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Unruly Student Suspended at Ole Miss

Jan. 11, 1963 - University of Mississippi officials suspended a student tonight who had been picked up by university police last night during the rowdiest demonstration since October against James Meredith (pictured). The student, who will not be allowed to take his final examinations, was ordered to pack his clothes tonight and leave. His name has not been released. At the demonstration, students hurled fireworks and other missiles at military policemen stationed at Mr. Meredith’s dormitory. A large crowd of students had jammed into the university cafeteria late yesterday in apparent anticipation of Mr. Meredith’s arrival for dinner. He walked in shortly after 5:30 dressed in a brown leather flight jacket. The students drummed knives, forks, and spoons on plastic food trays, and about 150 of surged through the entrance in a mass walkout. Mr. Meredith emerged from the main entrance about 30 minutes later accompanied by John Martin, an attorney for the Justice Department. Some among the crowd outside greeted them with war whoops. Twenty-five youths tagged along, shouting, “N****r, go home!” as the two made their way to the university library. As Mr. Meredith entered the library, Burns Tatum, chief of the university police, arrived with three of his men and shouted, “Get all the I.D. cards!” The picking up of a student’s I.D. card constitutes a form of campus arrest. Mr. Meredith’s tormentors scattered, but Mr. Tatum and his men caught two of them as they tried to escape. One was identified as a student at the university and the other as a student of Mississippi State University.


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