Addie, Maria, Ella, Carrie and Rory are pseudonyms. These names have been changed to protect the female students’ privacy. The Reflector has not published the name of the male student involved, as any allegations against him are not available in a verified public format, such as with local law enforcement. 

University officials from the Dean of Students’ Office have also not been named, as they are unable to confirm or deny any involvement with the male student due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. 

Since October 2023, female students at Mississippi State University with interests in computer science have used a Discord server named “CS girlies 💖💅💅” as an outlet to discuss class assignments, promote their own research projects and discuss their involvement on campus. It has also served as a forum to discuss a male student who at least five female students say has been taking photos of the people around him without their consent.

On the server, the general tone when discussing the male student is one of frustration and disappointment with MSU’s handling of the situation. Between February 2023 and the fall of 2025, the male student’s behavior has been reported at least five times to the Dean of Students’ Office and at least one formal complaint has been filed with Title IX in the Office of Civil Rights Compliance.

‘She came close to tears, truthfully…’

Addie, a senior wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major, said she was a freshman in the spring of 2023 when she first noticed her male classmate’s behavior changing whenever he was placed in group settings with female students. 

During a Biology II Supplemental Instruction session in Old Main Academic Center, which are university-supported, optional study sessions, Addie was placed in a group with the male student and a friend. Addie stood up to erase the whiteboard, and Addie’s friend said she noticed the male student with his phone pointed at Addie’s butt and that the flash on the phone camera then went off.

“[My friend] decided to point it out to me after we all sat back down after the exercise and was like, ‘Hey, he legit took a picture of your ass,’” Addie said.

While speaking with her friend, trying to rationalize the student’s actions, Addie said that another member of the session chimed in, saying the behavior was nothing new.

Addie approached the supplemental instruction leader, a student employed by the university, who Addie claims told her that this student was “known to do this kind of stuff.”

Katy Cursey graduated from MSU in December 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, and she served as the Biology II SI leader while Addie was taking the class. Cursey remembered the male student’s actions and being approached by a different student first, not Addie, asking to speak with Cursey before the session began.

“She had basically told me that [the male student] had been following her, and that she was really uncomfortable and really scared to be in the session with us. Unfortunately, I had never dealt with anything like that before…” Cursey said. “She came close to tears, truthfully, like she was genuinely, like, very uncomfortable with it. So I had told her to just leave, and I would send her all the materials and everything, and I immediately texted my boss at the time.”

Cursey said she made a point of paying more attention to the male student during the session, noting that she saw him point his phone, followed by a camera flash, not just at the board but at people as well. She sent a report of the incident to her boss that night, on Feb. 13, 2023, who replied that they would bring the concerns to higher-ups in university administration. Cursey and her boss formulated a plan to speak to the male student if he came to another session.

Cursey also received an email from Addie on Feb. 20, 2023, in which Addie explained that she did not think she would be comfortable attending supplemental instruction sessions “knowing that the guy who takes pictures might be there.” Cursey replied to the email, assuring Addie that she would also report this to her supervisor.

‘That shouldn’t be a normal occurrence in a classroom…’

In addition to attending the same supplemental instruction session, Addie was also in the same Biology II laboratory section as the male student, located in Harned Hall. Addie said she became hyperaware of his presence after the photo incident, claiming that he would repeatedly follow her as she walked back to her dormitory.

Addie said that she remembers feeling uncomfortable many times waiting for their lab section to start, and claims that the male student would keep his phone pointed at her, looking at her “wide-eyed and kind of weird.” 

Addie said that a major source of her uneasiness stemmed from the male student standing close to her and staring at her. Addie also said another student in the lab made a point of running interference between her and the male student, walking her to lab after she saw the male student staring at her and draping his jacket over the back of her chair to ensure the male student’s view of Addie’s lower half was blocked. 

Addie said she remembers multiple instances where she was waiting for her lab to start and saw the male student watching her from his place farther down the hall. 

Throughout the lab, Addie said she built rapport with her classmates. She said some would alert her that the student was staring at her, and one classmate in particular made a point of trying to get between the male student and Addie.

“I kind of felt ashamed that this random guy had to insert himself to be, like, quote unquote, my security guard, I guess, but I’m very appreciative that he was enough of a gentleman to do that without me, like, directly asking him. The girls that sat across from me would also let me know if [the male student] was doing things,” Addie said. “That shouldn’t be a normal occurrence in a classroom or lab.”

‘It makes you feel crazy…’

Maria’s interactions with the male student began on the first day of class during the spring 2025 semester. He sat next to her in the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence class in McCain Hall. Maria, then a junior data science major, said she had no idea about his history with other female students, but the situation escalated quickly.

