A group of students is petitioning the USG to hold a referendum on a nondiscrimination amendment to the student government constitution.
The proposed amendment requires the USG to urge Nassau Hall to eliminate support for employers that violate the University's nondiscrimination policy — including support for military recruiters and the ROTC.
The Defense Department's "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibits anyone who is openly gay from serving in the armed forces. Princeton is one of two Ivy League schools with an ROTC program on campus.
The petition, submitted Wednesday, is signed by about 250 students — more than the 200 required for a referendum — according to Mark Salzman '07, one of the petition's organizers.
If the USG does not act on the petition by introducing a similarly-spirited resolution in the Senate, Salzman said, "We'd be prepared to take this to a referendum, as we feel there's a majority [of students] who believe that aiding employers who discriminate against a class of students on campus is just wrong."
Salzman called the lack of a nondiscrimination policy in the USG constitution "an egregious oversight on the part of the USG."
The University's nondiscrimination policy includes, among group groups: age, race, sex, sexual orientation and disability.
Under the amendment, the USG would put forth a resolution at each meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community to ban employers that discriminate. "We feel that allowing them to come on campus isn't in the spirit of the University's policy," Salzman said.
USG President Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06 said that he believes the USG "nearly unanimously" supports amending the constitution to include a nondiscrimination statement. But, he said, a resolution would be a "better forum to address the ROTC portion of the proposed referendum" because there are concerns about mentioning ROTC in the constitution.
"I sincerely hope and believe that we'll pass a nondiscrimination amendment — I'd like to see that happen," he said, adding, "In terms of the presence of ROTC on campus, a resolution is the way that the USG would normally take up the issue."
The petition drew support from the Pride Alliance, an LGBT group on campus.
"At a time when the University wants to appear open and inviting to perspective students, having a group such as ROTC — or any group — who says that you can't join because of your race, your ethnicity, or your sexuality, creates a bad image for the University," Paul Pawlowski '07, vice president of Pride Alliance, said.
A student in the ROTC disagreed: "The program is an important part of many students' lives, and to deprive them of it would be unfair," said Jordan Brock '06. "The removal of the program only seems like it would be a lose-lose situation."
Another ROTC student also criticized the University's approach to lawmakers whose actions and beliefs violate the University's own policies. "We have the Frist Campus Center, yet Senator Frist is one of the principal authors of the Federal Marriage Amendment. I think we should take a consistent stance," said the student, who said he is supportive of gay rights.
Though the petition criticizes the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, it would not affect current ROTC students. If the USG and the University adopt the wording of the petition, students in the Class of 2009 and beyond would, however, not be allowed to participate in ROTC.
The petition does not oppose ROTC training off-campus, including Air Force ROTC training, which currently takes place at Rutgers University, Salzman said, stressing the petition is not anti-military.
"We agree that ROTC provides a valuable opportunity to Princeton students, and we don't want to ask the University to take that away," he said. "We just want to give that access equally to all students." — Includes reporting by Princetonian Senior Writer Chanakya Sethi
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