Drafting Education

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Rep. Gerald B. Solomon (R-NY) last week in Washington conducted by Crimson reporters Rebecca J. Joseph and David H. Pollack and a reporter from WHRB. Solomon has proposed a congressional bill making federal financial aid to university students contingent upon draft registration.

WHRB: Why do you think the universities should be responsible for making sure that every single student can prove that the has indeed registered for the draft?

Solomon: First of all, let me touch on the subject of conscientious objection. If there are young men who share that conviction, the best thing that they can do is to register for the draft--because at the present time they have no way of stating their objections on conscientious grounds, whether they be religious, moral, or what have you. The fact is that if they come forth and register at the time that they are called for classification, both physically and through examination, they then have the opportunity to state their conscientious objection. I have advised all young men to come out and register, and then when they are called they can state their conscientious objection and then by classified as a conscientious objector.

Now we still have 4%--about 25,000--of the total number of eligible men who are in violation of the law, but that's way down from what it was before my bill became law. Those 25,000 are being advised by their peers, by their fellow students, by some college professors, even some college presidents, not to obey the law, that the law will never by enforced, and that nothing will ever happen to them. Well, that's not going to happen because not only are they going to be deprived under my bill of certain benefits that are granted to them, but the federal government is going to process these people.

My whole point is this: that by educating people to the fact that the law exists, we were able to do a favor to hundreds of thousands of young men who could, subsequently, have been found guilty, and could have had their lives affected. So we have done them a favor. What we are doing is trying to get the rest of them to do themselves a favor and come forth and register. We've been tremendously successful in doing so. There's one thing that you have to remember: even though the President's grace period of 30 days has expired, any young man who is in violation today, or has been for a month or six months or whatever, can still go down to the post office and register--even after being in violation--and nothing will happen to him. But if he doesn't, then something will happen to him, and that something is being convicted of a felony. I don't want that to happen to any young man, whether he's intentionally or unintentionally violating that law.

Crimson: There is an ethical debate as to whether the government should play a role in education.

Solomon: First of all, when we passed this law, we simply added to a list of other qualifications that students today have to comply with means test, being a high school graduate, et cetra, et cetera, et cetera. There are probably about some twenty-five various qualifications before you can qualify for a scholarship or Pell Grant. We simply added another qualification which they have to comply with. That's the law. The universities today are enforcing the other qualifications that are in the law, and we've added one more. So it isn't like we're asking them to do something that they're not already doing.

Crimson: Do I understand that if young men declare conscientious objection, and then register for the draft, that they will receive compensation?

Solomon: Absolutely. Because that's in the law now.

Crimson: What about the administrative problems that the bill would cause at all colleges?

Solomon: Well, I am upset with the Education Department and the Selective Service Commission because of the way that they have promulgated the regulations to implement my amendment. I recently met with the National Administration of School Administrators, financial officers, and the National Student League Foundation, last week. Their two concerns are that the law will create a burden to students and incur additional expenses for universities. You have a problem where the Selective Service Commission law says that you must register within thirty days of your eighteenth birthday. Consequently, when they are in their senior year, January, February or March, and they are applying for aid at that time, they have not come within the thirty days of their eighteenth birthday, so consequently they have no way of showing proof that they applied for the financial aid. That is a tremendous burden. I have been negotiating with the Education Department to change that law, extending that to 120 days of their eighteenth birthday. This means that any kid who is going to graduate in May or June can still apply up to 120 days before and still have time to process his application at that time.

The tape of this interview was obtained courtesy by WHRB.