Our Opinion

SCOTUS ruling on recruiters correct

THE SUPREME COURT’S unanimous decision last week to uphold a law that cuts federal dollars for universities that refuse to allow military recruiters on taxpayer-funded college campuses is correct.

The decision, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, effectively ends a battle between law schools and military recruiters seeking new recruits from public universities.

The coalition of schools that brought the suit argued the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” discriminates against gays by denying them the right to freely express their lifestyle.

While the premise of this argument could be considered a noble civil rights issue, forbidding the military from recruiting on campus narrows its scope and reduces its chances of recruiting intelligent young men and women, a trend that can be detrimental to national security.

Furthermore, it seems unclear why the ability to ban recruiters from campus would be a civil rights victory for gays. While “don’t ask, don’t tell” is a problematic policy in a number of areas, the correct way to challenge such a decision is not to ban recruiters, who function as the backbone of the military’s recruitment operations and provide crucial manpower to branches of the military that have become strained in recent years due to extended deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Intelligent and educated recruits, such as those found on university campuses, are more critical to the future and continued success of the armed forces than ever before.

By attempting to deny the military the right to recruit on campuses, the law schools also deny their students the opportunity to venture into the many careers offered by the military.

It is important for public schools receiving the federal government support and adhere to the law, known as the Solomon Amendment, and reciprocate by opening their doors to government agencies such as the military.

Ultimately this decision boils down to a simple maxim: if schools receive public money they must allow the military, and presumably other taxpayer-funded organizations, to recruit on campus. It is reasonable for universities that use taxpayer dollars to give something back to the citizens that fund them. Generating recruits for the military is one way that institutions can do this.

Those who had argued that “don’t ask, don’t tell” carries an anti-gay message universities are forced to endorse would now be best served to challenge the policy itself. By limiting the activities of those within the military, it could be argued that it infringes on the free speech rights of military personnel themselves rather than the rights of those who oppose the policy but receive taxpayer dollars that oblige them to uphold a degree of cooperation with the federal government.

Harming the military itself is no way to argue for civil rights.

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