Butler—who says he was forced to lie about his sexual orientation when he served in the navy—says that if Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is eventually repealed, Harvard would reinstate ROTC immediately. Harvard students can currently participate in MIT’s ROTC program.
I HAVE A DREAM
Yesterday’s election results play a key role in determining the outcome of the DREAM Act that Harvard has consistently lobbied for over the past few years.
If passed, the DREAM Act would provide qualified undocumented youth with a six-year-long conditional path to citizenship upon the completion of two years of higher education or two years of military service.
On Sept. 14, Nevada Senator Harry M. Reid announced that the proposed DREAM Act will be amended to military legislation that was scheduled for vote on the Senate floor the following week. However, on Sept. 21, the legislation failed to see a final vote in the Senate due to a Republican filibuster.
Despite the setback, Harvard College Act on a Dream Co-Director Nicolas E. Jofre ’13 is hopeful that Reid will bring back the proposed legislation during the lame duck session after this election—a promise Reid has made on television. If reintroduced during the lame duck session, the DREAM Act would stand alone.
“In theory, we did have the numbers if the politics of it hadn’t been so controversial,” says Jofre about the filibuster in September, adding that the change in the make-up of the Senate complicates the DREAM Act’s chances.
“We would have to see how leadership is formed in post-election congress,” Casey says.
Jofre says he hopes that the favorable attention the DREAM Act garnered during campaign season will help convince Republicans to vote favorably during the lame duck session.
“I think it is critical to have the Dream Act passed; and focus as well on the Southern border,” writes Deborah E. Anker, a Law School professor who specializes in immigration issues, in an e-mail.
In May 2009, Faust wrote a letter in support of the legislation to Massachusetts Representative Michael E. Capuano. Faust also met with Massachusetts Senator Scott P. Brown, in part to urge him to support the DREAM Act.
To show their support for the DREAM Act, eight leaders of institutions of higher education in Massachusetts—including Faust—co-signed a letter sent to the state Senators in September.
Brown, who has remained ambivalent on his position in relation to the legislation, voted against the defense resolution and the appended DREAM Act on Sept. 21.
“We’re hopeful that regardless of party control, sometime soon, that in the complicated area of immigration reform, the one area that there may be bipartisan agreement on is the DREAM Act,” Casey says.
—Staff writer Zoe A. Y. Weinberg can be reached at zoe.weinberg@college.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Xi Yu can be reached at xyu@college.harvard.edu.