The Student Association and faculty representatives are set to examine NIU Reserve Officer Training Corps and their policy banning homosexuals.

“I think that we recognize that this is a very difficult and complex national issue,” said NIU Provost Kendall Baker.

The SA has not decided on an action about the ROTC’s and Army’s ban on homosexuals, said SA President Huda Scheidelman, but “we are going to take the position that is best for students,” regardless of NIU’s position.

The Army policy states that no homosexual can serve on active duty in the military.

However, current NIU policy states that the university will not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

“It would appear that there is some possibility for conflict,” Baker said.

Theresa Brown, president of NIU’s Gay-Lesbian Union, said, “I think they (ROTC) should support university policy.”

If possible, the GLU plans to organize a rally for “anyone who wants to support it,” Brown said. They also will pass out fliers to increase awareness of the ROTC conflict, she said.

Brown said she has seen a lot of student support for her cause.

The military’s policy is outdated, Brown said, because anybody interested in joining the military should be allowed. The issue concerns human rights, she said.

Marshall Kite, an NIU freshman who is in ROTC and the National Guard, said the school should not tell the military how to operate and believes the military standards about sexual orientation are justified.

Kite said because the school funds very little of the ROTC program, they should not regulate their policies.

Government ROTC scholarships pay up to $7,000, or 80 percent of annual college tuition.

When the ROTC came to NIU in 1968, the university constitution did not have a provision about discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, Baker said.

The NIU constitution was revised in 1988 and includes a phrase that states NIU will not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, he said.

The NIU Faculty Assembly is scheduled to talk about the ROTC policy Feb. 28, but has not evaluated the conflict between NIU and Army policy, Baker said.

In the end, Brown said she would like it if the ROTC program either left campus or changed their policy.

Baker said the result of discussions could be anything from “doing nothing to completely eliminating it (ROTC) from campus.”

He said that the Faculty Assembly will present their position to NIU President John La Tourette after discussion. La Tourette will speak to the Board of Regents, which will make the final decision.

Baker said that students, as equal members of the University Council, have access to student ruling bodies such as the SA and can also speak to La Tourette or himself.

Any student can take ROTC classes, said Capt. Richard Walker, NIU assistant professor of military science.