Former Ole Miss student pleads guilty to hanging noose around statue honoring the first black affirmative action student

[Daily Negro]

A former student of the University of Mississippi pleaded guilty
Thursday to a federal civil rights crime, acknowledging that he
and another man had tied a noose and a Confederate flag around
the neck of a statue honoring the black man who integrated the
state flagship university.

Austin Reed Edenfield of Kennesaw, Ga., waived indictment and
pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of using a threat of
force to intimidate African American students and employees
because of their race or color, according to a U.S. Department
of Justice release. Edenfield admitted that he knew the rope and
flag would be threatening and intimidating to black students.

Edenfield will be sentenced on July 21 and faces up to a year in
prison and a $100,000 fine. The government has recommended
probation.

Another former student, Graeme Phillip Harris of Alpharetta,
Ga., pleaded guilty to the same charge last June, and was
sentenced to six months in prison.

The symbolic lynching, which the men did during the night in
February 2014 with an old version of the Georgia state flag
which includes a prominent Confederate emblem, shocked many at
Ole Miss and beyond.

The statue of James Meredith is prominent on campus, and it
speaks to the university’s complicated history.

Ole Miss was at the epicenter of a turning point in the civil
rights movement in 1962 when Meredith tried to enroll at the
Deep South institution after a Supreme Court ruling upheld his
right to do so. The governor and state legislature battled that
integration, and a riot broke out on campus around an old
Confederate monument. Two people were killed.

President John F. Kennedy ordered federal law enforcement and
troops to the campus to protect Meredith, a strong signal that
Washington would enforce the integration ruling by the Supreme
Court. Troops remained on campus until Meredith graduated in
1963.

The university has long taken pride in its southern heritage and
ties to the Confederacy. It shut down during the Civil War, when
almost all of its students enlisted. The school’s teams go by
the name Rebels, and until 2010, its mascot was the depiction of
an old Southerner, Colonel Reb.

But in recent years the university has distanced itself from
some of the symbols of the Confederacy, because it has become
for many a symbol of racism rather than history. The mascot has
been changed to a black bear, though still going by the name
Rebel. This fall, the university took down the state flag with
its Confederate emblem.

“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that our
universities and our workplaces are free from threats of racial
violence,” said Vanita Gupta, principal deputy assistant
attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s Civil
Rights Division, in a written statement. “We will hold
accountable those who attempt to turn places of learning into
places of intimidation and fear.”

Brandi Hephner LaBanc, vice chancellor for student affairs at
the University of Mississippi, also issued a statement. “The
responsibility taken in today’s hearing is another step in the
right direction.

“Many members of our campus were deeply affected by this
incident and the university does not tolerate hateful behavior.
Today’s outcome affirms our position and sends a clear message
about what is expected in our shared community. I want to thank
the police officers, FBI and legal team for their hard work on
this case — we are grateful for their strong leadership.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-
point/wp/2016/03/24/former-ole-miss-student-pleads-guilty-to-
hanging-noose-around-statue-honoring-the-first-black-student/