Vermont Law School Loses Military Recruitment Cast

Vermont Law School Loses Military Recruitment Cast

The U.S. government is within its rights to require colleges to permit military recruiters on campuses, as a condition for receiving federal aid, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a unanimous 8-0 court said there is nothing unconstitutional about that federal rule.

The Supreme Court decision in "FAIR v. Rumsfeld" went farther. It said that Congress is free to pass a law requiring all schools to admit recruiters, regardless of whether they receive government funds or not.

The ruling especially affects Vermont Law School in South Royalton, which is one of only three law schools in the country that have forbidden military recruiters from the campus.

The law school says the reason is the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on homosexual soldiers.

VLS has forfeited "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in federal funds because of its policy regarding recruitment, said Dean Geoffrey B. Shields.

In a statement Monday, Dean Shields said he was "disappointed and hopes that the underlying issues will not be obscured by the Court's decision."

He said that the decision about military recruiting in the future would be up to the board of directors. Shields told the Associated Press he did not forsee a change in the policy, but his personal statement did not take any position on whether the school should change its policy.

He explained that the law school's position, for the last decade has been that "all employers who recruit on our campus must not discriminate based on race, religion, sex, age, color, disability, or sexual orientation."

"Based on the benefits to the United States, I call for the government to change its position on recruiting gays and lesbians

"It is time to make available to the ranks of our military the talents of thousands of gay and lesbian men and women who want to serve. Let us revisit the 'Don't Ask/Don't Tell' policy and do not just what is fair, but what will strengthen our military capability."