A University of Mississippi student who was seen on video making monkey noises and jumping up and down to mock a Black pro-Palestine protester has been booted from his fraternity after the video went viral on social media.
The fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, announced in a statement on Sunday that the man in question had been swiftly removed from the organization.
Phi Delta Theta Confirms the Student was Kicked Out of Fraternity
"Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters is aware of the video regarding the student protest at the University of Mississippi," the statement reads.
"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."
University Launched an Investigation into the Racist Incident
The fraternity's announcement came just days after the university launched a student conduct investigation into at least one student as a result of the racist counterprotest encounter.
In a letter addressed to the campus community on Friday, Chancellor Glenn Boyce said the university was aware of behavior that was "offensive, hurtful and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones," although he did not clarify that it was pro-Israel counter-protesters who lodged those racist attacks.
"While student privacy laws prohibit us from commenting on any specific student, we have opened one student conduct investigation. We are working to determine whether more cases are warranted," Boyce wrote.
Video Footage Showed the Student Mocking the Protester
On Thursday, counter protesters overwhelmed a small demonstration in support of Palestine amid the Israel-Gaza conflict. Video footage from the protests showed the Black female student seen walking towards a group of white students as they appear to mock and film her with taunts like "Lizzo!" and "Lock her up!"
In the clip, one of the fraternity members, dressed in a pale blue t-shirt was seen jumping up and down, hooting like a monkey toward the black woman who was live-streaming on her phone. Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) reposted the video along with the caption, "Ole Miss taking care of business."
In his message, Boyce added that kind of harassment was unacceptable. "We will not tolerate discrimination, intimidation, harassment or bias of anyone in our campus community. 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 continued.
