Ole Miss has responded to the Ring camera video showing women making monkey noises outside a Black student’s apartment, saying the school is investigating and has reached out to the students who were targeted.
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A university representative told the New York Post that the school is aware of the video and condemns the “offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable behaviors” it shows. “The university has reached out to those targeted by the actions to share information, resources, and support,” the representative said.
The statement comes after Jakiyra Metcalf, a University of Mississippi student, posted the footage to TikTok on Friday, Nov. 6. Her Ring camera recorded three white women walking up to her apartment door at 8:37 p.m. Two of them made monkey noises and gestures, including beating their chests, while the third followed behind and glanced at the door before they walked off.
Metcalf tagged the school directly. “Ole Miss?? What do we have to say about this??” she wrote. She later added in the comments that the women were not strangers. “We just found out they are our upstairs neighbors,” she wrote.
The apartment is shared by three Black students. A woman who identified herself as the mother of one of them shared the video on Facebook and said it had reached university administrators. The clip has since passed 11 million views, with viewers emailing the school formal complaints and demanding accountability.
Ole Miss has not confirmed who is in the video. Names have spread online, and the university’s Alpha Phi chapter has pushed back, saying it is working with the school’s Fraternity and Sorority Life office and the sorority’s national headquarters to address what it called false accusations. Former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho condemned the video as racist harassment but urged viewers not to identify anyone without confirmation.
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The University of Mississippi Police Department, the school’s Equal Opportunity and Regulatory Compliance Office and Metcalf did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment.
This is not the first time Ole Miss has investigated a student over monkey noises. In May 2024, a white student was caught on video making monkey noises and gestures at a Black woman during a pro-Palestinian protest on campus. Chancellor Glenn Boyce opened a student conduct investigation, and the student’s fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, removed him from membership.
The university has not said how long its current investigation will take or what discipline could follow.
