Preview: Ole Miss v. Fresno State
DailyMississippian The
thedmonline.com
Friday, Sept. 30, 2011
P. 12
Vol. 100 No. 194
Chancellor Jones takes stand against Forward Rebels BY JACOB BATTE, CAIN MADDEN AND JAKE THOMPSON thedmnews@gmail.com dmeditor@gmail.com jcthomps@olemiss.edu
Just after University of Mississippi classes started Thursday morning, students, faculty and alumni were greeted with a message from Chancellor Dan Jones. The message was about Forward Rebels, an anonymous group that has bought two full-page color ads in six newspapers, with plans to continue its campaign. The first ad criticized the Ole Miss athletics administration. The second ad was aimed at Athletics Director Pete Boone. In his letter, Jones said that most people are aware of the anonymous public attacks on Boone, but may not be aware “that as a part of this orchestrated campaign, I have received threats, promising that if I do not remove Pete Boone, ‘It is going to get real ugly,’ and threatening to expand the attacks to other athletics employees.” In a phone interview Thursday afternoon, Jones said because he is dealing with a group of anonymous attackers with Forward Rebels, it has been difficult determining the
response. “We have tried to not be overly reactive and give credibility where it is not due,” Jones said. “But we have to provide leadership and call on the Ole Miss family.” In his letter, Jones said he was expressing his leadership to the Ole Miss family. “I wanted to be sure that everyone in the Ole Miss family knew that there was no intention to make decisions around university matters in a period of unrest created by anonymous people using less than honest approaches,” Jones said. “I wanted to be sure that everyone in the university family knew that it would not be in the best interest of the university, as well as the university family, for years to come.” Jones said this group cannot bring change to the university by bringing public pressure using inappropriate methods. Lee Habeeb, an Oxford resident, has become the group’s spokesperson. Habeeb said no member of the group has made such comments in public or private. “We don’t condone such threats,” Habeeb said in an email. “We pledged never to attack the character of anyone, never use rude language and ask the important questions.
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“If asking serious questions of our leaders in a public forum breaches civility, then I believe we need a new definition of the word ‘civility.’” Habeeb, of Teaneck, N.J., is a radio producer who graduated from the University of Virginia law school. Habeeb said the Forward Rebels message has been clearly stated in the ads, and that the group has kept the conversation focused on questions based on performance. “Public officials, especially high paid ones, are not immune from such inquiries,”
Habeeb said. “That, above all else, is what any free society should stand for.” Civility and Anonymity Jones said he felt that pressuring him to remove Boone was going too far. “It is not the kind of words I find to be civil,” Jones said. Habeeb, on the other hand, said he finds it offensive to be accused of something the group did not do. “Ole Miss supporters are allowed to publicly ask hard questions of our leaders, even if those leaders accuse us of being uncivil,” Habeeb said.
“Or violating some creed or code. Or blaming us for the actions of one jerk, which the Chancellor’s regrettable email intimated.” Habeeb said that there are two reasons Forward Rebels members remain anonymous, the first being that they want people to agree with their words, rather than their biographies. “From the Federalist Papers to MoveOn.org, there is a rich tradition of Americans getting together to share ideas in the See FORWARD REBELS, PAGE 8
Former professor to be honored for his courageous actions
PETRE THOMAS | The Daily Mississippian
Students walk around the newly named ‘Silver Pond’ on the north side of campus behind the Residential Colleges. The pond will be dedicated to James Silver today at 4 p.m.
BY JACOB BATTE thedmnews@gmail.com
Former University of Mississippi history chair James Silver was once described as being
inside
“the oldest living, breathing, practicing example of academic freedom in Mississippi.” Today at 4 p.m., more than a hundred of Silver’s family, friends and former students, among many others, whose lives that Silver touched during his time at Ole Miss are
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expected to gather by the new pond on Sorority Row that will be named in Silver’s honor, 75 years to the month after Silver joined the UM staff. They will also dedicate a memorial which stands about 100 yards from Faculty House 6 where Silver and his wife, Margaret “Dutch” Silver, lived for many years. Following the dedication, guests move into the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics for a symposium, with a panel full of Silver’s former students. The panel will include former Governor of Mississippi William Winter, retired journalist Elizabeth Shiver, president of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation at Monticello, Daniel Jordan; and editorial page editor for the Charlotte Observer, Ed Williams. Former Mississippi court supreme justice Jimmy Robert-
son will also speak during the ceremony. The symposium will open with an introduction from Chancellor Dan Jones. John Bradley, law professor and chair of the commemorative steering committee, said he thinks the lineup being brought to the table is “first class.” “Many of Silver’s students were the kind of people that went on to have successful careers,” Bradley said. “We could only have a certain number of people on the panel, but we certainly did not exhaust our list. “He was really active on the campus,” Bradley continued. “Silver knew a lot of students, whether they took his class or not. He was a man who had a lot of impact on the student.” When James Meredith became the first African-American to enroll in classes at UM, Silver was one of the few who
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opened up welcome arms to him. Shortly after Silver authored the book “Mississippi: The Closed Society.” In the book Silver condemns the state, saying that it is such bad position that he didn’t see the state being able to save itself anytime soon. Silver wrote that two entities were battling: One being all powerful but losing it’s strength, while the other being perceived weak but gaining momentum every single day. They were each battling for what Silver claimed to be a “new society.” “Perhaps it can be seen only as a matter of faith, as something beyond a temporal Jordan,” he continued. “It is in the middle distance that the terror will be worked out, that the convulSee SILVER, PAGE 5
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