Thread: Scott Brown says Harvard won't allow ROTC on campus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvOOJrm0 ... local_news

Why in the world would Harvard ban the ROTC that prepares students for commissioning as officers in the Active Army, Army Reserve, or Army National Guard. The overall program is designed to aid students in developing the abilities and attitudes that will make them academically successful and to develop well educated junior officers?

What gives her the right to slap the face of all military service people past, present, and future by using her position as an employee to block the ROTC on campus. DADT is a law that will be legislated by Congress, not a Harvard crony.

The ROTC is an honorable and respected component that supports our military and rewards students with leadership, organizational skills, discipline, and scholarships.

I hope Brown goes after her hide.

quote(Why in the world would Harvard ban the ROTC that prepares students for commissioning as officers in the Active Army, Army Reserve, or Army National Guard.)quote

When Clinton was elected president there was an article floating around that his group wanted more control over our military academies as they fear the military was grooming groups of "conservative" officers that would confront the progressives agenda.

In any event the socialist/progressives see any advanced education via the military as a threat thus the reason for continued assault on the social agenda in the military.

Brown criticizes Harvard leader on ROTC policy
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | September 24, 2010

WASHINGTON — Senator Scott Brown chastised Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust yesterday for not allowing ROTC programs back on campus while she lobbies for illegal immigrants who want to attend college, saying Harvard and its leader have their priorities “upside down.’’

“I am extremely disappointed to learn of Harvard University’s decision to continue to ban ROTC from its campus,’’ the Massachusetts Republican said in a statement. “It is incomprehensible to me that Harvard does not allow ROTC to use its facilities, but welcomes students who are in this country illegally.’’

The comments, which he reiterated in a brief interview, constitute a rare broadside from one of the state’s highest-profile politicians, targeting its most prominent university.

Faust, in an interview Wednesday with Globe reporters and editors, said that Harvard would welcome the military training program back onto campus only when the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ policy against openly gay and lesbian service members is repealed.

She has also been a vocal supporter of an effort to grant legal status to young immigrants if they meet certain conditions, including two years in college or the military. That stance, too, drew Brown’s fire.

“Harvard has its priorities upside down,’’ Brown said. “They should embrace young people who want to serve their country, rather than promoting a plan that provides amnesty to students who are in this country illegally.’’

A Harvard spokesman stood by the university’s position on the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ repeal.

“President Faust has said many times that she very much looks forward to the day when the opportunity to pursue military service will be available to all our students who have the ability and the desire to serve,’’ said John Longbrake, an assistant vice president at Harvard.

The university expelled the ROTC program from campus in 1969 amid protests against the Vietnam War. Faust told the Globe this week that the only reason it is still barred is “entirely linked to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ ’’ — a policy that Faust calls discriminatory.

Harvard students still can participate in ROTC, with the university’s support, by joining a program at MIT. Faust has publicly supported ROTC graduates by attending commissioning ceremonies and other events.

Brown’s comments also reflect his opposition to a pathway to citizenship for youths in the country illegally, an effort known as the Dream Act. That position places him at odds with much of the state’s higher education community.

Faust — along with the leaders of Tufts, Boston University, Northeastern, MIT, Boston College, UMass-Boston, and the University of Massachusetts — sent a letter this week to Brown and Senator John F. Kerry urging them to vote for the Dream Act. Faust also came to Washington last week to advocate for the bill, bringing an immigrant Harvard student who was detained in June for being in the United States illegally from Mexico.

Brown calls the plan “amnesty’’ and its supporters politically motivated.

“They’re welcome to come up here and lobby,’’ Brown said in a brief interview yesterday. “Just like everybody else — they want to lobby on “don’t ask don’t tell,’’ they want to lobby about the Dream Act, that’s great. Come on up,’’ he said. “But to hold our men and women, the students who want to participate in ROTC, hostage because of those beliefs is wrong.’’

Brown, a lieutenant colonel in the Massachusetts National Guard, has sought to carve out a record on military issues and he sits on the key committees of Armed Services, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. He served in the ROTC program at Northeastern University, while he was a student at Tufts.

Earlier this year in the Armed Services Committee, he voted against a repeal of “don’t ask’’ when it was inserted into a comprehensive defense policy bill. On Tuesday, he voted to back a filibuster preventing action on that overall defense bill. The delay was a setback for gay-rights advocates.

He has previously taken criticism from those advocates for his opposition to gay marriage and for once saying it was “not normal’’ for former state senator Cheryl Jacques and her partner to have children, a comment for which he apologized.

The “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ policy also came up earlier this year when Brown met with Elena Kagan, who enforced a limit on the work of military recruiters when she was dean of Harvard Law School. Brown said he was satisfied with Kagan’s explanation, but later voted against her nomination as Supreme Court justice because he said she didn’t have enough judicial experience.

Kerry has also opposed the barring of ROTC programs on such campuses as Harvard’s, although he also supports both repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ and approving the Dream Act.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid had been pushing to attach the Dream Act to the defense policy bill. That effort, too, was stymied this week by the Republican filibuster.

One political analyst said Brown’s statement could be an effort to stir up his base and to reframe an anti-immigration message that has taken hold in some parts of the Bay State and across the country.

“It combines being rough on immigrants . . . and bashing elites,’’ said Maurice Cunningham, a UMass-Boston political science professor. “There’s two things he gets out of it . . . and they both have some appeal.’’

Faust’s comments were also targeted on the campaign trail in the Bay State.

“University officials apparently have no problem opening Harvard Yard to people who break our laws by residing in the United States illegally while they attend school,’’ said Jeff Perry, the Republican nominee for the 10th Congressional District. “However, those same university officials find it unacceptable to support our men and women in uniform as they close Harvard’s campus to students who will fight to protect American’s freedoms.’’

Republican gubernatorial Charles D. Baker, a 1979 Harvard graduate, also criticized his alma mater.

“It’s a bad message to send to the ROTC, to people who serve in our armed services, that somehow they’re not welcome on any campus,’’ Baker said outside the State House, where he was holding a press conference on illegal immigration. “It’s too bad that Harvard doesn’t have ROTC on its campus.’’

www.boston.com

Due to the add'l article posted above, moving this from Other Topics to News.

The DREAM Act no more than backdoor piecemeal BLANKET AMNESTY for the ILLEGALS!

America needs to stop sending their kids to Harvard and Yale. That's the short list. They can get a better education elsewhere and maintain some integrity in the process, if they go some place else.

Dixie