Thank you for expressing your interest in supporting Jamie. We have closed the petition to new sign-ons so that it can be delivered to UNC administration. Below, find the text of the petition. If you would like to find another way to support this movement, then join us at UNC Law at 12:30pm in the lower rotunda on 4/11 to help us deliver the petition.

To Interim Chancellor Lee H. Roberts and the Emergency Evaluation and Action Committee,

We are writing as Carolina Law students and Jamie Marsicano’s classmates to request that you revisit the decision to ban Jamie from campus.

We are specifically writing to request that Jamie be allowed to attend our commencement on May 10th, 2024 and to walk across the stage with us at Carmichael Arena. Jamie has walked alongside us and supported us as we’ve lost loved ones, struggled to pull together funds to pay for medical expenses, and welcomed new children into our lives. Just like all of us, they have earned their degree and their right to be honored and celebrated at graduation.

Every student deserves the right to celebrate our hard work with their friends, family, and peers. Every student deserves to have our contributions to this school recognized. Every student deserves this moment to close this chapter of our lives, create lasting memories, and establish a sense of belonging and community among students, faculty, and staff.

We do not believe this ban is just. Last year, Jamie attended a music festival that stood opposed to the destruction of the Weelaunee Forest near Atlanta, Georgia and the construction of a militarized police training facility in a historically Black neighborhood that is known as “Cop City.” This music festival was peacefully attended by families and music-lovers who gathered and picnicked while listening to the music. In retaliation for a totally different protest action against the construction of Cop City, police raided the music festival and indiscriminately arrested attendees. They specifically charged out-of-state attendees with the bogus charge of Domestic Terrorism to intimidate other protestors and scare people away from continuing to protest Cop City.

UNC has presumed that Jamie is guilty of this charge, but that presumption is misplaced. The prosecution has presented no evidence to connect her with this charge. Instead, a judge decided to release Jamie from pre-trial detention so that she could complete her education while the charges are pending. Indeed, the District Attorney initially charged with prosecuting Jamie backed out of the case because she did not believe there was sufficient evidence to pursue a charge. Jamie deserves a presumption of innocence and due process—rights promised by the Constitution—before being treated as a threat to campus in any way. Instead, this process has stigmatized her and is literally pushing her to the margins of her own graduation.

The Law School’s administration was happy to welcome Jamie back to campus, but the previous Chancellor overruled them to institute a wholly unnecessary ban. As a result, Jamie has been forced to take classes through an inter-institutional enrollment program at Duke University instead. Of course, over the past year that Jamie has been taking classes at Duke while banned from UNC, they have posed no threat to anyone on Duke’s campus, nor have they had any disciplinary issues. Jamie poses no safety threat; there is no reason she should be banned from graduation.

Last year, over 150 students walked out of class to ask the former chancellor to consider our voices in the decision to ban Jamie from campus. We were supported by over 1,000 attorneys, organizations, and students from around the country. We are only asking that she be allowed to attend her own commencement ceremony alongside all of us.

Let us be clear: these charges are nothing more than political circus and this unfair ban turns our graduation into the center ring. This ban tarnishes our commencement, turning it into a political spectacle rather than what it should be: a celebration of all of our Carolina Law graduates. If this decision is not reversed, the memory of our graduation and our Carolina experience will be forever tainted. Jamie deserves better and so do we.

Jamie has complied with all of the decisions of the EEAC and the former Chancellor and has never had any disciplinary concerns before their arrest. They will comply with any reasonable requirements the EEAC has for her attending graduation. We know Jamie, and we know that she has never been a threat to our safety.

Interim Chancellor Roberts and the EEAC now have the opportunity to make things right by lifting the ban and the stain that it is leaving on our final moments as Carolina Law students. We ask that you listen to those of us who actually have stake in the law school’s graduation by allowing Jamie to attend.