A law student at the University of North Carolina (UNC) has been banned from attending classes in person or participating online following an arrest at a music festival in Atlanta on March 5. Jamie Marsicano, who uses they/them pronouns, was one of 35 people arrested for allegedly charging a construction area where a police training facility is being built and throwing rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police officers.
Marsicano attended the South River Music Festival on March 4 and 5, which kicked off a week of action to “Stop Cop City” and defend the Atlanta forest, according to an Instagram post by the festival. Marsicano’s lawyers argue that there is no evidence placing them at the incident site and that Marsicano was arrested at the music festival.
The government claims that protesters who fled the construction site got wet crossing a creek to get to the music festival, while protesters argued that it had rained two days before and the festival grounds had muddy areas. According to the Washington Post, at a bond hearing, a prosecutor said Marsicano was arrested because they were wearing muddy, black clothing and had 2016 and 2017 arrests tied to protests.
If convicted, Marsicano could face up to 35 years in prison, according to Robert Rubin, one of Marsicano’s lawyers. Georgia’s domestic terrorism statute was amended in 2017 to include actions meant to destroy critical infrastructure. The first charges under the revised statute dealt with “stop the cops” arrests, according to Erin King, another of Marsicano’s lawyers.
According to a media relations manager for UNC, the university has not commented on the matter due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. However, according to Rubin, the decision to ban Marsicano was made by the university chancellor in conjunction with the emergency evaluation and action committee, which has jurisdiction over students whose behavior on or off campus could be a continuing danger to the university community or property.
Marsicano was a dean’s fellow, a member of a student wellness committee, an Outlaw board member, and the president of the law school’s National Lawyers Guild chapter, according to their lawyers. Under the sanction, Marsicano cannot participate in these activities. More than 100 students at UNC participated in a walkout supporting Marsicano on April 13, according to the Daily Tar Heel, a student newspaper.
Rubin says he and his team have filed an administrative appeal, but it needs to be clarified since there are no procedural rules for this hybrid decision-making.
“It’s unfortunate the university would consider it proper to remove such an important member of the UNC law community and, ironically, remove them in the name of protecting the various students Jamie has been protecting since their admission to law school,” Rubin says.
The case highlights the controversy around the use of domestic terrorism charges and raises questions about the procedural rules for sanctions taken by universities.