Now that openly gay men and women will be able to serve in the U.S. military, will liberal Ivy League institutions that shunned military Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs work to quickly welcome them back to campus?
Don't hold your breath, argues Moe Lane of RedState:
With the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell almost certain now to be passed into law*, there has been some discussion of one thing that conservatives and Republicans will absolutely require to have happen: to wit, the ending of the Ivy League’s continuing campaign against the military by forbidding ROTC programs on their campuses. Said campaign absolutely flaunts the intent of Congress (as per the ‘Solomon Amendment’), but has been generally tacitly tolerated by the government while the larger issue of gays serving openly in the military was still an open question. Which, again, it no longer is.
But, - various articles to the contrary - the Ivy League’s response to news that the Senate has voted to repeal is not in fact acceptable. For example, Harvard President Drew Faust responded with “I look forward to pursuing discussions with military officials and others to achieve Harvard’s full and formal recognition of ROTC.” To which the only reply can be: no, that’s the wrong answer. The correct answer would have been “Upon formal signing of this law into place, Harvard University will immediately cease and desist all aspects of its civil disobedience campaign and put itself in full compliance with 10 U.S.C. § 983 (the Solomon Amendment).” That is not negotiable, and I would remind President Faust - and the rest of the Ivy League - of the following facts:
* Starting in January of 2011, the House of Representatives will be controlled by the Republican party.
* The House of Representatives controls the purse strings. Particularly since the Democrats abandoned their Constitutional responsibility to pass a budget this year.
* While there is in fact a good deal of internal debate within the Republican party over whether gays should openly serve in the military (*ahem*), there is effectively none over whether the Ivy Leagues should be allowed to flout the law with impunity.
* Lastly: quite a few people take the position that it’s the Ivy League contingent in our government who got the country into its current fiscal mess in the first place. Note that I am not personally making the threat, here; simply noting that a threat can be made, and probably will be made if the Ivy League does not embrace objective reality quickly.
It remains to be seen if House Republicans would seek to make this an issue, but regardless it would behoove the mainstream media to press elite institutions like Harvard to honor their word about welcoming ROTC programs after repeal of DADT.
