The University of Mississippi has opened a student conduct investigation after a video went viral online showing a group of students taunting a Black pro-Palestinian protester last week.
Chancellor Glenn Boyce sent a letter to students and staff on Friday noting that the university’s leaders are “aware that some statements made were offensive, hurtful and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones.”
“While student privacy laws prohibit us from commenting on any specific student, we have opened one student conduct investigation,” Boyce wrote. “We are working to determine whether more cases are warranted.”
The incident took place on Thursday on the school’s campus when a group of about 50 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered amid widespread protest on college campuses during the Israel-Hamas war.
The pro-Palestinian protesters were outnumbered by a larger group of counterprotesters waving American flags, Trump flags and also drown out the chants of the protesters by singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
One video from the protest shows a group of mostly young white men yelling at a Black woman. In the video a man can be seen jumping up and down and making monkey noises while other counterprotesters chanted “lock her up”.
The Black woman in the video was identified as Jaylin Smith, 24, a journalism and new media graduate student.
“One thing that will never break me is people taunting me or making monkey noises at me,” Smith told CNN. “The monkey gestures – and people calling me fat or Lizzo – didn’t hurt my feelings, because I know what I am. I am so confident in my Blackness. I am so confident in my size, in the way that I wear my hair, and who I am. They do not bother me. If anything, I felt pity for them for how stupidly they acted.”
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) shared the viral video on X/Twitter saying, “Ole Miss taking care of business.”
The NAACP filed a complaint with congressional leaders on Saturday demanding an Ethics Committee investigation over Collins conduct.
“These actions conducted by a member of the House of Representatives, regardless of intent, legitimize and propagate racism and undermine the principles of equality and justice that our government is sworn to uphold,” the letter reads.
