Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)

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From Draft NOtices, October—December 2009

–Rick Jahnkow


The San Diego Unified School District has frozen the military’s access to student lists this fall while it takes steps to address parent and student complaints over the way the district is handling releases of data to recruiters.

The controversy arose when students who belong to the Education Not Arms Coalition (ENAC) began receiving enrollment forms for the 2009-2010 school year that were already partially filled out by computer. The form includes this question for parents: “Is it okay to release your child’s information to military recruiters?” Boxes are then provided to check either “yes” or “no.” Students receiving these forms noticed that, in most cases, the “yes” box was already checked.

After documenting 28 instances of forms pre-marked to release student information to recruiters, ENAC sent a letter to the school district asking that no student information be released to the military until letters could be sent to every secondary students’ home asking if they wanted to opt out of the release. Because the original enrollment form was only circulated in English, ENAC asked that the letters be translated into other languages. Also, ENAC asked that the form be modified in the future to clearly state that students and parents must check the “no” box if they do not wish information to be given to recruiters.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires schools receiving federal funds to release the names, addresses and phone numbers of secondary students to the military, unless they have opted out of the release. The law does not, however, authorize schools to decide for parents and students whether or not they will opt out, which is what San Diego Unified was doing with the pre-marked enrollment forms.

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From Draft NOtices, October—December 2009

–Gilbert E. Field


Why in the world would you want to bring military veterans to a counter-recruitment event at a local school? Couldn’t this be counter-productive to your efforts? And if you are a veteran, why would you want to do counter-recruitment work?

Like anyone else, veterans come in all shapes, sizes and political beliefs. As a result of their service, whether it was in Vietnam in the 1960s or Iraq since 2003, many veterans have come to see the folly of war as an instrument of national policy. National groups like Veterans For Peace (now 8,000 strong) encourage their members to volunteer at counter-recruitment events as part of their education and outreach to young people who may be considering signing up for the military.

Having a veteran or two at the table brings credibility to the group, instant cultural commonality with many students/teachers, and better dealings with recruiters or “hostiles” who may also be at the event. How so?

Military veterans have unique authority because they have been where the students hope to go if they enlist. They have dealt with and been misled or lied to by the recruiters, experienced the “joys” of basic training, questioned what they were doing while serving, gone through the challenging process of discharge, and had medical issues dealt with or ignored when they got out or got older. On the other hand, some veterans had a very rewarding experience if they were lucky and were properly led, and they can provide wise counsel here as well. Many older veterans just now understand how the government may have used their honorable patriotism to support and execute terrible foreign policy, and sharing this awakening makes them particularly valuable. Because they’ve “been there,” when the questions get specific, they can share insight as no one else can.

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From Draft NOtices, July—September 2009

– Linda Pershing


During the 2008-2009 academic year, a proposal to start an Army ROTC program at California State University San Marcos, a 20-year-old campus in northern San Diego County, met with accolades from supporters and strong resistance from students, faculty, and community members who oppose the militarization of schools and universities. Military officials and a sponsoring faculty member withdrew their proposal without explanation when an ROTC Study Group, created by the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate, made the recommendation not to offer the ROTC program on campus. The recommendation was the culmination of a prolonged process of meetings, information gathering, testimony and input from members of the campus community, and a town hall meeting open to the public.

Context is everything. Traditionally, San Diego’s North County is politically conservative and pro-military. Since 2006, Brian Bilbray, a strong supporter of “national security” and anti-terrorism legislation, has been elected twice as the U.S. Congressional Representative in the 50th District, where Cal State San Marcos is located. The military presence in San Diego County is pervasive and goes largely unquestioned, with an estimated 100,000 military personnel stationed at many bases and installations in the area.

ROTC students at Cal State San Marcos currently take their military courses at other local universities, transferring the military science credits from San Diego State University (for the Army and Air Force) and the University of San Diego (for the Navy and Marines).

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Ninth CIRCUIT COURT RULING: CONFRONTING MILITARISM BY USING EQUAL ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOLS

When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view. This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:

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