JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Israel-Hamas war demonstrations at the University of Mississippi turned ugly this week when a counter-protester appeared to make monkey noises and gestures toward a black student at a noisy gathering that was endorsed by a far-right Georgia congresswoman .
“Ole Miss taking care of business,” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins wrote Friday on the social platform X with a link to the video showing the racist taunts.
The Associated Press left voicemails for Collins on Friday at his offices in Georgia and Washington and emailed his spokesman asking for an explanation of what Collins meant. There was no immediate response.
The provocation generated harsh criticism on and off campus.
“The students called for an end to the genocide. They were met with racism,” James M. Thomasprofessor of sociology at the University of Mississippi, wrote Friday in X.
Reverend Cornell William Brooks, former president and CEO of the NAACP and professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, wrote in X that a white man mocking a black woman as a monkey “is not about ‘Stand with Israel’ or ‘Free Palestine.’ This is protest as performative racism.”
Collins was first elected to Congress in 2022 and has made several social media posts criticizing the campus protests.
No one was arrested during Thursday’s demonstration at the University of Mississippi, where hecklers far outnumbered war protesters. According to an AP count, more than 2,400 arrests have occurred on 46 U.S. college or university campuses since April 17, during anti-war demonstrations.
The student newspaper, The Mississippi Diary, reported that around 30 protesters on the Oxford campus called themselves UMiss for Palestine. Videos and photos from the event showed that protesters were in a grassy area near the main library, blocked off by barriers erected by campus security.
They chanted “Free, free Palestine” and carried Palestinian flags and signs with slogans including “Stop Genocide” and “US bombs claim lives in Palestine.”
Student journalist Stacey J. Spiehler recorded a video that showed campus police officers and the dean of students among anti-war protesters and hecklers. After the black woman protesting the war had what appeared to be a heated exchange with several white questioners, one of the men made monkey gestures and noises at her.
About 76% of the university’s students were white and about 11% were black in 2022-23, the most recent data available on the school’s website.
University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said the school is committed to people expressing their views. He said some statements made on campus Thursday were “offensive and unacceptable.”
In another statement Friday, Boyce said a “student conduct investigation” had been opened and university leaders were “working to determine whether further cases are warranted.”
“To be clear, people who say horrible things to others because of who they are will not find shelter or comfort on this campus,” he said.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves reposted a video on X that showed counter-protesters on campus chanting “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“Warms my heart,” Reeves wrote. “I love Mississippi!”
