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Black Harvard Student Banned from Graduation - But Why?
Date: Thursday, June 04, 2009,
By: Denise Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com
When she graduated from a prestigious New York college preparatory school in 2005, there was lots of fanfare for Chanequa Campbell. There was even a story in The New York Times about the $7,500 scholarship she received from the newspaper and the other honors and awards she earned on her way to the Ivy League.
Campbell, a 21-year-old from Brooklyn, was supposed to graduate again with fanfare on Thursday from one of the world’s most noted institutions – Harvard University. But there will be neither pomp nor circumstance for the honor student, who majored in sociology.
Instead, she has been banned from campus. And little has been said of the reasons why.
“The action taken by Harvard was arbitrary, so there is nothing to appeal at this time,” Campbell’s attorney Jeffery Karp told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Harvard officials have declined comment regarding Campbell.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Campbell was told to leave campus on May 22, after a male student in her dormitory was charged with murdering a young man who was visiting in Kirkland House.</span>
Campbell lived in the dorm where 21-year-old Justin Cosby, a former Salem State College student, was killed on May 18. Jabrai Jordan Copney, a 20-year-old songwriter from New York City, has been charged with murder in the case and has pleaded not guilty.
Also on May 22, Copney was ordered held in jail without bond, according to Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone Jr.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Authorities said someone gave Cosby access to the Kirkland House.</span>
“It is alleged that the defendant, along with others, confronted Cosby in a common area inside the Kirkland House. During the course of the confrontation, multiple shots were fired. One of those shots struck Cosby, resulting in his death,” Leone said in a prepared statement.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Investigators believe Cosby and Copney knew each other, but they have not provided details of that relationship</span>.
According to the Boston Globe, Campbell has said she didn't know Cosby, but is friends with Copney's girlfriend, also a Harvard senior. The Harvard status for Copney’s girlfriend is not known.
As of Wednesday, no Harvard student had been either charged or named as an accessory to the crime.
Karp said his client had nothing to do with the incident and is being treated differently without reason.
“There have been no charges, and there will be no charges forthcoming for my client because she was not involved in the incident,” Karp said.
Campbell did not grant an interview to BlackAmericaWeb.com, however, she has told other publications that she is being singled out because of racism.
“I'm black and I'm poor and I'm from New York and I walk a certain way and I keep my clothes a certain way," Campbell said in an article published in the Boston Globe.
Campbell’s life’s story is filled with examples of perseverance. During her sophomore year in high school, she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease lupus, according to a story on the website for the Packer Collegiate Institute.
She continued to focus on her health and her studies. At the time, she wanted to play basketball, but couldn’t. The delay for that goal was only temporary. Before leaving Packer, Campbell was captain of the basketball team and the leading scorer.
Campbell took that same kind of determination with her to Harvard. In 2006, she launched Harvard’s “Black Tees for Black History” campaign by asking students to wear black tees to raise awareness of the oft-glossed over Black History Month, according to an article in the Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper.
“This entire month of black history has gone by, and there has been no community-wide recognition of these events,” she told The Crimson. “So I put it upon myself to advocate that we all wear black T-shirts to communicate, as a community, Black History Month.”
As an undergraduate, Campbell spent a year studying abroad, visiting 12 countries on three continents. She studied in Milan, Italy and at Queen Mary, University of London, according to another interview in the Harvard Crimson. She even managed to squeeze in time for sky diving in Switzerland.
Timothy Turner, outgoing president of the Harvard Black Students Association, said he knows Campbell through her involvement with campus activities over the past four years, but would not make a statement regarding the incident.
“There is an ongoing investigation, and I believe everyone is withholding comment,” he told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
As for the claims of racism made by Campbell, Turner said there have been some problems, most notably the “Quad incident” in 2007.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Students from the Association of Black Harvard Women and the Harvard Black Men’s Forum were having their interorganizational challenge on the Quad when campus police approached them and asked to see their campus identification.</span>
<span style="font-style: italic">Black students said whites would not have been asked to provide identification. They launched a campaign called “I am Harvard.”</span>
“We’ve had a few issues here and there, but the university officials have been willing to sit down and talk with us about them,” Turner said.
He’s hoping the situation with Campbell is soon resolved.
“It’s a problematic situation,” Turner said. “Hopefully, it will not be a problem for her future.”
