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"ACLU Student Intern, Plaintiff Honored for Defending Civil Liberties"
By Alessandra Soler
Editor/Public Education Coordinator
Palmetto High School senior and former ACLU intern Daniel Palugyai was recently recognized for his exceptional contributions to the struggle to defend civil liberties. He is one of 12 high school seniors nationwide to be awarded a $4,000 college scholarship by the National ACLU.
The ACLU's College Scholarship for Youth Activism Award recognizes graduating seniors who have demonstrated a strong commitment to civil liberties throughout their careers in secondary school.
Founder of his school's Young Democrats club, Daniel courageously led his club in a battle to receive equal treatment as a student club from school officials. When Palmetto High School officials last fall denied the Young Democrats club official schoolsponsored status on the pretense that it is political in nature, Daniel challenged school administrators to explain their policy. ("Official" clubs are given opportunities that nonofficial clubs aren't, such as participation in school events, collection of dues and special rates on yearbook photos.)
After studying the Equal Access Act, Daniel drafted a letter to his school principal arguing that the policy violated the federal law. Although the school has yet to change its policy, officials agreed to reconsider the restrictions on political clubs during the upcoming school year.
The ACLU Scholarship Program is made possible by a grant by an anonymous donor.
Also Honored ...
Theater Director Alberto Sarraín, who courageously joined the ACLU of Florida's class action lawsuit challenging the Miami-Dade "Cuba Ordinance," was the co-recipient of the 2001 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award. He shared the $25,000 prize with Deloris Wilson, a librarian who fought against censorship at a high school in Monroe, Louisiana, also with the help of the ACLU.
Sarraín, of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, is president of La Ma Teodora theater company. He was one of six local arts groups and individuals who challenged the ordinance, which prohibited groups that applied for county arts grants from working with Cuban artists. Although a federal judge struck down the ordinance, Sarraín was left theatrically homeless when the theater that donated space to La Ma Teodora refused to risk losing its own county funding.
In April, Sarraín traveled to New York where he was presented with the award at PEN's Annual Literary Gala in Lincoln Center. More than 500 guests attended the fund-raising dinner, which attracted such artists and authors as Arthur Miller, Paul Simon and Nora Ephron.
"Winning the PEN/Newman's Own Award has precipitated a true revolution in my environment," said Sarraín, 52, who in May hosted an international monologue festival in Miami featuring 43 playwrights, actors and scholars, including 23 Cuban artists.
