Following up on my letter to the USDOJ yesterday, I had a conversation today with an AUSA in North Carolina.
Mr. Ben White
Assistant US Attorney
Middle District of North Carolina
P. O. Box 1858
Greensboro, NC 27402
Dear Sir:
This letter is to document our conversation of today, October 3, 2006 in re: Duke University student voter registration efforts (see attached letter).
Your response was, “Duke is private property, so they (Duke) can do what they want,” and “No one is preventing the students from going downtown and registering.” You said that you had not heard any complaints from the students themselves and would like to hear from them directly. You also questioned whether or not Duke students would be eligible to vote.
Please advise if my recollection is faulty or that you remember the conversation differently.
Sincerely,
Cc: John K. Tanner, Chief
Voting Section, USDOJ
Anna Mills S. Wagoner
US Attorney, Middle District of NC
"Your response was, “Duke is private property, so they (Duke) can do what they want,” and “No one is preventing the students from going downtown and registering.” You said that you had not heard any complaints from the students themselves and would like to hear from them directly. You also questioned whether or not Duke students would be eligible to vote."
If he was
1) that ignorant of what is going on; or
2) that indifferent;
then I don't want to see someone like that on the federal payroll. Duke receives lots of federal money; the feds require a great deal of schools that get federal money (even in only via the payment of student scholarships).
I assume it might even be alleged that Duke, which knew
of the intention of this group to register voters beforehand and then tried to stop them, might even be
guilty of attempting to intimidate persons from registering
on the basis of their political viewpoint.
(Does Duke
ever allow anyone else to register to vote on the campus? Have there ever been drives to register voters by any other on or off campus group? Feminists? NAACP? Peace and Freedom party? ACLU? If those are allowed, on what exact basis do they single out this group--students for an ethical Durham--and exclude them?) Anyone know a good civil rights lawyer? Maybe the students can sue?)