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September 2001 / John Grueschow / Youth & Militarism Magazine - Since August 1995, Portland (OR) Public Schools District has maintained a controversial policy prohibiting military recruitment on school district property. Portland’s ban on military recruiting is based on the Armed Forces’ discrimination against lesbians and gays, as exemplified particularly in the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue" policy.
While enforcement of the recruiting ban has been a problem from the start, we expect that school officials will now be even more inclined to look the other way in the face of obvious policy violations.
Last spring, two school board members initiated intense public debate by announcing their intention to overturn the six-year-old recruiting ban. Activists, students, and parents on both sides of the issue lobbied board members, gave many hours of public testimony, and staged public protests.
In May, the school board responded by passing an amendment – or, in their words, a "clarification" – of the existing policy that specifically allows school counselors, teachers, and administrators to refer a student to the local military recruiting office if that student requests a referral. Additionally, school personnel are now required, when making this referral, to advise the student about the Armed Forces’ discriminatory policies with respect to sexual orientation.
On paper, this amendment to the existing military access policy makes little difference except to sanction officially what many school personnel were already doing – that is, promoting military service as the best post-high school option for certain students. In practice, the board’s action has been interpreted by many within and outside the school community as a loosening of restrictions against military recruiters. While enforcement of the recruiting ban has been a problem from the start, we expect that school officials will now be even more inclined to look the other way in the face of obvious policy violations.
We view the ban on military recruiting as an important victory in the struggle against the militarization of Portland schools and as a model for other school communities embarking upon similar struggles.
Activists from Portland’s peace and justice community began lobbying the school board to ban military recruiting 10 years ago, following a 1991 decision by the San Francisco Board of Education to implement such a ban. We introduced resolutions to restrict military access in 1992 and again in 1993, gaining substantial attention from local media but little support from school board members.
By 1995, persistent pressure from the progressive community combined with an influx of new, liberal school board members turned the tide in our favor. One newly elected board member – a liberal attorney – agreed to author a resolution prohibiting military access based solely on the Armed Forces’ discriminatory "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue" policy. The resolution passed, not because a majority of board members agreed that military recruiting has no place in our schools, but because board members simply could not bring themselves to cast their vote in favor of such blatant and undeniable discrimination.
During the past six years, Portland’s controversial policy has been consistently criticized by state and federal military officials, vilified in newspaper editorials, and challenged twice by the Oregon State Legislature, only to be spared by the governor’s veto.
Two years ago, the Oregon National Guard was exempted from the recruiting ban, and their representatives now do some recruiting in our high schools. Recruiters from other service branches occasionally slip into schools under the guise of leadership training or motivational speaking. Sympathetic teachers and counselors sometimes get away with displaying recruiting posters or passing out literature to students – a clear violation of school district policy. Nonetheless, there have been no military recruiting tables in the hallways or cafeterias of our high schools, no video vans pulling into school parking lots, no recruiting assemblies, no ads in student newspapers, and very few uniformed recruiters roaming school hallways over the past six years.
With or without the military recruiting ban in place, our overriding task for the future is to build a strong and effective coalition of support for the complete demilitarization of our schools and communities.
We do not expect the military recruiting ban to remain in place forever. After the next school board election in March 2003, there will have been a complete turnover on the school board. None of the recruiting ban’s original advocates will remain in office. Bush’s current education bill and future Oregon legislative action are also potential threats with which to reckon.
In the meantime, our student outreach program continues in the form of a speakers’ bureau, regular leafleting in front of local high schools, and the placing of ads in student and neighborhood newspapers. We also continue to pressure school board members and school administrators regarding the monitoring and enforcement of the military access policy.
We view the ban on military recruiting as an important victory in the struggle against the militarization of Portland schools and as a model for other school communities embarking upon similar struggles. At the same time, we are uncomfortably aware of its limitations, particularly with respect to the single issue focus on the Armed Forces’ discrimination and homophobia. Despite our short-term successes, we have failed in the long run to convince school district officials and the majority of the school community (including Portland’s African-American, Asian, and Latino/Latina community leaders) that counter-militarism must be an essential part of any progressive school reform agenda.
With or without the military recruiting ban in place, our overriding task for the future is to build a strong and effective coalition of support for the complete demilitarization of our schools and communities. Likewise, we must participate in creating positive non-military options for high school and college-age young people who might otherwise be seduced by military recruiting propaganda. Effective organizing against militarism requires putting forth substantial positive alternatives as well.
About the Author / John Grueschow coordinates the Military and Draft Counseling Project of the War Resisters’ League (WRL), Portland.
Source: http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/200109/portland.htm (archive)
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Updated on 11/06/2025 - GDG
