re: Over/Under on U of Mississippi name change

The name Ole Miss has roots in the plantation system and era. You can float train theories all you want.

I think the name is fine and stays. It’s very far removed from its ugly history. To suggest that it’s not rooted in that history, however is just dense.

Unfortunately, the state of Mississippi has a very ugly history and Ole Miss is at the center of a lot of it. It just is what it is. Racists controlled Ole Miss in its early history and the modern institution has had to deal with that stench (colonel reb, dixie, etc). To argue that the name Ole Miss was somehow different is silly, and you know it.

The best thing we can do is try our best to move on from it by reducing ways in which we glorify it (change the flag, mascots, etc).

I don’t usually hold OM’s history against its fans unprovoked, but there are a few bad eggs in your fanbase/student body (as there our in ours), that love the old Ole Miss symbolism for what it is. Those types of individuals have no place in our university systems - whether that be OM, MSU, or Delta State.

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Didn't they already change to the Landsharks?


No. We are the Rebels. We have a landshark as a costume character mascot.

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OK then. I guess that makes perfect sense.

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UM has gotten rid of any Rebel type mascots and any rebel-flag manipulation logos but we all know that's not gonna be enough. Despite funny claims to the contrary, "Ole Miss" was a term of endearment used by slaves to refer to the plantation owners wife, the "Ole Massa" (UM's first official team name was almost the Ole Massas instead of the Rebels).

With "Rebels," the best chance for preserving it might be embracing Star Wars and having Admiral Ackbar as mascot

I was already doing my part by never using OM or Rebels to troll them... I say that by 2025, both nicknames will be abandoned.
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The controversy around the nickname "Ole Miss" is pretty much self-generated. UM wants to get away from the term and cites a study the Chancellor commissioned that claims the term derives from slavery and the term "Ole Massah" with "Miss" being the derivative of mistress. All I can find on this comes from newspaper articles quoting said study and I haven't been able back trace sources to find out what's behind it -- e.g. what sources are being used for said claim.

There's a great deal of folk etymology that's accepted as fact because "it sounds right" and this may or may not be one. It would be nice to know by exploring the documentation used to make the claims.

However, what is obvious is the the term "Ole Miss" is associated with quite a bit of modern non-antebellum racism and racial incidents and that's something that the name is something that the university would like to shed. The goal here is rebranding because quite frankly Ole Miss' history is too much to overcome in the popular mind any time soon while the University of Mississippi has no such baggage and a chance to forge a new chapter. That can't happen as long "Ole Miss" is still around and UM is not.

I’d put the over/under at more like 10 yrs

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Mississippi Flood coming back

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This is really good tbh, yall should be proactive and start trademarking everything