Changes in Congress Affect Harvard Issues

The shake-up in Washington yesterday has made waves that will soon make their way to Cambridge.

The Republican Party’s gains in the House and Senate will have significant effects on the status of issues like the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act—policies that deeply concern Harvard.

Kevin Casey, Harvard’s associate vice president for communications and public affairs, echoes the idea that the results of the midterm elections will have great influence on these policies.

“If there is a leadership change, then agendas can shift dramatically,” he says.

ROTC ON CAMPUS

University President Drew G. Faust says that Reserve Officer Training Corps’ return to campus is predicated on the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but with yesterday’s conservative gains in Congress, that seems to be an unlikely outcome.

Harvard currently does not officially recognize ROTC because Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell violates the school’s anti-discrimination policy.

Recently, Massachusetts Senator Scott P. Brown publicly blasted Faust for the University’s policy on ROTC.

While Faust says she looks forward to a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Harvard’s position is unlikely to carry weight in Washington, according to Nathaniel G. Butler ’68, a Navy veteran and board member of the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus.

The House of Representatives already passed a version of an appropriations bill that would repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. If the Senate makes any changes to the bill, then the House will be required to pass the bill again.

But Arizona Senator and former Republican presidential nominee John McCain says that he would lead a filibuster in the Senate to prevent the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Although the Democrats held on to a majority in the Senate, they do not have the 60 votes required to break a filibuster.

“Ultimately these members of Congress will look like they supported discrimination,” says Robert Greenwald, managing director of the Law School’s Legal Services Center. “Time and history will show that the right thing to do is repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

If the law is not repealed in Congress, it can be decided on in the court system. According to Law School professor Michael J. Klarman, the law is based on prejudice against LGBT people and “that’s not a sufficient justification for sustaining a law under well-established constitutional doctrine.”

According to Greenwald, the election of a more conservative House yesterday reflects the country’s views on economic policy, rather than its opinion on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The majority of people in the United States support the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but the fiscal mood of the country pushed voters to chose more conservative candidates, according to Greenwald.

Butler—who says he was forced to lie about his sexual orientation when he served in the navy—says that if Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is eventually repealed, Harvard would reinstate ROTC immediately. Harvard students can currently participate in MIT’s ROTC program.

I HAVE A DREAM

Yesterday’s election results play a key role in determining the outcome of the DREAM Act that Harvard has consistently lobbied for over the past few years.

If passed, the DREAM Act would provide qualified undocumented youth with a six-year-long conditional path to citizenship upon the completion of two years of higher education or two years of military service.

On Sept. 14, Nevada Senator Harry M. Reid announced that the proposed DREAM Act will be amended to military legislation that was scheduled for vote on the Senate floor the following week. However, on Sept. 21, the legislation failed to see a final vote in the Senate due to a Republican filibuster.

Despite the setback, Harvard College Act on a Dream Co-Director Nicolas E. Jofre ’13 is hopeful that Reid will bring back the proposed legislation during the lame duck session after this election—a promise Reid has made on television. If reintroduced during the lame duck session, the DREAM Act would stand alone.

“In theory, we did have the numbers if the politics of it hadn’t been so controversial,” says Jofre about the filibuster in September, adding that the change in the make-up of the Senate complicates the DREAM Act’s chances.

“We would have to see how leadership is formed in post-election congress,” Casey says.

Jofre says he hopes that the favorable attention the DREAM Act garnered during campaign season will help convince Republicans to vote favorably during the lame duck session.

“I think it is critical to have the Dream Act passed; and focus as well on the Southern border,” writes Deborah E. Anker, a Law School professor who specializes in immigration issues, in an e-mail.

In May 2009, Faust wrote a letter in support of the legislation to Massachusetts Representative Michael E. Capuano. Faust also met with Massachusetts Senator Scott P. Brown, in part to urge him to support the DREAM Act.

To show their support for the DREAM Act, eight leaders of institutions of higher education in Massachusetts—including Faust—co-signed a letter sent to the state Senators in September.

Brown, who has remained ambivalent on his position in relation to the legislation, voted against the defense resolution and the appended DREAM Act on Sept. 21.

“We’re hopeful that regardless of party control, sometime soon, that in the complicated area of immigration reform, the one area that there may be bipartisan agreement on is the DREAM Act,” Casey says.

—Staff writer Zoe A. Y. Weinberg can be reached at zoe.weinberg@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Xi Yu can be reached at xyu@college.harvard.edu.