(Minor beef--this isn't the Pentagon's policy. This policy is law, passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton. The Pentagon has no choice but to follow the law.)
In a landmark vote, the Senate on Saturday ended the Clinton-era ban on gays serving openly in the military, marking a major triumph for President Obama, liberals and the gay community.
The final vote to end the Pentagon's 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" policy was 65-31. The bill now goes to the White House for Obama's signature. Obama is expected to sign the bill into law next week, a senior White House aide told Fox News.
These universities won't have the DADT policy to kick around anymore. Shall we start our guesses, in the comments section of this post, on their new excuses for not having ROTC programs?
Update: Is my cynicism perhaps not merited, at least in a couple of cases?
The ROTC programs have been absent from a number of Ivy League and other leading campuses since the Vietnam War, and many schools subsequently linked programs' return to open service for gays and lesbians.
Harvard University President Drew Faust today signaled that she would move to restore ROTC to the campus...
A spokesman for Yale University also suggested that change may be coming soon.
"We are aware of the vote and have plans in consideration," said Yale spokesman Thomas Mattia in an email.
A Stanford official declined to comment for the record but noted that the school's Faculty Senate is already reviewing the restoration of ROTC, a process that began last "in part in anticipation of the 'Don't ask Don't tell' issue," and is due to consider a report and recommendation in the next few months.
Emails were not immediately returned today by press officers at Columbia, Dartmouth, Princeton, Brown, Tufts, and the University of Chicago.
A more constructive approach than focusing on excuses not to have ROTC would be to flesh out a vision for how ROTC at top universities could be seen as a plus for both the universities and the military. I outline such an ROTC+ vision on the Harvard-associated MilBlog "Secure Nation": Blueprint for Harvard ROTC (http://www.securenation.org/blueprint-for-harvard-rotc/).
ReplyDeleteDarren
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question I don’t think the Ivy League schools will allow ROTC back on campus unless they are forced. It’s not ROTC itself they despise…it’s the military. In a spasm of honesty from Slick Willie he expressed the attitude of the scum in a lot of elite higher education when he said “I loathe the military”
Reading the posts I believe the universities will simply drag their feet on reestablishing ROTC on campus. You can hear the president of Columbia or Haaaaaavard saying “Well the Pentagon hasn’t moved far enough in integrating midget transgendered male lesbians into the submarine force and we cannot support ROTC on campus until that abuse of equal rights is corrected…”
Personally I wouldn’t want people from the Ivy League in the service. It’s too important to leave to the idiots who those schools are graduating.
I thank Christ my title is now Major, USAR (Retired)
Nice:
ReplyDeleteAnti-military bias at Ivys = bad
Anti-Ivy bias in the military = good
Too dumb to understand cause and effect, I guess.
ReplyDelete