Not all the news on race in Mississippi this week was bad. It turns out that an apparent racist incident at the University of Mississippi this fall was actually an ill-considered prank played on some friends by three African-American freshmen. While the incident didn't get much play outside the state, it did embarrass the university during the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of James Meredith's admission to Ole Miss.

The perpetrators of the Kincannon Hall grafitti incident got off with probation, instead of the expulsion that many in the university community, including the student senate, thought was warranted in the case; nor are the perpetrators being identified publically, although it is allegedly common knowledge who they are (shades of a Boalt-style coverup?). Allan Innman's editorial cartoon sums the situation up nicely.

Previous coverage here. (For the record, I am a university employee, so I'm probably bound by the Buckley Amendment in this case — but surely the Daily Mississippian and Oxford Eagle aren't.)