Thank you note

Mom taught me to write thank you notes. I wrote one to President David Sam at ECC right after our successful display. He responded back right away thanking me for the kind words.

I also sent a copy to the local papers. The Courier News printed it. For some unknown reason the Daily Herald did not.

I thought our readers would like to see it. Here you go:
As a follow up to our display of “Empty Shoes – Empty Hearts” I would like to simply say that Elgin Community College took the democracy class and they passed. The walls of the ivory tower shook a bit, but the foundation held.

The administration was professional and unbiased throughout the process, though we were very careful to follow all the rules for political exhibits to a tee.

The faculty was a little apprehensive. The dean of students sent out a warning e-mail to faculty and staff, something one staff member told me had never been done before. The e-mail said in part, “While dealing with controversial issues is never easy, we offer students opportunities to learn, investigate, and discover many diverse topics. Acting in alignment with our process for Non-Profit, Non-Commercial Community or Political organizations to reserve table space and promote a mission within the scope of college policies and procedures, the college replied affirmatively to AFLA’s request for table space.”

I believe it is healthy for professors to experience the same discomfort others feel when they hear that the college is holding events featuring war protests, homosexual themes, global warming, “meat is murder”, abortion, gun control…Not everyone in the community is thrilled with the things most professors are comfortable teaching our students. Academic freedom indeed cuts both ways.

In general the faculty avoided the display, though a few did stop by to study the photos and stories displayed. Those same few had thoughtful comments and I had a delightful dialogue with two of them. Although we disagreed on major issues, we were in accord that over the last 25 years our government has failed to manage this issue.

The students were very well-behaved. My concerns about them being careless with the display turned out to be entirely unfounded. In hindsight I could have left the display unattended and no one would have disturbed it.

Six students were openly enthusiastic about our message. Three were outwardly offended. The other 112 were unemotional, but that didn’t mean they were uninterested. Nearly all of them spent several minutes reading the stories rather than hurrying away once they realized what it was all about. Something was going on inside their heads.

We also had some community members stop by after reading about it in the paper or hearing the radio interview. They came from St. Charles, Crystal Lake, and even Antioch. We received an e-mail from Gary, Indiana wanting information. One gentleman was prompted to come because a friend of his was killed by an illegal alien. (More about the event can be found at www.legalamericans.net)

What was missing from the event? Well, there were no counter-protesters. I very much appreciated that. And there were no “extra police” on hand. I saw a security guard twice in the two days as he walked down the hall. We’ve had too many events cancelled in the past couple of years due to “security concerns” or a request to pay thousands of dollars for police overtime. That is not what America is about.

Thank you, Dr. Sam (ECC President), for your impressive response to this emotional issue. You have quite a college.

Doug Heaton
Co-director
Association for Legal Americans