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Ole Miss Adding Slavery Info to Plaque by Confederate Statue

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The University of Mississippi will revise a plaque beside a Confederate monument on its Oxford campus to add more information about the Civil War and slavery.

Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter said Friday that the change comes in response to criticism that the original plaque, put up earlier this year, glossed over the reasons the war was fought.

Vitter's predecessor as chancellor, Dan Jones, announced in 2014 that Ole Miss would provide historical context for Old South symbols as a way to acknowledge its complex history and to make a diverse student body feel more welcome.

The university was founded in 1848, and the Confederate soldier statue has stood for generations in a parklike area near the main administrative building.

Vitter is in his first year as chancellor.

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