Reacting swiftly to a Pennsylvania court ruling earlier in the week, Harvard Law School became the first institution of higher learning to reinstate a ban on military recruitment on campus.
The school made the move with the desire to once again be in compliance with its own non-discrimination policy, which prohibits recruiters from using sexual orientation, among other things, as a basis for denying employment.
A panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Monday that an amendment requiring law schools to allow military recruitment on campus or face the risk of losing federal funding was unconstitutional. The court decided that the decade-old law, known as the Solomon Amendment, violated the school's First Amendment rights.
In the wake of Harvard's decision, the military will no longer have equal access to recruitment facilities, but will still have the opportunity to recruit on campus through the Harvard Law School Veterans Association.
In this way, the school believes that it upholds its own non-discrimination policy without barring those students who do want to interview with the military from doing so.
Prior to the decision, the law school had allowed the military to have equal access to its students for fear of economic reprisal from the government. The lawsuit, and school officials, claim that the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is discriminatory against gays.
"This return to our prior policy will allow [the Office of Career Services] to enforce the law school's policy of non-discrimination without exception, including the military services," Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan wrote in an e-mail interview.
According to Harvard Law spokesman Michael Armini, the law school decided to act swiftly because Kagan "felt strongly that it was the right thing to do."
Similarly, Penn Law School is currently considering altering its policy, but as of yet, no decision has been made. Reverting to a prior arrangement, in which the military could recruit but not use the on-campus Career Services building, is a possibility.
