Yale Loses Court Case over Military Recruiters
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -Yale Law School will end its policy of not working with military recruiters after a court ruling this week jeopardized about $300 million in federal funding, officials said Wednesday.
Yale and other universities have objected to the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which allows gay men and women to serve in the military only if they keep their sexual orientation to themselves.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Yale on Monday, rejecting its argument that its right to academic freedom was infringed by a federal law that says universities must give the military the same access as other job recruiters or forfeit federal money.
“The fact is we have been forced under enormous pressure to acquiescence in a policy that we believe is deeply offensive and harmful to our students,” said Robert Burt, a Yale law professor who was lead plaintiff in the case.
The funding loss would have devastated the university’s medical research into cancer, heart disease and other illnesses, Burt said.
Yale Law School policy requires all recruiters to sign a nondiscrimination pledge, which the Pentagon has not done.
Jan Conroy, a Yale Law spokeswoman, said faculty had authorized the dean to waive the nondiscrimination pledge in 2002 when the military challenged it.
The pledge requirement will now be waived if military recruiters ask to participate in job fairs, Conroy said.
She said the U.S. Air Force has already asked to participate in a job interview program that starts Monday.
The law school had refused to assist military recruiters, denying them access to Web-based programs that link students and employers, Burt said.
The appeals court decision came after the Supreme Court ruled unanimously last year that the government can force colleges to open their campuses to military recruiters despite university objections. Justices rejected a free-speech challenge from law schools and professors who claimed they should not have to associate with military recruiters or promote their campus appearances.
The decision upheld a federal law that says universities must give the military the same access as other job recruiters or forfeit federal money.
In Connecticut, a federal judge ruled in 2005 that Yale Law School had a right to bar military recruiters from its job interview program. After the Supreme Court decision, the government appealed that ruling. That appeal led to Monday’s 2nd Circuit ruling.
Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh said in a statement Wednesday that he was disappointed by the appeals court decision. Yale has an obligation to “ameliorate the impact” of discriminatory hiring practices, he said.
“We intend to meet this obligation and will work alongside our students to identify the best ways of doing so, in accordance with the law,” Koh said. “We continue to look forward to the day when all members of our community will have an equal opportunity to serve in our nation’s armed forces.”
The military’s policy had put college leaders in a thorny situation because campus rules forbid participation of recruiters representing agencies or private companies that have discriminatory policies.
Defense officials argued that a federal law, the Solomon Amendment, requires Yale to allow recruiters on campus even without signing the pledge. Government lawyers have said blocking military recruiters makes it harder to hire huge teams of lawyers for issues related to operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
© 2007 The Associated Press
it’s up to the students to organize and *prevent* the military from recruiting on campus.
http://campusantiwar.net/
Either suck the pentagon’s male appendage or give up any money for non-war research and learning. Congress has truly allowed the military industrial complex a free ride at our schools and universities. It should not be a question of is the military discriminating against gays, but rather is it discrimbinating against life itself–enticing people to join a murder-for-hire scheme–which is all our military is these days. Oh, but we want to make sure that the gays have an equal right to go commit murder. If you are queer, just keep your mouth shut as you mow down Iraqis in the street. For God’s sake, what is wrong with this picture?
This should hardly surprise anyone.
Militarism is just the pointed end of exceptionalism, and exceptionalism has been the keynote of Anglo-American culture since 1620 (at least).
If the government didn’t have a military, corporations wouldn’t be spending so much money to keep control of it. Recruiting is to the military(-) as oil is to the (-)industrial complex.
Just remember, cleanliness is next to godliness; there’s no cleansing like ethnic cleansing; and you know you’re worshipping the right god when he hates the same people you do.
Ave Imperium Americanus!
Looks like Yale’s principles are for sale! Who knew?
Get real - why on earth would rich kids enrolled at an Ivy League university want to join the military? They don’t need the GI Bill to get through college.
I am against the war in Iraq and want to see it end immediately - we are committing genocide in Iraq - but irregardless, military recruiters have the SAME First Ammendment Right to assemble and freedom of speech as ANTI-RECRUITMENT peace groups have to set up counter-recruitment tabling on campuses.
