In response to charges that military recruitment through Columbia's Office of Career Services (OCS) violates the University's non-discrimination policy, a committee formed by University Provost Jonathan Cole last April to address the question has finalized a list of recommendations to enable the military and other employers to recruit on campus.
The recommendations, which were approved by Cole, allow the military to recruit but prohibit them to use Columbia's facilities and resources, such as the Office of Career Services, unless they are willing to abide by the University's non-discrimination policy.
"They will be allowed on campus to do their recruiting, but without the use of our resources and facilities to help them," Cole said. "We will not give them any of our resources or access to our facilities unless they are willing to sign a non-discrimination policy."
According to Vice Provost for Accademic Administration Stephen Rittenberg, chairman of the committee, the final resolution enables all employers the right to rent space on campus, leave literature for students, and have access to directory information on students.
Companies that adhere to the non-discrimination policy are provided with additional services, such as access to career services recruitment programs and job and internship listings.
The committee was formed at the request of Cole last April after a resolution in the University Senate in March proposed to prohibit any companies or organizations that violate the University's non-discrimination policy from recruiting on campus. The committee consisted of students, faculty, and administrators, who worked to create a list of recommendations to address issues of discrimination, including the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Cole compared the committee's proposed resolution to that of Princeton's policy on military recruiting, describing it as a "reasonable solution to a difficult problem."
Cole noted the difficulty of the issue, as the implications of prohibiting all military recruitment on campus could be disastrous in terms of federal funding, he said. Current federal legislation prohibits Department of Defense funding to schools prohibiting on-campus military recruitment, pending legislation could extend this policy to include all government funding.
Last year Columbia received about $13 million from the defense department and $360 million from other federal government sources.
"The resolution provides that we allow access to the campus for anyone who wishes to," Cole said. "We were forced to provide that access by law in order to reduce the risk of losing possibly hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding."
Rittenberg expressed concern about the implications of the non-discrimination policy, in terms of federal funding, noting that the committee carefully looked at both current and proposed federal legislation.
"We think that this won't get us in trouble with the government, but there is no guarantee given the way some of the [U.S.] representatives feel about the issue of the right to recruit on campus. We are going to need to monitor and make sure that the government doesn't come up with more restrictive legislation,' Rittenberg said.
According to Rittenberg, the University's schools should now be acting on the recommendations.
Ritterberg said that although the committee was originally created in order to deal with military recruitment, its final recommendations apply to all prospective employers.
"There are a series of recommendations, but basically the committee's judgment is that is a broader issue involved than just the military recruitment." Rittenberg said. "We are concerned with the sort of access we should apply to any employer that doesn't adhere to the same standards of non-discrimination as the University does."
Eileen Kohan, executive director of Student Administrative Services and the Center for Career Services, said that as a representative from Career Services, she provided the committee with information on the current practices of Career Services, noting that under past practices, military officials were permitted to interview students for the military on campus.
Kohan said that the final policy formulated by the task force will be applicable to every career services center on campus.
"It will affect all career services on campus," Kohan said. "Currently, each office is operating under different policies and guidelines. One of the issues is that we have a consistent policy that can be enforced across campus."
Head of the Coalition to Uphold the Anti-discrimination Policy, Josh Meyers, CC '97, described the committee's decision as a "positive compromise," for not only military recruitment, but also all prospective employers.
"Of course, I think we would have liked to see them kick the military off campus, but that's not really a reasonable solution, as it would be a violation of freedom of speech," Meyers said.
"Their decision was pretty much the best that many of us hoped for, as long as the military is not going to receive any funds or appropriations from the University," Meyers said.