Spam Supreme

I'm SFC Armstrong, the US Army Station Commander responsible for recruiting at Duke University. I received your contact information from the University. Under the 'Solomon Amendment,' colleges and universities must give Armed Forces recruiters access to their campuses and provide them with lists containing 'student recruiting information.' Army Recruiters have the right to contact you by mail, phone or e-mail." - October 19, 2005

The e-mail, sent to hundreds of students over the past few months from the ROTC corps, is more than mere spam. It is part of an unfolding battle between higher education and the federal government. Depending on an upcoming Supreme Court decision, such e-mails may no longer clutter your inbox.

In December, the Supreme Court heard opening arguments in the case of Rumsfeld v. FAIR, which focuses on the fate of the much-debated Solomon Amendment. Passed in 1994, the Solomon Amendment blocks federal funding for colleges and universities that bar military recruitment on their campuses.

In 1993, at the height of the debate over gays in the military, many colleges sent military recruiters packing. Their gripe? The military's anti-gay posture discriminated against some of their students and violated commitments to equal opportunity. After all, these schools argued, would we open our doors to other recruiters who discriminated on the basis of, say, race or religion?

In response, Congress passed the Solomon Amendment and used money to pry open campus doors to the military. The American Association of Law Schools was particularly perturbed. After failing to get their schools to litigate privately, a number of law schools and faculty banded together, formed the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR) and sued the Defense Department in 2003.

Congress' claim is that attaching conditions to federal aid in order to achieve policy goals is standard practice. The goal, in this case, is to provide for the common defense. Besides, the only imposition made on schools who receive enormous federal grants is that they allow equal access to military recruiters-nothing wrong with equality. right?

FAIR and its supporters argue otherwise. Yale "will not assist deliberate discrimination," challenges Yale Law Dean Harold Koh. Duke Law's Erwin Chemerinsky, a plaintiff in the case, wants to ensure "that law schools do not provide facilities to employers who discriminate against some of our students."

FAIR contends that the Solomon Amendment abridges their freedom of expression; in this case, the freedom to express the view that the military's policies are wrong.

But to read all this as a serious debate about gays in the military is to misinterpret what is, in reality, just another example of the gulf between elite institutions and the armed services. The ivory tower divorced the armed forces during Vietnam, and since then, the two have never played nice.

And, unfortunately, they are being wedged further at a time when graduates of elite law schools-with their knowledge of foreign justice issues, international treaties, and civil and political rights-could make significant contributions to the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the world.

Luckily, Duke is ahead of the curve on this one. Unlike some of our peer institutions to the north, we retain an active ROTC program that incubates leadership and service. This should be a source of pride for us all, as it demonstrates our support of the institutions that give us the freedom to think and learn. SFC Armstrong, go ahead and spam away.