One of my favorite columnists in the state of Mississippi is Vicksburg’s own Charlie Mitchell. It is always good to read a different perspective on a subject that one thinks that they already have a great deal of information on.

That happened March 28 when Mitchell informed readers about the true origins of Colonel Reb. I already knew about the Blind Jim story from Ole Miss football great and Vicksburg resident Kayo Dottley, but it was good to see that others could find out about that as well.

But as Mitchell stated in his column, “perception is reality,” And apparently, Mitchell has fallen prey to that same public relations baloney that the administration at Ole Miss is trying to perpetrate. You see, the students most definitely did not vote to get rid of Colonel Reb. In fact, the only vote that has ever been recorded by the students on the campus of Ole Miss regarding Colonel Reb had students voting 94 percent to keep him as the mascot of the university.

The vote that was held this year was held with the belief by students that the administration was going to replace Colonel Reb as the mascot (despite their protests) and that the only way to have any influence on the new mascot was to vote to demand to have a voice.

To that end they voted to replace the on-field mascot only for a yet-to-be-determined mascot. Predictably, the administration then took license with that vote and told national media that students voted to replace Colonel Reb and that is why they are pulling him from all merchandise in the future. But even a cursory look at the ballot on campus last month strictly shows that not to be the case.

Harold D. Morgan Jr.

Oxford