The federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals erred in ruling that guaranteed campus access for military recruiters violates universities’ First Amendment rights.

Universities should have the right to ban military recruiters from their campuses, just as they can bar any other employer from soliciting new hires on private property. However, permitting campus recruitment by the armed forces does not, as the court ruled, necessarily mean that a university endorses the military’s anti-gay message any more than allowing corporate recruitment implies support of company products or brands.

As an employer, the military should be treated just as any other employer would. Educators, who pride themselves on disseminating new ideas, should not serve as censors, but should provide students with as many career opportunities as possible. It is the duty of students to decide for themselves which messages are personally acceptable.

Though the court’s opinion employed faulty logic, it was correct in recognizing the ineptness of the Solomon Amendment, which withholds all federal funds from campuses that ban recruiters.

These universities should not be stripped of student financial aid money and other government funds administered by federal health and labor departments that are completely unrelated to the Department of Defense. If the government wishes to tap colleges for military recruits, it should offer them incentives, not sanctions.