Last week's Supreme Court decision upholding a military-recruiting law may influence how the armed forces recruit on Penn's campus, particularly at the Law School.
The unanimous decision in the case Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights reinforced the Solomon Amendment, which stipulates that universities barring military recruiters' access to students can lose federal funding.
Some schools opposed this provision, contending that the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding homosexuality violates schools' nondiscrimination policies and therefore deprives them of their First Amendment rights.
The ruling does not immediately endanger Penn Law's recruitment policy, which only allows military recruiters limited access to students.
However, the ruling against FAIR -- an organization of 31 law schools working on this issue -- could hurt a separate challenge to the Solomon Amendment brought by faculty and students of the Penn Law School.
The Law School is not a member of FAIR.
The Penn Law case, Burbank v. Rumsfeld, was on hold pending the FAIR decision but is now slated to proceed at the district court of Philadelphia.
The plaintiffs are hoping that a judge will declare that they have complied with the Solomon Amendment by allowing the military to recruit through Career Services, as other employers do, without permitting recruiters to use the campus itself.
Stephen Burbank, a Penn Law professor and one of the primary plaintiffs in the Penn case, said that the Supreme Court decision in the FAIR case will make it more challenging for the Law School to claim that the Department of Defense's decision was unconstitutional.
However, it should not impact the Penn professors' contention that the school is fulfilling the requirements of the Solomon Amendment, Burbank added.
United States Solicitor General Paul Clement said before the FAIR decision that the military has a right to preferential access to college campuses because the government pays for significant university research.
The Burbank case was filed in 2003 by 21 professors and six students from Penn Law after the Department threatened to cut $500 million in federal grants and contracts to the University. Government officials said that Penn was not allowing military recruiters full access to students, as required by the Solomon Amendment.
Rodin subsequently asked the Law School to comply with the demands of the Defense Department.
Diane Downs, the associate dean of Penn Law's career planning and placement office, said that the Law School is currently operating based on a compromise between professors and the Department of Defense.
"Army recruiters will not be served by the Law School's career service office but referred to the career-planning service of the main University," she said.
Law students who come to the career office will be advised on any employment questions they have regardless of the employer, Downs said.
Patricia Rose, director of Penn's Career Services, said that the office welcomes military recruitment, particularly via career days that are held several times a year. However, very few students are recruited annually, she said.
