Education should not be bullied

Uncle Sam wants you for the U.S. Army. For years, he has sought your help in defending the… Uncle Sam wants you for the U.S. Army. For years, he has sought your help in defending the basic freedoms that are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. But included in that list of freedoms is the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. If you decide to exercise that right, like Harvard Law School has been doing for more than 20 years, Uncle Sam just might change his tune and start pushing you around like a playground bully.

Since 1979, Harvard Law has barred military recruiters from the school’s career services office. The boycott was issued because the military rejects openly gay members, a practice that flies in the face of the school’s antidiscrimination policy. And since this is America, Harvard Law was granted the right to protest.

But that came to an end yesterday when the U.S. Department of Defense threatened to pull $328 million in federal financing if the school did not allow recruiters back on campus. Faced with the prospect of losing 16 percent of the entire university operating budget, Dean of the law school Robert C. Clark was forced to comply.

At face value, the government’s actions are childish. The Department of Defense took a relatively small issue – especially since recruiters were still allowed on the law campus as guests of the Harvard Law Veteran’s Association and they were still given access to Harvard’s undergraduate career services office – and threatened to take action that would cripple one of America’s most prestigious universities.

On a larger scale, this situation, which will surely affect the way other schools deal with recruiters, sets a dangerous precedent regarding the relationship between education and the government. When the ruling body is able to blackmail a school into compromising its scale of values, academic integrity becomes vulnerable.

The government’s motivation in these recent dealings with Harvard is all wrong. Federal financing is set aside to benefit the American educational system, not to be used as collateral for forced changes in policy. That money should be given or withheld based on quality of academics, not agreement in politics. Schools have disagreed with the government in the past and they will continue to do so. It is vital that they are allowed to play by their own rules without the government snatching the ball and marching on home.