Ole Miss Student Quits After Viral Racist Ring-camera Video
Alaina Kunes, 18, has withdrawn from the University of Mississippi days after a Ring doorbell video showing her making racist gestures and ape noises outside the apartment of three Black students went viral.
Case at a glance
- Alaina Kunes — subject
Next: The university has not announced a timeline for concluding Vice Chancellor Mead's investigation, and because FERPA shields student conduct records, any outcome for Kunes or the women she was photographed with may never be made public. The ACLU of Mississippi says it is still reviewing complaints about the incident, and the second woman in the video — the one who has never been identified or come forward — remains the open thread in this story. No civil suit has been filed by Bolton's daughter or her roommates as of this reporting.
What the doorbell camera caught
On Friday, Nov. 6, a Ring doorbell camera recorded three young women walking past the front door of an off-campus apartment in Oxford, Mississippi. The apartment is home to three Black University of Mississippi students, including the daughter of Tasha Bolton, who first raised the alarm.
In the video, two of the women are seen beating their chests and making monkey noises as they pass the door. The third walks by without stopping or joining in.
The footage spread quickly once it reached social media. Bolton said she reached out to news outlets, including Memphis station WMC, to get the story told.
Who's involved
Alaina Kunes, 18, is a freshman at Ole Miss, originally from Wisconsin. She is the first of the three women identified publicly, confirmed by Action News 5 and sister station WMC after she sent a statement to reporters.
The second woman seen making the same gestures has never been identified and has not commented publicly. NBC News reported it is unclear whether she, or the third woman seen in the clip, are still enrolled at the university.
Bolton's daughter, a Black freshman, shares the apartment with two other Black roommates. Ole Miss leases the apartment complex to house students off campus.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Shawnboda Mead opened the university's investigation. Candi Richardson, communications director for the ACLU of Mississippi, said the organization is separately reviewing complaints it received about the incident.
"This is absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. College is supposed to be a place where young adults can learn, grow, and feel safe." — Tasha Bolton, mother of one of the targeted students, via Facebook post, quoted by NBC News
The family business connection
Spectrum News 1 confirmed through public records that Kunes is the daughter of Scott Kunes, the former chief operating officer of Kunes Auto Group, who left the company earlier this year, and the granddaughter of Gregg Kunes, who owns the Wisconsin-based dealership chain founded in Delavan in 1997.
Her attorneys, at the firm Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona, said she has never worked for the company and holds no ownership in it. Kunes Auto Group issued its own statement distancing itself: "the individual in the video has no employment, ownership, or professional affiliation with Kunes Auto Group," the company said, adding it is "built on treating every person with dignity and respect."
Attorney William Sulton, who represents two people suing Kunes Auto Group over discrimination claims, told Action News 5 his office has been "inundated with complaints about racism and other consumer rights issues since the Makayla Starks incident in 2025, where she had a sticker with the N-word printed on it." He said the family connection did not surprise him: "discrimination is learned from parents and family. It's not something you're born with."
What the university has done, and hasn't
No criminal charges have come out of the video. Everything that has happened so far — the investigation, the statements, Kunes' withdrawal — has moved through university channels, not a courtroom.
Mead's Sunday email to campus described the footage as showing "University of Mississippi students engaging in racist gestures directed toward other students," according to NBC News, and announced a formal review. The university's public statement condemned the conduct and said it reached out to the targeted students with information, resources and support.
But the school also said any student conduct record and disciplinary outcome is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. That means the public may never learn what discipline, if any, the second or third woman in the video faces — or faced, if they are even still Ole Miss students. NBC News said the university did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Kunes confirmed to Action News 5 on Wednesday, Nov. 11, that she has withdrawn from the university. A source close to her gave NBC News the same account.
What each side has said
Kunes apologized in a statement sent to WMC and distributed through her attorneys: "To the women I offended and to the Ole Miss community, I sincerely apologize. I recognize my actions were insensitive, inappropriate, and deeply harmful." She added, "I would have never intentionally made those noises or gestures toward a person of color. I have apologized to the women and I pray they will forgive me."
She also said she and her family have been targeted since the video surfaced: "Over the past several days, my family and I have received death threats and harassment," she said, thanking authorities for their safety and asking for privacy "as I intend to cooperate fully with the University's investigation."
Bolton posted her own reaction on Facebook, quoted by NBC News: "This is absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. College is supposed to be a place where young adults can learn, grow, and feel safe. We want answers. Specifically, what steps will be taken to address this behavior and ensure accountability?"
Ariel Streeter, an Ole Miss freshman, told Action News 5 the video rattled her. "I was like, 'Wow, this is really happening,'" she said. "It's kind of scary a little bit; it can happen right now to me or somebody."
A student who asked to stay anonymous because of tensions on campus told Action News 5 he's never personally experienced racism at Ole Miss but found the video unsettling: "It is really surprising to see how people view us as a whole. It's just off-setting."
What happens next
The university has not announced a timeline for concluding Vice Chancellor Mead's investigation, and because FERPA shields student conduct records, any outcome for Kunes or the women she was photographed with may never be made public. The ACLU of Mississippi says it is still reviewing complaints about the incident, and the second woman in the video — the one who has never been identified or come forward — remains the open thread in this story. No civil suit has been filed by Bolton's daughter or her roommates as of this reporting.
How this plays in court
There's no criminal case here, and that's worth sitting with for a second. Ugly as the gestures are, racist conduct by itself — standing on a sidewalk making monkey noises — doesn't fit any Mississippi criminal statute unless it crosses into a true threat, stalking, or a hate-crime enhancement tied to an underlying crime like assault or vandalism. Walking past someone's door isn't that.
What does carry legal weight, from a prosecutor's eye, is the fallout: the death threats Kunes says her family received. If those are real and traceable, that's the one part of this story that could actually land in a courtroom, under harassment or threat statutes, regardless of how the public feels about the target of the original video.
On the civil side, Bolton's daughter and her roommates have a path worth watching: a discrimination or harassment claim, especially since Ole Miss itself leases that apartment complex, which could expose the university to Title VI or fair-housing scrutiny depending on how campus officials respond from here. The defense in any such claim would lean hard on the fact that Kunes already apologized, already cooperated, and already paid a real-world price by withdrawing — arguing there's nothing left to deter or remedy.
Inside the university's own process, the fight is about secrecy, not guilt. FERPA lets Ole Miss keep the disciplinary record private, so the question the public will keep asking — what happens to the second woman who still hasn't been named — may simply never get answered in any forum, civil or academic.
- Action News 5: Woman apologizes after racist gestures caught on camera outside Ole Miss students’ apartment
- KBTX News 3: Woman speaks out after being seen making racist gestures outside Ole Miss students’ apartment
- NBC News: Woman apologizes for making racist gestures outside Ole Miss students’ apartment
- Spectrum News: Woman issues apology for 'inappropriate' actions captured on doorbell video at University of Mississippi
- KSLA: Woman speaks out after being seen making racist gestures outside Ole Miss students’ apartment