An Emory University economics professor whose on-campus arrest went viral Thursday after video showed her being thrown to the ground by police was among nearly two dozen students, faculty members and others granted bond on Friday.
Caroline Fohlin, a tenured professor who has been at the university 13 years, was charged with simple battery against a law enforcement officer.
Her attorney, Gregory Clement, told a DeKalb magistrate judge that she went down to the quad during Thursday’s roundup of pro-Palestinian demonstrators because she was concerned about the students’ safety.
“Her arrest was actually posted on CNN and Twitter,” Clement said. “She was a faculty member that was in her office and came down to the quad concerned about the treatment of other students that she was seeing.”
As part of their bond restrictions, the judge initially planned to limit the amount of time that Emory’s students and employees could be on campus, telling them they could only be there for school or work. Those set to graduate next month would have been allowed to walk with their classmates provided they leave campus within 30 minutes of the ceremony ending.
But the university’s general counsel, Amy Adelman, asked that all bond restrictions against Emory’s community members be lifted.
“Emory does not wish to proceed with these restrictions,” she said.
Fohlin was granted a $50 bond.
The school made national headlines after officers clashed with protesters who had set up an encampment on campus to protest the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
