UNLV officials impeded military recruiters, regent says

Jennifer Knight

Friday, Nov. 23, 2001 | 9:37 a.m.

Marines trying to recruit students at UNLV's Boyd Law School had their presentation interrupted by university administrators who objected to the military's policy on gays, according to a member of the board of regents.

Regent Tom Kirkpatrick has called for an investigation of the incident by the board's general counsel and a discussion of the matter at the regents' December meeting.

Military recruiters were at the law school's Tropicana Avenue campus Oct. 22 for a job fair and to recruit students to serve as judge advocate general officers -- military lawyers, also known as JAG officers.

Marines never made the presentation, because school faculty and administrators were talking and laughing loudly and turning up the sound on a video so that the Marines' message was drowned out, Kirkpatrick said in a memorandum to board Chairman Thalla Dondero.

"What they did was absolutely despicable," Kirkpatrick said. "I'm going to try to make sure that never happens again."

Faculty members who attended the job fair claim that Kirkpatrick's account never happened, said Richard Morgan, dean at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' law school.

"The folks in the room deny that they were acting unprofessionally," Morgan said. "The faculty and staff that were there that day were engaged in behavior that was entirely appropriate."

That day, staff members distributed information about the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, as they are required to do, Morgan said.

The law school is a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), a prestigious organization that requires its members to inform students that the military is not an equal opportunity employer when it comes to sexual orientation. Any gay military member must keep their sexual orientation a secret or face discharge.

"The (AALS) believes that this policy is at odds with the law school's policy on discrimination," Morgan said.

The organization had required that law schools deny recruiters access to their career placement centers, but Congress recently barred that practice and threatened to pull federal funding if it continued.

"We see discrimination of sexual orientation as a Civil Rights issue," said Carl Monk, executive director of the AALS. "I don't view this as a political stance. It is the same case when we came out against the violation of Civil Rights against blacks."

While Monk said the organization doesn't define what type of ameliorative action law schools should take, one organization does. The Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) publishes a check list of 27 items to help law school administrators deal with military recruiters who visit their campus.

The issue of military recruiters on law school campuses received national attention after an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal characterized SALT's practice aiding the restriction of military recruiters as unpatriotic in light of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Regents will discuss the issue during a meeting Dec. 6 and 7 in Las Vegas.

In the meantime, Morgan says the school has clarified its procedure on dealing with military recruiters by trying to be more accomodating while still distributing informational pamphlets on the military's policy.

Since the Oct. 22 visit, Army and Air Force recruiters have visited the campus without incident, he said. Morgan also reports that at least one student has already signed up to be a JAG officer.