Inside Higher Ed: Democratic Candidates Back Military Recruiters
The three major contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination all pledged in a debate in Nevada Tuesday night that they would enforce vigorously a law — unpopular on many campuses — that requires institutions receiving federal funds to permit military recruiters on campus. The question was raised by Tim Russert, the journalist, not by the candidates themselves. Hillary Clinton answered “Yes” and then devoted her answer to the need to provide better benefits to people in the military. Asked in a follow-up specifically whether many of the leading universities without ROTC programs should have them, Clinton noted that many of these universities allow students to participate in ROTC through programs in the area, but added that these universities “should certainly not do anything that either undermines or disrespects the young men and women who wish to pursue a military career.” Barack Obama and John Edwards also answered “Yes” to Russert’s question and talked about other things — Obama about how he wants more Americans in national service, including positions requiring foreign language knowledge that could help the military and Edwards about poor medical care veterans are receiving and low pay for reservists. None of the candidates (nor Russert’s questions to them) noted the reason many colleges oppose the law — that the colleges have policies barring recruiters who discriminate against gay people — or the fact that following a Supreme Court ruling upholding the law, colleges have said they will follow the law. In addition, the Democrats didn’t note that they’ve all endorsed changing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that colleges view as a violation of their anti-bias policies. A transcript of the debate may be found on the Web site of The New York Times.
Follow
