Why did they change the Ole Miss mascot?

Answer 1

The apparent reason for changing the mascot is that the "Colonel Reb" was a a carricature of a Confederate soldier, which created unwanted racial overtones since the Confederacy was associated with slavery.

There is a certain amount of irony in this since the original model for the "Colonel Reb" logo may well have been an African American man, "Blind Jim" Ivy. "Blind Jim" Ivy was a campus fixture until his death in 1955, seven years before the school was integrated in 1962. He was affectionately known as "the dean of freshmen" for his many pep talks to incoming Ole Miss freshmen classes. Jim Ivy became an integral part of the University of Mississippi in 1896. Born in 1870 as the son of former slave Matilda Ivy, he moved from Alabama to Mississippi in 1890. Ivy was blinded in his early teens when coal tar paint got into his eyes while painting the Tallahatchie River Bridge. Ivy became a penut vendor in Oxford and was considered the university's mascot for many years.