The Ties That Bind

[nbcrusader]

Top court backs college military recruiting law

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that colleges that accept federal money must allow military recruiters on campus, despite university objections to the Pentagon’s policy on gays.

Justices rejected a free-speech challenge from law school professors who claimed they should not be forced to associate with military recruiters or promote their campus appearances as now required by federal law.

No such thing as a free lunch.

 

[verte76]

I don't have anything against military recruiters on campus. If they weren't on campus, the people who want to be in the military would go to them--and plenty of students pay for school that way.

 

[yolland]

In some ways this case would have been more interesting had it been about whether federal funding gives the military the right to recruit on campuses, rather than about whether colleges' right to freedom of association is violated by the presence of military recruiters on campus. Justice Roberts' argument ("A military recruiter’s mere presence on campus does not violate a law school’s right to associate, regardless of how repugnant the law school considers the recruiter’s message") sounds like it could just as well be applied to any group, public or private, seeking to recruit on campus. In reality, many universities have had such policies in place since the '70s, and the military did not actively resist them until the Iraq war created new recruiting pressures--a factor explicitly cited by the Justices as a point in the military's favor during the December hearings.

 

[Irvine511]

yet another reason for the end of "don't ask don't tell."

 

[Liesje]

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is the arguement agains recruiters on campus? I can't really relate because I went to a private high school and now a private college, but ironically we've always had military recruiters around at both. The pull-up contests are actually quite popular. I'm not interested in the military, but I've known several people who were, even in high school, but weren't sure how to get started. It's good for young adults to have access to that information. I don't mean to stereotype, but I've known a lot of guys who weren't really cut out for academics, and it seems like trade schools are almost looked down upon these days, so going into military careers has been great for them. Whether we believe in the Iraq war or not, a lot of people do really well in the military in fields that they never would've had access to going to college.

 

[yolland]

The argument isn't really about military recruiting per se. It's just that a lot of colleges (and/or divisions within colleges) have policies against allowing public agencies or private companies with discriminatory hiring policies to recruit on campus. From the POV of many of these colleges, "don't ask don't tell" constitutes one such discriminatory policy.