Groups Pressure Rudenstine to Dump ROTC

After years of what they call University foot-dragging, several bisexual, gay and lesbian groups have formed a task force to pressure the Harvard administration to finally cut ties to ROTC.

Created one month ago, the Committee to End Discrimination by Harvard has so far written to President Neil L. Rudenstine and produced informational pamphlets on the issue.

The new committee is rallying even as a decision is finally expected in the long-running ROTC debate. Rudenstine last week said he will recommend a new policy on December 13.

The groups forming the committee include the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students Association (BGLSA), the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus Alumni Group and gay and lesbian organizations of four of Harvard's graduate schools, according to Tom A. Gerace '93, the chair of the committee.

The roughly 20-member committee consists of alumni, the leaders of the different campus groups and two faculty members, Professor of Philosophy Warren D. Goldfarb '69 and Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Philosophy K. Anthony Appiah.

"It was created because we realized that last year when the first deadline in the Verba report passed Neil Rudenstine took no action," Gerace said. "As the final deadline is fast approaching we felt it necessary to remind the University that it was continuing to support discrimination against lesbian, bisexual and gay students, and time for action was long overdue."

The Verba report was issued in October 1992, by a Faculty Council Committee on ROTC chaired by Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53. Last year, the report was endorsed by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

The report recommended that the University allow students to continue in MIT's ROTC program, but that Harvard stop funding the program. Originally, the report set a deadline of fall 1994 for cutting the fee, but Harvard has still not acted on the recommendation.

But the Committee to End Discrimination by Harvard is concerned "that the Rudenstine administration may be trying to use a small technical loophole in the Verba report to avoid the spirit of what the report says," Gerace said.

Gerace said committee members fear Harvard may try to pay the fee through another outlet, instead of FAS, thus avoiding the report's requirement through a loophole.

"Our committee's primary goal is to make sure that the University understands that any support of ROTC--whether through financial support, the offering of University facilities or the inclusion in ceremonies--violates Harvard's non-discriminatory policy," Gerace said. But "individual students" should be able to participate and accept scholarship money," he said.

"We call on Neil Rudenstine to make the moral choice--to honor Harvard's non-discrimination policy and end all forms of University support of a group that discriminates against lesbian, bisexual and gay students," he said.

Rudenstine, however, did not give the committee the meeting members requested in their October 31 letter to him. The letter was signed by several bisexual, gay and lesbian student group leaders as well as David Carney '89, a student dismissed from ROTC in 1989 for being gay.

In his reply, dated November 15, 1994, Rudenstine thanked the committee for the letter, but would not comment substantially, "since I plan to have a further report on ROTC for the entire community in the near future."

The committee is now in a wait-and-see mode, members said.

"We have a number of options should the University decide not to [cut ties with ROTC], but we are going to wait to hear the University's policy before going ahead with them," Gerace said.

But the committee is not staying completely quiet either, members say.

"We encouraged all members of the committee to reach out to those who would be concerned and encouraged them to make their views known to Rudenstine and to [Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles]," Gerace said.

One member of the committee, Jeff A. Redding '96, sent an e-mail message to 11 people and a Civil Liberties Union of Harvard (CLUH) mailing list November 15.

The message called for "those people who disagree with Harvard's current implication in the military's ban on gays to please write President Rudenstine to express your displeasure and urge the revocation of this support." A copy was forwarded to The Crimson by a recipient.

In an interview, Redding said "this letter itself was a purely personal letter."

Other Groups React

Redding is the ROTC project leader for CLUH, but he said the organization is not yet planning to protest on the ROTC issue.

"In the past, we had met with President Rudenstine to discuss our concern about the ROTC issue," Redding said, "but at this point because Rudenstine has announced that a decision is near, I guess we are at a wait and see and he knows what we feel on this."

But Eric D. Miller '96, the director of CLUH, said the group will likely take some action on ROTC.

