A Lambda Law protest of the national "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy last Thursday raised recurring questions of the presence of military recruiters and the Reserve Officer Training Corps on campus.
The protest was held to voice dissent against the policy and to show support for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community while the Judge Advocate General Corps' military recruiters conducted interviews on campus.
"The military, even though they do not comply with Penn's anti-discrimination policies, are allowed to recruit," wrote Lambda Law co-chairman and second-year Penn Law student Christopher Howland in an e-mail to raise awareness on the issue. "It is our obligation to express our vigorous dissent."
Howland said later in an interview, "We don't want to hamper the military's recruiting efforts on campus - we simply want to be able to participate."
Bob Schoenberg, director of Penn's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center, said one of his primary objections to the military presence on campus, other than discrimination against the LGBT community, is the over-interpretation of the 1996 Solomon Amendment, which allows the Secretary of Defense to deny federal funding to institutions that prohibit military presence on campus.
The amendment does not, however, appear to mandate the subsidization or support of a military presence by any university, said Schoenberg, although "the University is basically paying the ROTC to be on campus."
He also said it is difficult to find specifics of the financial arrangements between the University and the Department of Defense, specifically in regards to Hollenbeck Hall, the building which houses Penn's ROTC.
Leo Charney, a spokesman from the Provost's office, wrote in an e-mail that the "modest costs associated with the program" are required to prevent restricting of the military's operations and access to students, in compliance with federal guidelines.
"Providing no support of any kind to the ROTC would 'restrict its operations' and 'impede access to students (and vice versa),'" he wrote, "discriminating against ROTC compared to other departments and organizations, which is what the University must not do."
Schoenberg disagreed that Penn needs to provide financial support for the ROTC.
"It's about opposing the subsidy of an entity that openly discriminates," he said.
Emily Aronson, a spokeswoman from Princeton University, wrote in an e-mail that Princeton similarly provides "space and secretarial support" for its Army and Air Force ROTC units.
"While ROTC's programs are inconsistent with some of the University's policies, Army ROTC operates on Princeton's campus in recognition of the importance of the program for the country and for some of our students," she wrote.
Other Ivy League universities could not be reached for comment.
