It’s been seven years since Ole Miss phased out Colonel Reb, the mascot some viewed as racially divisive and the school would like to put out of people’s consciousness.
Now the student body would like a say in the Colonel’s replacements.
An overwhelming majority of students voted today that the student body should have a say in any mascot search. 3,366 votes were cast, and 2,510 voted in favor of students having a say.
The Ole Miss Dean of Students told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger that a student committee will be created to put together some options for the new mascot.
“We want to make sure it’s representative of our student body,” Sparky “Sparky” Reardon said. Per Reardon, administration and alumni would also be involved in the process.
Not all of the students, however, feel that Colonel Reb needed banished, and therefore don’t feel the need to find a replacement.
“My mascot is Colonel Reb,” barefoot student Corey Clark, sipping on a PBR while wearing bibbed overalls*, yee-hawed to the paper. “And if we’re not going to have him, then I don’t want another mascot. That’s why I voted no. We’ve been fine without a mascot for several years and I don’t mind it staying that way.”
(*: We’re kidding. We think.)