Dear Mayor Schweighart,

There has been a lot of talk on campus about the comments you made during last Thursday’s Tea Party rally in Champaign, when you declared that you didn’t think President Obama was an American citizen because “if you are not willing to produce an original birth certificate, then you’ve got something to hide.”

I first came across the story in the Chicago Tribune, where it made national headlines. Over the weekend, the news spread quickly across the blogosphere, and the YouTube video of you making the claim has received more than 142,000 views at the time of this writing.

Now, Mr. Schweighart, I don’t know you at all. I don’t know if your judgment of our President’s citizenship status is based on racism, politics or just willful ignorance. To be honest, I don’t really care. I do care about you – as a leader in our community – misrepresenting the facts, though.

And here are the facts.

President Obama released his Certification of Live Birth more than two years ago, while he was still a Senator from Illinois running for the highest office in the land. Nonpartisan groups like FactCheck.org have confirmed the authenticity of the document. You can find a copy for yourself with just a quick Google search. It took me no longer than three seconds.

You’ve since told the Associated Press that you stand by the statement that President Obama “has never shown the original birth certificate.”

The argument that there is some legal difference between the two documents is nonsense. The Hawaiian Department of Health has explained that the state “does not have a short-form or long-form certificate,” and that President Obama’s “original birth certificate on record (was) in accordance with state policies and procedures.”

I think the Hawaiian Department of Health has a bit more authority to speak on this subject than either of us, Mr. Schweighart.

Your comments also don’t jibe with common sense. Birth notices were posted in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser in mid-August of 1961, announcing the birth of a son to a Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama of 6085 Kalanianaole Highway. Suggesting that these notices were also faked — if that is indeed what you are suggesting — is nothing short of absurd.

And from a purely political standpoint, don’t you think that some sort of evidence challenging Obama’s citizenship would have surfaced by now? Let’s face it. Hillary Clinton is a tough lady. I’m sure she had plenty of researchers pulling strings and searching around the clock for information that could have secured her the Democratic nomination. If any shred of evidence existed, her supporters would surely have found it.

As the mayor of Champaign, home to our state’s flagship university, you owe your constituents and the students of the University of Illinois better than this. In these difficult times, we need someone who is willing to step up and lead, not someone who continues to spout debunked conspiracy theories like a neighborhood gossip.

Next time you go on the record, I hope you will consider your words more carefully to avoid embarrassing the city of Champaign like you did last week.

Sincerely,

Jason Febery

Jason is a junior in Engineering.