On Thursday, May 2, a small and peaceful group of University of Mississippi students gathered to exercise their First Amendment right to protest on behalf of Palestinians facing a months-long genocidal assault by the Israeli Defense Force. This group of students were overwhelmed by a crowd of more than 200 counter-protestors, most of whom were also University of Mississippi students. Many of these student counter-protestors made explicitly racist remarks, shouting “hit the showers” and “your nose is huge” at the protestors; taunting a Black woman protestor by imitating a monkey; and equating the protestors with the terrorists in the 9/11 attacks. Others threw half-eaten food and water bottles at the students protesting against genocide. Several journalists, including student journalists, captured this abhorrent behavior on film, much of which is publicly available. Ultimately, police had to escort protestors off the premises for their own safety.
The unabashed racism displayed by the overwhelmingly White counter-protestors is unacceptable behavior for University of Mississippi students. It is out of step with our university’s creed, and violates the University’s own student code of conduct. Moreover, the counter-protestors’ throwing of food and drink at students engaged in a peaceful demonstration violated those students’ constitutional rights to free speech and to free assembly.
We, the United Campus Workers of Mississippi, applaud the Chancellor’s willingness to uphold the values of the university by condemning the racism at the protest and opening a student conduct investigation against one of the perpetrators. We call on the Chancellor and other university administration to continue their investigation to ensure that all students who behaved similarly are held accountable. The counter-protestors’ behavior, if left unchecked, sets a dangerous precedent for our students, as well as for any campus worker wishing to exercise their own First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and demonstrate on or off campus.
United Campus Workers of Mississippi 