The solution? Invite peace groups to table and flyer doing anti-recruitment 10 feet away from the military recruiters table.
So true, holymoly.
If I was on a campus, I would do everything I could to push the military off of it; to starve them of cannon fodder with which to slaughter the Iraqis, Pakistanis, Afghanis, and Iranians; to spare human life, decency, and comfort, which that “disgusting” (quote; un-president bush) institution seeks to destroy.
Perhaps a warning should be prominantly placed adjascent to locations where organizations that refuse to sign a nondiscrimination pledge do their recruiting. On the web, a popup warning window could be used.
Suggested text:
WARNING:
refuses to sign the standard nondiscrimination pledge signed by other recruiters at this event. Working for organications that descriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, religion or sexual preference is generally considered immoral and unethical. Seeking an ethical employer is recommended. Proceed with caution.
Removal of the signs without first signing the pledge would be cause for ejection from the event.
“military recruiters have the SAME First Ammendment Right to assemble and freedom of speech”
grailmaiden,
Yale Law School is, however, not a public institution. Except for the stipulations of the grant money given to them by the Federal Government, they are in no way obligated (especially in no legal way) to allow any group to assemble and exercise its right to free speech on their campus. The same is true for you. The military would have no right to go to your front yard and set up a recruitment table. Yale Law School, albeit a huge organization, has the same rights you do and does not have to share their property with strangers. Sadly, that government grant money is more than pocket change to them; the threat of its withdrawal is enough to destroy their case. The government is saying, “Even though we cannot force you to accept these recruiters, we can stop giving you any money unless you accept them.” As a matter of fact, it’s the same reason why the drinking age in all states is 21.
By the way, I would like to say that it is a bit of an embarrassment that our military has no anti-discrimination policy. How can a government be okay with that?
These aren’t just rich kids at an Ivy League University. These are the top law students in the country. There are 1600 kids at Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, NYU and Stanford, which aren’t such bad schools, who still feel the pain of their YLS rejection letters. These are kids who worry which federal clerkship they’ll get and whether they want to teach or work in big law firms. I can’t imagine many of them deciding to apply to the military because they happened to recruit on campus.
No one has mentioned the other option, i.e., not let any recruiters at all ON CAMPUS. From now on why not let all recruiters make their pitches somewhere off campus to those students who are really interested? Any recruiter could post a sign saying that they will be a Hotel such and such and interested students should come by. That way the military can have their recruiters given the same treatment as any other recruiter, but they shouldn’t hold their collective breath waiting for someone to drop in.
dkm, that sounds pretty fair. Of course, it would make sense to let recruiters just stay in their own damn offices and away from university campuses. However, they do not want this. I bet it would severely dampen their recruitment statistics. After all, military recruiters, unless of course the recruit has already decided before meeting the recruiter, have to be just as underhanded and dishonest as used car salesmen. Unlike a used car however, nobody needs to go die in the military, so the recruiters benefit greatly from reaching out at schools because they cannot rely solely on walk-ins.
No offense to all you honest car salesmen out there.
I expect that I’m as opposed to the US actions in Iraq, and in the Middle East in general, as anyone. I did what I could in protest against the US actions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. I agree with Hilary Clinton’s statement to David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker — their testimony requires the willing suspension of disbelief. In that context — there is simply no legal basis for the position that the US government cannot lawfully condition receipt of federal funds upon an institution of higher education’s permitting access to its campus and students for the purpose of recruiting. It is also the case that no student is required to listen to military recruiters, or, having listened, to enlist.
1. I’d like to know how many Yale grads choose the Armed forces route?
2. If they do they most definitely won’t be anywhere near combat. I sat on a plane next to the wife of a JAG officer working with the Abu Ghraib situation, who said it was actually a good first step for law. 40 hours a week, one month off a year,travel and housing etc, as apposed to 60 hours a week with maybe a week off at the end of a year starting at a law office.
3. I pay taxes so Yale can have 300 million a year?
Yo! Yale, Get your money elsewhere! Don’t give in to illegal pressures! Use your lawyers to create a civil case to oust these politicians that act illegally and unconscionably! Be the Benchmark of Quality! Take it to the Supreme Court! People will back you!