Costly Principles: Pentagon forces law schools to choose between federal funding and backingof gay rightsAuthor(s): TERRY CARTERSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 83, No. 12 (DECEMBER 1997), pp. 30-31Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27840143 .

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NEWS

fessional lives with their family and their interests in other good works."

To reduce lawyer dissatisfac tion, the task force recommends, among other things, that law firms consider a speedier shift away from billable hour arrangements, revis

ing traditional partnership struc tures, and confronting the tension between increasing revenues and allowing attorneys "a life."

Daugherty's Mississippi law yer assistance program is trying to raise awareness about stress and illnesses such as depression that stem from it. The program will re fer lawyers suffering from burn-out to services that can help. Sometimes "even small steps can make a huge

change" in a life, she says. While lawyers can seek help

with lawyer assistance programs in their own states, the quality of ser vices offered may vary, says Austin, Texas, lawyer Mike Crowley, who chairs the ABA Commission on

Lawyer Assistance Programs. The best programs usually are

in the 20 to 25 states that have full time directors trained to recognize signs of many kinds of problems and to make referrals. "The success of the program is going to be related to the resources available," he says. His commission is working with states to help them fund their own

programs. (Lawyers who want to learn more about their state pro

grams can contact the staff direc tor of the ABA commission, Donna Spilis, at (800) 285-2221, extension 5359.)

If a lawyer appears to be hav ing psychological troubles, law firms and colleagues shouldn't min imize the signs, says Alan L. Ber

man, a psychologist and executive director of the American Associa tion of Suicidology.

If a lawyer confides feeling de spair, anxiety, depression or shame, or is abusing alcohol or drugs, a col league should show concern, ask questions and aid the person in seek ing help, Berman advises. "Much too often I hear the 'if only' statement: If only I'd done something.'

"

Costly Principles Pentagon forces law schools to choose between federal funding and backing of gay rights BY TERRY CARTER

For the faculty at American

University's Washington Col lege of Law, it was a Hobson's choice. It could adhere to school

policy banning military recruiters from campus because of discrimi nation against gays through its controversial "Don't ask, don't tell" directive. But the price of holding to principle would be the loss of federal funds to keep its most

needy students in school. Or it could ignore its own

nondiscrimination policy, permit military recruiters on campus, and preserve the federal funding for students.

After a series of gut-wrenching meetings, the faculty's Septem ber decision was summed up in a headline in the alternative week

ly Washington City Paper: "Push comes to shove, and the Ameri can University faculty decides discrimination is OK after all."

"That headline really hurt," says Andrew Pike, associate dean at the Washington College of Law. But he also admitted that the "story gets it right." Military recruiters prevailed over school

policy. And Washington College of

Law simply mirrors what more than a dozen other law schools? and colleges and universities?

Andrew Pike: Student aid is main concern.

Under Fire The Pentagon had threatened several law schools

with the loss of student aid funds because of their anti-military policies. They included:

American University Washington College of Law Hamline University School of Law (Minn.) Ohio Northern University College of Law St. Mary's University (Texas) School of Law

University of Oregon School of Law Willamette University College of Law (Ore.) William Mitchell College of Law (Minn.) Duke University School of Law (N.C.) Georgia State University College of Law

Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education, ABA Journal research

have done in the wake of a new law that took effect in August. The law cuts off federal student aid at schools barring military recruiters.

The Pentagon made a list of those law schools where the mili tary would like to recruit but had been barred from doing so because of nondiscrimination policies that sometimes were backed up by local or state law.

Military Recruiters Now In Those schools were notified by

the Pentagon that they would lose the federal funding if they did not permit the recruiters to come in. All the schools on the list?and a few the Pentagon had not targeted? agreed to rescind the policy to pre serve federal support for their stu dents who are in work-study pro grams or otherwise dependent on federal aid.

A staffer for U.S. Rep. Gerald B.H. Solomon, R-N.Y., says there

was no intention for the law known as the Solomon Amendment to ^ hurt students relying on federal

funds. But that has been the clear and direct result. The law bars several agencies and Cabi net-level departments, including the Department of Education, from giving grants or contracts to a college if any part of the school bars military recruiters.

In Connecticut, where state law bars discrimination against gays, legislators were also con

sidering the effects of the law. The legislature in a special, late October session was expected to pass a law allowing military re cruiters on state campuses to the extent it is required by federal

30 ABA JOURNAL / DECEMBER 1997 abaj/pete souza

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law and if excluding them would re sult in loss of federal funds.

A 1994 Connecticut Supreme Court ruling held that state anti discrimination law required a ban on military recruiters at the Uni versity of Connecticut School of Law.

"Congress is forcing the legis lature, blackmailing them, to put a

price on discrimination against Connecticut citizens/' says Joseph Grabarz, executive director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, which represented the law students in the case.

The Association of American Law Schools for years has required members to adhere to a nondis crimination policy that includes sexual orientation. The association now is advising its member schools that military recruiters may be al lowed on campus to protect federal funding as long as schools "take ap propriate steps to ameliorate the negative effect on the law school en vironment," says Carl Monk, aals executive director.

Such measures might include

posting notices informing students that military recruiters are being given access because of the threat of losing federal funds, and that the military does discriminate based on a person's sexual orienta tion, Monk says.

As military recruiters enter the law schools, they sometimes are faced with protests. About 150 stu dents demonstrated at the Univer sity of Oregon School of Law. At another school, students erected a faux-closet entrance to the room where military recruiters were

meeting with students. At Duke University, all law

students received an e-mail mes

sage that also was provided in print to arriving military recruiters. The note stressed the school's commit ment to equal opportunity and said it views the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy as discriminatory.

The American Civil Liberties Union is discussing with various law schools and universities the possibility of a constitutional chal lenge to the Solomon Amendment, says Jennifer Middleton, staff at torney with the aclu's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.

"That's the upside to all this," she says. "Law students around the country have been telling us this is the hottest gay rights issue of the fall."

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