University of Mississippi opens student conduct probe after confrontation between Black student and counterprotesters
CNN
The University of Mississippi has opened a student conduct investigation after actions of “hostility and racist overtones” were portrayed during a demonstration on campus.
The University of Mississippi has opened a student conduct investigation after actions of “hostility and racist overtones” were portrayed during a demonstration on campus. The incident unfolded Thursday on the school’s campus during a heated exchange between a group of pro-Palestinian protesters and a much larger group of counterprotesters. About 30 pro-Palestinian protesters were demonstrating in a barricaded zone when they were surrounded by an estimated 200 counterprotesters, some holding American flags, several Trump flags and some dressed in red, white, and blue. While there are multiple videos circulating online showing the protest at varying times, one video in particular shows a group of mostly young white men in the counterprotest yelling at a Black woman, at least one counterprotester is seen on video making what appears to be monkey gestures at the woman, although CNN has not confirmed that is the case, as she records the group on her phone. Jaylin R. Smith, 24, confirmed to CNN she is the woman seen in the video. “One thing that will never break me is people taunting me or making monkey noises at me,” the journalism and new media graduate student told CNN on Friday.