Why students at this iconic Southern school want their state flag removed.
Southern pride runs deep in Mississippi.
With the eyes of the country on them, student senators at the University of Mississippi attended an important vote on Oct. 20, 2015.
Photo via iStock.
The verdict? They want the Mississippi state flag, which incorporates the controversial blue cross and stars of the Confederate flag into its design, off their campus.
In a 33-15 vote (with one vote abstained), the Associated Student Body Senate concluded that a symbol many believe to be undeniably racist is something, you know, they don't want tied to their school's image, according to CNN.
Now the senate will pass the resolution on to the school's administration to decide about whether they'll officially act or not.
This is a big deal. Not just because it's a large and influential university in the South, but because we're talking about the University of Mississippi.
Ole Miss, people.
Southern pride runs deep at Ole Miss (to put it lightly). And many inextricably tie that pride to the Confederate flag.
Near the same flag many students want removed is a monument honoring Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. Ole Miss is the hallmark public university of a state that, in 2001, voted overwhelmingly to keep its flag exactly as is — blue cross and stars included.
And the school's mascot? Literally the Rebels (up until 2003, you could spot Colonel Reb rousing fans at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium).
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images.
Just bringing up the idea of removing the flag — the student government's vote was a first in "recent history," a spokesperson for the school told The Huffington Post — is newsworthy. So a heavy majority of student senators actually backing the removal? Again, really big.
“I think it shows that we as a student body recognize that these symbols of white supremacy have no place on our campus," student senator Allen Coon told The Washington Post. “They affect people that are marginalized. They make students feel excluded on their own campus, and they promote ideals of hate and racial oppression."
As you may have expected, the vote has already brought a wave of unhappy folks along with it.
A Change.org petition has cropped up to "keep the flag of the state of Mississippi flying at the University of Mississippi" in the vote's aftermath, started by student senator Andrew Soper.
Clearly, he's not having it with his peers' decision.
"In order to live in a free society, the possibility to be offended will occasionally occur," reads the petition, which also encourages Mississippians to push back [against] political correctness. "Removing symbols, flags, and monuments will do nothing to change the way people feel in their hearts."
The Mississippi state flag hanging among the others near the Senate subway in Washington, D.C. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
As of Oct. 21, 2015, the petition had also garnered more than 200 supporters. And at a rally promoting the removal of the flag last week, flag supporters — and even some members of the Ku Klux Klan — showed up to voice their (unashamedly racist) opinions, too — loud and clear.
Still, the fact that the student senators want to turn a corner — albeit a largely symbolic one — is important.
For student leaders to take this step at a school where riots infamously broke out after its first black student was admitted five decades ago is a momentous sign of progress that should be celebrated well beyond the Deep South.
"This decision is not an act of defiance towards our great state," student body executive officers said in a statement, "but a genuine call-to-action in response to the cries of those who have been negatively impacted by such a symbol, individuals in which we share our classrooms, our workplaces, our relationships, and our friendships."
Update (Oct. 27, 2015): The University of Mississippi removed its state flag from campus on Oct. 26, 2015, The New York Times reported.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.