The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus has again become the center of attention after federal prosecutors arrested and charged three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Wednesday was the last day of classes for students at UMass Dartmouth, and senior Leanne Poirier was relaxing outside with her roommate when she heard the news that there had been more arrests in conjunction with the marathon bombings.
"I feel like a lot of students are pretty tired of all the commotion lately," Poirier said. "I know some people who know them, my roommate was just saying, 'That guy was in my class.' And I asked do you have anything to share and she said, 'No, he sat behind me and didn’t say a word.'"
Poirier’s friend may have been referring to one of three 19-year-old men who were, or had been, students at UMass Dartmouth with bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Poirier says it’s strange, and somewhat frustrating, for her school to be associated with alleged terrorist activity.
"People are kind of joking now, 'Oh my gosh, UMass is breeding terrorists,'" she said. "But I don’t think that’s the case at all. I just think that it’s a low-cost school, it’s a state school and some people ended up being here at the wrong time for all of us I guess."
Two students, originally from Kazakhstan but living in New Bedford, are in custody. They’ve been accused of removing a laptop and backpack from the bombing suspect's dormitory room after the explosions but before the FBI searched it. And a third college friend from Cambridge is charged with making false statements to federal investigators.
The UMass Dartmouth administration confirmed the men’s enrollment but did not comment on the case. They’ve kept campus schedules in place and are referring all questions to the FBI.
