There has been growing discontent with the state of higher education in the past decade, as colleges and universities increasingly become arenas of special interest. Rather than space for intellectual growth, exploration and maturity, they are fields of corporate careerism, social networking and ideological activism. Students seem to desire the social experience of a university education and the piece of paper that accompanies their four years more than the intellectual experimentation that once marked it.
The clash of these disparate interests, often at odds with each other, can be seen all around campus, in the halls of state legislatures and in the offices of federal officials. This winter, the clash makes its latest appearance before the Supreme Court.
The Roberts Court will hear oral arguments Dec. 6 in Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights et al. At stake is whether certain agencies — including the Departments of Defense and Education — can deny federal funding to universities that do not open their doors to military recruiters.
The Solomon Amendment, which was first passed in 1995 and has now been codified as 10 U.S.C.
