JACKSON, Miss. – A state lawmaker says he’s trying to protect a unique part of southern culture with a bill that would require the University of Mississippi to bring back Colonel Rebel as its mascot.
The bill by Rep. Mark DuVall, D-Mantachie, also would require the Ole Miss band to play “Dixie” and a similar song, “From Dixie With Love,” during football and basketball games.
“To me, a colonel is a leader,” DuVall told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “The same as Colonel Sanders is the leader of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Rebel is a leader of the Rebel nation.”
The proposal is generating plenty of talk around the state Capitol in Jackson and the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, but it has little chance of becoming law.
House Universities and Colleges Committee Chairman Kelvin Buck said the bill will die because he won’t send it to a subcommittee for debate. DuVall said he might try to add it to a budget bill later, but legislative rules prohibit policy changes in spending bills.
Buck, D-Holly Springs, said lawmakers should not try to micromanage schools’ decisions about mascots or songs.
“We’ve got too many important issues to deal with in higher education,” Buck said.
