<div>For "Ole Miss", it's not entirely clear whether it was meant to reference "Ole Mississippi" or "Ole Miss'us" and sources are conflicting on this point. At any rate, the reference is pretty clearly to the state name in modern parlance.</div><div>
</div>I was on campus when Colonel Reb was dismissed from service, and there wasn't really a big outcry to get rid of him, at least that I saw. It was the admin trying to get ahead of the 8 ball, in a manner of speaking; Khayat precipitated the issue thinking it would be better to deal with it now than have it be a bigger issue down the road. I think he was trying to minimize impact by doing it while Ole Miss was having some football success. I'm still not sure he made the right decision from that standpoint.When they said they were thinking about/about to ditch Colonel Reb the NAACP showed up one day in support, but it wasn't very many people if I recall correctly and many of them weren't students or alumni. If anything it brought the trolls out of the woodwork in support of the Confederate flag/Colonel Reb/Whatever many of whom, again, weren't even students or alums... but many of whom unfortunately were. <div>
</div><div>I thought it was silly to get rid of Colonel Reb at the time, especially when the alternatives they proposed were so laughable. I like the bear ok, but I think it would have been better to stick with no mascot at all permanently, or at least for another decade or so. There are several schools without mascots, like Michigan, and I don't think having a guy in a suit walk the sideline has been worth dredging it all up again. It was all handled incredibly poorly, in my opinion. Getting rid of Colonel Reb was bound to stir the pot, and then just as that's starting to settle they stir the pot again with the new mascot situation. </div><div>
</div><div>A lot of younger alums, like myself, are just not married to the mascot issue, and I doubt it has impacted fundraising noticeably. </div>