A University of Mississippi student was kicked out of his fraternity after he aimed monkey noises at a Black peer during a campus protest over the Israel-Hamas war, HuffPost reports.
On Thursday (May 2), Ole Miss students protested U.S. support of Israel amid its war against Hamas, chanting “Free Palestine” and “Stop the Genocide" on campus.
Video shows the student demonstrators being aggressively confronted by a large group of counter-protesters. At one point during the encounter, a white student was caught making monkey noises at a Black woman as others taunted and cheered along.
Footage of the racist incident shared on social media garnered support from Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R), who said the counter-protest “warms my heart,” and Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who declared Ole Miss was "taking care of business.”
Despite the GOP support, Phi Delta Theta announced on Sunday (May 5) that it had booted the white student who made the monkey noises from its organization.
“Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters is aware of the video regarding the student protest at the University of Mississippi,” the fraternity said. “The racist actions in the video were those of an individual and are antithetical to the values of Phi Delta Theta and the Mississippi Alpha chapter.”
“The responsible individual was removed from membership on Friday, May 3,” the organization added.
The Black student subjected to racist taunts was identified as 24-year-old graduate student Jaylin Smith. Smith was reportedly called “Lizzo” and other obscenities, with some peers urging to “Lock her up” during the protest.
“One thing that will never break me is people taunting me or making monkey noises at me,” Smith told CNN.
University of Mississippi officials said the school had launched an investigation into student conduct following the protests, noting that it would look the “hostility and racist overtones.”
“While student privacy laws prohibit us from commenting on any specific student, we have opened one student conduct investigation,” university chancellor Glenn Boyce wrote to the campus community on Friday (May 3). “We are working to determine whether more cases are warranted.”
“To be clear, people who say horrible things to people because of who they are will not find shelter or comfort on this campus,” Boyce said.
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