The Federal Bureau of Investigation and University of Mississippi are in search of two male suspects responsible for vandalising the statue of the school's first black student.

Campus police officials found a noose and a flag with the Confederate battle emblem near the bronze statue of James Meredith Sunday. The suspects are accused of tying the noose around the neck and placing the pre-2003 Georgia state flag on the statue face. According to witness reports, the men are also reported to have shouted racial slurs at the statue.

"These individuals chose our university's most visible symbol of unity and educational accessibility to express their disagreement with our values," the university's chancellor, Daniel W. Jones, said in a statement. "Their ideas have no place here, and our response will be an even greater commitment to promoting the values that are engraved on the statue - courage, knowledge, opportunity and perseverance."

Meredith, the civil rights leader, was the first black student to attend the then all-white Oxford University in 1962.

"It's a racial hate crime," Mississippi NAACP president Derrick Johnson said. "At what level do they get prosecuted? I don't know. But as long as we tolerate hate, we will continue to revisit history and the past of this state, and at some point we must move forward," abc reports.

The university's alumni association is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Anyone with information concerning the investigation is urged to contact the University Police Department at 662-915-7234.

Reacting to the attacker's cowardly actions, students said that it does not diminish Meredith's legacy or their faith.

"I'm still kind of in shock at the tactics that some people try to use, either to try to intimidate or to provoke a reaction from the university," Willie Toles Jr., a biology major Mr. Toles, who is black. "What motive do you have for doing these types of things?" The New York Times reports.

This is the second racist incident on the Oxford campus this academic year. Last semester, audience members used homophobic slurs during the school's performance of "The Laramie Project.'