Three white 19-year-old college freshmen from Georgia are suspected of desecrating a statue of the University of Mississippi’s first black student, which was found Sunday morning with a noose around its neck.
An old state of Georgia flag — featuring the Confederate battle emblem — was also draped over the statue of James Meredith, who integrated the university in 1962.
The three students hired attorneys and declined to be questioned unless and until charges are filed against them, according to a statement released Friday by the university. The names of the students were not released, as they have not been charged with a crime.
Meanwhile, a fraternity chapter at the university has been indefinitely suspended by its national organization and three of its freshman members have been booted out because of their alleged involvement in the incident.
Sigma Phi Epsilon said in a written statement Friday that it suspended the Alpha Chapter at the university, and the chapter voted to expel the three men and turn over their identities to investigators.
University chief of police Calvin Sellers and general counsel Lee Tyner said two of the students face disciplinary action through the student judicial process. Sellers and Tyner “believe sufficient evidence exists to bring criminal charges against the suspects and pledged to provide whatever support is needed for state and federal authorities to issue warrants and pursue legal measures to the full extent of the law,” according to the university statement.
The university, known as Ole Miss, is located in the Lafayette County city of Oxford.
Mickey Mallette, an assistant district attorney for Lafayette and Benton counties, said the vandalism investigation is ongoing.
“It’s a very tragic incident and a lot of people are very hurt by what went on. But as far as what criminal charges may ensue or the chances of conviction, I would not dream of commenting,” Mallette told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
He said federal authorities are taking the lead.
Daniel McMullen, the FBI special agent in charge of Mississippi, said Friday that the FBI “will expand the investigation … for potential violations of federal law.”
But the vandalism might be protected as free speech, University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone wrote in an op-ed for The Huffington Post.
“Those who did this may, indeed, be despicable people, but it does not necessarily follow that the university should punish them for expressing their views, however hateful and offensive they might be,” Stone wrote. “The situation is not as simple as it might first appear.”
The university’s alumni association offered a $25,000 reward for information on the incident, which the school said generated “numerous leads.” Two men were spotted fleeing the statue and shouting racial epithets but “all three names have been prominent in the investigation,” according to Sellers’ statement.
Mississippi was the scene of some of the most violent clashes of the civil rights movement, including Meredith's enrollment, which led to riots in Oxford. The Kennedy administration sent in U.S. marshalls and federalized the Mississippi National Guard to quell the violence, which left two dead.
Meredith, 80, said this week he was saddened by the vandalism.
"That just clearly shows that we're not training our children like the Bible says," Meredith told the Los Angeles Times. "They don't know right and wrong, good and bad, and how to apply it to life."
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