Can You help me, please?

Gulf War veteran with slight facial paralysis suspended from Pat Robertson's religious law school for, of all things; "having a demon".

Sirs/Madames,

It's with the greatest respect that I herewith request your thoughtful intervention in this unjust matter. Succinctly, I'm a veteran who served honorably under combat conditions in the Persian Gulf War and who developed Bells Palsy facial paralysis during my freshman year at the defendant institution.

Thereafter, a religiously zealous classmate, who was in a position of student gov't there, informed me that in her opinion, I was suffering from a spiritual problem called transferrance; which she thereafter defined as a curse from God for having a demon. With the help of a classmate who fraudulently claimed to be a Medical Doctor, she incited sufficient fear in our fellow classmates to have me expelled for being a potential danger to myself and to others which, according to my classmate, resulted from my, curse from God for having a demon. Unfortunately, mine is not the only complaint of abuse by this institution. With the encouragement of others, I have filed a $1.5 million dollar complaint with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at their Norfolk branch. My case has now been in the Court for over 6 months and I'm proceeding forward to trial by jury on July 25th.

Although the school claims to be private, it receives the clear majority of its funding from Federally subsidized student loans. In short, Mrs. Clampitt's defamation of my character has been so successful that I may never again, gain admission to another ABA accredited law school, and have now been rejected by 4 law schools because the defendant institution has withheld my letter of good standing. Although 7 of my classmates have written recommendations as to my honesty and my integrity, and although 21 have signed a petition in my behalf, my law career is ostensibly over, and has been prematurely murdered, because a religiously frenzied classmate claimed that my Bells Palsy facial paralysis was, in her opinion, a curse from God for having a demon.

Since she no longer felt safe with me in the classroom, and because the a*s't Dean, himself a man of questionable integrity, had an administrative error to hide, Ive been suspended.

Apparently, if I attempt to transfer, no ABA accredited law school will take me without a letter of good standing from Pat Robertson's religiously extreme and newly accredited school of law. Hence, I've been officially informed that my law career is probably over; not for cheating, stealing, or assault, nor for abusing various substances mind you; all of which I've seen happen at this newly accredited law school with selective impunity, but for having a demon. Regrettably, I am NOT kidding.

In fact, it's a matter of public record that two years ago, Virginia Beach Atty. Kevin Martingale, successfully defended a third-year law student from being expelled from Regent a few short months prior to his graduation for, living in sin with his girlfriend, while off-campus. An area civil rights attorney has advised me that they're unaware that their legal authority over students ends at the edge of their campus. To their discredit, this school has sustained a plethora of successful litigation since their recent ABA accreditation.

Furthermore, Virginia Beach atty. Kevin Martingale has informed me that the local legal community there is HIGHLY reluctant to hire Regent graduates because of their well-known reputation for religious extremism and intolerance. In fact, according to one other atty., Regent's tendency to infuse all of their affairs with such extreme religious zeal is precisely why their initial ABA accreditation was provisional and why the Virginia Beach legal community was apprehensive about their obtaining an ABA accreditation to begin with.

From a legal standpoint, my sudden suspension without a hearing was a violation of the school's own student handbook procedures regarding their disciplinary process and of my 14th Amendment Constitutional right to procedural due process. There have been 12 cases recently, between the First and Fourth Federal Districts, wherein graduate students have successfully sued private institutions under a breach of contract theory. Ask me, and I will send you a synopsis of, and legal citation for these cases ( See: Federal Court decisions in: Fellheimer v. Middlebury College, 869 F. Supp 238, 244 (D. Vt. 1994), wherein a US District Court held that the private college was contractually bound to provide students with the procedural safeguards that it promised in its publications and in Schaer v. Brandeis University, 735 NE2d 373, 381, (Mass 2000) concluding that, Brandeis did not substantially conform its disciplinary process to its own procedures, as outlined in the Rights and Responsibilities section of its student handbook, which serves as a contract between the student and the school and in Hahn v. Vermont Law School, 698 F2d 48 (1983) noting a cause of action for breach of contract, Coveney v. Pres. of Coll. of the Holy Cross, 445 NE2d 136, 138 (Mass 1983) holding that, [] private university, college, or school may not arbitrarily or capriciously dismiss a student, and in Ahlum v. Adm'rs of the Tulane Educ. Fund, 617 So 2d 96, 98-99 (La Ct App 1993 ) ruling that, The disciplinary actions of a private school may be reviewed for arbitrary and capricious actions and in, Tedeschi v. Wagner College, 404 NE2d 1302 (NY 1980) concluding that, When a university has adopted a rule or guideline establishing the procedure to be followed....that procedure must be substantially followed.

Regrettably, as a student, I don't have the necessary skill or money to defend myself. A female classmate knew that I'm a combat veteran and told my classmates that I had a demon and that with Y2K coming, I might snap and become, a potential threat to myself and to others. She had no basis for saying this. I have no criminal record, whatsoever, have never before been accused of being a threat to anyone and the female classmate very definitely has no experience in the field of Psychology.

I sincerely wish that I were joking in this matter, but, unfortunately, I am not. I'm firmly convinced that we all have a responsibility to maintain the integrity of the legal profession and to stop this kind of unethical, religiously fanatic discrimination; against veterans and against all students. If you'd like to review it, I can email you a complete copy of my complaint to the US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia. Furthermore, I have a tape recording of my sudden and unanticipated suspension meeting, made with the dean's permission, which evidences the dean's reference to a student's concern that I might have a demon.

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions from you regarding where I can obtain public exposure of the facts in this matter and/or legal help with this problem. For the integrity of the legal profession and for the well-being of future law students who may be similarly victimized by these same practices, I'd like to thank you in advance for your help in this matter.

Herb

Saco, Maine