The University of Mississippi has opened at least one student conduct investigation after videos of pro-Palestinian protesters surrounded by counterprotesters circulated online, including one that many pointed out as racist.
Chancellor Glenn F. Boyce sent a letter to students and staff on Friday, noting that Ole Miss leaders were aware of behavior that was “offensive, offensive and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones” at the Thursday.
“Although student privacy laws prohibit us from commenting on any specific student, we have opened a student conduct investigation,” Boyce wrote. “We are working to determine whether more cases are warranted.”
On Thursday, a group of about 30 to 60 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in the Quad and added to the list of demonstrations on college campuses across the country. But the event turned hostile as they were outnumbered by counter-protesters, who at one point drowned out the protesters’ screams by singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Videos of the event circulated online, with many noting that the pro-Palestinian protesters appeared to be a multiracial group, but were surrounded by a mostly white group of counter-protesters who taunted them.
One confrontation provoked particular offense, in which a black graduate student, on the protesting side of a barricade, approached two young men to record the group as they shouted in her direction.
In the corner of a widely shared video, a man can be seen jumping up and down and appearing to make noise to simulate a monkey for the woman.
Other members of the group shouted “Lizzo” and “Lock her up” at the woman, who was removed by police.
The university’s Black Student Union released a statement in solidarity with the pro-Palestine group, which it described as “non-violent protesters defending Palestine.” according to The Daily Mississippian.
“The students were exercising their First Amendment rights, while the counter-protesters were present with malicious intent as well as a notable lack of knowledge about the situation at hand,” said the statement posted on Instagram he said.
Online commentators condemned the incident, drawing the racist overtones of the interaction to Mississippi’s long history of racial animosity and violence.
More than 100 years ago, the state’s senators voted to send all of its blacks back to Africa. When the university was ordered by a federal court to admit black students in 1962, 2,000 angry whites against the arrival of new students James Meredith.
And despite being located in a state with one of the largest populations of black residents, only 11.4 percent of the University of Mississippi student body it’s black.
Boyce’s message Friday recognized students’ and teachers’ rights to free speech and peaceful assembly under the First Amendment, but highlighted behavior that demeaned people “because of their race or ethnicity” as contrary to the school’s values. He added that it is “important to recognize our challenging history, and incidents like this can set us back.”
“It’s one of the reasons we don’t take this lightly and cannot allow the unacceptable behavior of a few to speak for our institution or define us,” Boyce said. “We are a community of scholars committed to creating an academic experience that respects the dignity of each individual.”
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