Her attorneys say she never knew the residents’ race. Black student leaders say the video left classmates feeling unwelcome and unsafe.
By EEW Magazine Online Editors
The Lyceum on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss., where officials are investigating a video recorded outside an apartment shared by three Black students. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
A Ring doorbell camera outside an Oxford, Mississippi, apartment shared by three Black University of Mississippi students recorded three white women passing the door at 8:37 p.m. Friday. Two of them turn toward the lens and make monkey noises and chest-beating gestures, while a third walks behind them.
Freshman Jakiyra Metcalf, one of the residents, posted the 13-second clip to TikTok, tagged the university and asked, “what do we have to say about this??”
One of the women is no longer a student. Alaina Kunes, 18, a freshman, identified herself as one of the two women and apologized Tuesday through her attorneys. The university, commonly known as Ole Miss, confirmed to Action News 5 that Kunes is no longer enrolled. It did not say whether she withdrew or was removed. NBC News reported, citing a source close to Kunes, that she withdrew.
The video has drawn more than 12 million views, according to Newsweek, along with calls from Black student leaders for accountability.
Metcalf later said the women in the footage were her upstairs neighbors. The apartment is in an off-campus complex where the university leases student housing.
Metcalf’s mother, Tasha Bolton, shared the video on Facebook and said it had been sent to university administrators. Bolton also contacted Memphis television station WMC but declined to say more until the family had spoken with university officials.
In a statement issued through the Chicago law firm Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona, Kunes acknowledged that her behavior was “insensitive, inappropriate, and deeply harmful.” She said she had never met the women before Friday, did not know their race and never meant to direct the gestures at Black people.
Kunes said she had apologized to the residents. She also said she and her family had received death threats and harassment since the video spread. She asked for privacy and pledged to cooperate with the university’s investigation.
The university condemned the conduct Sunday. In a message to the campus, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Shawnboda Mead called the behavior deeply troubling and said staff had contacted the affected students to offer support.
The Office of Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Regulatory Compliance are investigating. University officials have said federal student privacy law limits what they can disclose about disciplinary proceedings.
Mead also cautioned against spreading unverified information online, saying one student had been wrongly identified as involved. Social media users have circulated names for all three women in the video. EEW Magazine Online is naming only Kunes, who identified herself.
Kayle Amos, president of the university’s NAACP chapter, told WAPT the video clearly showed conduct that warrants consequences. Amos said she reached out to Metcalf personally to offer support as a fellow Black woman and student.
Demetrick Stringer Jr., president of the university’s Black Student Union, said in a statement Sunday that the incident had left many Black students “feeling unwelcome and unsafe.” He called for accountability, support for the affected students and stronger efforts to teach incoming students the university’s standards of respect.
The video has revived memories of May 2024, when a white counterprotester was filmed making monkey-like noises and gestures at Jaylin Smith, a Black graduate student, during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on campus. The university opened a conduct investigation then as well.
Kierah Robinson, a Black junior studying political science, told Mississippi Today that the women targeted by the gestures should be able to feel secure in their own home. She urged university leaders to be transparent about the investigation while respecting student privacy.
“We can care deeply about our school and still hold it accountable,” Robinson said.