"We're planning to do something on that issue," he said "I'm not sure at this point what we'll do. In the past, we've written letters and sent petitions, and it's possible we'll do more of that. We don't have a fixed date, but it will probably be some point in the next few weeks."

Other organizations may also speak out on ROTC between now and December 13th.

"I think we've been a little slow to respond, but in light of the upcoming announcement, I'm sure we'll organize something," said BGLSA Co-Chair Moon Duchin '97.

But Redding, who is also the chair of a subcommittee of the BGLSA for ROTC issues, said the plans are far from complete.

"I have not discussed this with the rest of the BGLSA yet and I don't think that I am in any position right now to say what we may or may not do because it hasn't been discussed," he said.

Duchin said the BGLSA is divided over what to do.

"One of the reasons that BGLSA hasn't jumped to action is that we are somewhat divided ourselves on the issue," she said. "Some people feel very strongly that we have to sever all ties to ROTC, while other people feel that the rights of the students involved are more important than the abstract issue of the gay ban.

"Our committee's primary goal is to make sure that the University understands that any support of ROTC--whether through financial support, the offering of University facilities or the inclusion in ceremonies--violates Harvard's non-discriminatory policy," Gerace said. But "individual students" should be able to participate and accept scholarship money," he said.

"We call on Neil Rudenstine to make the moral choice--to honor Harvard's non-discrimination policy and end all forms of University support of a group that discriminates against lesbian, bisexual and gay students," he said.

Rudenstine, however, did not give the committee the meeting members requested in their October 31 letter to him. The letter was signed by several bisexual, gay and lesbian student group leaders as well as David Carney '89, a student dismissed from ROTC in 1989 for being gay.

In his reply, dated November 15, 1994, Rudenstine thanked the committee for the letter, but would not comment substantially, "since I plan to have a further report on ROTC for the entire community in the near future."

The committee is now in a wait-and-see mode, members said.

"We have a number of options should the University decide not to [cut ties with ROTC], but we are going to wait to hear the University's policy before going ahead with them," Gerace said.

But the committee is not staying completely quiet either, members say.

"We encouraged all members of the committee to reach out to those who would be concerned and encouraged them to make their views known to Rudenstine and to [Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles]," Gerace said.

One member of the committee, Jeff A. Redding '96, sent an e-mail message to 11 people and a Civil Liberties Union of Harvard (CLUH) mailing list November 15.

The message called for "those people who disagree with Harvard's current implication in the military's ban on gays to please write President Rudenstine to express your displeasure and urge the revocation of this support." A copy was forwarded to The Crimson by a recipient.

In an interview, Redding said "this letter itself was a purely personal letter."

Other Groups React

Redding is the ROTC project leader for CLUH, but he said the organization is not yet planning to protest on the ROTC issue.

"In the past, we had met with President Rudenstine to discuss our concern about the ROTC issue," Redding said, "but at this point because Rudenstine has announced that a decision is near, I guess we are at a wait and see and he knows what we feel on this."

But Eric D. Miller '96, the director of CLUH, said the group will likely take some action on ROTC.

"We're planning to do something on that issue," he said "I'm not sure at this point what we'll do. In the past, we've written letters and sent petitions, and it's possible we'll do more of that. We don't have a fixed date, but it will probably be some point in the next few weeks."

Other organizations may also speak out on ROTC between now and December 13th.

"I think we've been a little slow to respond, but in light of the upcoming announcement, I'm sure we'll organize something," said BGLSA Co-Chair Moon Duchin '97.

But Redding, who is also the chair of a subcommittee of the BGLSA for ROTC issues, said the plans are far from complete.

"I have not discussed this with the rest of the BGLSA yet and I don't think that I am in any position right now to say what we may or may not do because it hasn't been discussed," he said.

Duchin said the BGLSA is divided over what to do.

"One of the reasons that BGLSA hasn't jumped to action is that we are somewhat divided ourselves on the issue," she said. "Some people feel very strongly that we have to sever all ties to ROTC, while other people feel that the rights of the students involved are more important than the abstract issue of the gay ban.