dailystory

Policy may threaten aid - Law School
must be wary of military recruiting law

By Dana Mulhauser
Senior staff writer
Stanford Daily
February 26, 1999

               Editor's note: Part one of a two-part series on military
               recruiting at law schools. Today: Recruiting at Stanford.
               Monday: National reform efforts.

When it comes to military recruiting at the Law School,
Stanford is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

               If the Law School permits military recruiting, it could
               violate its nondiscrimination policy. But if the school bars
               the military from recruiting on its facilities, Stanford could
               lose up to $1 million in federal funding.

The conflict boils down to two statutes - one a school
policy, the other a federal law.

               According to its nondiscrimination policy, the Law School
               "makes its facilities and services open only to employers
               who do not discriminate on the basis of . . . sexual
               orientation."

               A federal law, popularly called the Solomon Amendment,
               prohibits certain federal funds from being "used to provide
               contracts or grants to any institution of higher education
               that . . . prevents military recruitment on campus."

               In other words, the Law School bans recruiters who
               discriminate by sexual orientation, while Congress
               mandates that, to receive federal funding, schools must
               allow the military, which will not hire openly gay
               individuals, to recruit on campus.

Avoiding the conflict

               Thus far the Law School has escaped directly confronting
               the issue thanks to a new recruiting policy implemented last
               spring. The policy does not keep the military away because
               of concern over its practices, but instead due to lack of
               student interest in working for the Judge Advocate General
               Corps, the legal arm existing in a number of armed forces
               branches.

               "We have a policy where new recruiters want to conduct
               interviews, they post their information on our Web site,
               and, unless five students sign up, we tell the employer too
               bad," Law School Dean Paul Brest said.

               According to Brest, when a military recruiter posted a
               listing this fall, only one student signed up, and the recruiter
               was thus not extended an invitation to campus. The
               school's career development center has not heard from
               JAG since its request was denied.

               Until five or more students express interest, the Law
               School need make no decision on whether it will permit
               on-site interviews, Brest said.

"We have never had an occasion to determine whether they
violate the [nondiscrimination] rules," Brest said.

               According to law student Alan Drexel, former head of
               Outlaw, Stanford Law Students for Lesbian, Gay and
               Bisexual Equality, "were a determination to be made, the
               military would clearly be in flagrant violation of the"
               nondiscrimination policy.

Many students are pleased that the Law School's policies
have resulted in no interviewing on campus.

               "The [Office of Career Services] policy was a good
               solution, because it showed that there just isn't student
               interest," said Toni Broaddus, a law student and member of
               Outlaw.

Broaddus admits, however, that she had hoped for a
stronger statement from the school.

               "In some ways I was disappointed that we didn't take a
               stronger stance, although my main concern is keeping [the
               recruiters] off campus and keeping our nondiscrimination
               policy from changing, which has been successful," she said.

University policy

               Although the Law School does not allow discriminatory
               employers to recruit on its facilities, the University as a
               whole has no such policy.

               "We will allow any bona fide employer to recruit on
               campus," said Bob Thirsk, head of the Career
               Development Center.

               According to Brest, Law School students can and do have
               discussions with military recruiters through other campus
               outlets like the CDC.

"Our policy doesn't cover all student contact with these
groups, just [Law] School sponsored contact," Brest said.

               The military could therefore arrange interviews at the CDC,
               a University-wide center, instead of at the Law School
               Office of Career Services, to get around the Law School's
               nondiscrimination strictures.

               Such a scenario occurred in the fall of 1997, when JAG set
               up several interviews at the CDC. When few students
               signed up for the interviews, JAG canceled its trip, and the
               CDC has since received no interview requests from them,
               according to Thirsk.

               Outlaw planned a variety of protests after learning of JAG's
               planned on-campus interviews and would do so again
               should the corps make any future plans to interview on
               campus, according to Broaddus.

               "We didn't find out until the week before they were
               coming, but we had several things planned, including filling
               the interview slots with gay or pro-gay students," she said.

Thirsk said that military recruiters do occasionally show up
at campus career fairs and other recruiting venues.

               "I'm perfectly willing to accommodate the military," he
               said, adding that his stance does not mean that he condones
               the military's practices toward gays.

Future plans

               The military has thus far accepted restrictions on recruiting
               when they are general restrictions based on lack of student
               interest, like Stanford's.

               That does not mean, however, that Stanford has
               permanently evaded the issue. Thirsk noted that the
               military is not known for backing down.

               "In working with the military, I've found that if they really
               wanted to push the issue, they would find a way to come,"
               he said.

               In case the military does press the issue at some point in
               the future, the Law School is working on a contingency
               plan.

               "Dean Brest convened a fundraising task force . . . to look
               at ways of doing targeted fundraising to replace funds that
               might be lost in the future due to enforcement of the
               Solomon Amendment," Drexel said.

               Brest steps down in September, however, and will be
               replaced by Law Prof. Kathleen Sullivan. Sullivan could
               not be reached for comment on the issue, but Drexel called
               her "a strong ally of the lesbian / gay / bisexual
               community."

               Sullivan co-wrote a friend-of-the-court brief opposing
               Colorado's anti-gay rights amendment in the 1996 Supreme
               Court case Roemer v. Evans.