Not The Solomon Amendment
Tue Jan 15, 2008 at 09:28:00 PM PDT
I was quite pleased with what I saw during the Democratic debate tonight. There were no cheap shots, there was a civil discussion of differences, and honesty that I had not seen from Senator Clinton. It was the Democratic candidates at their best. Theirs was a discussion about policy, not about a $400 dollar haircut, who wore what, et cetera. The candidates held each other accountable for their records without descending into the nastiness of the previous debate. Unlike the Republicans, we have a field of candidates we can be proud of even if we do not agree with them.
Imagine my sadness, then, when they all spoke in a unified voice in support for the federal law requiring all college campuses to have an ROTC corps. That law is a scandal and the Solomon Amendment is that shameful law on steroids. Senators Clinton, Edwards, and Obama are all law school graduates and I would think they all would support law schools in their fight to stay clear of discriminatory practices. I know that I will face the wrath of the people who are devotees of unconditional love for the military, but right is right. Forcing campuses to be a recruiting ground for the military when those schools have policies that are contrary to military policies is plain wrong.
For those who do not know, most ABA accredited law schools have a strict non-discrimination policy for the use of law school facilities for recruiters. The rule is straight forward: Law school facilities are off limits to recruiters who have a history of discrimination or an explicit policy of discrimination. This is the standard for private and public sector employers. Law and medical schools have the greatest obligation to be committed to fair treatment for all citizens regardless of religious affiliation, sex, race, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Doctors and lawyers are often on the front lines of protecting the rights and lives of people who are reviled by the rest of us. I hate the fact that pedophiles breath the same air as decent people. But, I recognize their right to every legal protection enshrined in the Constitution. I am sure that there are doctors out there who have to hold their noses when they treat people who have committed a heinous act. In fact, army medics treat all people with injuries, friend or for. If any group of professionals is totally loyal to the ethics of their chosen profession it is these doctors, nurses, orderlies, and other medical support staff. I do not know if I could represent someone who wanted to blow my head off. Their professionalism should be an example to us all. Doctors and lawyers are beholden to principles that are larger than their individual beliefs and are legally and ethically bound not to substitute their personal feelings for those principles. A bill like the Solomon Amendment undermines that.
The Solomon Amendment was a response to law schools who said that they were willing to lose all federal funding for their refusal to permit the Judge Advocate General Corps to recruit on their campuses. Law schools view discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation as being just as odious as discrimination based on race. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is discriminatory in that it singles out a group for dismissal based on sexual orientation. For law schools to allow such a group to use school facilities would amount to a stamp of approval of discrimination. That is the position law schools take and I think they have it right. When Republican zealots threatened to pull federal funding from those schools that did not allow the JAG Corps to use their facilities as sites for recruiting, the law schools refused to be strongarmed and told them they could take their money and shove it. Lawyers have a pretty bad reputation in this country, but I felt proud when law school alumni expressed almost universal outrage and pledged to donate money to make up and surpass the lost funding. Representative Solomon pulled a stunt that would have drawn disapproval even from a mafia boss: he used disproportionate and effective force to make law schools bend to his will lest everyone else around the law school get hurt. The Solomon Amendment says that any university with a law school that does not allow the JAG Corps to use law school facilities for recruitment would lose all federal funding. That would have devastated undergraduates who more and more have to rely on federal grants and loans to pay for a college education. Most hospitals are aligned with universities, so that would have implications for medical students, medical research, and patient access. Engineering schools, schools of international affairs, environmental academic programs, just to cite a few would have been defunded. Law schools did the right thing by filing a law suit and allowing the JAG Corps on their campuses so that other members of the university community would not get hurt.
I have witnessed first hand how the JAG Corps comes onto law school buildings with smug self-satisfaction. They have muscled their way there and they are clearly not wanted because they transgress the principles of our Constitution and the legal profession. Law students often have chilly relations with one another because we are competing with one another in a way that has implications for our entire careers. But we all came together to wear rainbow ribbons to support our gay classmates and send a message that we disapprove of the JAG Corps and the federal government's thuggish behavior.
I think that the mindless "support the troops" droning is the progenitor of Democratic approval for the Solomon Amendment and the mandatory ROTC presence. Schools should not discriminate against people who have military backgrounds or aspirations. But schools should not be forced to do the government's discrimination dirty work. That moment in the debate bothered me. It revealed how dangerous it is to chant "support the troops" without any consideration for the moral corner paints one in. "Support the troops" has come to mean unlimited resources, money, and uncritical approval for every action the military takes. Forcing law schools to deviate from the Constitutional principle that we are all equal under the law undermines one of the corner stones of the legal profession and demoralizes the student body.
Universities should have the right to keep military factions off their campuses. I wish the Democratic candidates had stood up for our universities. American universities have a wonderful tradition of openness and access that one cannot find in other countries. Our universities bring together people from diverse backgrounds and force them to live together, work together, listen to one another, and ultimately disagree if that is what comes of this. I think that the younger people in this country are more open and excepting of people who are not like them and have the greatest potential to make discrimination a thing of the past. I am sorry the Democratic candidates made the universities a sacrificial lamb in order to maintain their bona fides as unquestioning supporters of the troops.
This has nothing to do with the troops and everything to do with Democrats allowing themselves to be manipulated by Republicans. Members of the military have been used as political props. They should not be used as symbols of homophobia and why that sort of prejudice is right. I have never served in the military, but from what I have heard is that people in the military see themselves as brothers and sisters in arms. I cannot imagine them being happy with politicians hanging their sister in arms the way they did Major Margaret Witt who served for 19 years just to score political points. Is there really any question that members of our military are so unprofessional and disloyal to one another that they would have a meltdown if gay people were in their ranks? I have expressed reservations about the military, but someone pointed out to me that the military was the first part of the government to end segregation. While many not agree with our wars and the notion that one can disapprove of a war yet have uncritical support for those who carry it out, there is no denying that the military has been a courageous leader in civil rights. Politicians who use the military or the bullying of universities to score points with their hateful constituents is gross. It undermines the rich traditions that both institutions have cultivated. The Democratic front runners had a chance to really support the troops and their honorable legacy of having the courage to go against the grain of what was popular in society was a bad look.
On a lighter note, I could not stop laughing at the fact that Giuliani only polled one percentage point higher than the "uncommitted" vote. I lived under his tyranny in New York and I can't help but laugh when that megalomaniac cannot make everyone and everything bend to his will. I look forward to the day when his campaign to completely implode. Can we Kossacks set up a campaign death pool?
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