A University of Mississippi fraternity has removed a member accused of harassing a black protester at the college’s pro-Palestine camp by imitating a monkey.
Video of the protests went viral last week, showing a group of white men standing in front of a lone black woman taking part in the protest, with the men dancing, booing and chanting. A man imitated a monkey.
Ole Miss opened a conduct investigation Saturday into the incident, with Chancellor Glenn Boyce saying the chants and actions of counterprotesters Thursday contained “hostility and racist overtones.”
The Phi Delta Theta fraternity said in a declaration Sunday that “the racist actions in the video were by an individual and are antithetical to the values of Phi Delta Theta and the Mississippi Alpha chapter. The individual responsible was removed from the association on Friday, May 3.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters at Ole Miss have been significantly outnumbered by counterprotesters as campus demonstrations have spread to hundreds of colleges across the country in recent weeks.
The video gained additional attention when it was shared by Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.). The NAACP criticized Collins for sharing the video and sent a letter to House leaders demanding an Ethics Committee investigation.
“Black America refuses to accept blatant racism from any representative who is sworn to defend our Constitution,” NAACP spokeswoman Alicia Mercedes said in a statement to The Hill on Sunday. “Rep. Collins’ decision to publicly tolerate and perhaps even celebrate these racist taunts is not only shameful, but also reprehensible.”
Collins defended the decision to share the video on Monday, but denounced the student’s conduct.
“I understand and respect the feedback that was shared about a single individual during the Ole Miss protests,” Collins wrote in a statement. statement Monday. “If this person is found to have treated another human being inappropriately because of their race, they should be punished appropriately and will hopefully seek forgiveness.”
“Frankly, I didn’t believe that was the focal point of the video shared at the time, but I recognize that there certainly appears to be some potentially inappropriate behavior that none of us should see to glorify,” he continued.
The confrontation adds to the school’s long history of racial conflict. Deadly riots broke out when Ole Miss first enrolled a black student in 1962, and the university has long been associated with Confederate imagery.
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