CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Two Ivy League schools say they'll welcome back the ROTC program now that the U.S. Congress repealed a ban on gays and lesbians openly serving in the military.
The decision to reinstate the Reserve Officers' Training Corps ends a 40-year standoff between Harvard University and the armed forces that began over the Vietnam War and remained as university administrators, faculty and students objected to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which they considered discriminatory against gays and lesbians, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.
Yale University administrators also said they'd move quickly to bring the program back to its New Haven, Conn., campus after a 41-year absence, the Yale Daily News reported.
"I am very pleased that more students will now have the opportunity to serve their country," Harvard University President Drew Faust said in a statement.
Faust said she expects to begin discussions with military officials soon about returning the program to the Cambridge, Mass., campus. Faust said the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was a barrier to reinstating the ROTC program.
"I look forward to pursuing discussions with military officials and others to achieve Harvard's full and formal recognition of ROTC," Faust said in her statement.
Yale, too, banned ROTC since the Vietnam War and said its main objection was "don't ask, don't tell".
Yale President Richard Levin said administrators will gauge military interest in establishing an ROTC unit on campus.
"We are very hopeful that these discussions will enable us to begin a new chapter in the long history of Yale's support of the U.S. Armed Services," Levin said. UPI
