Supreme Court: Schools must accept recruiters

The U.S. Supreme Court's Monday ruling upholding the Solomon Amendment did not surprise members of the IU community. \nThe high court's unanimous decision jeopardizes federal funding universities receive if they do not allow government-sponsored military recruiters on their campuses.\nIU law professor Dan Conkle said the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, representing law schools, did not have much of a case against the U.S. Department of Defense. \n"I thought from the beginning that the First Amendment argument by the law schools was a stretch," Conkle said. "There's no attempt here to squelch the law schools' speech."\nFAIR argued law schools should not be forced to associate or promote organizations whose views they do not share, saying it would violate the law schools' First Amendment rights. The military enforces a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays, which many believe is discriminatory.\nConkle added that law schools still have the right to petition, thus protecting their free speech -- a point Chief Justice John Roberts noted in the decision. \nThe Solomon Amendment, passed in 1996, forced the IU law school to exempt the military in its nondiscrimination policy. \nGay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Service Coordinator Doug Bauder said in an e-mail he is more concerned with the policy than the Solomon Amendment. He said his feelings on the issue were best summed up in the lead editorial in Tuesday's Washington Post, which commended the Supreme Court for not finding the Solomon Amendment unconstitutional but criticized the military for continuing to enforce its "don't ask, don't tell" policy.\nIU law professor Pat Baude said he did not believe FAIR's argument was as hopeless as some of his colleagues had hinted because the Solomon Amendment was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. \n"It wasn't chasing a fantasy," Baude said.\nBut he conceded FAIR's case was doomed in oral arguments the Supreme Court heard in December.\n"The Constitution gives Congress the power to raise armies," Baude said. "The Constitution makes Congress, not the Yale Law School, raise armies.\n"It was a clever argument," Baude said, "but it wasn't powerful." \nIU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said he was not sure if officials held a discussion about what the University would do if the Solomon Amendment was ruled unconstitutional.\nThe University allows military recruiters on campus and has a Reserve Officer Training Corps program, MacIntyre said. \nCraig Bradley, IU law professor, said FAIR's case was shaky. \n"I tend to think legal about these cases rather than political," he said. \nBradley predicted FAIR would lose its argument, according to a December Indiana Daily Student article.