THEY HIRED THE MONEY:

The Solomon choice: By standing up for the right to oppose the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, some fear law schools could undermine two landmark civil rights laws (Kristin Eliasberg, November 27, 2005, Boston Globe)

IF THE FEDERAL government contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to colleges or universities, should it be allowed to dictate what goes on at those institutions?

The answer, according to two of the most important and successful civil rights laws in US history, has long been a resounding ''yes," when it comes to race and gender discrimination. Title 6 of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin by institutions receiving federal funding, and Title 9 of the Education Amendments of 1972, which applies to sex discrimination, both reflect the fundamental principle that public funds should never be used to encourage discrimination-and that the government can withdraw its funding, often very large amounts of money, from institutions that discriminate.

But next month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that some fear could threaten the reach of these historic civil rights laws. The case, Rumsfeld v. FAIR, doesn't concern race or gender. In an ironic twist, it centers instead on a piece of legislation called the Solomon Amendment, passed in 1994, which says that the government can withhold funding from universities whose law schools refuse to allow military recruiting on their campuses because they consider the armed forces' ''don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays and lesbians to be discriminatory. [...]

But if the Solomon Amendment amounts to government overreach, some are asking, what about Title 6 and Title 9? Surprisingly, the fear among some liberal lawyers and civil rights advocates is that, if the Supreme Court sides with the law schools, the legacy of those victories could be undermined.

If these schools really care about the principle involved, why don't they just refuse money from such a homophobic government?

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 27, 2005 2:21 PM