“Then this starts happening,” Maria said as she demonstrated the male student’s actions, holding her phone up close to her face and angling the camera towards the interviewer’s lower body, tapping the screen repeatedly. “I was in a skirt. I was like, there’s no way. I’m just gonna say it — I thought I was schizophrenic.”

Maria explained that while the male student would appear to take pictures from his phone, he would also repeatedly touch himself over the groin area of his pants throughout the class.

She continued to attend class and said the behavior persisted in the same manner. She swapped seats with a friend at one point so that someone would be sitting between her and the male student, but Maria said he began the same behavior with her friends, one of whom was Ella, then a senior data science major.

Maria said it got to a point that she felt unsafe going to class.

“We switch [seats] at a certain point, it somehow ends up happening again to me, and I was just like, I really can’t take it. I was at a point that I became depressive, and I was like, I can’t go to this class,” Maria said. “I can’t go to this class, because I don’t know how to feel about this. I don’t know why it’s happening, I don’t know why he won’t stop… It makes you feel crazy, and it’s like, it’s my problem. So I stopped going.”

‘You’re gonna need a court order to stop me’

On April 16, 2025, the male student walked into Intro to AI late, approximately 45 minutes late, according to Ella. The pictures he began to take upon entering the class seemed to frame the students sitting next to and in front of him. At this point in the semester, Maria and Ella had begun to sit in rows further back. 

As class ended, the male student began taking photos “rapid fire” of the students in front of and beside him as she left. A classmate sitting with Maria and Ella, who at this point was aware of the situation, captured a video of the male student as he took the photos.

According to an email sent by Ella to an official in the Dean of Students’ Office immediately after the confrontation, which was later forwarded to a reporter from The Reflector, Ella called the name of one of the students she saw being photographed by the male student as he stood to leave. This student then left the classroom.

The male student turned to face Ella, and she asked him why he took the photos, to which he denied the allegation, according to Ella’s email. Ella and her classmate began arguing with the male student, and the classmate eventually approached the professor while Ella continued speaking to the male student.

Maria said she remembers that the male student first denied taking photos, then claimed he did not take any in March. According to Maria and Ella, the male student was not attending class in March.

“And his response was very scary,” Maria said, recalling the conversation.

According to Maria, the male student said, “You’re gonna need a court order to stop me.”

In Ella’s email to the official from the Dean of Students’ Office, she, too, claims the male student said, “What are you gonna do… you would have to get a court order to stop me.”

After the confrontation, Ella and Maria’s classmate, who had taken part in confronting the male student, approached their professor. This interaction was captured in a Webex recording of the class, which was shared with a Reflector reporter. While the audio is not completely clear, the confronting student can be heard using the male student’s name.

The classmate can be heard using the male student’s first name, saying “every time a girl walks by,” and using the phrases “several times” and “taking pictures.”

The professor can be heard replying to the classmate, thanking him for bringing it up.

“Thanks, thanks. That’s the second time I’ve been told. I’ve already spoken to him…” the professor said, with the recording then becoming unclear again.

The classmate mentioned at this point in the conversation that, while the male student denies taking photos, he saw the male student’s screen and noticed he was either recording or taking photos.

“Actually, it’d be a good idea to let someone in the department know,” the professor said. “But I’ve already spoken to him once. I’ll talk to him.”

After the classmate leaves the classroom, the professor speaks to the male student. He discusses the male student’s final project, but he also seems to allude to the situation he had been informed about.

“You have a very interesting idea, although I didn’t quite follow it. But yeah, you seem very smart. But be careful about the other things. You’re gonna get yourself into trouble with the department. You don’t want that,” the professor said in the recording. “So, I really, um, I don’t have anything more to say about it, but just, for your own good, I would be very careful. And it would be good for you to apologize, because people would be less likely to report you…” with the audio becoming unclear again.

‘We were tired of CS men’s pedantic antics’

The “CS girlies 💖💅💅” Discord server was created in October 2023. In one of the earliest interactions on the server, a user asks, “ok. but why is this here?” about the server, to which the creator of the server responds, “We were tired of CS men’s pedantic antics.”

The first mention of the male student on the server was on Oct. 21, 2023, five days after the server’s creation, when the server owner asked whether anyone had met him in real life. This followed the user’s interaction with the male student on a different Discord server. Someone who knew Addie replied, saying he “was a creep to multiple of my friends.”

Other than the occasional one-time mention, the male student is not discussed in the server again until March 7, 2025, by Ella.

