Students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill walked out of class yesterday to protest school officials’ decision to ban a law school student from campus after she was charged with domestic terrorism last month following a violent protest over a planned Atlanta-area police and firefighter training center that activists call “Cop City.”
UNC-Chapel Hill law school student Jamie Marsicano, 30, was one of 23 people arrested on domestic terrorism charges March 5th after a large group of masked activists stormed a Georgia construction site and proceeded to bash equipment, torch a bulldozer and throw rocks and fireworks at retreating law enforcement officers, according to police surveillance footage. Since being released on bond last month, Marsicano has been barred from attending class in person.
Yesterday, more than 100 protesters marched across UNC’s campus chanting, “Jamie’s not in class! We are not in class!” The demonstrators then entered an administrative building and read aloud an open letter urging university officials to reverse the decision against Marsicano, a second-year law student whom classmates described as a loving, supportive member of the school community.
The Atlanta City Council approved building a new facility for police training in 2021, saying that a state-of-the-art training facility for police would replace current substandard offerings and help boost police morale. Photo credit: R.J.Rico, Associated-Press