On Oct. 4, M.D. Harmon wrote about Bowdoin College’s policy requiring any student organization to accept any student and to allow all members the right to run for office. He wrote, “for a club organized around a specific faith, to be forced to permit a person who did not share its beliefs to contest for its leadership seems a clear abuse of the Americans’ First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion.”

The First Amendment grants the rights of religion, speech and assembly. Any student has the right to join any campus-sponsored organization, assemble with and speak at that organization. They also have the right to run for office, and all other members have the right to not vote them into the office sought.

Rather than being seen as an attack on religion, this issue is a great example of how democracy is meant to be exercised. Besides, how many people would want to join an organization that has a belief system greatly different from their own? Could this be another example of “Much Ado About Nothing”?

Don Eldridge

West Gardiner