University Presidents Push for End to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

Five university presidents have written a letter to members of Congress asking for the repeal of the policy that prevents openly gay individuals from serving in the military. The presidents of Cornell University, Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin, Syracuse University, and New York University call the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy “detrimental to both our students and the nation.” The House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee are likely to vote on the repeal of the policy today.

5 thoughts on “University Presidents Push for End to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’”

  1. Unless these presidents have served in the military, particularly as officers, they are welcome, like any American, to have an opinion, but this is not an issue the civilian public really has the ability to understand. It is not about students and their rights. It is not about “strengthening society as a whole.” It is not about resembling the diversity they strive to achieve on campuses. It is about cohesiveness of units and everything that goes into making that work, because when it doesn’t, more lives are lost and missions jeopardized. It is not about what is politically correct or about what people think is “right.” The military is a different animal than the rest of society and it’s structure has to serve unique purposes, like it or not. If these presidents are speaking as former military officers, then their opinions may carry some weight.

  2. The chief function of Armed Forces is to win wars, not to be the venue of social experiments.

  3. It’s awfully ironic that the same Americans that would be shocked to hear that the Armed Forces used to have separate platoons for blacks allegedly on the grounds of “cohesiveness”, are in support of banning gays from serving in the military for the same “cohesiveness” argument.In addition, the US, as far as I know, is the only developed nation in the world that bans gays from serving in the military (relatedly, see http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/19/us.allies.military.gays/index.html).

  4. N. 3, 2nd paragraph — so what? The United States are the only “developed” nation that has real freedom of speech too.

  5. If David Horowitz were speaking as a former college administrator, then his opinions might carry some weight.