Check aim before you fire, Stanford:
Nearly the entire faculty of Stanford Law School has signed an e-mail to students encouraging those interested in a career in the military to meet recruiters off campus, a move that one Stanford alum argues puts the school at risk of violating the Solomon Amendment…. At issue is an e-mail signed by 80% of the law school faculty, including the dean, Larry Kramer, asking “those students who have a genuine interest in working for the military to contact JAG Corps recruiters directly and to arrange off-campus interviews, rather than express interest in the military’s participation in Spring [on campus interviews].” The e-mail also states that “[b]y meeting with military recruiters off campus, you would permit the law school to keep in force its nondiscrimination policy. More importantly, you would show respect for those of your colleagues whose expression of sexual orientation disqualifies them for military service.” The military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy violates the nondiscrimination policies for job recruiters of nearly all law schools. The Solomon Amendment requires universities to give military recruiters the same access to students as civilian job recruiters or lose federal funding.
The problem with Stanford Law’s logic–if you’d like to call it that–is their confusion over who is responsible for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. That’s a Congressionally mandated policy, passed during the Clinton years. From the day it was signed into law, the decision over whether or not to admit gays has been out of the Pentagon’s hands. The proper arena for this fight is Capitol Hill, so why is Stanford taking it out on the military? Either they don’t understand the dynamics of the policy that they are protesting, or they are knowingly and willingly picking on the little guy: mid-level NCOs who are simply trying to do their jobs. And to hit this from another angle, Professor Bainbridge of UCLA Law writes:
If you believe the left’s theories about hegemony and hierarchy in education, you’d have to conclude that when the Dean and 80% of the faculty send such an email to students, it sends a signal to those faculty and students who support either the Solomon Amendment and/or “don’t ask, don’t tell” that their views are marginal and illegitimate. It tells students and faculty of the right “what their elders and betters want” and that “they’ve got to kiss ass and toe the line.” Obviously, I’m not suggesting that faculty should hide their political views under the proverbial bushel (well, duh!). I am suggesting that collective actions by faculty on controversial political issues needs to be undertaken with great care. I’m also suggesting that there is a double standard among many law school faculty who somehow manage to simultaneously bring this sort of pressure on students while embracing the left’s theories of hegemony and power in education.
HT: Powerline
