At a Monday afternoon meeting in the Lyceum, Provost Noel Wilkin told the deans of the academic schools that newly appointed chancellor, Glenn Boyce, would not entertain the idea of flying the Mississippi state flag on campus, keeping the Confederate statue in the Circle or re-instituting Colonel Reb as the university’s mascot, according to a source present at the meeting.
Wilkin also told the deans that Boyce would not be hiring Chip Pickering, former U.S. congressman, as part of his administration. When Boyce was announced as chancellor on Oct. 4, Pickering was initially rumored to be one of Boyce’s first hires. Pickering applied for the position of chancellor but was not invited back for an interview.
Before Tuesday night’s Faculty Senate meeting, Wilkin told The Daily Mississippian that he did not want to come across as speaking for Boyce.
At the meeting later that night, Wilkin told the senate that Boyce has “no interest in relitigating or refighting the battles that have moved the university forward. He recognizes that the (Confederate) monument is in a process, and at this stage, we have to let the process play out. At this point, it is out of the university’s hands.”
Boyce could not be reached for comment.
Currently, the relocation plans for the Confederate monument sits in the hands of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The university sent their plans and drawings for relocation to the MDAH on Aug. 27, nearly six months after the Associated Student Body unanimously voted to relocate the statue from its position in the Circle to the Confederate cemetery.
On Oct. 3, it was confirmed that Glenn Boyce, the former commissioner of the Institutions of Higher Learning and former president at Holmes Community College, had been voted in as the next chancellor of the University of Mississippi.
Boyce was originally hired as a consultant in the search process.
The IHL completed only 12 steps of its 20-step selection plan before choosing Boyce as the 18th chancellor. Boyce never visited campus as a preferred candidate.
Protests were held before the press conference to announce Boyce as the next chancellor. The conference was canceled because of disruptions, and the announcement was made via a press release from the IHL.
