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Ole Miss Chancellor and NAACP to Discuss the Plaque Tonight
The Confederate Monument will have the new plaque installed by end of March.
University of Mississippi chapter of NAACP will privately meet with UM Chancellor Jeff Vitter and the contextualization committee tonight to discuss the language on the plaque that will soon appear on the ground in front of the Confederate Monument in the historic Lyceum Circle.
UM interim director of public relations, Jon Scott said in an email this morning: “The meeting today is scheduled for this evening, I think around 6:30 p.m. It will be a private meeting between some members of the administration and some members of the UM NAACP Chapter.”
The language proposed for the plaque is this, as revealed in Chancellor Vitter’s letter that he sent out on March 11:
As Confederate veterans were passing from the scene in increasing numbers, memorial associations built monuments in their memory all across the South. This statue was dedicated by citizens of Oxford and Lafayette County in 1906. On the evening of September 30, 1962, the statue was a rallying point where a rebellious mob gathered to prevent the admission of the University’s first African American student. It was also at this statue that a local minister implored the mob to disperse and allow James Meredith to exercise his rights as an American citizen. On the morning after that long night, Meredith was admitted to the University and graduated in August 1963.
The contextualization committee that drafted this language is comprised of the assistant to the Chancellor for multicultural affairs Donald Cole, African American studies director Charles Ross, retired Professor Emeritus of history David Sansing and retired chief of staff to the Chancellor Andy Mullins.
When asked about his thoughts on UM NAACP’s criticism of the original language on the plaque, Professor Emeritus of history, David Sansing, who is retired, said, “I really can’t say anything about what (UM NAACP) believes because I haven’t talked to them, and they will explain what their concerns are about the marker (at the meeting).”
The university chapter of NAACP released a statement last Monday, March 14, criticizing the original language on the Confederate Monument plaque, asking for the state’s history of slavery to be included in the plaque. In its statement, UM NAACP said, “Our administration should clarify why that chapter (The United Daughters of the Confederacy) decided to erect the monument on this campus, and elsewhere, contextualize spaces that provide reasons for why a ‘rebellious mob gathered to prevent the admission of the University’s first African American student.'”
UM NAACP’s communications chair, Makayla McNeal, said, “We just don’t feel like the language on the plaque properly contexualized the language on the statue. We are going in to discuss the language.”
UM NAACP’s president, Buka Okoye, said that the university organization does not have any proposals for new language to replace the current language on the plaque.
“We have two people on the plaque committee that are retired. We’re looking to see if each member did their share of the contextualizing,” Okoye said, “Why do we have retirees on this committee? It seems like it was an agenda. We’re looking to develop the way to go about contextualization our campus. If this is the method they go about doing that, we have a problem.”
Okoye believes that there should have been more input on the plaque’s language as well as contextualization of the campus according to the university’s 2014 Action Plan.
“We want to contextualize not just as the University of Mississippi chapter but as students. There are several people across campus that were not contacted that could be,” he said, “Paid faculty on our campus were not in this process. We want to know how they go about teaching and contextualizating and was this (process) legitimate”
Below is the UM NAACP’S statement that it released on its social media last Monday, criticizing the proposed language.
Courtesy Facebook / UMNAACP
HottyToddy.com will update this story on the outcome of tonight’s meeting.
Callie Daniels Bryant is the senior managing editor at HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com. Emily Newton is the staff writer and editor of Experience Oxford magazine. She can be reached at emily.newton@hottytoddy.com.
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RB
March 24, 2016 at 11:54 am
The campus NAACP president is trying to push a racially charged angle to get his views across, any opposing views be damned.
N B F
March 24, 2016 at 6:25 pm
All those people want to do is whine and cause trouble. That being said, this is on Vitter for putting up with those people. How about “we worked hard on this language, if you don’t like it, you might consider Jackson State”.
Suanne Strider
April 30, 2016 at 10:47 pm
To the two people who made the comments above…you sound like what is wrong with Mississippi. “All those people want to do is whine and cause trouble.” Who exactly are “those people?” And the reference to Jackson State? These fine young individuals stood up for what is right, and they won. Against all odds, they beat the system that has tried to keep them down for too long in this state. I take offense to both of the racist comments. You both should be ashamed of yourselves. It is quite noticeable that you don’t want to reveal your name. Say what you will with your hate speech and backward thinking…but at least these kids aren’t cowards.
Suanne Strider
April 30, 2016 at 11:07 pm
Forgive me for not being completely clear in that first comment. I was so completely stunned that someone would post those comments on this article in the year 2016, I didn’t fully finish my point. This chapter, along with many others…students, alumni, faculty…fought to have the Confederate flag taken down on the Ole Miss campus, and they won. They also won the prestigious NAACP 2016 Chairman’s Award. “The prestigious honor recognizes special achievement and distinguished public service of individuals and organizations whose groundbreaking work increases public understanding and awareness of racial and social justice issues. Past recipients of the Chairman’s Award include Al Gore and Wangari Mathaii, Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, actor Forest Whitaker, U.S. Navy Admiral Michelle J. Howard, the late actress-activist Ruby Dee, singer-humanitarian Bono and then-Sen. Barack Obama.” These are not trouble-makers. These are history-makers. You should be proud that these young people represent our state and our fine University so well.