Contact: Sid Salter

"Like all people of good will, Mississippi State University abhors the senseless violence that was visited on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and we grieve with the families of the victims. In 2001, the MSU Faculty Senate voted overwhelmingly in support of changing the state flag of Mississippi prior to the failed statewide voter referendum on that question. Other than lawful displays of the state flag, the symbols in question are not associated with our university. As the most diverse university in the Southeastern Conference and the most diverse of the original land-grant universities in the country, Mississippi State remains committed to diversity, inclusion, equal opportunity and a culture of fellowship, tolerance and peace. That's true in our academic offerings and in our athletics programs as well."