Date: Thursday, June 04, 2009,
By: Denise Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com
When she graduated from a prestigious New York college preparatory school in 2005, there was lots of fanfare for Chanequa Campbell. There was even a story in The New York Times about the $7,500 scholarship she received from the newspaper and the other honors and awards she earned on her way to the Ivy League.
Campbell, a 21-year-old from Brooklyn, was supposed to graduate again with fanfare on Thursday from one of the world’s most noted institutions – Harvard University. But there will be neither pomp nor circumstance for the honor student, who majored in sociology.
Instead, she has been banned from campus. And little has been said of the reasons why.
“The action taken by Harvard was arbitrary, so there is nothing to appeal at this time,” Campbell’s attorney Jeffery Karp told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Harvard officials have declined comment regarding Campbell.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Campbell was told to leave campus on May 22, after a male student in her dormitory was charged with murdering a young man who was visiting in Kirkland House.</span>
Campbell lived in the dorm where 21-year-old Justin Cosby, a former Salem State College student, was killed on May 18. Jabrai Jordan Copney, a 20-year-old songwriter from New York City, has been charged with murder in the case and has pleaded not guilty.
Also on May 22, Copney was ordered held in jail without bond, according to Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone Jr.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Authorities said someone gave Cosby access to the Kirkland House.</span>
“It is alleged that the defendant, along with others, confronted Cosby in a common area inside the Kirkland House. During the course of the confrontation, multiple shots were fired. One of those shots struck Cosby, resulting in his death,” Leone said in a prepared statement.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Investigators believe Cosby and Copney knew each other, but they have not provided details of that relationship</span>.
According to the Boston Globe, Campbell has said she didn't know Cosby, but is friends with Copney's girlfriend, also a Harvard senior. The Harvard status for Copney’s girlfriend is not known.
As of Wednesday, no Harvard student had been either charged or named as an accessory to the crime.
Karp said his client had nothing to do with the incident and is being treated differently without reason.
“There have been no charges, and there will be no charges forthcoming for my client because she was not involved in the incident,” Karp said.
Campbell did not grant an interview to BlackAmericaWeb.com, however, she has told other publications that she is being singled out because of racism.
“I'm black and I'm poor and I'm from New York and I walk a certain way and I keep my clothes a certain way," Campbell said in an article published in the Boston Globe.
Campbell’s life’s story is filled with examples of perseverance. During her sophomore year in high school, she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease lupus, according to a story on the website for the Packer Collegiate Institute.
She continued to focus on her health and her studies. At the time, she wanted to play basketball, but couldn’t. The delay for that goal was only temporary. Before leaving Packer, Campbell was captain of the basketball team and the leading scorer.
Campbell took that same kind of determination with her to Harvard. In 2006, she launched Harvard’s “Black Tees for Black History” campaign by asking students to wear black tees to raise awareness of the oft-glossed over Black History Month, according to an article in the Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper.
“This entire month of black history has gone by, and there has been no community-wide recognition of these events,” she told The Crimson. “So I put it upon myself to advocate that we all wear black T-shirts to communicate, as a community, Black History Month.”
As an undergraduate, Campbell spent a year studying abroad, visiting 12 countries on three continents. She studied in Milan, Italy and at Queen Mary, University of London, according to another interview in the Harvard Crimson. She even managed to squeeze in time for sky diving in Switzerland.
Timothy Turner, outgoing president of the Harvard Black Students Association, said he knows Campbell through her involvement with campus activities over the past four years, but would not make a statement regarding the incident.
“There is an ongoing investigation, and I believe everyone is withholding comment,” he told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
As for the claims of racism made by Campbell, Turner said there have been some problems, most notably the “Quad incident” in 2007.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Students from the Association of Black Harvard Women and the Harvard Black Men’s Forum were having their interorganizational challenge on the Quad when campus police approached them and asked to see their campus identification.</span>
<span style="font-style: italic">Black students said whites would not have been asked to provide identification. They launched a campaign called “I am Harvard.”</span>
“We’ve had a few issues here and there, but the university officials have been willing to sit down and talk with us about them,” Turner said.
He’s hoping the situation with Campbell is soon resolved.
“It’s a problematic situation,” Turner said. “Hopefully, it will not be a problem for her future.”
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