The University of Mississippi started looking into the behavior of one or more students on Saturday, after a video of a group of students harassing a pro-Palestine protester on campus became widely spread last week.
Chancellor Glenn Boyce mentioned that the counterprotesters’ chants and actions on Thursday included “hostility and racist overtones.” The video depicted a group of white men facing a lone Black woman who was taking part in the protest, and the men were dancing, hooting, and chanting. One man even mimicked a monkey.
Boyce wrote, “From yesterday’s demonstration, university leaders are aware that some statements made were offensive, hurtful and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones.”
“To be clear, people who say horrible things to people because of who they are will not find shelter or comfort on this campus,” he added.
The number of counterprotesters at Ole Miss was much larger than the pro-Palestine protesters, as similar demonstrations have been taking place at hundreds of colleges across the country in recent weeks.
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) shared the video of the harassment last week, saying it showed “Ole Miss taking care of business.”
The NAACP filed a complaint with congressional leaders Saturday over Collins’s conduct, CNN reported.
“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.
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. The school’s nickname is also derived from a racist term associated with slavery.
