Testimonial letter from Susan Suhadolnik

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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 Susan Suhadolnik. It is "Exhibit A-908" 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.

Owen Graduate School of Management
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37203
Telephone (615) 322-2534
July 19, 1983

The Immigration and Naturalization Service

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is an appeal for the continued residence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the United States.

I have been a librarian for eight years. I received my Master of Science degree from the University of Illinois in 1975. Since that date I have begun and directed the library of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, directed the reader advisory department of the Park Ridge Public Library in Park Ridge, Illinois, and am currently directing the reference/information services department of the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

I became acquainted with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh through his books. With over one hundred books in print, Rajneesh is a particularly prolific author who speaks to a wide audience on many aspects of life and spirituality. In addition, he synthesizes and presents many of the venerable Eastern religions and philosopies in a form that Westerners find readable and understandable. To my knowledge, this is the first time that an author has presented such a broad body of information in such a palatable form.

Apart from any other issues surrounding the presence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in this country, his unique and significant contribution to the body of religious/philosophical literature should warrant him a warm welcome and peaceful residence in the United States.

Sincerely Yours,
[signed]
Susan Suhadolnik
Librarian


(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.)