Members of a University of Mississippi fraternity may face criminal charges for placing a noose on a statue of the college's first black student, James Meredith.
On Sunday, police found a noose tied around the neck of the statue, as well as a Georgia flag containing a Confederate battle emblem. Following the incident, the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity expelled three of its freshmen members and turned their identities over to investigators, according to The Huffington Post. Although two of the expelled students agreed to speak to the authorities on Thursday, they then refused until investigators secured arrest warrants.
According to a statement made by the F.B.I., the vandalism of the statue could result in federal charges. A spokesperson for the university, Danny Blanton, says that the school's findings have been submitted to the district attorney's office and that the university plans to take disciplinary action through a judicial panel. The Ole Miss Alumni Association is also offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
"These individuals chose our university’s most visible symbol of unity and educational accessibility to express their disagreement with our values," says Chancellor Daniel W. Jones in a statement about the incident. "Their ideas have no place here, and our response will be an even greater commitment to promoting the values that are engraved on the statue — Courage, Knowledge, Opportunity, and Perseverance."