The good comes with the bad at the ROTC commissioning ceremony at Harvard.
University President Drew Faust is attending the commissioning of new officers, unlike Derek Bok, the interim president last year and former leader of the left-wing group Common Cause. This is a good step, but apparently Faust intends to intone a message against discrimination by speaking about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
To receive a lecture about inclusiveness from the head of a university with a long-time ban on ROTC — cadets make the trek to MIT in the early morning hours to train — is rather absurd. And though she’s more than welcome to bring it up, I’m quite sure most of Harvard ROTC cadets personally oppose the policy. In any case, one wonders why Faust would raise the issue to a group of 20-year-olds who have utterly no control over this congressionally instituted policy. Perhaps she should visit Capitol Hill?
As Joseph Kristol ’09 (yes, that Kristol) is quoted as saying in The Crimson piece, “If it’s going to be political, I think everyone would be happier having someone else speak.”