IT IS not fair to Senator Scott Brown to say that he “changed his mind’’ to support repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ (“Crimson with shame,’’ Kevin Cullen, Metro, Dec. 7).
From the beginning he deferred judgment, saying on Jan. 31, “I’d like to hear from the generals in the field . . . to make sure . . . the social change is not going to disrupt our ability to finish the job and complete the wars.’’ For months he said he wanted to see the Pentagon report. The nearly 300-page report arrived on Nov. 30, along with thousands of pages of data, and the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which he is a member, finished six hours of hearings on Dec. 3.
I didn’t see any flip-flopping. What I saw was someone going through a huge amount of data and deciding within hours of the end of the hearings.
Similarly, Drew Faust, president of Harvard, has said from the beginning that she wants to advance both gay rights and the relationship between Harvard and the military.
She and Senator Brown are advancing the same vision.
Michael Segal
Chestnut Hill
The writer runs the website for Advocates for ROTC.
