‘Dixie’ is dead: Ole Miss Athletics Department says marching band will no longer play song

The University of Mississippi will no longer allow its marching band to play a song forever associated with the South: “Dixie.”

The Ole Miss Athletics Department announced late last week that crowds will no longer listen to renditions of the unofficial anthem of the Confederate States of America.

“We felt that it’s the right thing to do. It’s time to move forward,” Ole Miss Athletics director Ross Bjork said, Mississippi Today reported Aug. 19. “It fits in with where the university has gone in terms of making sure we follow our creed, core values of the athletic department, and that all people feel welcome.”

The band has been tasked with creating a new song that “that does not include Dixie and is more inclusive for all fans.”

Previous moves to expunge events at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium of Civil War-era fanfare include banning sticks in 1997 to minimize the sight of Confederate flags; the demise of “Colonel Reb” as a mascot in 2003; and the 2009 decision to stop playing “From Dixie With Love” at sporting events, the education watchdog Campus Reform reported Monday.

“I’m a current Ole Miss student, and this issue is important to me,” Ole Miss student Laurel Lancaster responded to critics in the newspaper’s comments section. “It’s not that our history isn’t important, it should be remembered and preserved. Ignoring our history only aggravates the problem. But there is nothing wrong with moving forward.”

“Southerners for the most part don’t think of Dixie as a racist song or really even as a Confederate song as far as I know. It’s just THE song. Period,” responded another reader. “Kind of like an anthem for Dixie. And a great song all around. Just part of the culture.”