MEMORANDUM 98-23

May 14, 1998

In Memorandum 97-46 (August 13, 1997), Carl Monk informed deans that in response to the Solomon-Pombo Amendment, "so long as that amendment remains in effect in its current form, each member school will be free to choose whether to continue to comply with the bylaw requirements as [they] apply to the military. Schools that choose not to comply will have their noncompliance excused so long as they engage in appropriate activities to ameliorate the negative effects that granting access to the military has on the quality of the learning environment for its students, particularly its gay and lesbian students."

In that same memo, the Association said that "We would be grateful if schools would advise us of effective amelioration strategies in which they have engaged so that we can periodically share those strategies with other member schools."

In response to that invitation, a number of schools have written to share their ameliorative activities. The purpose of this memorandum is to advise you of those activities and to urge you to be sensitive to the need for creative and effective amelioration strategies. The following is a list of activities that have been submitted to us:

• Posting notices alerting students, and everyone else in the law school community, that the military discriminates on a basis not permitted by the school's nondiscrimination policy and the AALS bylaws, and that the school is permitting the military to interview only because of the loss of funds that would otherwise be imposed under the Solomon Amendment (Although the AALS generally does not mandate any particular type of amelioration, some posting of this type is required.);
• Sending a letter from deans to students, detailing the history of the school's nondiscrimination policies; the enactment of the Solomon amendments; the change of campus policies in response; and the commitment to creating a hospitable educational environment for all students;
• Sending letters from law faculty to members of Congress, protesting the military's policy of discriminating against gays and lesbians, expressing disapproval of the Solomon amendments, and asking that they repeal the Solomon-Pombo amendment;
• Establishing a bulletin board on which to encourage faculty and students to express their views about military policies;
• Hosting student forums at which students and others can discuss discrimination by the military;
• Establishing a "Safe Zone" program which teaches faculty, staff, and students about sexual orientation and trains them to respond sensitively to the concerns of gays and lesbians;
• Actively supporting gay and lesbian student organizations;
• Funding students to attend the annual Lavender Law conferences, allowing them to establish networking connections with many lawyers throughout the nation who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual;
• Exploring possibilities for fund exchanges within the university to see whether exposure to Solomon Amendment sanction might be reduced to a level at which the school could resume application of its nondiscrimination policy to military recruiters;
• Establishing a permanent faculty-student-staff task force to develop and implement a series of active institutional and individual counter-measures;
• Participating in legal and political challenges both to the Solomon Amendment and the policy of discrimination by the military;
• Providing funding and support for an annual symposium on the issues raised by the Solomon Amendment;
• Purchasing tickets for a fund-raising event each year for a gay and lesbian legal organization.

  It is important for all AALS member schools to be committed to maintaining a hospitable educational environment for gay and lesbian students and to be creative in adopting and implementing amelioration strategies. [If your school has engaged in ameliorative activities not listed in this memorandum, please let the Association know so that we can include them in the next memorandum on this topic.]

   

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