In 1962, during the civil rights movement, a race riot occurred on campus when segregationists tried to prevent the enrollment of African American student James Meredith.

The university's alumni, faculty, and affiliates include 27 Rhodes Scholars, 10 governors, 5 US senators, a head of government, and a Nobel Prize Laureate.

[6] On November 6, 1848, the university, offering a classical curriculum, opened to its first class of 80 students,[7][8] most of whom were children of elite slaveholders, all of whom were white, and all but one of whom were from Mississippi.

[12] Early president Frederick A. P. Barnard sought to increase the university's stature, placing him in conflict with the more-conservative board of trustees.

[14] Barnard was a Massachusetts-born graduate of Yale University; his northern background and Union sympathies made his position contentious—a student assaulted his slave and the state legislature investigated him.

[13] Following the election of US President Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Mississippi became the second state to secede; the university's mathematics professor Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar drafted the articles of secession.

Although Kansan troops destroyed much of the medical equipment, a lone remaining professor persuaded Grant against burning the campus.

[20] To avoid rejecting veterans, the university lowered admission standards and decreased costs by eliminating tuition and allowing students to live off-campus.

[25] Fringe origin theories include it coming from a diminutive of "Old Mississippi",[26][27][28] or from the name of the "Ole Miss" train that ran from Memphis to New Orleans.

[36][37] Shortly after the 1961 inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, James Meredith—an African American Air Force veteran and former student at Jackson State University—applied to the University of Mississippi.

[40][41] The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held both Barnett and Johnson Jr. in contempt, and issued fines exceeding $10,000 for each day they refused to enroll Meredith.

[43] After nightfall, far-right former Major General Edwin Walker and outside agitators arrived, and a gathering of segregationist students before the Lyceum became a violent mob.

[47][48] 160 marshals would be injured, with 28 receiving gunshot wounds,[49] and two civilians—French journalist Paul Guihard and Oxford repairman Ray Gunter—were killed by gunfire.

[8] In 2002, Ole Miss marked the 40th anniversary of integration with a yearlong series of events, including an oral history of the university, symposiums, a memorial, and a reunion of federal marshals who served at the campus.

[79] Near the Circle is The Grove, a 10-acre (4.0 ha) plot of land that was set aside by chancellor Robert Burwell Fulton c. 1893, and hosts up to 100,000 tailgaters during home games.

[154] In 1977, the university established its Center for the Study of Southern Culture with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is housed in the College of Liberal Arts.

[166] In 2021, actor Morgan Freeman and Professor Linda Keena donated $1 million to the University of Mississippi to create the Center for Evidence-Based Policing and Reform, which will provide law-enforcement training and seek to improve engagement between law enforcement and communities.

According to The New York Times, the University of Mississippi has the seventh-highest share of students from the economic top-one percent among selective public schools.

[190] On football game days, the Grove, a 10-acre (4.0 ha) plot of trees, hosts an elaborate tailgating tradition;[81][191] according to The New York Times, "Perhaps there isn't a word for the ritualized pregame revelry ... 'Tailgating' certainly does not do it justice".

[205] In early 2020, Starship Technologies introduced an automated food delivery consisting of a fleet of 30 robots on campus; it was the first such system of any SEC school.

[214] In 1902, Lee Russell, a poor student who was rejected by the fraternities, appeared before the board of trustees to criticize the Greek societies.

[218][219] As part of a larger crackdown on embarrassing fraternity incidents, Chancellor Gerald Turner ended the traditional Shrimp and Beer Festival in 1984.

[221] In a 1989 incident, fraternity members dropped naked students painted with racist slurs at the historically black Rust College.

[118][231] Women's varsity athletic teams at the University of Mississippi include basketball, cross country, golf, rifle, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

[239][240] Football alumni Archie and Eli Manning, both quarterbacks, are honored on campus with speed limits set to 18 and 10 mph; their respective jersey numbers.

[252] With the early emphasis on classical studies, multiple notable classicists including George Tucker Stainback, Wilson Gaines Richardson, and William Hailey Willis, have held teaching positions at the University of Mississippi.

[255][256] Former Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove was a political science lecturer,[257] and Kyle Duncan was an assistant law professor prior to his appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

[262] Robert Q. Marston, director of the National Institutes of Health, served as the dean of the medical school,[263][264] and Eugene W. Hilgard, considered the father of soil science, taught chemistry at Ole Miss.

[266][267] In addition to William Faulkner,[269] notable writers who attended the University of Mississippi include Florence Mars,[270] Patrick D. Smith,[271] Stark Young,[272] and John Grisham.

[293] Notable physicians include Arthur Guyton,[294] American Medical Association head Edward Hill,[295] and Thomas F. Frist Sr., co-founder of Hospital Corporation of America.