Rumsfeld Asked to Deny Funds to Seattle College (Military recruiters attacked by Seattle mob)

NewsMax ^ | February 15, 2005

[Stoat]

Rumsfeld Asked to Deny Funds to Seattle College

NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005

DENVER - Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld should withhold federal funds from a Seattle college for its failure to ensure the safety of military recruiters who visited the campus last month, the Secretary was advised by a public interest law firm in a letter.

According to news reports, military recruiters were forced to flee from Seattle Central Community College after being assaulted and battered by a student mob. Mountain States Legal Foundation advised Secretary Rumsfeld that the college's actions violated the Solomon Amendment, which requires that colleges and universities permit military recruiters on campus or lose all federal funds.

"(B)y failing to ensure the physical safety of military recruiters on its campus, SCCC violated the Solomon Amendment," the letter advises.

"It is absolutely outrageous that members of the Armed Forces, who are asked to serve in harms way in Afghanistan and Iraq, are attacked by a mob in America," said William Perry Pendley who signed the Mountain States Legal Foundation letter. "Unless Secretary Rumsfeld responds to this craven violation of federal law, we fear that radicals on other campuses will be emboldened, will endanger the lives of men and women in uniform, and will deny to all students their right to learn how they may serve their country."

The Solomon Amendment, named after the late Rep. Jerry Solomon (R-N.Y.), requires colleges and universities to allow military recruiters on campuses "at least equal in quality and scope to the (degree of) access to campuses and to students that is provided to any other employer." The law, which was enacted in 1996 but not enforced by the Clinton Administration, is the subject of a legal challenge now destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Nov. 29, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, by a 2-1 ruling, held the Solomon Amendment "unconstitutional" because it violates the First Amendment rights of law schools and their professors, that is, their rights of speech and association. The U.S. Department of Justice has advised the Third Circuit that it will seek U.S. Supreme Court review.

The lawsuit was filed on Sept. 19, 2003, by Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR), a groups of 24 law schools and law faculties opposed to military recruiters on college campuses, and its allies against Secretary Rumsfeld and five other cabinet officers in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. On Nov. 5, 2003, the District Court ruled against FAIR, upholding the law's constitutionality; FAIR appealed.

Mountain States Legal Foundation represents Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., a co-sponsor of what is often called the Solomon-Pombo Amendment, and will support the United States before the Supreme Court.

Mountain States Legal Foundation is a nonprofit, public interest law firm dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and the free enterprise system. Its offices are in the Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area.

[Stoat]

Utterly disgraceful and shameful. I'm so embarrassed to be a Washingtonian sometimes. I hope that this college will indeed be denied it's Federal funds....there's nothing like hitting the Left in their pocketbook.

[GeronL]

It should be denied ALL taxpayer funding

[Drango]

The Washignton State legislature funds this school for scum using my tax dollars. They too should pull the funding.

[vpintheak]

Cowardly scumbags. If they weren't in a mob they would have pissed their pants at the sight of a soldier. I am so glad I don't have to put up with that crap.

[cherry]

"The Washignton State legislature"

their too busy voting special rights for homosexuals and planning ways to take away the referendum from the silly rabble......

plus, just know in my heart they are thinking up new and ingenious ways to get more tax money.....

[SunkenCiv]

Mountain States Legal Foundation advised Secretary Rumsfeld that the college's actions violated the Solomon Amendment, which requires that colleges and universities permit military recruiters on campus or lose all federal funds.

Needed to photograph the "students" who were rioting, and those actually enrolled, expelled (and blacklisted). Or maybe just net 'em and throw them off the campus, just to save time.

[SAMS]

the little punks were lucky the Recruiter was wearing his Class "A's" and not his BDUs, 'cause then he would have been carrying his can of whoop ass!

[Anti-Christ is Hillary]

ALL colleges should be denied ALL taxpayer funds for not allowing Military recruiters on campus.

[AmericanArchConservative]

Ping for supporters of SFC Jeff Due! Pass it on!

[GeronL]

No college should get taxpayer funds period, let them compete in a free market

[mattmullenix]

Tump, check this out...

[MJY1288]

Can you imagine the outrage if the students at Bob Jones University forced a Pro Abortion group off their campus simply because the Pro Abortion group wanted to recruit new supporters for their cause?

[GeronL]

Has any media outlet ever given BJU fair coverage?

[MJY1288]

Never!!!!!!............, But their enrollment is up big-time the last time I checked :-)

[SoDak]

Agreed, this "institution" should be defunded immediately.

[thoughtomator]

How about actually prosecuting the members of the mob? It's not like we don't have photographs of the whole thing. Why penalize the whole school for the actions of a small number of people? By assigning blame collectively, one effectively exonerates the guilty and forces the innocent to bear their blame.

[coconutt2000]

How about a nation wide referendum? I'm pretty sure the majority will agree that the school failed in its duties to provide equal protection to all post-graduate employers who recruit on their campuses.

A campus cannot selectively provide security and safety.

[eclectic]

Draft the little punks and send them to Afghanistan to clear minefields

[AmericanArchConservative]

Human shield duty in Syria?

[Cobra64]

No college should get taxpayer funds period, let them compete in a free market

Or a university.