Over the next few weeks, the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General will conduct interviews at the Law School. As you know, Columbia has a long-standing nondiscrimination policy, under which employers who use Law School facilities in recruiting are asked to pledge that they will not discriminate based on numerous factors, including race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation.
The military’s "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" statute cuts against our strongly held conviction that employer hiring should be solely based on merit, and without regard to factors including race, sex, religion, and sexual orientation. The U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General are being permitted to interview at the Law School pursuant to federal legislation known as the Solomon Amendment. Under that legislation, a law school’s refusal to permit the military equal access to recruit on campus can result in the withholding of a wide range of federal funding to an entire university.
As a community, we are mindful of the military’s status as an institution that protects the nation. We admire the courage and self-sacrifice of our troops and appreciate the particular contributions of military lawyers in an age when national security and personal liberty must be balanced in difficult new contexts. We believe strongly that those of our students who choose careers in the military can offer invaluable service to the nation. This very certitude renders it even more acutely troubling that our gay, lesbian and bisexual students are precluded from doing so, due to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" statute.
I encourage you, as future advocates, to participate in a robust, vibrant, public conversation around the issues raised by military recruiting. It is the role of a great law school – including both its students and faculty -- to explore contemporary legal issues in an open, collegial, and thoughtful way. We urge you to examine this issue through the various ameliorative programs at the Law School and the greater university during the course of the semester and in conversations with your peers, professors, and administrators.
Dean David Schizer
Dean and Lucy G. Moses
Professor of Law
Columbia Law School
