Ole Miss students could face charges in noose incident

Three freshmen students at the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, could face criminal charges for placing a noose around the statue of James Meredith, the school’s first African-American student.

The Washington Post reports that police found a noose and the old Georgia state flag, which includes a Confederate symbol, around the neck of the seven-year-old Meredith statue on Sunday.

The three white Ole Miss students are part of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. After the incident, Ole Miss suspended the fraternity and the three students were kicked out of the chapter.

Meredith integrated Ole Miss as a graduate student in 1962 with the help of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and federal support from then-President John F. Kennedy. Meredith graduated in 1963.

While WAPT reports that the FBI is investigating the incident, WHBQ says local authorities don’t know exactly what to charge them with.

“What exactly was the crime? Was it malicious deception? Was it property damage? Was it intimidation? Was it all three? What do you accuse them of?”

“His office cannot find anything in the letter of state law that would make the act either a felony or a misdemeanor.”

According to CNN, another racially motivated incident occurred on the Ole Miss campus just this week. Third-grader Keisha Reeves told police someone threw alcohol at her from a moving car while shouting racial slurs.