🚀 go-pugleaf

This is a foreward from a mailing list I'm on, sorry if it's already
here:
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  We need your help in Wilson, North Carolina!!

  The Administration of Barton College, a small, religiously-affiliated
school in Wilson, N.C., overrode the school's student constitution
and forced the Student Supreme Court Justice there to nullify the
results of a campuswide election following the landslide
victory of openly gay Student Body President candidate Mark Holtzman.
Although Administration officials said their reasons for doing so focused on
Holtzman's grade point average, Elections Chairman Jeffrey Wilkins (a
student) said he believed Holtzman's GPA would qualify him for the
post, which Holtzman would have assumed next fall.

  Wilkins and the editor of the student newspaper both said they believed
Holtzman's sexual orientation was the real reason behind the
Administration's interference in what is usually a student-run system.
With the Administration overriding the Student Constitution, Wilkins
said students are "concerned that it could affect the school, but are
more concerned that people's civil rights are being ignored."

  Mark Holtzman is the only openly-gay student on the entire Barton
campus, yet he is also very popular with the student body.  It is
believed that Barton officials were fearful of what Holtzman might try to
accomplish if he were allowed to take a leadership position on campus.

  WE NEED YOUR HELP!

  Wilson, N.C. does not have a large gay community and we are unable to
organize any large-scale demonstration to protest the decision of the
Barton College administration.  However, you can help us by writing,
calling or faxing Bobby White, the Vice-President of Student Life, and
demanding that Mark Holtzman be allowed to assume his duly-elected
position as Student Body President. I suggest that you also say that
discrimination must not be tolerated at an institution of higher learning
and that students should be able to choose their own elected leaders (as
spelled out in the Barton College constitution) without administrative
interference.  Bobby White's address and phone numbers follow.

                                Bobby White
                                Vice-President of Student Life
                                Barton College
                                Barton College Station
                                Wilson, N.C. 27893
                                Voice: (919) 399-6365
                                Fax: (919) 237-4957

  Thank you for your support and concern!

                                                -- Doug Ferguson
                                                cdfergus@gibbs.oit.unc.edu
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Bri...