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Council Ignores Gay Students

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 of 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.

Robert W. Christensen '00