The University of Mississippi has removed the flag of the state on its Oxford campus on Monday morning and the symbol will be kept in the university's archives.
Morris Stocks, the interim chancellor, ordered the flag taken down in light of a student-led revolution that called for the removal of the banner containing the Confederate battle emblem.
"As Mississippi's flagship university, we have a deep love and respect for our state," Stocks said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
"Because the flag remains Mississippi's official banner, this was a hard decision. I understand the flag represents tradition and honor to some. But to others, the flag means that some members of the Ole Miss family are not welcomed or valued."
Three university police officers quietly wrapped up the flag before students were awake or arrived on campus.
They removed it from a circle of honor between a marble statue of a Confederate soldier doing a salute and a white-columned administration building, according to the New York Daily News.
On Oct. 20, the student senate voted 33-15-1 for the removal of the flag, which eventually took place six days later in the wake of recommendations from councils from the faculty, graduate students and staff, according to Fox News.
