A Phi Delta Theta member at the University of Mississippi who made racist monkey noises at a Black student during a protest against Israel's military campaign and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has been expelled from the fraternity.
The incident occurred on May 3, and the organization took action after video of the encounter—which was shared and cheered on by multiple Republicans including Georgia Representative Mike Collins—surfaced on social media.
The incident took place during a protest where a small group of students chanted "Free Palestine" and "Stop the Genocide" amid news that nearly 35,000 people have been killed since the war began after Hamas launched an attack against Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis.
Protesters were met with a larger group of counter-protesters who surrounded and yelled at them. Videos from the scene captured a white student making racist monkey noises at a Black woman as others in the counter-protest group taunted and cheered.
You can watch what happened in the video below.
The fraternity issued the following statement after the video went viral:
“Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters is aware of the video regarding the student protest at the University of Mississippi. 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 incident serves as a stark reminder of the University of Mississippi's troubled history with racism.
The university has been grappling with the legacy of segregation for decades. Its former mascot was Colonel Rebel, a representation of a plantation owner. In recent years, the university has made efforts to remove Confederate symbols that were long intertwined with the school's identity and state pride.
In a letter released on Friday, university student government leaders stated that "unacceptable remarks were made that departed from our cherished values" during the protest.
Jaylin Smith, 24, confirmed to CNN that she was the woman featured in the video. According to The Daily Mississippian, the university's student newspaper, Smith was subjected to being called "Lizzo" and other derogatory terms, with some onlookers chanting "Lock her up."
Smith said:
"One thing that will never break me is people taunting me or making monkey noises at me."
No arrests were made on Thursday, but the university announced it had launched an investigation into student conduct following the protests, aiming to examine the "hostility and racist overtones" involved.
Many have criticized the school and condemned the student's actions.
Anti-war and pro-Palestinian protests have sprung up around the country as opposition against Israel's campaign in Gaza continues.
Protests at Columbia University began last month after more than 50 pro-Palestinian students established an encampment and charged that Israel is actively committing genocide while actively demanding that the Ivy League university divest from Israel.
The day after the encampment was set up, Columbia University president Minouche Shafik authorized the New York City Police Department to clear the campus, resulting in mass arrests. Despite this, protesters quickly erected a new encampment the next day.
The Columbia University protests sparked a wider movement, inspiring similar encampments and ongoing protests at institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, New York University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University of Michigan, and other universities across the nation.
As of this writing, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered strikes on the city of Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip, as Hamas announced it had accepted the terms of a ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar. Israel said the deal did not meet its "core demands."
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