A University of Mississippi fraternity was suspended indefinitely on Friday by its own national organization and three members who were all freshmen were kicked out of the frat due to their alleged involvement in an incident that involved hanging a noose on the James Meredith statue.
Meredith was the first black student to enroll and attend the college, which previously was all white.
In a prepared statement, the fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, said it had suspended its Alpha Charter at Ole Miss and the expelled three members whose names will be given to authorities conducting the investigation.
This past week, police found a noose around the neck of the Meredith statue, as well as an older version of a Georgia flag with the battle emblem of the Confederacy in its design. The new Georgia flag does not included the emblem.
In 1962, when Meredith attempted to enroll at Ole Miss, the governor of Mississippi tried to block him. That caused violence on the campus in Oxford.
Robert Kennedy, the then Attorney General sent over 500 U.S. marshals to take over control of the school. Meredith was allowed a few days later to enter the school. Though Meredith faced a great deal of harassment, he earned a political science degree.
On Friday, the FBI said it was planning to expand its vandalism investigations to see if a federal law had been violated.
The Sigma Phi Epsilon CEO Brain Warren Jr. said that the fraternity championed racial diversity and equality since 1959, when at the time it became the first U.S. national fraternity to open its doors to all races, creeds as well as religions to be members.
On Friday the university attempted to question the three students, who are all white, about the vandalism, but attorneys for the three would not permit their clients to be questioned with the university first obtaining arrest warrants. All three men were unidentified.
A spokesperson for the university said the findings by the school had been handed over to the office of the district attorney. The spokesperson said the school would proceed with its own disciplinary action through a panel that is made up of both students and faculty.
Deborah Campbell
