Drew Faust, the president of Harvard (a school you know as the place where Elena Kagan’s controversies came from), is no stranger to denouncing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; she’s been doing so publicly for years. But it must’ve been an itsy bitsy bit awkward for Faust to denounce the policy while welcoming guest speaker Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman who supports repeal but also supports kicking out gays until it’s repealed.
It wasn’t a tense on-stage affair, however. Faust used the opportunity to welcome military recruiters to campus as soon as the Pentagon stops discriminating against gays. “A ROTC program, open to all, ought to be fully and formally present on our campus,” said Faust last night. But that’s been Harvard’s position for some time, and Faust has made her stance on the military’s place on campus quite clear.
But now she’s got big hopes and dreams, saying Harvard will “fully and formally” support the return of ROTC. “I want to be the president of Harvard who sees the end of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ because I want to be able to take the steps to ensure that any and every Harvard student can make the honorable and admirable choice to commit him or herself to our nation’s defense.” Then Mullen took the stage and said nothing about The Gays. [photo via]
