JACKSON - Another public university in Mississippi is removing the state flag from campus because it contains a Confederate battle emblem that many see as divisive.

University of Southern Mississippi President Rodney Bennett on Wednesday ordered the state flag removed from campus in Hattiesburg.

Bennett says in a statement that only the U.S. flag will fly on campus because it's a unifying symbol.

His action comes two days after the University of Mississippi's interim chancellor ordered the state flag removed from campus in Oxford.

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, a USM alumnus, has said he thinks universities should fly the flag.

Confederate symbols have come under broad debate since the massacre of nine black worshippers in South Carolina in June.

Mississippi's three historically black universities had previously stopped flying the state flag.