Legally at least, gays and lesbians soon will be allowed to serve openly in the United States military. That’s the beneficial result of the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell rules under which gays and lesbians were forced to keep their sexual orientation private or to face discharge. There’s another benefit as well. The repeal of the edict should promote stronger relationships between college and university campuses and the military.
That could lead to reinstatement of Reserve Officers Training Corps programs on many campuses where they have been unwelcome. That would be beneficial to both the military and to the institutions of higher learning.
For decades, many schools purposefully distanced themselves from the military and the ROTC. The estrangement began with the protests of the Vietnam War era. More recently, many schools said the don’t ask, don’t tell policy was so discriminatory that its practitioners had no place on campus. Repeal of the law changes that equation.
There is, in fact, little reason to continue the ban. For years before Vietnam and the don’t ask, don’t tell policy, ROTC programs supplied a reliable stream of junior officers to the armed services. The campus bans did not end that practice, but they did slow it, making it more difficult for the military to maintain a strong officer cadre.
That should change now. Officials at some of the most high-profile schools where ROTC has been banned had long pledged to open their campuses to ROTC if the don’t ask, don’t tell rule was eliminated. There are numerous signs that those pledges will be honored.
Once the legislation ending the don’t ask rule, don’t tell rule was signed, both Harvard and Yale, perhaps the most visible of the schools with ROTC bans, promptly announced they would lift the restrictions. Other schools say they will follow suit. There is no guarantee, of course, that reinstatement of the programs will prompt a growth in enrollment. ROTC remains, after all, a voluntary program.
Still, ROTC expansion is beneficial. It should help ease the disconnect between those who make policy that leads to war — presumably the academic elite and the financially secure – and the men and women who do the fighting – generally those with limited financial resources and without easy access to higher education. A broader military presence on campuses also could reinforce the notion that wearing a uniform is a choice to admire rather than to condemn..
Americans are not required to serve in the military, but they should not be isolated from the positive role men and women in the armed services play in national life. A wider ROTC presence – likely after the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell – should broaden acceptance of the military and expand the opportunity to serve.