Definitely. Attention will be 10x when it happens in the South.
Of course, when events happen at a school affectionately called Ole Miss, where the team is called the Rebels, and where the Rebels sometimes wear gray, it's hard for them to tell the "we've moved on" story. I haven't done my research on this recent story, so I fully acknowledge this may be blown way out of proportion, but those guys definitely aren't helping themselves by holding on to those traditions. They are an easy target when things like this happen in the day and age of electronic media.
Of course, it would be a major story if the same thing happened on our campus, but it's much easier to defend your name by disassociating yourself from the guilty parties when your University culture isn't closely connected with Old South terminology. I doubt the media cares that they banned sticks in the 90s...