flag displays to match that at the Drill Field. Keenum granted each request.
“It started with the Wise Center,” Salter told The Dispatch. “After that, it dominoed as the other building managers became aware of the requests.” The Center for America’s Veterans, Salter added, is scheduled to relocate to a new facility this week. Once there, he said he believes the center will be a “U.S. flag-only facility.”
The only interior display of the flag on campus of which Salter is aware is in the rafters of Perry’s Cafeteria among the other 49 state flags and a collection of international flags. While MSU will not remove the state flag from that area while other flags are flying, he said he anticipates the university will move to a “flags over Mississippi” approach that will represent every flag that has ever flown over the state.
“That will provide more of a contextual history of the state,” he said. “There’s been no formal declaration for this, but there has been discussion about it on campus.”
Flag change history
MSU follows the University of Mississippi and Southern Mississippi University, both of which actively removed all displays of the state flag last year. Salter said the issue on Starkville’s campus “had evolved” since a June 2015 racially motivated shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church — in which a white suspect allegedly murdered nine black parishioners — brought the Confederate flag debate back to the limelight. As South Carolina banned displays of the Confederate battle emblem at its capitol, Mississippi remained the only state that sanctioned flying the stars and bars on government property.
Mississippi voters rebuffed a ballot measure to change the state flag in 2001. During that campaign, MSU’s faculty senate and student association passed resolutions supporting the flag change. Both bodies recently reaffirmed those resolutions.
Even as Keenum over the past year publicly called on the legislature to consider changing the state flag, he did not order the flag removed from public display on campus. That decision sparked disagreement among faculty, students and staff on campus, including a peaceful, student-led protest at Lee Hall in April calling for the flag’s removal. Athletic Director Scott Stricklin and head football coach Dan Mullen also publicly called for changing the state flag in 2015, and the MSU Color Guard no longer performed during pre-game ceremonies at Davis Wade Stadium as of last fall.
Salter said the university accomplished removing the flag via a path Keenum estimated was the best for the university — through the process of “shared governance” where all parties’ voices were heard.
“He worked with the process at hand, even if he didn’t always agree with that process,” Salter said. “It’s not within the purview of an institution of higher learning to change the state flag.
“We chose not to get bogged down in the back-and-forth of this issue,” he later added.
Student reactions
Mario Elfekie, a 24-year-old senior from Jackson and Emily Turner, a 22-year-old sophomore from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said they support the university removing the flag. Turner told The Dispatch the two had been talking about the flag on the way to class this morning.
“It’s good that they took it down,” Elfekie said. “I remember the president (Keenum) made a statement about it last year, but he didn’t really do anything.”
Turner said she hoped public pushback motivated Keenum to remove the flag.
“Hopefully he just got enough pressure to finally take it down,” Turner said.
MSU Student Association President Roxanne Raven issued a statement today praising the flag’s removal.
“I’m proud of the Mississippi State community for taking actions forward that ensure everyone feels welcome on our campus,” she said. “The flag is an intricate and complex issue, but I believe the right actions have been taken and I’m excited for everyone to learn about it being down.”
Dispatch reporters Alex Holloway and Carl Smith contributed to this report.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.