“Hey yall, yall know [the male student] right?,” Ella writes. “If yall EVER see him taking any pictures or doing anything remotely creepy, report it immediately. I brought it up to the dean of students [office] bc he did it to me the other day and all they did was talk to him. They’ll only do more if something else happens and someone reports it. Soooo please make a referral to the dean of students if anything happens.”

Multiple users chimed in to express their concern over the situation, specifically wondering why the male student had been allowed to continue the alleged behavior.

On April 11, 2025, in a separate channel of the server titled “stinky-cs-men-rants,” the owner of the server tagged all the members of the channel, as well as Maria’s account, to get the conversation started. Ella claimed to have met with the Dean of Students’ Office that day.

According to Ella, she met with officials in the Dean of Students’ office. When reporting the male student, she was not happy with what she was told.

“Whereupon [the official] told me ‘Okay, but what policy did he break?'” Ella wrote in the channel.

Discussion of the situation continued in the channel well into the night.

A user who knew Addie claimed that Amanda Davis, a Computer Science & Engineering lecturer focused on ethical and legal issues, was aware of the situation and had previously expressed willingness to help students report it.

Maria created a document outlining the basic details of the situation from the semester to try to connect others who may have been affected by the male student, as well as students who wished to show solidarity. 

Maria communicated with Davis and said Davis helped provide comments on the document’s structure and content. Ella sent Davis a detailed outline of her communications with officials from the Dean of Students’ Office and the Office of Civil Rights Compliance. 

‘It’s not that I’m scared of him’

On Sept. 16, 2025, a message tagging everyone was sent in the “CS girlies 💖💅💅” Discord server.

“sorry to @ you guys like this, but is there a document about that [the male student] guy that harasses girls in CS classes posted here? i know a lot of you guys have bad experiences with him. my friend says he just took a video of her leaving class and i was wondering if we could do anything about that incident (seemingly MSU hasnt expelled him yet),” the message reads.

The message was sent by Rory, a senior computer science major. She and a friend, fellow computer science senior Carrie, were both in Operating Systems, a class held in Butler Hall. They shared this class with the male student. One day at the beginning of the semester, Rory did not attend class. Carrie attended and sat in her usual seat next to the male student.

“He’s, like, been on his phone like this the whole time, but then he, like, every 30 seconds to two minutes, he’s, like, reaching down and like scratching or itching or readjusting, or doing something with his junk,” Carrie said.

Carrie said she remembers texting Rory to tell her about the guy who sits next to them and that he was touching himself.

Next class, Carrie arrived early in an attempt to sit in the male student’s seat and get him to move elsewhere. Despite her efforts, the male student was already in the classroom when she arrived. Carrie asked the male student if he would move down one seat, into the seat open next to him. He refused to move.

“He was like, ‘Well, you have to be considerate of other people in the class,'” Carrie said. “And so when he said that, I was like, ‘Okay, just like you were considerate last class when you were sitting next to me, and you were touching your junk all class long?'”

Rory said she walked into the classroom just as Carrie said this to the male student. He denied touching himself, and the three students sat down as class started, with Carrie sitting between Rory and the male student.

When Carrie returned to class after an illness-related absence, the class passed without conflict, and Carrie’s girlfriend arrived to pick her up.

As Carrie got into the car, she noticed the male student. She pointed him out to her girlfriend as the guy who had touched himself during a previous class.

“And she was like, ‘Wow, that’s him?'” Carrie said. “And as soon as she said that, and we both kind of looked over at him, we noticed that he was directly, like staring at her car… He can’t hear us, but the way he’s staring at us feels like he can.”

As Carrie and her girlfriend pulled around the front of the building, she noticed the male student holding his phone extremely close to his face and tracking the car’s movement with his body. Carrie pulled out her phone and texted Rory.

“When I told her that, she was obviously, like, shocked at first, and she’s like, wow, I can’t believe that. That’s so crazy,” Carrie said. “But then, maybe 20, 30 minutes later, she messaged me back, and she was like, oh, my god, I think that’s like the serial filmer in computer science.”

Rory found his name in the Canvas course, confirming that the male student was the person she remembered being mentioned in the Discord server, and then sent the Sept. 16 message. About a week later, Carrie and Rory noticed the male student waiting outside of Butler Hall. As they began walking toward the Old Main Academic Center for their next class, they noticed that he was still watching them.

On the second turn of her head, to keep an eye on the male student as they walked with their backs turned, Carrie noticed him holding his phone close to his body, as if to record.

Carrie stopped walking at what she expected to be about 100 yards away and pulled out her own phone, holding it near her face, as the male student did. Carrie continued to play copycat, filming the male student in the same manner that he seemed to be filming them.

