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AAUP Briefs Support Antidiscrimination Policies
In January and February, the AAUP filed three amicus briefs in support of law schools and faculty who are challenging the Solomon Amendment, a federal law requiring that colleges and universities allow the U.S. military full access to recruiting on campus. The amendment threatens institutions with a loss of federal funding if the institutions or any of their component schools exclude military recruiters from campus. Many law schools, and some other institutions, restrict military recruiters from participating in on-campus recruitment programs because the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on sexual orientation does not comply with the institutions’ antidiscrimination policies.
One of the lawsuits was brought by the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR), a coalition of law schools and faculty. In the lawsuit, FAIR v. Rumsfeld, the law schools and faculty argue that the Solomon Amendment violates their First Amendment rights to academic freedom, free speech, and freedom of association. Cases filed by individual law schools that make similar arguments are pending in different jurisdictions around the country. The other two suits brought by law school faculties in which the AAUP has filed briefs are Burbank v. Rumsfeld, a case involving the University of Pennsylvania, and Burt v. Rumsfeld, a case involving Yale University.
The AAUP’s briefs argue that the amendment violates concepts of academic freedom and shared governance by forcing law school administrations and their faculty to abandon mutual pedagogical principles of how to teach lessons of ethics, justice, and civil rights. The briefs note that the antidiscrimination policies at the law schools are part of a considered pedagogical approach to teach by example, and that the Solomon Amendment’s attempt to force law schools to aid military recruiters violates principles of academic freedom. The full briefs are posted.
“By participating in these nationally important cases, the AAUP is supporting its fundamental policies on academic freedom and discrimination while protesting the coercive and unjustified use of federal funding to threaten the collective educational judgments of university faculty,” says David Rabban, professor of law at the University of Texas and the AAUP’s general counsel.
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