BY STEPPERM@LAW.HARVARD.EDU
Like Mr. Christenson, I am surprised that our campus is engaged in a “discussion of homosexuality.” I thought HLS had decided its position on this issue more than twenty years ago when the it added sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy and barred the military from recruiting on campus. In my opinion we are only “discussing” this issue because to date, Harvard University has failed to take a strong public stand against discrimination by fighting the presence of discriminatory recruiters on our campus.
Along with every student at this school, I made a voluntary decision to attend a university with an officially declared “core value” of equal opportunity based on merit. If Mr. Christenson would like Harvard to reexamine this commitment and remove sexual orientation from its nondiscrimination policy, he is completely free to lobby for his position. Until such time as Harvard makes such a change, however, I fail to understand his objection to students voicing their support for official HLS policy. Implying that public affirmation of our community’s declared values somehow silences dissent is far more sensationalistic than pink toy soldiers.
Sam Tepperman-Gelfant, 2L