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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 7, 2006 SOU bends for recruiters Impact on Stevenson Union military ban remains unclear By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings SOU President Elizabeth Zinser , left, and Provost Earl Potter III talk at a press conference Monday about Army recruiters being allowed to participate in the upcoming job fair. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings Military recruiters will be back in the Southern Oregon University student union in April. Recruiters will be invited to the 2006 Career Fair, an annual job-seeking event held in the Stevenson Union in April, SOU President Elisabeth Zinser said Monday. Zinser said decision was, in part, motivated by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday that the government can force colleges to open their campuses to military recruiters despite university objections to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Campuses that do not allow military recruiters access would forfeit federal money, including financial aid to students, the high court said in its unanimous decision Monday morning. “In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling I have decided to allow military recruiters to join all recruiters for the Career Fair on April 13, which will take place in the Rogue River Room of the Stevenson Union,” Zinser stated in a message to student leaders Monday. She later said she would have allowed military recruiters at the Career Fair regardless of the high court’s decision. “We were already moving in that direction,” Zinser said at a press conference Monday afternoon. The student government, which meets on Tuesday evenings, has not discussed Zinser’s action. “I don’t know if there’s any way for the student government not to allow the military to come,” said Keith Quick, a student senator. The Associated Students of SOU approved a resolution barring military recruiters from the Stevenson Union because of discriminatory practices in May 2005. Recruitment, which had included lunch time visits, has been prohibited in or near the building since that time. The ban only affected the Stevenson Union building and recruitment has continued in other areas of campus, primarily the Hannon Library. It’s unclear to what extent the prohibition in the Stevenson Union was enforced. Recruiters allowed OPEN CAMPUS : The Supreme Court ruled that military recruiters must be allowed on campuses that accept federal money. THE DEBATE : Law schools and professors who disagreed with the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays challenged the federal law preventing colleges from turning away military recruiters. NOT SETTLED : The question of whether “don’t ask, don’t tell” is legal or not remains; cases about it are pending in two states. IN ASHLAND : Military recruiters will be allowed at the 2006 Career Day in April, but a student government resolution forbidding recruiters from operating in the student union passed in May 2005 is upheld. Recruiters are given access to students in other areas of campus, such as the Hannon Library. SOURCE : The Associated Press, Southern Oregon University. “It’s been kind of funny because we’ve still had a military presence in the SU,” said Steve Ryan, the ASSOU vice president of administration and finance, explaining he’s heard reports of recruiters in the building who have handed business cards to students. “They’re not recruiting, per say.” Ryan authored the resolution last spring, when he was a student senator, to draw attention to discriminatory practices in the military. He feels he has achieved that goal, although he continues to oppose military recruitment on campus. “There’s no legal amount of discrimination we can practice in here in the SU, in Ashland,” Ryan said, adding, “there is a legal level of discrimination in the military.” Zinser has said she respects the students’ rights to free speech and stands behind the university’s anti-discrimination policy. She also has expressed support for the military to protect and serve U.S. citizens, and assist other nations. Allowing the military at the Career Fair is simply a move that gives students access to all recruiters — civilian and military, Zinser said. “We believe it’s important to our students be broadly exposed,” she said at the press conference. Zinser approached student leaders in February with the idea of allowing military recruiters in the Stevenson Union just for the Career Fair, before the Supreme Court had weighed in. The student government approved a resolution a week ago to uphold the ban, after which she sought the advice from the State Attorney General’s Office. “SOU is required under law to allow military recruiters to participate in the Career Fair,” Zinser stated in her letter to student leaders after receiving counsel from the attorney general. Moving the Career Fair to another campus building was not an option, Zinser said. “The Stevenson Union is the only space suitable for serving our students through such an event designed to expose them to a wide range of career opportunities,” she wrote in Monday’s letter. The Stevenson Union is the only campus building the student government, and thus the resolution barring military recruiters, wields any control over. “What we ultimately want to say is take your damn job fair to Britt [Hall],” Ryan said. At this point, university administration has not decided if the whole ban on military recruitment in the student union will be abolished. “I’m not going to say absolutely that we’re going to take that next step,” Zinser said. Jonathan Eldridge, the SOU vice president of student affairs, added that any further decisions would come after talks within the campus community. “We need to take some time and have those discussions,” he said. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 225 or [email protected]. 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