In 2005 the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) received $80 million in federal funds, and has continued to receive tens of millions every year since then. But under a federal law known as the Solomon Amendment (10 U.S.C. § 983), this taxpayer money should no longer be given to the school.

The Solomon Amendment was passed in 1996 to ensure access by the Secretary of Defense to federally funded institutions for the purpose of recruiting students into the Armed Forces. But on the UCSC campus, anti-military protesters repeatedly blocked and excluded recruiters.

From 2005 through 2007, protesters prevented UCSC students on multiple occasions from reaching military recruiters. In response to the threat of some of these protests, the school canceled one job fair altogether, and due to possible protests, military recruiters withdrew from another in advance. By not disciplining the protesters for blocking the military recruiters, the UCSC reduced opportunities for its own student body, as well as for the armed services. The University’s federal funding should be taken away due to its lack of willingness - indeed, its blatant refusal - to comply with the Solomon Amendment. Military recruiters have not been given equal access to students on campus, and under the Solomon Amendment the institution should lose its federal taxpayer funding.

The Young America’s Foundation (YAF), a pro-national-defense students’ group, filed a lawsuit based on the Solomon Amendment against the University. But the District Court and the Court of Appeals dismissed its case, principally for lack of standing. Young America’s Foundation v. Gates, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 17011 (D.C. Cir. July 24, 2009). The court wrote that “YAF’s burden was to allege facts showing it is ‘likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that [its] injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.’” Instead, the Court found, “it is speculative whether an order compelling the Secretary to withhold funds from the University would redress YAF's injury” (emphasis added).

Along with the protests were rants on blogs, with one blogger claiming that the protestors “were motivated by fiery speeches about the racist, sexist, classist and heterosexist biases of the military, all of which are in violation of the UC Santa Cruz’s non-discrimination policies.” That was posted next to an obscene sign from one of the protest rallies. In fact, the protests and the University’s failure to deal with them constituted egregious discrimination against our troops who defend our freedoms.

Ironically, it was a watered-down opinion that Chief Justice John Roberts authored soon after he joined the U.S. Supreme Court that encouraged student protestors to interfere with military recruiters. Seeking unanimity on the High Court in upholding the Solomon Amendment, Chief Justice Roberts included a misguided concession by the Solicitor General that schools could comply with the Solomon Amendment even though they “help organize student protests” against military recruiters. Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights, Inc., 547 U.S. 47, 60 (2007). With nothing to fear from their own schools, leftists have driven our soldiers off our taxpayer-funded campuses.