Ford School joins other policy schools calling for end to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Ford School Dean Susan M. Collins was among nine public policy school deans calling for the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the United States military forces.

A jointly written letter, delivered May 26 to members of the House and Senate committees currently debating the repeal, cites the deans' shared belief in the value of public service. "If we allow some of our bravest citizens to fight only if they are willing to compromise the very candor and character that the military seeks to instill," the deans write, "we put those values at risk." They go on to say that the policy "deprives our country of some of the brightest leaders, and deprives individuals of the opportunity to contribute to, and to benefit from, military service."

Both chambers of the U.S. Congress are moving closer to voting on a repeal of the 1993 law, which has effectively required gay men and lesbians who wish to serve in the military to hide their sexual orientation.

In addition to the Ford School, the letter was signed by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas; John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota; Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California-Berkeley; La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University; and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University.

[Read the full text of the letter .]