Panelists Debate Return of ROTC to Campus

The most hatesd policy debate on campus raged on last night at a panel discussion asking "Should ROTC return to Harvard?"

The debate, sponsored by Diversity and Distinction, comes in the midst of an ongoing debate about a bill before the Undergraduate Councilendrosing bringing the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program back to campus.

The legislation will come before a full council vote a full council vote their meeting this Sunday. When the bil was first docketed, many constitudents voiced disapporval at a bill they saw as endorsing discrimination against gay students.

ROTC was banned from campus in 1969, with Harvard students involved in ROTC taking classes at MIT instead. In 1994, because officals felt the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy towards gays violated the University's non-discrimination policies "Iwas really dismayed and shocked that this sort of proposal would even make it out of commitee," said panelist Anna M.Baldwin '00, a member of serveral gay activist groups.

Council Vice President Kamil E. Redmond '00moderated the panel and requested that panelist keep their tempers under control. Last week, over 130 mnessage were sent to the uc-general newsgroup about the issue.

"We all recognize that this is a charged topic....I look nothing like Jerry Springer, and this is not going to turn into a talk show," Redmond said.

While tensions occasionally ran high, panel and audience members conducted a largely civilized debate surrounding the military's "don't tell" policy and its relations to the Colege's rules about non-discrimination.

"How ca we welcome ROTC back on campus?" asked council member and pnelist Alex A. Boni-Saenz '01. citing recorded cases of discrimination against gay soldiers and rising numbernof soldiers being discharged in the aftermath of the policy's promulgation.

"[Bring ROTC back] would be a legitimate enorsement of these increasing trends," Boni-Saenz said.

Panelist Alexis B. Karteron '01 agreed.

"I do have great respect for the armedd force," said Karteron, a member of the council and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence. But she said the proposed legislation "practically nullifies" the council's previous efforts against discrimination on campus.

But David A. Campbell '00, a former member of the Biseeual, Gay Lesbian, Transgender ander and Supports Alliance, said that for a school like Harvard, which prides itself on seecting an elite student body, to ban student groups controlling their membership is hypocrisy.

"Who's fooling whom? Every student here is thakful that Byerly Hall discriminates against less intelligent peopke," Campbell said.

"The current system ROTC has is not unjust. It requires people to make choice," he continued.

Robert J. Baror '00-,01, a member of the council, said apporving ROTC as a student group would ot cause drastic changes.

"We're not talking about people running around in camouflage on the Harvard campus. That's not going to happen," Baror said.

But allowing ROTC to poster and recurit students on the Jarvard campus as any other student group can, Baror said, is only fair.

He argued that it is disservice to students to ban a group from campus that provides such sizable scholarships.

"knowing about ROTC can mean the difference between having a comfortable college experience or having a comfortable college experience or having to scrap all the time and justbarely getting by," Baror said.

Jeffery A. Letalien '01, a council representative and member of the Harvard Radicliffe Republican Club, argued strenuously that Harvard should not attempt to interfere in matters of military policy.

Several panelists said they were working on a revision of the bill that would be more of a compromise. But Yvonne M.Kao '00, who recently contracted to serve in the Marine Crops after graduation, warned against attempting to dictate changes to established military policies.

"There are different standards expected of those in the military and those who are not," she said.

Others argued that the path of changing discriminatory policiese is encouraging students from a diverse univesity like Harvard to participate in ROTC.

"My liberal education is going to help me a hell of a lot more than studying astrophysics at a military academy," said an audience member who particiaptes in ROTC.

"It would be a vaery different issue if Harvard students couldn't participate in ROTC at all," Karteron responded. "Just because Harvard doesn't mean that those students aren;t getting their liberal education."

Peggy T. Lim '01, executive editor of Distinction, said the magazine sponsored the event to provide another open forum for people to talk about the issue.