The Confederate flag has taken a lot of heat over the past four months. South Carolina officials removed the battle flag from the statehouse grounds back in July. Three public schools in Mississippi have removed the state flag from their campuses already (Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University, and Alcorn State University). Now, there is a fourth university in Mississippi who will be removing the state flag: Ole Miss.

On Tuesday night, members of the student council at the University of Mississippi gathered together to vote on whether or not to remove the Mississippi state flag from the campus. The measure passed with a bunch of support for taking it down. The final tally was 33-15 with one person abstaining.

From USA Today:

“It’s just overwhelming to know that the voices of students that are affected by this image, that feel excluded by this image, that are hurt by the symbol, that their voices were heard,” said Sen. Allen Coon, co-author of the resolution, after the vote. “It means that we truly are taking steps toward progress, that we care about change, that we care about students and that we respect difference.”

One Senator who backed the flag said that since Ole Miss receives state funding, then this is a state issue and not a university issue. I tend to side on his point of view. The state flag is still the state flag, after all. Is Mississippi promoting racism by including the battle flag on their state flag? Obviously not, but a lot of people are protesting as such.

The Associated Student Body President, Rod Bridges, will now decide whether or not to veto the resolution. However, he has already said he would not do so..

[via USA Today]