JACKSON, Miss. ― Another public university in Mississippi is stopping the display of the state flag on campus because it contains a Confederate battle emblem many see as divisive.
University of Southern Mississippi (USM) President Rodney Bennett on Wednesday ordered the state flag removed from the main campus in Hattiesburg and a branch campus on the Gulf Coast.
He said USM will only fly the U.S. flag because it’s a unifying symbol.
“While I love the state of Mississippi, there is passionate disagreement about the current state flag on our campuses and in our communities,” Bennett said in a statement. “I am looking forward to a time when this debate is resolved and USM raises a state flag that unites us.”
His action came two days after the University of Mississippi’s interim chancellor, Morris Stocks, ordered the state flag removed from campus in Oxford. Stocks acted after student and faculty senates adopted resolutions seeking removal of the flag at Ole Miss.
There have been no similar resolutions at USM, where three flagpoles near a busy street now fly U.S. flags. The display previously had the U.S. flag in the center, flanked by a state flag and a black-and-gold USM flag. The Hattiesburg American posted photos of people holding signs on campus Wednesday to support and oppose removal of the state flag.
Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, a USM alumnus, has said he thinks universities should fly the flag. State law, however, does not require them to do so.
