Student suspect shares beliefs of Quaker college

RALEIGH, N.C. - In his third year at a Quaker college with its own history of civil disobedience, Nathaniel Heatwole is no stranger to rebellion.

The college junior, a double major in political science and physics, refused to register for the draft when he turned 18 as required by law, according to a February 2002 interview with the Guilfordian, the campus newspaper of Guilford College in Greensboro. Instead, he returned a blank registration form to the Selective Service System along with a letter explaining his opposition.

"I wanted to let them hear the voice of dissent," he told the newspaper, "just in case they were listening."

Some Quakers believe it is their duty to resist war and any preparations for it, said professor Thomas Hamm of Earlham College, another Quaker school in Richmond, Ind.

In the interview with the Guilfordian, Heatwole said he was not a Quaker but shared many of the religion's tenets, including pacifism.

Heatwole hosts a Sunday radio show on college station WQFS and won a dean's award for first-year writing, according to Guilford's Web site.

Jack Hammett, president of the Potomac Valley Radio Club, said Heatwole also won scholarships from the ham radio group based on his hobbies, school achievements and work in the community.

"So I'm surprised that that's going on," he said. "I don't know him well, but I know him as a fine young man."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright