To the editors:
The Undergraduate Council's bill to put a Harvard stamp of approval (even if it is a compromised stamp) on the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) makes it clear that the majority is unable to take into account the interests of minorities and often even themselves, resulting in a persistent democratic threat: a tyranny of the majority.
ROTC is a good program. It provides a service to students and our government that only such a program could. It is patriotic and develops a specific style of leadership. It is also discriminatory, and the council's action is nothing less than a direct affront to Harvard's discrimination policy and an endorsement of homophobia in general.
ROTC is a program in direct defiance of Harvard's policy of non-discrimination and also an organization whose presence on campus would be threatening and offensive to at least one specific minority group. By approving or ROTC, the council has validated homophobic discrimination.
ROTC at Harvard is not about the "don't ask, don't tell policy," it is about Harvard students-and the message was clear: The council does not support its gay students and can support homophobic institutions on its own campus. I just wish the "student representatives" of Harvard had realized that their actions, while good for ROTC cadets, can threaten gay Harvard students.
Read more in Opinion
Failing to Scrutinize Black LeadersRecommended Articles
-
MIT Faculty Ask ROTC Program To Admit GaysIn a move which would allow Harvard students who are gay to participate in ROTC, the MIT faculty proposed Wednesday
-
Council Sparks Debate With Proposal to Reconsider ROTCUndergraduate Council members drafted a bill Tuesday that would express support for bringing the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) back
-
Panelists Debate ROTC's ReturnThe most heated policy debate on campus raged on last night at a panel discussion asking "Should ROTC return to
-
Why We Should Bring Back ROTCThirty years ago today, members of Students for a Democratic Society stormed University Hall and evicted administrators. Their protest of
-
The Council Is Out of OrderT o borrow a phrase from a friend, "the Undergraduate Council is atrocious." Or rather, it has proved its atrociousness
-
ROTC: Gay DiscriminationTo the Editors of the Crimson, I am appalled that the Crimson endorsed the signing of an agreement between Harvard