And if anything can be controversial, it is ROTC and the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding homosexuals.

“I think it’s misguided,” said Stephen N. Smith ’02, a council member and former council presidential candidate. “No one would ever suggest that if we were to put a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on any other group, such as Muslims or Jews, it would be reasonable or non-discriminatory.”

But others, in arguing that the military should receive greater recognition on campus, emphasize the important role of the military in protecting the country, rather than its policy on homosexuals.

“These people are willing to risk their lives for their country and they could at least be recognized—if not funded,” Bash said.

Harvard’s current policy of non-funding for ROTC was formulated by a student-faculty committee in the early 1990s and stems from an incident in which David E. Carney ’89, a Harvard cadet enrolled at MIT’s ROTC program, was expelled from the organization when his homosexuality was revealed.

Since a 1989 council bill calling for the return of ROTC to campus, the council has taken numerous stands on the issue. None of its recommendations, however, has ever become University policy.

Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth ’71 said a council position on the issue would be only one of the opinions the University would consider before any change in policy could occur.

“While I’m sure that a UC resolution on the subject would be of interest to the Faculty, a UC bill would only be one source of opinion among others,” Illingworth wrote in an e-mail.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.