IN THE Dec. 22 editorial “End of ‘don’t ask’ should begin new era for military on campus’’ you write, “The universities’ anti-ROTC policies were justified during the long period when the military discriminated against gay and lesbian service members.’’ However, the justification of this policy is questionable. Unfortunately, universities such as Harvard and the one I attend, Tufts, decided to fight discrimination with discrimination with their opposition to Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. The departure of ROTC from these campuses came after a period of hostility to the military, and attempts to justify this with the excuse of “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ are mainly aimed to cover up this darker side of the schools’ past.
Why, if this protest was aimed at the policy of “don’t ask,’’ did the universities continue to receive funding from Congress, which controlled the policy, or encourage students to seek congressional or Department of Defense internships? The anti-ROTC policies of universities punish individual service members for the actions of their superiors. These individuals are not the ones responsible for setting military policies; they are, however, the ones responsible for risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. They deserve better treatment than they’ve received at these universities.
Timothy Lesinski
Dedham 
