Ensign opposes ruling on military recruiters

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004 | 9:50 a.m.

U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is protesting a federal appeals court ruling that he says will allow colleges and universities to ban military recruiters from campuses.

Last week the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia struck down a 1994 federal law that allows the U.S. Defense Department to withhold money from colleges and universities that deny access to military recruiters.

In a 2-1 ruling of a three-judge panel, the appeals court found that withholding the funds infringes on the free speech rights of schools that wish to limit on-campus recruiting in response to the military's ban on homosexuals.

By forcing the schools to allow recruiters on campus, the institutions are being forced to endorse speech they disagree with, the court ruled.

Ensign said in a written statement that banning military recruiters from campuses violates their right to free speech and the students' right to hear what the military may be able to offer them.

"It's a great injustice for college administrators to set rules that violate free speech and deny students the chance to hear from our country's military branches," Ensign said.

The case, which the U.S. Justice Department will likely appeal, may have far reaching implications for all institutions of higher learning, including the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said Boyd Law School Dean Richard Morgan. The case was brought before the appellate court by a coalition of about a dozen law schools and is backed by the Washington, D.C.-based Association of American Law Schools, of which UNLV's law school is a member.

The law school faculty, and the university as a whole, has a policy of nondiscrimination that includes a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation, Morgan said. That policy of nondiscrimination allows the university to ban any recruiters or organizations that discriminate, including military recruiters.

UNLV currently makes an exception to the military because of the federal Solomon amendment that threatens to withhold money from schools that ban the recruiters, Morgan said. But the law school does distribute informational pamphlets on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, adopted under President Clinton's leadership in the early 1990s.

The policy forbids military personnel from asking questions about an applicant's sexual orientation, but allows personnel to ban openly gay applicants or discharge an openly gay service member.

"The military is passing over some very good people who could serve honorably and well in the service of our nation," Morgan said. "It (passing out the pamphlets) is an effort to have equal opportunity and fairness for all of our students."

If the 3rd Circuit ruling that the Solomon amendment is unconstitutional holds, UNLV may need to evaluate whether it will continue to allow recruiters on campus, Morgan said. That would involve a university-wide conversation, however, and the university first needs to wait and see if the ruling is upheld, either by a full board of the 3rd Circuit or by the U.S. Supreme Court, Morgan said.

Ensign, however, questions whether the military's policy of banning openly gay servicemen and women is discrimination, press secretary Jack Finn said. He said that decision should be left up to the individual students.

The issue is one the senator feels very strongly about, Finn said, and thus decided it was necessary to issue a statement condemning the 3rd Circuit's ruling.

"Just as students and college administrators have a right to express their displeasure with our military and its policies, our military has the constitutional right to extol the benefits of a military career," Ensign said in a statement. "We need the best and the brightest serving our nation in the military, and our top students deserve access and information on their campuses in order to make that career decision. This is a question of fairness."

Capt. Richard Barton, who directs the U.S. Army's Las Vegas Recruiting Command, could not comment on the particulars of the court case but said he did not think the Nevada universities would ban recruiters from campus. Both UNLV and UNR have ROTC programs on campus.

"We have a very good relationship between the Army, UNLV and the other colleges and universities in the area," Barton said.

Recruiters only go on campus to tell students of the opportunities the Army can offer, Barton said, including up to $70,000 for college tuition.

Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka, spokesman for the Nevada National Guard, similarly said there was a strong relationship between the Guard and the state universities. But if Guard recruiters were kicked off campus, that could hurt recruiting efforts during an already trying time, Studenicka said.

"My sergeants tell me that only about 10 percent of recruits come from the colleges or universities ... but that 10 percent can be important," Studenicka said.

The 3rd Circuit's ruling represented the first time a court has barred the government from enforcing the Solomon amendment.

The Justice Department, which represented the government in the case, said it was reviewing its appeal options. "The United States continues to believe that the Solomon Amendment is constitutional," the agency said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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