HRC and BGLTSA Condemn Voith-Gadgil for "Misleading" Statements

The Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) and the Harvard Republican Club (HRC) issued a joint statement last night slamming the John F. Voith ’07 and Tara Gadgil ’07 campaign for making “misleading” statements.

“It is disrespectful to our organizations and to the student body, and we will not let it stand,” the joint statement said. “John Voith’s attempt to pander to our respective organizations by clearly misrepresenting his ticket’s stance on ROTC is both dishonest in principal and harmful in practice.”

The discrepancy comes out of a similar question the groups askedthe candidate during endorsement meetings.

Both the BGLTSA and the HRC asked the Voith-Gadgil campaign if they supported a chapter of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and military recruiting at Harvard.

According to members of the BGLTSA, Voith and Gadgil gave an answer to them that differed from their written response to the HRC.

“They said they absolutely did not support having ROTC on campus as long as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was in place,” said BGLTSA Co-chair Mischa A. Feldstein ’07.

But in a written response to the HRC, available on their website, Voith and Gadgil gave a different answer.

“We believe that Harvard should actively support students who wish to serve their country in the military. We will support bringing ROTC back to campus, support recruiting on campus, and make a point to pass a UC resolution at the end of the spring semester thanking and congratulating the soon-to-be-commissioned cadets and midshipmen,” Voith and Gadgil wrote in the response to the HRC questions.

Gadgil wrote in a statement e-mailed to the HRC open-list tonight that the contradiction stemmed from a misunderstanding on the part of the BGLTSA.

“We continue to support bringing ROTC back to campus. We made that clear to the HRC and to the BGLTSA,” Gadgil wrote. “It is not accurate to state that we ‘unequivocally opposed the presence of ROTC on campus while Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is in place.’ We did, however, make it clear that we need to understand the concerns of the campus.”

“The Republican Club was a written statement and the BGLTSA is an interpretation,” Voith said.

—Check thecrimson.com for updates throughout the evening.