FBI Hunts Racist Vandals Who Defaced Statue of First Black Student at Ole Miss

Alumni association offers $25,000 reward for information that leads to arrests

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting the University of Mississippi search for two men suspected of defacing a statute of the school’s first black student.

The statue of James Meredith, who attended the school in 1962, was found Sunday morning with a noose and Confederate flag, the New York Times reports. The University of Mississippi said in an earlier statement that a witness heard the men “shouting racial slurs” as they vandalized the statue.

Ole Miss’ alumni association is offering a $25,000 reward to anybody with knowledge that could lead to the arrest of the suspects.

“These individuals chose our university’s most visible symbol of unity and educational accessibility to express their disagreement with our values,” said University of Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones. “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.”

[New York Times]