“It’s not that I’m scared of him,” Carrie said. “He just makes me so uncomfortable, and there’s no reason he should be making everybody else feel so uncomfortable all the time and not be made to feel uncomfortable back.”

Through the Discord server, Rory and Carrie were able to assemble enough female students to come sit in the class and take up the back row, effectively forcing the male student out of his seat. Rory sent out a message of thanks after the class.

“forever grateful for the girlies today that sat in the back and made him move btw lmao,” Rory wrote. “because i did not want to have my back facing that mf.”

Carrie and Rory said that, while they did not have any examples quite as obvious of the male student filming them after that, and he stopped sitting near them, they believe he kept hovering.

“I feel like it feels like he’s waiting for you, like, outside of the class, and also, like, that day where you recorded him — he only walked away after we were gone,” Rory said, addressing Carrie. 

‘I really don’t feel safe with this guy’

Addie met with a TA personally to detail some of her concerns and received an email from the TA on Feb. 16, 2023, summarizing the events they had discussed and stating that he would report them.

The Office of Civil Rights Compliance, which handles Title IX, emailed Addie on Feb. 21, 2023, to set up a meeting and give her an Initial Report Notification, a form which summarizes a student’s rights, support measures available, an option to report to law enforcement, an option to file a formal complaint with the university and a copy of the university’s sexual misconduct policy.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding. Types of discrimination covered by Title IX include sexual harassment and discrimination based on the condition of pregnancy, but it also covers sex-based discrimination within academic programs and policies, as well.

When a student submits a report to the Office of Civil Rights Compliance, the office contacts the student for an initial meeting and is given Form 1, which is the form Addie was given outlining her rights.

According to the form and officials from the Office of Civil Rights Compliance, decisions to report to law enforcement are left to the student. If a student chooses to file a formal complaint with the university, an investigation begins, notifying the accused person and providing them with their rights. Both the filer and the accused have access to advisors through the university.

The male student’s name did not turn up in a search of the Oktibbeha County Jail docket from 2022-2026, suggesting he was not arrested by any law enforcement agencies within the county during those years.

During the investigation, the filer, the accused and any witnesses are interviewed. The Office of Civil Rights Compliance shares a memorandum at the conclusion of the investigation with both the filer, the accused and their advisors. More detailed information covering Title IX can be found in the university policies 3.03 and 3.04.

While Addie communicated extensively with the Title IX office, she feels the investigation did not alleviate her concerns as she had hoped.

“It was kind of an on and off thing,” Addie said. “I am very happy for the existence of Title IX, but as a freshman, I didn’t feel fully safe with their investigation.”

Addie remembers a phone call with Title IX officials in which she explained that she believed he would have photos of her on his phone, given all the times she said she had seen him point his camera at her. According to Addie, the Title IX office called back to say that, while they had gone through the student’s phone, there was no photo or camera app on it.

“They got ahold of his phone, and then they said that when they looked on the phone, he didn’t have a camera app. He didn’t have a photo app. Yeah, he kind of bricked his phone,” Addie said. 

Addie said the Office of Civil Rights Compliance acknowledged that he could have deleted the apps before they asked for access to his phone, but that there was nothing they could do.

“I was like, ‘I know,’ but I also talked about in my report to you guys that he has kind of has been following me around. He mutters things under his breath around me and in lab. He tries to press himself up against me when we’re lining up in lab…,” Addie said. “I told them, even if he wasn’t taking pictures, I really don’t feel safe with this guy.”

According to Addie, the office continued to follow up with her, speaking with her repeatedly on the phone, until spring break 2023. Addie said the male student continued to attend classes until closer to the end of the semester, when Addie noted he began attending only on exam days. Addie said she has not heard from the Office of Civil Rights Compliance since their final phone call over spring break 2023.

Katy Cursey said she remembers meeting with an official from the Dean of Students’ Office after her initial report of the incident, and that the male student ceased attending sessions after that point.

“I think it’s interesting to note at the time that [the official] told me that, according to [the male student]’s mom, he didn’t have a camera on his phone, which is odd, because one, I don’t think phones come without a camera, you know, and two, I vividly saw some type of images being [taken],” Cursey said.

‘This will continue to be a problem’

Ella noted in a referral she made to the Dean of Students’ Office that, while she thought she had seen him taking photos of her during class, she initially thought she might be misinterpreting the situation, as he also seemed to be taking photos of the information on the board. However, she realized that he was pointing his camera not just at the board, but specifically at her.

According to the Dean of Students’ website, the online referral form is designed to report behavior that is “concerning, worrisome or threatening.”

Ella included excerpts from the referral sent in February 2025 in an email forwarded to The Reflector. 

