"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and the Solomon Amendment to be topic of Jan. 27 conference
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ? On Friday, Jan. 27, a group of experts will gather in Middlebury College’s Dana Auditorium from 12:30 - 4:15 p.m. to discuss and debate issues surrounding the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and the Solomon Amendment. The event is sponsored by the Middlebury College Office of Student Affairs and is free and open to the public.
United States Code Title 10, the country’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy enforcing the prohibition of the service of openly gay individuals in the military, has been controversial since its inception in the mid-1990s. The Solomon Amendment, named for U.S. Representative Gerald Solomon and enacted by Congress in 1994, allows the U.S. Secretary of Defense to deny funding to institutes of higher education that prohibit or prevent military recruitment on campus.
Conference participants include Sharon Alexander, deputy director for public policy for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and a U.S. Army veteran; John A. Williams, a professor of political science at Loyola University in Chicago and chair and president of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society (IUS); Gerald Walpin, counsel to Chicago-based law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman and former judge advocate general (JAG); and Kent Greenfield, a law professor at Boston College Law School and founder of Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR). Commenting on the discussions and debates will be Kinvin Wroth, a professor and former dean and president of Vermont Law School, and Middlebury College Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science Murray Dry.
Practices and Perspectives
Friday, Jan. 27, 12:30-4:15 p.m.
Dana Auditorium, Sunderland Language Center
12:30 p.m. Opening Remarks
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Practices and Perspectives”
12:40-1:15 p.m. Sharon Alexander, Director of Public Policy for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
1:15-1:45 p.m. John A. Williams, Professor of Political Science at Loyola University in Chicago and Chair and President of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society
1:45-2:15 p.m. Questions for Williams and Alexander
2:15-2:30 p.m. Coffee Break
The Solomon Agreement
2:30 p.m. Introduction
2:35-3:15 p.m. Debate
- Kent Greenfield, Boston College law professor and president of Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR)
- Jerry Walpin, former judge advocate general (JAG) and amicus author in “FAIR v. Rumsfeld” in favor of enforcing the Solomon Amendment
3:15-3:25 p.m. Discussant: Kinvin Wroth, Professor and Former President, Vermont Law School
3:25-3:35 p.m. Discussant: Murray Dry, Professor of Political Science, Middlebury College
3:40-4:15 p.m. Questions for Walpin, Wroth, Greenfield and Dry
The event is sponsored by the Middlebury College Office of Student Affairs and is free and open to the public. Dana Auditorium is located in the Sunderland Language Center on College Street (Route 125). For more information, contact Karen Guttentag in the Middlebury College Office of the Dean of Student Affairs at 802-443-5388 or kguttent@middlebury.edu.