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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    February 08, 2007

    U.W. Law School students oppose congressional amendment

    Last December, the U.W. Law School student body passed a resolution opposing the congressional Solomon Amendment, which requires schools to provide the military with full access to students for recruitment purposes or risk the termination of certain federal funds.

    Wisconsin LawyerWisconsin Lawyer
    Vol. 80, No. 2, February 2007

    U.W. Law School students oppose congressional amendment

    Last December, the U.W. Law School student body passed a resolution opposing the congressional Solomon Amendment, which requires schools to provide the military with full access to students for recruitment purposes or risk the termination of certain federal funds.

    The amendment. The Solomon Amendment, originally passed in 1995, forces the law school to suspend for the Armed Services its longstanding policy that any employer using the Career Services Office to recruit or employ law students or graduates must agree not to discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, color, handicap, marital status, sex, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, arrest record, or conviction record. Failure by the law school to comply with the amendment would endanger funds not only to the law school itself, but to the university as a whole.

    "The current state of affairs puts law schools like ours in an intolerable position," said U.W. Law School Dean Kenneth B. Davis Jr. "For many of our students, service in the JAG Corps is an attractive career opportunity. But for some students we are required to say to them, in effect, that you are welcome to apply to this employer only if you misrepresent who you are. While the U.W. Law School cannot change the hiring policies of the Armed Services and must comply with the Solomon Amendment, we oppose discrimination of any kind and will continue to work to make the law school a welcoming and supportive place for all of our students."

    The resolution. The resolution, passed by three-quarters of the law school's student body, expresses student outrage with the policy and support for the school's gay, lesbian, and bisexual students subjected to the policy's blatant discrimination.

    "Our stance against the Solomon Amendment sends a message that the next generation of lawyers will not accept, nor endorse through its silence, discrimination of any kind within the bar," said Samuel Rikkers, a third-year law student and a primary sponsor of the resolution.


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