Over the last few days, nearly every undergraduate received a personal e-mail invitation to apply to be a commissioned officer in the United States Navy.

The government-sanctioned spam has surprised many students, particularly given the University's complex relationship with the military.

The Solomon Amendment to the National Defense Appropriation Act, signed into in law in 1997, requires all universities that receive federal funding to submit a directory of their students to the military for recruiting.

The Harvard drive was led by Lieutenant Chris Dunphy and Chief Petty Officer Laura L. Jones, two Navy recruiters.

In an interview, Dunphy said that federal law also stipulates that universities must offer the same recruiting opportunities to military recruiters as they would to civilian companies.

Normally, Dunphy said, the Navy gets the directory of students from schools' registrars' offices.

Georgene B. Herschbach, associate Dean of the College, confirmed that any "official data files" including e-mail directories would have to be supplied by the Registrar's office, though she and others in the office were unable to confirm that they had submitted the files to the Navy.

"There are very strict policies regarding who can get what information," she said.

Most schools give the military a directory of e-mail addresses, Dunphy said.

"Since that has become the conduit of choice for distributing the directory, and it is easier on the [military] service and cheaper for taxpayers," the Navy has begun to do some of its campus recruiting electronically, in addition to attending job fairs and other recruiting events.

Dunphy said that while they have no statistics on rates of response through e-mail or on particular campuses, many Harvard students have expressed interest in hearing more about opportunities in the Navy.

Some students were annoyed at having received a personal solicitation, but most either did not respond or wrote back favorably, he said.

While the military may have a legal right to recruit on campuses receiving federal funding--of which Harvard receives a significant amount, Dunphy said--Harvard has developed a reputation for being inhospitable toward the military and its traditional recruitment programs like the Army's Reserve Officer's Training Corps (ROTC).

The University disbanded its ROTC detachment during the 1960s. Then, in 1993, the Faculty Council voted to stop paying MIT for including Harvard students in its ROTC program in protest of the military's "don't ask don't tell" policies toward gays.

Alumni have since established an independent trust fund to pay MIT for Harvard's students.

The University does not give students academic credit for their ROTC training, and administrators rejected an Undergraduate Council proposal two years ago to allow ROTC to return to Harvard.

Despite the presence of supporters among students and alumni, several Harvard students said they were offended at having received an unsolicited recruiting e-mail from an institution whose policies toward gays they view as discriminatory.

Gay students who wrote to Jones expressing their disappointment received an e-mail message saying she "does not have control over the policies set forth by the civilian leadership of the [Department of Defense]."

Though many students deleted the e-mail quickly, rumors about how their names were obtained have been circulating through campus for the past few days.

"When I first got [the letter] I thought, 'How did this person get my email? I don't want this junk,'" said David P. Tuttle '02.

Aaliyah Williams '01 said, "I really don't think people would be at Harvard if they wanted to be in the military. Certainly some people are in ROTC, but this just doesn't seem like a fruitful place for recruitment."

Although Harvard students are underrepresented in ROTC compared to many other local schools, both the commander and vice-commander of the local Air Force ROTC unit based at MIT are Harvard students. ROTC members defended the Navy's direct solicitation of students.

"I think it's fine for the military to send one little e-mail encouraging people to consider serving," said Rich Goodier '01, a Navy ROTC midshipman. "Sometimes I get upset at people's anti-military views, which they often take out on everyone and everything associated with it. The military is a critical part of maintaining the stability of this country."

Many non-ROTC students also viewed the e-mails as reasonable.

"There is a difference between a campus group or the military and a company recruiter," said John P. Marshall '01. "Some people have said it's an invasion of privacy, but this is the U.S. government. These are the people we pay taxes to. It's a different kind of animal, not some random corporation."