What are the AALS Policies about the Solomon Amendment and what action does the Section recommend?
AALS Bylaws and Regulations.
1. Bylaw 6-4 Nondiscrimination Provisions
In 1990, the AALS House of Representatives voted unanimously to amend Bylaw 6-4 to add "sexual orientation" to the list of protected categories under the AALS’s nondiscrimination provisions.
The AALS House of Representatives also added Bylaw 6-4(b). This bylaw provides that member schools "shall pursue a policy of providing students and graduates with equal opportunity to obtain employment without discrimination or segregation" and " shall communicate to each employer to whom it furnishes assistance and facilities for interviewing and other placement functions the school’s firm expectation that the employer will observe the principle of equal opportunity."
2. Executive Committee Regulation 6.19
In accordance with these provisions, the AALS Executive Committee promulgated Regulation 6.19. Under Regulation 6.19, employers seeking to use a member law school’s career services must provide assurance that they will not discriminate based upon sexual orientation or any other of the protected categories.
3. AALS Position on the Military’s "Don’t ask, don’t tell" Policy
Under AALS Memorandum 96-15, the AALS has taken the position that the so-called "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy (10 U.S.C. s 654) still requires military recruiters "to operate in a fashion that constitutes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, since gay and lesbian individuals bear a special burden that denies equal opportunity in a military employment setting."
4. AALS House of Representatives Resolution on the Solomon Amendment
The AALS has not changed or modified any of the above bylaws and regulations as a result of the Solomon Amendment. In fact, on January 7, 1998, the AALS House of Representatives adopted a resolution that describes the Solomon Amendment as coercion, and charges the Association to undertake political action to repeal the Solomon Amendment.
5. AALS Policy Regarding Member Law Schools’ Responses to the Solomon Amendment
The following represents prevailing AALS policy.
Carl C. Monk, the AALS Executive Director, stated in a memorandum dated August 13, 1997, to all deans of member and fee-paid schools, that the AALS Executive Committee will:
excuse non-compliance with Executive Committee Regulation 6.19 only for military recruiters, as long as a school provides ‘amelioration’ in a form that both expresses publicly the law school’s disapproval of the discrimination against gays and lesbians by the military and provides a safe and protective atmosphere for gay and lesbian students. (emphasis added)
That is, "schools that choose not to comply [with Regulation 6.19] will have their noncompliance excused so long as they engage in appropriate activities to ameliorate the negative effects that granting access to the military has on the quality of the learning environment for its students, particularly its gay and lesbian students." (emphasis added)
Although the AALS does not prescribe particular forms of amelioration, the Executive Committee of the Section, as a preliminary matter, urges "each school to examine the actual extent of financial aid and other funds that it is at risk of losing, to explore ways of avoiding the loss of funds through turning to alternative sources, and to consider the range of ways that it might adopt to ameliorate the negative effects of granting access, if access were granted."
The Section's Executive Committee has made recommendations with regard to ameliorative measures.