Ole Miss Student Apologizes Over Racist Gestures Filmed at Black Students' Door

An 18-year-old University of Mississippi student has publicly apologized after a doorbell-camera video showed her and another woman making racist gestures and noises outside the apartment of three Black Ole Miss students, NBC News reported. The university has opened an investigation, and the student has since withdrawn from the school, according to a source who spoke to NBC.

The student, Alaina Kunes, said in a statement Tuesday that she did not know who lived in the apartment and was “unaware of their race” until the video, recorded Friday, drew national attention.

What the video shows

According to NBC News, the footage shows Kunes and two other women walking past the front door of the off-campus apartment. Kunes is seen beating her chest. She and a second woman, who has not been identified and has not commented, make noises imitating apes. A third woman walks past without stopping at the door.

Tasha Bolton, whose daughter is one of the three students who live there, described the incident in a Facebook post Saturday. She said her daughter is a freshman who lives in the apartment with two Black roommates, and that the women in the video are her daughter's upstairs neighbors. Bolton wrote that the family wants answers about what steps will be taken to address the behavior and ensure accountability.

What the student and the university have said

In her statement, Kunes apologized to the women who live in the apartment and to the Ole Miss community. She called her actions insensitive, inappropriate and deeply harmful, and said she apologized to the residents directly. She said she would never have intentionally directed such noises or gestures toward a person of color, and that she would cooperate fully with the university's investigation.

Kunes also asked for privacy for herself and her family. She alleged that they have been harassed over the past several days and have received death threats.

Shawnboda Mead, the university's vice chancellor for student affairs, announced the investigation in an email to the campus on Sunday. Mead described the video as showing university students making racist gestures directed at other students. The university did not immediately respond to NBC's request for comment Tuesday.

It is unclear whether the other women in the video are still enrolled.

What this means for students and the campus

For the three students who live in the apartment, the video has become a national story about an incident at their own front door. Their families are asking the university for answers about how it will respond. The investigation will determine what consequences, if any, follow for the other students involved. The university has not disclosed how long it will take or what penalties are possible.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi is also looking into complaints it has received about the incident, Candi Richardson, the organization's director of communications and community engagement, said Monday.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by NBC News

Cover photo: Ken Lund / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped