Muslim Text at UNC Chapel Hill

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It isn't like Kris Wampler to keep quiet.

If he has an opinion - and he often does - he likes to express it, whether through a letter to the editor of his hometown newspaper or by plastering political items on his dorm room door.

So it hasn't been easy for Wampler, a 21-year-old UNC Chapel Hill junior from Charlotte, to remain silent for the past two years about his most significant quest.

He was one of three incoming freshmen who sued the university in the summer of 2002.  Their goal was to try to block UNC's required summer reading program for all new students: a book about the Quran, the Islamic holy text.

In the lawsuit, Wampler was identified only as "John Doe No. 1" and described only as an evangelical Christian.  He was never identified publicly.

On the advice of his attorneys, he told his story anonymously in a court affidavit.  But like his two fellow plaintiffs, he never spoke to the media, testified in court or went public in any other fashion.  Until now.

"I'm eager to talk about thinks I do and things I have to say," Wampler said recently from his South Campus dorm room, a framed color photograph of conservative commentator Pat Buchanan on a nearby desk.  "It was really hard 'staying silent.' "

He was of two minds when the judge ultimately ruled against the move to block the reading program.  Technically, the effort had failed.  But he felt a point had been made about required readings involving religious material.

And so he reported to Chapel Hill two autumns ago.  So far, he says, he has had a wonderful time.  He says he's speaking out now because he no longer fears possible repercussions.

For Wampler, the Quran lawsuit began innocuously enough one spring day, when he got a postcard from UNC.  Already admitted, the soon-to-be Tar Heel was growing accustomed to receiving mail from the school.

The postcard was about the summer reading program, and language on it made it clear to him that he was required to read a book titled "Approaching the Qur'an:  The Early Revelations,"  over the summer before heading off to college.

Something about that postcard didn't sit right with him, he recalled.  But he didn't think too much of it until weeks later, when he tuned in to Fox News.

He heard a staffer from an organization called the Family Policy Network criticizing the reading program, saying the group was looking for students who could serve as plaintiffs in a lawsuit.

Wampler, who was raised an evangelical Baptist but is far more political than either of his parents, contacted the Virginia-based Family Policy Network on his own.  Soon enough, he was John Doe No. 1.

"I wanted to get right into it.  I thought this was the chance for me to stand up and fight back," Wampler recalled.  "I feel that universities get away with a lot of discriminatory practices and apply double standards.  They would never have a summer reading program for a Christian book."

In its first three years, the summer reading program had flown under the radar.  Praised for helping to enhance the university's intellectual climate, the program was designed to get new students thinking academically the moment they set foot on campus.  All new students were told to read the book and be prepared to discuss it in small groups for two hours on orientation day.

There was also a short writing assignment.

But with wounds still raw from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks, the 2002 book selection - a collection of passages from the Quran with analysis of each by the author, Haverford College professor Michael Sells - bothered some.

Once filed, the lawsuit launched an avalanche of attention.  The state's media chimed in, followed closely by national talk shows thirsting for a juicy issue to debate.  This one had all the trappings:  religion, politics and the importance of academic freedom in the classroom.

At the crux of the case was whether the program was truly required.  University literature insisted it was - in bold print, in fact, on the UNC Web site.  But attorneys defending Carolina insisted in court that it wasn't technically a requirement.  No grades were given and attendance wasn't taken, UNC's attorneys argued.

Ultimately, the reading program culminated that summer without interruption, but the lawsuit's impact had been felt.  Since then, the word "required" has been dropped.

"I think we did make a point," Wampler said.  "The university is a powerful institution and has the ability to make people think a certain way."

Wampler said he read parts of the book but didn't attend the discussion session.

Wampler is the only plaintiff to speak publicly.  The other two students have remained anonymous, and never met during the lawsuit process.  Wampler once encountered one of them, purely by accident, in a class.

The Quran lawsuit wasn't Wampler's first attempt at fighting the system.

While a student at East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, Wampler lobbied the school board to change a policy on teaching evolution.  Specifically, he wanted the school system to give creationism equal time.  Wampler's attempt failed, but he enjoyed the rush that came with the small dose of civic activism.

"It got me interested in the idea of activism, about putting your beliefs into action," he said.

UNC wasn't Wampler's first choice.  He wanted to go to Georgetown, but didn't get in.  But Carolina wasn't a disappointing safety school choice, either.  Though he knew of the school's liberal reputation, he also knew of its sterling academics.

Maybe UNC's perceived liberal bent has been a bonus, he said.

"I like having my views challenged," he said.  "I like being in the minority."

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