I am writing a letter to University of Hawaii at Hilo's Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs regarding the presence of the Army Reserve Officer's Training Corps at UH Hilo. Students of UH Hilo are given the opportunity to serve our nation as soldiers by enlisting themselves directly through the ROTC program offered on-campus. Once they are enlisted and have signed a contract, the Army will pay for part of their education at UH Hilo, along with a monthly stipend, as long as they comply with army regulations and laws.
According to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" law from the Clinton administration, soldiers are not required to disclose their sexual orientation in order to be included, or maintain a position in the military. Today, the U.S. government has a law banning homosexuals from openly participating in the military. Also, if a soldier were to openly identify as a homosexual, or get caught participating in a homosexual "conduct" that soldier would be discharged from the military simply because of being homosexual. Not only is this law unethical and discriminatory, but there is no evidence that suggests the U.S. military would be put "at risk" or become "immoral" for allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military.
I emailed the assistant professor of military science (ROTC program) at UH Hilo about the impact of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and open homosexual conduct on-campus. If a student enrolled at UH Hilo were to sign documents to participate in the military once their education at UH was completed, and if that student were receiving a military scholarship were to engage in homosexual conduct, they would loose their scholarship and their contract with the military would be denied. Also, that student would be obligated to pay back the military in the amount that was given to that student during their educational career.
According to the University's Nondiscrimination policy, programs offered on-campus are obligated to comply with this policy. In this case, ROTC is violating the policy by discriminating against people of homosexual orientations. The University Chancellors are obligated to make sure programs and activities are in compliance with UH policy's. Not only that, our campus values diversity in all aspects of life. I could not imagine the University ever mentioning that homosexuals would put the campus "at risk" or impact campus integrity negatively. UH Hilo should live up to its own policy's and value of diversity and remove the ROTC program on-campus until the law is changed on a federal level.
