The University of Mississippi says it is investigating after a doorbell camera recorded two white women mimicking monkeys at the door of an apartment shared by three Black students. The video has drawn outrage far beyond Oxford since it surfaced over the weekend.

Freshman Jakiyra Metcalf shared the clip on TikTok after it was recorded around 8:37 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6. She tagged the school and asked a pointed question: "Ole Miss?? What do we have to say about this??"

In the footage three white women walk up to the door. One of them pounds her chest while making ape sounds. A second woman leans in toward the lens and mimics the noise. The third trails behind and does not appear to take part.

'Our upstairs neighbors'

Metcalf later told commenters the women turned out to be familiar faces. "We just found out they are our upstairs neighbors," she wrote, promising to post an update once she knew more.

As the clip spread, people online began passing around names they claimed matched the women seen in the video. Those identities have not been independently confirmed. Neither has whether the women are enrolled at the university.

The mother of one roommate also spoke out on Facebook. She wrote that college should be a place where young people "feel safe" and called the conduct "absolutely disgusting and unacceptable." She pressed the school to spell out "what steps will be taken" to hold those involved accountable.

What the university says

In a statement the university said it was aware of a video showing "offensive, hurtful and unacceptable behaviors" that clash with its values. It condemned the conduct and said staff had contacted the targeted students to offer information, resources and support.

Ole Miss said the matter is being investigated through the appropriate campus offices. It added that student conduct records and any discipline are shielded by the federal student privacy law known as FERPA, which means the public may never learn the outcome.

Metcalf's grandfather Vincent Ford told a Jackson TV station the family first found the clip almost laughable before the weight of it sank in. He said his granddaughter was told the family would get to the bottom of it to keep her safe. "If they did something that someone else felt was racial, then they need to be thrown off campus," Ford said.

A familiar wound in Oxford

The episode echoes a May 2024 protest over the war in Gaza when a white student was recorded making monkey sounds and gestures at Jaylin Smith, a Black graduate student. His fraternity Phi Delta Theta kicked him out afterward while the university opened a conduct review.

The campus carries a much longer racial history. In 1962 James Meredith became the first Black student admitted to Ole Miss as violent mobs fought integration.

For now the three roommates are waiting to see what the school does next. Supporters have raised a blunt question: how can they feel safe at home if the women in the video really do live just one floor above them?