The Reserve Officer Training Corps is an excellent outlet for national service and venue for personal growth, and we admire those who participate in it. But ROTC has no place on Brown's campus until the military allows all Americans to serve in uniform, without discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.
In a rage against the U.S. war in Vietnam, Brown's faculty voted to remove ROTC from campus. Since 1972, the program has been absent from College Hill, though it's been available to students willing to trek across the city to Providence College's Patriot Battalion. But the number of participating students has been in decline - from a dozen or so in each class in the late 1980s to one or two a year today.
To be sure, ROTC is an excellent program, and its time has come again. At a time when the military needs smart, well-rounded, culturally sensitive officers to lead our troops abroad, Brown seems an ideal place to provide such leadership in these troubled years. A liberal arts education fosters critical thinking and intellectual curiosity - vital skills for today's officers, whose decisions made on the ground in Herat or Baghdad can profoundly affect our national security. While national media outlets repeatedly print essays about our generation's self-absorption, we know that President Bush's call for all Americans to engage in some form of national service - through the military, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Teach for America or other organizations - is a worthy goal.
But there is a line we won't cross, no matter our admiration for ROTC as a meaningful way to serve our country. Since the 1990s, the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy has been a stain on the nation, a policy promoting exclusion and forcing gay Americans to live a double life if they choose to serve. That would be true of ROTC at Brown - only straight or closeted students would qualify for the scholarships and the service. That is intolerable in an increasingly tolerant United States, and it is unacceptable that discrimination against openly gay students would be allowed on our campus. As University policy dictates, "Brown University does not discriminate against any person because of race, color, religion, age, national or ethnic origin, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex." Any organization that does not adhere to this fundamental principle shouldn't be part of our campus life.
We understand that military leaders themselves are not wholly responsible for the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. It must be changed by Congress or the president. So let it be changed. Let students and others who want to see ROTC return to campus tell their congressmen, senators and president that they want this archaic policy consigned to the dustbin of history. It simply makes no sense - at a time when the country is at war and talented young men and women are needed to help lead our military - that gay and lesbian soldiers committed to serving their country are discharged from service for loving the "wrong" gender. Once the policies of our military are brought into line with our nation's highest ideals, we will be the first to welcome ROTC back to College Hill with open arms.
