Testimonial letter from Angela R. Novak
This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.
This letter is from Angela R. Novak PhD. It is "Exhibit A-595" in the Noles collection.
The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has one page.
 600 S. Brearly #3C Dear Rinzai: I am writing this letter in support of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh being granted a visa to remain in the United States. By way of introducing myslef, I have a Ph.D. in special education from the University of Illinois, have published extensively in the field of deinstitutionalization of persons with mental retardation (including a book summarizing the research in this field), and have been publicly called an "international leader" in the field of mental retardation. I have taught university students to be special education teachers and have done research in this field. I am currently engaged in public policy work for the State of Wisconsin, specifically on a program that enables elderly and disabled individuals to remain living at home rather than entering nursing homes or institutions. Because of both his erudite scholarship and his overwhelming importance as a religious teacher on the international level, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh should be allowed to remain in the United States to continue to offer his outstanding leadership to both his followers and to those in this country who appreciate his religious teachings. He is an Indian of exceptional and unsurpassed qualities, who can make significant contributions to the spiritual and religious health of the citizens of this nation. Sincerely, |
(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)
