Harrison adds that she hopes a successful challenge by Yale would “show President Summers that Harvard’s reputation and standing will continue to decline relative to Yale and the other top-five law schools until he demonstrates leadership on difficult issues, such as JAG recruiting.”
Although Summers was unavailable for comment yesterday, he said in a September interview that while he opposed “don’t ask, don’t tell,” complying with the military was “the right step for the University.”
Harvard Law School spokesperson Michael A. Armini also reiterated Clark’s opposition to “don’t ask, don’t tell” yesterday but declined to explain why Harvard had not mounted a suit. Clark was also unavailable for comment.
But Provost Steven E. Hyman said in an interview Tuesday that Harvard officials believed a successful court challenge on the legality of Harvard’s original policy—allowing on-campus recruiting through a student group—would simply be met with Congressional strengthening of the Solomon statute.
Casey says Congress has been adamant about maintaining equal campus access for military recruiters. Any court victory would be “short-lived,” he says.
An administration official says the University was reluctant to waste its political capital on an issue that enjoyed so much Congressional support.
Making a Statement
Yale students and faculty says fears of Congressional action should not dissuade universities from mounting a court challenge.
“Whatever happens legally, unless there’s a successful Constitutional challenge brought, Congress will always retain the right to close any loophole or any finding of compliance,” says Kenji Yoshino ’91, a Yale professor who specializes in discrimination and gay rights law.
“Ultimately, I would compare this most to the boy scouts case, where the [gay] boy scouts lost in court but won in the court of public opinion,” he says.
Alsdorf says even if Congress were to effectively reverse a court decision in favor of Yale, the action would stimulate public discussion on “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the defense department’s methods.
SAME spokesperson Lindsay B. Barenz, a second-year Yale law student, says the group will hold a protest tomorrow, when the Air Force JAG program will be interviewing students.
Harvard Law School’s gay rights group, Lambda, has scheduled a rally Monday to coincide with the first official JAG recruiting visits here. Along with Clark, Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz and other faculty and students are scheduled to speak at that action.
Students including Harrison, a Lambda board member, will fill JAG interview spots on Monday to discuss “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.