Military Recruitment at the Law School

On October 2, 2009, the United States Navy and the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Generals’ Corp will visit the law school to interview students. The Navy, Army, and the other branches of the U.S. Military provide wonderful career opportunities for lawyers as well as a way to provide service to their country.

Unfortunately, this opportunity is not available to everyone. Specifically, the U.S. Military permits gay men, lesbians, and bisexual persons to serve in the military only if they neither disclose, nor act upon, their sexual orientation. The Military's policy is inconsistent with the University of Washington Law School's non-discrimination policy, which prohibits any employer using Law School facilities for recruitment purposes from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

Were the U.S. Military a typical employer, the law school would prohibit them from using Law School facilities. However, an exception is made for recruitment by the U.S. Military. The sole reason for this exception is a federal law, the Solomon Amendment, which requires universities to provide the military with full access to students for recruitment purposes or risk the loss of most sources of federal funds to the entire University.

As a result of the Solomon Amendment, gay, lesbian, and bisexual students have been asked to sacrifice their right to non-discrimination in employment, at least where this particular employer is concerned, in exchange for preserving federal funding for the rest of the student body. This statement is not intended to discourage law students from interviewing with or serving in the U.S. Military. Rather, it is intended to remind students that the wonderful opportunities that the Military provides are not available on equal terms to all students, and to inform students of the sacrifice that gay, lesbian, and bisexual students have been asked to make in order to preserve educational funding for the rest of the student body.

Under Association of American Law School regulations, member law schools have a duty to ameliorate the negative consequences associated with permitting the Military to recruit on campus despite its refusal to follow the non-discrimination policy. The following are the types of ameliorative measures taken here at the University of Washington Law School:

• Posting notices such as this one throughout the law school;
• Actively supporting the law school’s LGBT student organization, Outlaws;
• Funding students to attend the annual Lavender Law conference, allowing them to establish networking connections with many lawyers throughout the nation who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual; and
• Offering courses at the law school that specifically address the rights of LGBT persons