The Army Times is reporting that the Defense Department has announced a new get-tough policy with colleges and universities that interfere with the work of military recruiters and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.
Under rules that will take effect April 28th 2008, defense officials said they want the exact same access to student directories that is provided to all other prospective employers.
The Army Times says, students can opt out of having their information turned over to the military only if they opt out of having their information provided to all other recruiters, but schools cannot have policies that exclude only the military, defense officialls said in a March 28 notice of the new policy in the Federal Register.
The new policy also no longer lets schools ban military recruiters from working on campuses soley because a school determines that no students have expressed interest in joining the military. If other employers are invited, the military has to have the same access.
Federal funding can be cut off if colleges and universities do not give recruiters and ROTC programs campus access. While student financial assistance is not at resk, ohter federal aid, especially research funding, can disappear if a school does not cooperate.
Here's a link to the Army Times story:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/military_recruiters_schools_033108w/
Locally, Dave Meserve is circulating petitions called the Arcata Youth Protection Act and the Eureka Youth Protection Act. AN ORDINANCE TO PROHIBIT THE MILITARY RECRUITMENT OF ANY PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN.
Since these would be passed by the voters and not the school boards, this new military policy would seem to be exempt from cities that pass such ordinances by popular vote.
Find out more about Dave Meserve's ordinances here: http://homepage.mac.com/juanwilson/islandbreath/2008Year/17-peace_war/0817-04BanRecruiting.html
How do you feel about recruiting kids under the age of 18?
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4 comments:
If other prospective employers, such as police and fire departments can have access to student job fairs, then so should the military. If you ban one, you must ban them all. Additionally, I believe that the freedom of speech, although at times unpleasant, cannot be infringed upon whether we are talking about the military or the medical profession in a recruitment atmosphere. However, if there were a company that sought to hire employees as peacemakers (such as the U.S. State Department), they could come and recruit those students who believe in diplomacy over war.
As parents, if we raise our children well, they will make sound choices...I hope!
If you ban one, you must ban them all.
Not necessarily true under the law. Unless the discrimination is based upon a "suspect class" such as race, national origion, or religion, or a "quasi-suspect class" such as sex, class, or sexual preference, discrimination may be justified with only a "rational basis" as opposed to a "compelling state interest."
What military recruiters do have access to is students' private information. Private employers don't have that. It remains an open legal question as to whether a student has standing to demand that a school keep his/her records out of military hands.
If a student isn't 18 years of age, how can they sign a contract that could effect them for the rest of their lives? If all recruiters are to have equal access to our kids in school, that would have to allow the Hollywood Sex industry to recruit our kids.
Who is going to agree with that?
Where in the world does a representative of a local city government have the time to propose restricted access of potential employeers, vice addressing critical issues impacting the needs of the people of Arcata.
Say the hell out of these yound adults lives, there is information available to all concerned on the goods and the bads of being in the military.
Let these young people make up their own minds...we don't need any further government intervention in our lives.
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