Ole Miss Students Fear Dorm Safety After Deaths and Drugging Reports, Campus Groups Respond

OXFORD, Miss. – Anxiety is spreading across the University of Mississippi community after a student said she was drugged at an Oxford bar over the weekend, just days before two students were found dead. In response, bars across the college town are increasing security measures as concern grows among students.

Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said investigators are examining the deaths of two college-aged people whose bodies were found at separate locations. Authorities have not determined that the cases are connected. However, packaged kratom bought from a retail store was recovered during both investigations.

“We do not have confirmed information indicating that kratom or any other substance was a contributing factor in either death,” the agency said.

Mary Harvey, an Ole Miss student, told News Outlet that she went to Oxford bars Saturday night to watch the Rebels play Louisiana State University. She said she believes she was drugged and remembers little of the evening.

“Later into that night, around the time when the game ended, I do not remember a single thing. And I was told by a boy that was there that I fell down,” Harvey said.

Harvey said police placed her in an Uber and sent her back to her dorm. Once there, other students had to assist her in reaching her room.

“Later after that, my roommate got in the shower and she said while she was in the shower, I went missing. And she left the dorm to find me and was searching everywhere, searched every floor. But on her way back from searching, she found me passed out in the hall of my dorm,” Harvey said.

Harvey said she no longer feels “safe in my dorm building.” In a Facebook post, she wrote that “people are scared to leave their dorm rooms.”

“I feel like everything is just kind of getting swept under the rug and covered up when it should be addressed like immediately,” she said.

Kenneth Tonos, another Ole Miss student who provides security for multiple fraternities and sororities, told News Outlet that at least three Greek life events were canceled after the deaths. He said Oxford bars are also adding safeguards, including stricter screening to monitor what patrons bring inside.

A University of Mississippi spokesman confirmed to News Outlet that both people who died were students at the university.

Authorities are handling the deaths as separate cases and have not confirmed that drugs or another substance played a role. The county coroner’s office told Fox News on Wednesday that both victims were male. One was 18 and died in a dorm room; the other was 20 and died at an off-campus residence.

The coroner’s office said the students’ names have not been released. Toxicology testing is still pending and may take several weeks to complete.

Officials urged the public “to avoid speculation regarding the circumstances or cause of either death while these investigations remain ongoing.”

“Local, state and federal partners are working collaboratively to gather the facts and provide answers as quickly and responsibly as possible. We are also working closely with the families involved and ask that their privacy be respected during an incredibly difficult time,” Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said.

A University of Mississippi spokesman told News Outlet Wednesday that several drug-related claims circulating online are false, including reports that more students were missing or unaccounted for.

Daily Mississippian Editor-in-Chief Raegan Settle told News Outlet that she wants more transparency from campus officials after the deaths of two students and subsequent drug investigation, urging leadership to issue safety warnings as national media attention mounts.

“The one main thing that I’ve heard repeatedly today is students being frustrated with the university that they haven’t said more,” Settle told News Outlet. “I think people are just waiting for more warnings and communication from the university and not just local law enforcement.”

Settle urged her peers to carry life-saving harm reduction tools like naloxone (Narcan).

“Getting a high or getting a nicotine feel is really not worth your life and risking your safety,” Settle warned. “And also… be the one who keeps Narcan in your purse. I know that I keep it in mine just in case.”

News Outlet reached out to the Oxford Police Department and Ole Miss for comment.