JACKSON, Miss. ― Another Mississippi university has stopped flying the state flag that prominently features the Confederate battle emblem.
Mississippi State University becomes the sixth of the state’s eight public universities to do so.
University spokesman Sid Salter said Tuesday that President Mark Keenum approved deans’ plans to remove the flag from four locations on the Starkville campus. Salter said the state flags have been replaced with larger American flags, to mirror the large American flag that has flown alone in MSU’s central quad for at least 15 years. He said MSU removed Mississippi flags from athletic arenas “several” years ago.
Keenum didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In April, students staged a protest and demanded the removal of the state flag. Keenum responded that he wanted the state flag to change, but that MSU should keep flying the flag until it does.
“Taking the state flag down arbitrarily is a symbolic gesture that accomplishes nothing toward actually changing the state flag to something that everyone can support and feel good about,” he said then.
Salter said Tuesday that Keenum “has been outspoken in expressing his heartfelt personal support for flag change and has maintained an open dialogue with those representing diverse points of view on the question of the state flag.” Salter said individual deans have “flexibility” in seeking changes to their academic units.