“On multiple occasions, [the male student] would turn his phone to face me and was clearly recording,” Ella said in the referral.

After two weeks had passed without hearing back about the referral, Ella sent an email to an official in the Dean of Students’ Office. She added that she had given a presentation the day the email was sent, and that the male student’s presence in the room made her especially uneasy.

“I felt so uncomfortable and uneasy dealing with the fact that this student was sitting in the audience that I had asked my boyfriend to attend the class and monitor the student,” Ella said in her email. “From the feeling in my chest, I knew that I should make a follow-up report. No student should feel so gravely uncomfortable with another student that they must ask for someone to watch them. Luckily, no images were taken during the presentation (to my knowledge).”

Following this email, Ella said officials from both the Dean of Students’ Office and the Office of Civil Rights Compliance met with her and asked her to recount all of her encounters with the male student. Ella continued attending class as usual, and after she witnessed him aim his camera at other female students in her class again, she emailed the official from the Dean of Students’ Office.

After this email, she met with another, different official from the Dean of Students’ Office — the same official who had met with Cursey in 2023. Ella remembers that the male student stopped consistently attending class for two to three weeks following her meeting with this official.

Ella emailed the Dean of Students’ Office again after the in-class confrontation, ending her email with a declaration.

“I am sick of wasting my time writing these emails of the exact same thing happening,” Ella said. “I am sick of meetings talking about what has happened, and yet nothing changes. This will continue to be a problem. We know that. I hope that after this report, with evidence, you all will be able to stop this from ever interfering with a woman, or [anybody’s], studies/classes ever again.”

‘I am worried he’s going to do it again…’

Maria emailed Title IX and the Office of Civil Rights Compliance on March 31 with a brief summary of the male student’s actions toward her to date. While, according to her, the male student had not attended many classes during March, Maria said that learning how the administration had handled the situation previously on the Discord server prompted her to speak up. Maria said she then had a series of calls with the office.

April 17, 2025, the day following the confrontation, Maria had a phone call with an official in the Office of Civil Rights Compliance. On the call, the official heard the details of the confrontation and of the document Maria had created, specifically that there were also places for signatures.

The official assured Maria on the phone that this new information would be added to the case file and shared with the Dean of Students’ Office. She also told Maria to take care with the document, telling her specifically that the official did not want Maria to be the subject of any kind of civil action.

The official went on to reiterate that while Maria had the right to do whatever she wanted, she just wanted to warn Maria to be very careful. The official explained that, through the university, the official was given greater protection when investigating allegations through the Office of Civil Rights Compliance.

Maria said she met with the Dean of Students’ Office at the end of the semester and claims they said they would continue to look into the matter.

When contacted via email by The Reflector, Dean of Students Thomas Bourgeois explained that, under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, his office would not be able to confirm or deny any interactions or investigations involving a student with a third party.

Rory believes that an instructor from a different class that Rory and Carrie share must have contacted administration, leading to Rory being contacted by the Office of Civil Rights Compliance, since she did not contact the office herself first.

Rory suggested they speak to Carrie, since she was more directly affected. Carrie was contacted by the same official, who eventually set up a meeting time that Carrie did not attend. Carrie said that her class ended earlier than most that semester, so at that point she did not have to see him much on campus.

Carrie expressed concerns that the male student might resume his more blatant behavior if she let her guard down.

“Although nothing flat out has happened, he is still behaving the same way that has sandwiched around these certain events,” Carrie said. “So I am worried he’s going to do it again as soon as we stop paying enough attention.”

‘It makes you feel like you’re being hunted’

Maria explained that she had conflicted feelings about the situation, but ultimately felt a need to speak up.

“It’s like, is this the worst that it’s ever happened? No, not really, but, like, it’s at a point where it’s like, I don’t want other people to feel like they can’t say anything, or like they can’t go to anyone, and they’re not gonna listen, because that’s what’s been happening before,” Maria said.

Towards the end of September, Maria ran into the male student on the Drill Field. Maria said that the new tactic she used was to record him herself. Maria said she asked him, “Why do you do these things?” He laughed and walked away.

“It makes you feel like you’re being hunted,” Maria said.

Maria said she has not heard from either the Dean of Students’ Office or the Office of Civil Rights Compliance since the previous semester.

“I really think they thought I graduated…” Maria said. “It just kind of fizzled out.”

Maria’s friends in the class, Ella and another female student, who had both allegedly had negative encounters with the male student, graduated in May 2025.

On March 4, 2026, Maria gave an update after having seen the male student on campus again.

“Just wanted to say that I saw him. Again. And that feeling never goes away,” Maria said.