Keep an open mind about our wee town

By Steve Stricker
Columnist

Welcome back Ole Miss Students and a special welcome to new students; you have made the right choice.

The University of Mississippi is back in session for the Fall semester this Monday, August 26. It’s nice to have the pace slowed down a wee bit during the summer, but I like it best when Ole Miss Football, Baseball, all sports, and students are fully here for the fall and spring semesters. For new students, especially those from big cities, keep an open mind about our wee town and guard your heart! You might be in for a bit of culture shock at first, but there is something magical about Oxford and Ole Miss and most of you will not want to leave here when it’s your turn to graduate! Don’t believe me? Just wait! “Steve, you were so right!”

The University of Mississippi is the flagship state university with our roots and traditions deep into the Civil War when a group of Ole Miss students called the University Greys, Company A of the 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment of the Confederate Army, fought and were almost completely wiped out at Gettysburg. Almost all the Greys were students at Ole Miss and nearly the entire student body of 150 men were killed in that battle; only four students reported for classes in fall 1861, so few that the university closed temporarily.

In 1889, the Psi chapter of Delta Gamma and the University Alumni Society raised $506.50 (priceless now) to give a memorial to the University of Mississippi campus and to the University Greys in the form of a beautiful stained-glass window from the prestigious Tiffany Glass Company, New York and placed in the then University Library in 1891, now Ventress Hall.

The window, twelve feet high and nine feet wide, has three main panels. The first panel depicts the students drilling as soldiers in front of Barnard Observatory. The middle panel portrays a battle scene of the famous Pickett’s Charge on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg in which the “University Greys” suffered one hundred percent casualties—killed, wounded, or captured. The third panel depicts the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The smaller panels include an anchor, which is the Delta Gamma badge with the Psi chapter guard, and one with the Latin phrase, “Cum Pietate Alumnorum,” in honor of the University of Mississippi alumni who served in the Civil War.

The nickname “Ole Miss” became part of the University in 1896 when it was selected in a contest to identify a new name for the Yearbook; “Rebels” as the Ole Miss official athletic nickname resulted from a 1936 contest sponsored by The Mississippian – two years later, the yearbook appeared with “Colonel Reb” as the publication’s leading image and subsequently our mascot (dropped in 2003; Black Bear 2010; Tony the Landshark 2018 and current); the exact origin of “Hotty Toddy” is not known and is presumed to be a cheer from the 1930s; school colors Red came from Harvard Crimson and Yale Blue; Confederate battle flag, (dropped in 1997) was robustly present; students attended class in dresses, nice slacks, button-down shirts, drove BMW’s and other luxury cars (now, other….), we were renowned for our football tailgating in a beautiful 10-acre grassy area of campus known as, “The Grove” where cars were allowed to park on game day – I was there with my three sons, Stephen, Scott, and Shane and bought new 1971 MGB-GT (until back-to back rainy, muddy weekends in 1989) Billy Brewer was our football coach and Gerald Turner our Chancellor.

Good luck Ole Miss students. Hotty Toddy! As with students of any era, take time for you and have fun. Living in Oxford and attending Ole Miss is one of the best choices you have ever made and if you put the effort into it, these can be some of the best years of your life!

Steve is an Oxford resident, worked on the Ole Miss Campus, and received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology
(Counseling) from the University of Mississippi.

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