On Oct. 4, more than 100 students and faculty members at the Georgetown University Law Center gathered to protest the presence of Judge Advocacy Group representatives at the annual Government Interview Week. The demonstrators argued that the presence of the group, which discriminates against homosexuals in the form of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, violates University anti-discrimination policy. The policy permits gays and lesbians to join the military, provided they do not discuss their sexuality or engage in homosexual acts.
Since 1994, most of the 182 law schools in the nation have refused to allow the military to recruit on campus. To counter the law schools’ ban on recruiters, the government passed the Solomon Amendment in 1995. The amendment states that all federal funding to a University will be cut off unless the university allows military recruiters access to student information. This means that if Georgetown refused to host the JAG recruiters, not only would the Law Center lose funding, but the rest of the University would as well.
Both Georgetown’s anti-discrimination policy and the D.C. Human Rights Acts prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy blatantly violates both of these anti-discrimination statutes since it stipulates that men and women can be discharged from the military if they are discovered to be homosexual. According to U.S. Federal Code, the military is prohibited from hiring any individual who “demonstrates a propensity or intent to engage in a homosexual act.” Since the policy’s inception in 1994, the number of people discharged from the military each year for being homosexual has almost doubled.
It is unfair for the government to coerce the University into complying by threatening its funding. It is acceptable for the government to take back unused funds allocated for programs, such as financial aid, that receive money mandated for a specific use. It is wrong for the government to refuse all funding simply because the University refuses to compromise the rights of its students.
Sunday’s protesters took on a valiant cause by denouncing “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and it is disappointing that more students and faculty members didn’t get involved. Even more infuriating is that the federal government chooses to ignore the voices of more than 100 law schools and continues to force universities to go against their own anti-discrimination policies for fear of having their funding revoked. Obviously the government has forgotten that providing funds to universities is meant to further education and shouldn’t require them to violate the principles they try to instill in their students.
