EDITORIAL: Student aid with strings attached

The federal govt. shouldn't withdraw financial aid from the Law School if the school doesn't allow military recruiters on campus. Financial aid programs and non discrimination policies have two very different, yet admirable, goals in higher education. And these shouldn't be pitted against each other. But in tying federal aid to military recruitment on campuses, the government forces the Law School to violate a policy in place to protect its students from discrimination. The policy exists to allow all students equal opportunity no matter what their sexual orientation is. The government would never push schools to violate other parts of the non discrimination policy; it shouldn't do so for homosexuals, either. The University recently hired Edward Abrahams as its new lobbyist in Washington D.C. While Penn can't change the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, it can try to persuade lawmakers to keep financial aid as a separate issue. Abrahams should make it a priority to lobby Congress to change the Solomon Amendment. Threatening to take financial aid away from the Law School is a low blow by the federal government and only hurts the students who need financial assistance. The government shouldn't force schools to alter their non discrimnation policies just to allow the military with its discrimnatory policy to recruit on campus.