Harvard Law School waives nondiscrimination pledge for military recruiters

[TaleWgnDg]

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Harvard Law (School) Waives Nondiscrimination Pledge for Military Recruiters

Krista-Ann Staley, Jurist News, Wednesday, September 21, 2005 at 1:36 PM ET

(JURIST NEWS) Harvard Law School (official website) will open its career services office to military recruiters beginning this fall, despite the Pentagon's refusal to sign the school's nondiscrimination pledge, Dean Elena Kagan (official profile) said Tuesday(, September 20, 2005) in a letter (text) to the law school community. According to Kagan, the Pentagon notified the University it would withhold federal grants, from which Harvard receives more than $400 million per year, under the Solomon Amendment (text) if the school continued to bar the Pentagon from the office. The military has traditionally not been allowed to recruit within the law school because the military's "don't ask don't tell" policy (text) violates the school's nondiscrimination policy, but the Solomon Amendment allows the US Defense Secretary to block federal grants to "institutions of higher learning that prevent ROTC access or military recruiting on campus." The Pentagon announced last week (Federal Register notice) that New York Law School (official website) is also ineligible for federal funds because of the institution's prohibition on military recruitment on campus and a Pentagon spokeswoman has also named Vermont Law School (official website) and William Mitchell College of Law (official website) as being in violation of the (Solomon) Amendment and potentially facing loss of federal funding.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit suspended enforcement (court opinion, pdf format, Adobe required) of the Solomon Amendment last year in a case brought by a group of law students and professors against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, stating it "requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objective," thus violating the school's rights to free speech. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case (Duke Law School, backgrounder) in May (2005) and oral arguments are scheduled for December (2005). A group of over 40 Harvard faculty members announced Wednesday(, September 21, 2005) that they have filed an amicus brief (pdf format, Adobe required) in the case. The Harvard Crimson has more. Inside Higher Ed has additional coverage.

. . . more at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/09/harvard-law-waives-nondiscrimination.php
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[Massacure]

1. No lawyer in their right mind would serve in the military anyways.

[onager]

8. Lindsey Graham is a lawyer who did.

Res ipsa loquitor...

:evilgrin:

[TaleWgnDg]

10. Hey, "the thing (may) speak for itself" . . .

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Hey, "the thing (may) speak for itself" pun may be pointed at Lindsey Graham. However, many J.D.s go into the military for the exact same rationale as non-J.D.s go into the military, to have their student loans forgiven. As you may know, many graduate students including J.D.s have enormous student loan debt that prohibits them from seeking jobs in the public sector and the non-profit sector due to the low pay scale thus the inability to repay their student loans. Therefore, many seek the "carrot" of military service to get student loan forgiveness. It's restricted to non-LGBTs only due to the military policy of "don't ask don't tell."
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[MildyRules]

17. They don't get their

student loans forgiven. At least not in the Air Force.

[Charlie Brown]

2. I don't see anything wrong with recruiting at universities

If we want to avoid having a draft, a viable solution is greater recruiting/promoting. Students can join or not join.

[mike_c]

3. as a university prof I have MAJOR problems with recruiters...

...on campus. They're predators. There is a recruitment office just a few miles away-- students who actually want to enlist know where it is, and it's in the phone book in any event.

[Charlie Brown]

4. Aren't most college-level students capable of recognizing the risk?

As long as they aren't pressuring anyone to sign up, I don't see what harm it does for the military to solicit on campus. Especially when there's a recruiting crisis.

[TaleWgnDg]

6. Ask yourself . . . Why should ANY college that has a non-discrimination

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Ask yourself . . . Why should ANY college that has an across-the-board non-discrimination policy and that applies that policy even-handedly to corporations who want to hire their students must hire their students in a non-discriminatory manner, then be FORCED by the pentagon to allow its discriminatory hiring policies on the college campus? That is, directly on the private property of the private college itself. Am I making myself clear, here? Another way to look at it is - why should federal taxpayers monies allow discrimination on private college campuses across America?

What the hell is this Solomon Amendment all about anyway? It forces private and public college that accept student loan and grant monies (and other federal funds) to then give "real estate space" on campus to the U.S. Military predatory and discriminatory practices of military recruitment! Take the time to read up on this . . . it's interesting . . . further arguments on this, try here http://insidehighered.com/news/2005/09/16/military . . . I strongly urge it.

BTW, do you realize how much student loan debt is incurred by college students who graduate from law school? Does the military recruitment hold out a carrot to these heavily indebted law school grads? You do realize, of course, that most (if not all) law school graduates who are student-loan-indebted cannot go into the non-profit sector job-market or public sector job-market because the pay is too low, thus, will not pay off student loan debts. The military "forgives" student loans for non-GLBTs but not for GLBTs due to the military's "don't ask don't tell" policy.

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[Charlie Brown]

12. I do wish the military did not discriminate, but it's still the military

They need some venue in which to recruit and solicit so that we can keep the armed forces at peak condition, without a draft.

I think sending Nat'l Guardmsen and Reservists to Iraq is a greater injustice than the discrimination of the Pentagon, and so is recruiting in impoverished neighborhoods. If soliciting in places like Harvard will reduce stuff like that, then I'm all for it.

[wuushew]

16. I have no use for your "peak condition" armed forces

The obscene amount of money we spend on our war machine exceeds that of the next twenty countries combined. Troop levels demanded by a sensible and just defense could still be easily met by a motivated and all volunteer force.

Our record since the end of WWII is one of naked unmasked imperialism which doesn't even have the boogie man excuse of communism to fall back on anymore.

[MildyRules]

18. It's not the people in the AVF that cost money

It's the "toys."

[gratuitous]

5. Well done, fair Harvard

If a policy proves inconvenient, just jettison it. After all, military recruiters discriminate against, lie to, and defraud their recruits with impunity. But what's really important is that $400 million of federal bribe money, and we know how cash-strapped Harvard is.

[Orsino]

9. And we know who they sold out for $400 million.

Fuck you, Harvard.

[Mend]

7. They should use some of the money to set up an anti-enlistment

office when all reasons not to go to war could be discussed, including the homophobia of the military.

[Raskolnik]

13. Its sort of an open question as to whether that would be allowed

under Solomon.

The wording of the Amendment is vague, and active measures like the ones you describe could be seen as violative.

[Raskolnik]

11. This is a very complicated case...

If FAIR wins the case, it will allow schools to keep recruiters not conforming to a non-discrimination policy out,

BUT

that decision will also strengthen a line of precedent that actually makes it easier for organizations to discriminate against people/groups that do not meet certain membership requirements (such as sexuality).

Its a tricky one, so I would caution people to not cheer too loudly if the law schools win this one.

[BiggJawn]

14. Something like this was in Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here!"

But instead of witholding funds to schools who barred Used Transfer Tube salesmen, Buzz Waldrip's "Minute Men" goons went to campus and beat and "disappeared" faculty who spoke out against the compulsory ROTC-style training...

"It Can't Happen Here!"

Don't bet on it.

[TaleWgnDg]

15. the expiration time for corrections to my OP has expired . . .

however, if someone is trying to access the Federal Register notification (1st paragraph, 9th line down from the top) hyperlink, the correct url is

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-18178.htm

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