A Harvard University senior was ordered to leave campus and told she could not graduate this month because of her suspected role in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Justin Cosby in a Harvard dorm last week, according to news reports.
Chanequa N. Campbell — a friend of Harvard senior Brittany J. Smith, the girlfriend of shooting suspect Jabrai Jordan Copney — says that the university is singling her out because of her race.
“The honest answer to that is that 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,” she told The Boston Globe.
Prosecutors said Copney gained access to Kirkland House, the undergraduate residence where the shooting occurred, using an electronic card key that a student gave him. Smith has also been linked to the incident but it is unclear if she will face any charges, according to The Harvard Crimson.
Through her lawyer, Campbell denied giving Copney the key or being connected to the shooting in any way.
(Photo: Eric P. Newcomer/The Harvard Crimson)