Campus Pride releases this statement today regarding the presence of ROTC programs on college campuses in the face of continued anti-transgender discrimination:

Campus Pride stands with organizations like the National Center for Transgender Equality and students at college campuses across the country who have raised awareness of continued discrimination against transgender people in the United States armed forces.

In his state of the union address, President Obama called on colleges and universities to reopen their campuses to ROTC programs now that the 1993 "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law has been repealed. Though Campus Pride acknowledges the positive impact DADT repeal will have on our country and on the lives of untold numbers of young lesbian, gay and bisexual people currently serving in either the armed services or in ROTC programs, we must recognize that there are still others who are barred from serving their country openly and with integrity.

Students, faculty and staff at colleges and universities across the nation who truly value the equality and dignity of all their students are taking a continued stand to keep ROTC programs at bay until all Americans can serve. Campus Pride praises their efforts, leadership and vision.

More information:
"The job is not done: US military still discriminates", National Center for Transgender Equality, 1/25/2011
Joint Statement re: DADT and transgender people, SLDN and National Center for Transgender Equality, July 2010
"Obama to end ‘Don’t Ask’ this year", Washington Blade, 1/26/2011
"Despite Obama’s Call, No Rush in R.O.T.C.’s Return to Campus", New York Times, 1/27/2011

Now that President Barack Obama has signed a repeal to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, and as implementation of repeal proceeds forward in the next year, how should colleges prepare?  As a former U.S. Army officer commissioned through ROTC (and very proud of both), I tried to put myself back in time to think about what I might have needed had this repeal occurred during my college/ROTC years.

The Department of Defense (DOD) December 2010 report on DADT repeal implementation pays little attention to how colleges should prepare for the DADT repeal and the impacts on ROTC programs and cadets at civilian colleges.  Although ROTC programs were mentioned briefly in parts of the report, e.g., repeal would not likely increase ROTC candidate numbers or recruiters’ access to college campuses, there are no clear implementation steps for college administrators to follow in that report.  Leaders at universities will need to create their own implementation plans to ensure a smooth a transition on campus post-repeal.

Recommendations to College and University Leaders

The impact to colleges and universities will depend on campus leadership.  Following are some tips on how college leaders (at institutions with or without ROTC programs) might begin to plan for any impacts following the President signing the DADT repeal into law.  This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but offers some “action steps” that administrators and student leaders can think about as repeal becomes a reality.

Read the recommendations, after the jump...

Last week, Campus Pride contributor David Hanson wrote a phenomenally in-depth post on what a possible "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal might mean for colleges and universities and, in particular, ROTC programs.

Well, that "possible" repeal is now reality.

On Saturday, the U.S. Senate voted 65-31 to overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the 1993 law which prohibits open military service by gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans. President Obama is slated to sign the legislation this week, and will work with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen to certify the policy's final repeal and implementation within the next few months to a year.

In time, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be fully repealed, with open service for LGB Americans fully implemented in its place. ROTC college students will no longer have to worry about anti-LGB discrimination from their program directors or fear facing a closeted career after college.

All of this is good news, of course, and Campus Pride looks forward to continuing our work with college and university students, faculty and staff, and expanding our work to include those students who have opted to join ROTC and serve our country after their college education.

As we stop to thank all of the groups that worked to secure this repeal -- groups like the Human Rights Campaign, the National Lesbian & Gay Task Force, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Servicemembers United, the American Civil Liberties Union, Log Cabin Republicans and a host of other organizations and individual activists both grassroots and national -- we should also pause to remember that our work is not done. For transgender Americans, discrimination within the U.S. Armed Forces will continue to be a reality. Campus Pride asks each of you to remember our transgender servicemembers and continue your own work, individually or with advocacy organizations, to keep pushing until all anti-LGBT discrimination sanctioned by the U.S. government comes to an end.

On the morning of November 30, 2010, CNN ran the headline, “Pentagon: Letting openly gay troops serve won't hurt military” with the tagline, “little risk to repealing DADT ['Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell'].” Later that day, the Department of Defense released the “Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” In the few hours between CNN’s headline and the release, there were thousands of online comments and articles posted for public consumption. Rather than reading others’ opinions, I decided to read the lengthy report myself (which is supplemented by appendices and a Support Plan for Implementation). Given the amount of press and heated commentary on both sides of the repeal issue, DADT is an issue of national interest and social importance. But, in my reading, I wondered how repealing DADT would impact our nation’s colleges and universities?

(Photo right: ROTC members at the University of Washington stand at attention for a joint review. Source: Curtis Cronn, Flickr.)

DADT is of special interest to me since I entered active duty as a U.S. Army officer in 1993—the year DADT was implemented. I remain proud to have participated in ROTC during college, received a commission, and served my country in the Army. The U.S. military is amazing in many ways and provides opportunities to so many; I am grateful for what I learned in the Army and would not trade those years of service. But, I must admit that it would have been nice to have been open and proud during college and on active duty.

For those lacking time to read a 200+ page report, the Executive Summary is a quick read and addresses the bottom line: “Based on all [the committee] saw and heard, our assessment is that, when coupled with the prompt implementation of the recommendations we offer below, the risk of repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to overall military effectiveness is low.” It notes that “with a continued and sustained commitment to core values of leadership, professionalism, and respect for all … the U.S. military can adjust and accommodate this change, just as it has others in history” (italics added in both quotes). Keep in mind that the authors were asked to assess the impact of DADT repeal and how to implement the repeal should it occur, but were not asked whether to repeal DADT.

Read the rest after the jump...

“Current federal policy of excluding known lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals from admission to ROTC or of discharging them from service is inconsistent with Harvard’s values as stated in its policy on discrimination.”

Harvard’s official policy regarding the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program states that the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) doctrine of excluding openly LGBT servicemen conflicts with the university’s discrimination policy, forcing Harvard to prohibit ROTC from active participation on campus. Last year, the Harvard Republican Club sponsored a campus-wide survey in which 62% of the student body supported reversing the ROTC policy; the survey sparked massive protest within the QSA, many of whom claimed that ROTC programs were not only non-inclusive of the openly queer, but detrimental to queer rights movements on campus. However, exiling ROTC from the Harvard campus is more punitive and deleterious to the queer community than the DADT policy, denying queer and queer-friendly students a critical on-campus scholarship and career program.