Student Who Hung Noose on Statue of Civil-Rights Pioneer Pleads Guilty

A former University of Mississippi student has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for placing a noose and an emblem of a Confederate flag on a statue of the college’s first black student. The Associated Press reports Graeme Phillip Harris pleaded guilty to using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students and employees at the university, and faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

In February, vandals hung a noose and an outdated Georgia flag adorned with the Confederate emblem on a campus statue of James Meredith, who was able to enroll at the campus in the 1960s only with a federal escort. Three members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity were expelled from the chapter shortly after the incident for their connection to the crime. They were not named. Mr. Harris withdrew from the college shortly after the incident.

David Hill, Mr. Harris’s lawyer, said his client wanted to take responsibility for the crime. No other charges have been filed in the case.

Brandi Hephner LaBanc, vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a written statement that the university was “thankful” the case had been resolved.