Recruiters return to Harvard

This fall, Harvard Law School unwillingly will allow military recruiters back on campus.

The school banned recruiters because of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that excludes openly gay people from military service.

Harvard Law's antidiscrimination policy denies access to any recruiters who discriminate against potential employees on the basis of criteria such as sexual orientation.

However, facing the loss of billions of dollars in federal funds, the school was forced to exempt the U.S. military from this policy and readmit recruiters.

The controversy resulted from the Solomon Amendment, which gives the government the power to withhold certain types of federal funding to universities that do not allow military recruiters sufficient access to the campus.

When the Solomon Amendment first was introduced in 1994, it only applied to Department of Defense funding for law schools.

But it now affects federal funding from many executive departments given to any part of a university.

Adam Sorkin, treasurer of Harvard Law School's LAMBDA - a student organization designed to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students - said he understands Harvard's reversal, noting that the university faced the loss of $315 billion in federal funding, most of which supports the university's medical research.

But Sorkin said he felt Harvard could have done more.

"In accepting military presence on campus, the university could have made its stance in supporting openly gay students more well-known," he said. "For example, the university could have said, 'We're going to let recruiters in, but we're also going to add a professor specializing in gender issues to the law school staff.'"

A group of law schools, which make up the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, has challenged the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment.

Their case, Donald Rumsfeld et al. v. FAIR, et al., is scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 6.

"(The law schools have been) basically cowered into submission because of the sheer magnitude of the penalty," said FAIR attorney J.D. Barnea.

The New York Law School, a member of FAIR, is denying military recruiters access to campus career services.

"(Some of our) students are being barred from interviewing for employment based on a quality that has nothing to do with their qualifications for the job," said Carol Buckler, associate dean for professional development at NYLS.

"This strikes at the heart of civil liberties. Our law faculty has voted to stand up for these students."

Barnea said he considers the case an issue of freedom of speech.

"(It is) entirely a First Amendment case regarding whether universities can act on their own opinion or whether the government can force them to act in support of the government's opinion."

Lt. Col. Steve Morris, a UNC professor of military science for ROTC, said the potential effect of a repeal of the Solomon Amendment would depend on how many schools ban military recruiters if given the choice.

"How do you reach into your crystal ball to see how many schools would exercise that option?" he said.

Morris said he views the "don't ask, don't tell" policy like he would any other Army policy.

"We are made to understand what the policy is and then we support that policy," he said. "It's largely a noncontroversial issue for us."

 

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.