Court upholds on-campus recruitment decision - Justices vote 8-0 to withhold funding from universities that ban Army recruiters

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that universities receiving federal funds must allow military recruiters on campus, despite possible objections to the military's discriminatory policy towards homosexuals.

The court's decision upholds the Solomon Amendment, a law which requires universities to give the military equal access as they would other recruiters, or forfeit federal money.

The ruling comes after a challenge from law schools and their professors who argued that being forced to associate with and promote military recruiters on campus was an infringement on their free speech.

Many universities nationwide have policies that ban recruiters from both public and private companies with discriminatory policies.

The Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc. (FAIR) is an association of law schools and law faculties whose members enforce such policies.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the Court's opinion, which stated, "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. ... Students and faculty are free to associate to voice their disapproval of the military's message."

"[FAIR] would like to restrict military recruiting on their campuses because they object to the Government's policy on homosexuals in the military, but the Solomon Amendment c9 forces them to choose between enforcing their nondiscrimination policy against military recruiters and continuing to receive those funds," the opinion says.

In his opinion, Roberts explained that the issue does not involve first amendment rights, and that the military recruiters should be considered just as any other on campus hiring organization.

"Recruiters are, by definition, outsiders who come onto campus for the limited purpose of trying to hire students -- not to become members of the school's expressive association c9 The Solomon Amendment neither limits what law schools may say nor requires them to say anything," he wrote.

In addition to withholding funds, justices said that Congress could directly demand military access on campus, even without the threat of losing federal money.

However, ROTC officials at Hopkins are not worried about what effect the ruling may have here since city and county recruiters visit campus routinely throughout the year at programs sponsored by both the ROTC and Army recruitment offices.

"We have worked with Baltimore U.S. Army Reserve Recruiting Company to sponsor events, such as the wall climbs you see on campus," Captain Amy E. Wallace, recruiting operations officer, said.

"My impression from administration and staff is that we would not have a problem [receiving federal funds]," Wallace said.

While the University has its own ROTC program, it is considered a part of the academic curriculum and does not exist to actively recruit soldiers, but instead to train Army officers. Military recruiters do visit Homewood campus; however, Wallace pointed out that recruiters do not focus their efforts on schools like Hopkins. "Hopkins does not invest a lot of effort into having recruiters come to campus. Recruiters fare better at state schools rather than private schools," she said. "Many students are not interested [in joining the reserves when they could join the ROTC program and become officers]."

Political science professor Joel Grossman said he agrees with the court's ruling. "I don't think that this is a terrible decision, and it is not likely to make much of a difference. ... Remember, there are students on campus who want to go to the military. They shouldn't be restricted from that opportunity," he said. "Conditions on federal funding are a very common occurrence. ... The only thing that this involves is whether the military can recruit on campus. [Universities are] going to have to treat them the same [as other recruiters]."

Students, however, are torn about their position on this issue, especially those who receive financial aid.

Junior Sofija Korac feels that her need for financial aid outweighs any ill-feelings she may have about the military's policies. "While I feel the military's policy banning gays and lesbians is unfair and discriminatory, I understand the necessity of recruiting college students, especially in a country where the military is considered a profession," she said.

"Regardless of my feelings about 'don't ask, don't tell' I wouldn't want something like this to interfere with any money I receive for financial aid, or any money that is given to this school by the federal government," Korac added.