RI Populist noted in the Wall Street Journal

As Matt Jerzyk notes on his site, the law student-led push to remove Ralph Papitto's name from the law school at Roger Williams University gets some attention today from the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ also sheds some light on the activist credentials of Jerzyk, who is an occasional contributor to the Phoenix:

Leading the charge for the law students was Matthew Jerzyk, a third-year student with a penchant for protest. Prior to law school, Mr. Jerzyk, 30, spent six years as a union and community organizer. This time around, he enlisted 170 law students on summer break and dispersed across the country to sign a petition calling for the removal of Mr. Papitto's name. He employed an array of digital tools -- emailing, blogging and "Facebooking" -- to galvanize his fellow students.

"It was really one of the more amazing experiences of my life," said Mr. Jerzyk, who is clerking this summer at plaintiffs' firm Motley Rice LLP in Providence, R.I. "It's an extraordinary lesson that a group of students entering the legal profession have learned: Their voice matters and they can advance the interests of justice."

Matt first came to our attention seven years ago when he described how he was moved to become an activist:

The night before his graduation from Brown University in May 1999, Matthew Jerzyk celebrated. He was standing on Wickenden Street in Providence, taking pictures of his friends, when police arrived to break up the gathering. They began arresting students and Jerzyk took a few pictures. Before he knew it, he says, his camera was taken, he was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and refusing to move, and thrown into a van with his friends.

Jerzyk spent the night in jail. Later that summer, he began looking into police practices. He wanted to know their policy on the use of pepper spray and how citizens could file complaints, but he found the police unforthcoming. Jerzyk's frustration led him to a police accountability campaign at South Providence-based Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE). In the year since his arrest, Jerzyk has taken a job with Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, a coalition of 30 community, labor, and religious groups. He's become a member of DARE, an 800-member community organizing group, and recently helped start Truth to Power, a progressive think tank focused on social, economic, and political justice. He marched in the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization and with Unity 2000 demonstrators at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.