The debate over military recruitment on college campuses was reignited in Congress last week after a House committee gave its approval to a bill containing new, more stringent requirements for military access to students.

The House Armed Services Committee passed the ROTC and Military Recruiter Equal Access to Campus Act of 2004 by voice vote in a arch 17 session occasionally punctuated by tense moments between committee members.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) sponsored the bill, which would require schools to grant access to military personnel equal to that granted to recruiters from businesses and other organizations. The bill would also impose harsher penalties on schools that refuse to comply.

If passed, the bill would reinforce the Solomon Amendment, a 1995 law that requires universities to provide military recruiters access to students or risk forfeiting millions of dollars of federal funding.

The Georgetown University Law Center was the scene of protests against the Solomon Amendment in 2002 and again last fall after a stricter interpretation of the law forced the Law Center to permit military recruitment at its Government Interview Week; the university’s nondiscrimination policy, which prohibits prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation, had previously prevented the military and other organizations that openly bar homosexual individuals from recruiting on campus.

The Solomon Amendment has been the target of a number of lawsuits. The Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, a coalition of law schools, professors and students, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense alleging that the law was unconstitutional.

Although one Georgetown professor is a FAIR board member, it is unclear whether the university is a direct participant in the lawsuits because FAIR is keeping the names of participating schools confidential.

The suits allege that the government’s policy of withholding federal funds to schools that refuse to allow military recruiters on campus because of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy concerning homosexuals effectively deprives universities of their rights to free speech and expression.

Following a ruling that the Solomon Amendment may not guarantee equal access to military recruitment officers, the Defense Department asked Congress to clarify the statute.

Rogers cited this, as well as new barriers to military recruitment erected by several law schools nationwide, in his explanation of the decision to introduce the new legislation.

“Our nation’s all-volunteer armed services have been called upon to serve, and they are performing their mission at the highest standard,” said Rogers. “And I believe that the military’s ability to perform at this standard can only be maintained with effective and uninhibited recruitment programs.”

The bill will now move to a floor vote in the full House, possibly as early as next week. It is expected to face strong opposition among many House members, particularly Democrats who argue that schools should not be forced to violate their non-discrimination clauses.

Republicans on the Armed Services Committee made references to efforts by law schools to obstruct military recruitment on campuses while making their case for the legislation. Rogers cited several examples of law school administrators placing military personnel in remote locations or erecting other administrative barriers to recruitment.

“You don’t send the military recruiter down to the basement and then send IBM into the main hall where they’ll get all the traffic,” Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) said. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mont.), the committee’s ranking Democrat, also expressed his strong support for the bill.

Other Democratic lawmakers questioned the necessity of the bill and expressed concerns that students, staff and research would ultimately suffer from the loss of federal funds.

“Go back to court and find the president of the university in contempt or something, and put him in jail, or her in jail, and fine them, or insist that [the military recruiters] be allowed to do it. Don’t turn around and cut the funds off,” Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) said. “It just seems to me that we’ve got an elephant gun out here to shoot at a target that is not worthy of the punishment.”