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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — "Old times there are not forgotten" proclaim the lyrics to the Southern anthem "Dixie."
But the University of Mississippi, whose athletic traditions were once overlaid with Confederate symbolism, is ready to forget the song.
Athletics Director Ross Bjork said Friday that he asked the university's marching band, known as the "Pride of the South," to create a new pregame show that excludes all the variations of Dixie it has traditionally played.
"Because the Pride of the South is such a large part of our overall experience and tradition, the Athletics Department asked them to create a new and modern pregame show that does not include 'Dixie' and is more inclusive for all fans," Bjork said in a statement.
The website Mississippi Today first reported the story.
It's another in a series of steps away from Confederate symbols for the university that still lives in the spotlight of racial issues, more than 50 years after federal troops put down violent protests against integration, paving the way for James Meredith to attend class.
That symbolism runs deep. The nickname "Ole Miss" is a term of affection for the school's alumni and fans, but "Ole Miss" is also what slaves called a plantation owner's wife.
The Ole Miss Rebels were once led onto the football field by a giant Confederate battle flag and a Southern colonel, while fans waved Confederate battle flags in the stands and a rebel-grey uniformed band played Dixie.
But one by one, the university has sidelined those symbols.
In 1997, then-Chancellor Robert Khayat banned hand-held flagpoles from the stadium, effectively ending the waiving of battle flags. Then in 2003, the university cut ties with Colonel Reb, the grey-whiskered Southern planter, tapping a bear as its on-field mascot instead. In 2009, then-Chancellor Dan Jones told the band to stop playing "From Dixie With Love," which blended the Confederate anthem with the Union Army's "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Some fans were yelling "The South will rise again" during the song. Ole Miss fans had once yelled the same at the end of the original version of Dixie.
Outside the athletic arena, Ole Miss has renamed Confederate Drive, stopped flying the Mississippi state flag because it features the Confederate battle emblem, and is working on a plaque to acknowledge slavery in front of the monument to university students who died fighting for the South during the Civil War.
Bjork told The Associated Press that university leaders renewed discussions about Dixie during the spring and summer of 2015. Last year, the band had stopped playing versions of the tune during games, but still played it beforehand. Bjork said that with $60 million in upgrades and expansions to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in recent years, now is the time to make the change.
"It's just an ongoing conversation with our leadership about how we can move forward," Bjork said, "As part of our new stadium, there can be new traditions."
None of these changes were without controversy. Jones said he got angry letters and phone calls over the earlier Dixie decision, some opponents tried to put an initiative on the ballot so voters could force Ole Miss to retain Confederate symbols, and there have been periodic protests by Confederate flag supporters.
"In any organization, leadership has its challenges and opportunities. We've had both since I've been here," said Bjork, who became athletic director in 2012
But officials have said that looking away from Dixieland, as the lyrics go, is necessary if the school is going to grow and thrive.
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