OXFORD, Miss. — A former student at the University of Mississippi pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge arising from a noose placed on a statue of civil rights activist James Meredith.
At a brief court appearance, Graeme Phillip Harris pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening force to intimidate African-American students and employees at the university.
The noose and a former Georgia state flag carrying the Confederate battle emblem were placed on the James Meredith statue on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford in February 2014. It appeared to be a symbolic jab at Ole Miss’ tortured racial past. When a court ordered the university to admit Meredith in 1962, the African-American student had to be escorted onto campus by armed federal agents. The agents were attacked in an all-night riot that claimed two lives and was ultimately quelled by federal troops.
Harris, of Alpharetta, Georgia, faces up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Prosecutors said Harris won’t be prosecuted for a second charge listed on his March indictment — conspiracy to violate civil rights — which would carry up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 in event of any conviction.
U.S. District Judge Michael Mills is expected to sentence Harris later.