NATION : Expelled Gays Win ROTC Case
The Navy is dropping its bid to force repayment of tuition from two Ivy League cadets expelled from ROTC for homosexuality.
A Navy spokesman said that the cases were “reviewed on their merits, and the decision was made not to seek recoupment,” the New York Times reported today. However, the unidentified spokesman said there had been no change in the Pentagon’s ban on homosexuals in the military.
Robert L. Bettiker, 22, a chemistry major at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and David Carney, a 23-year-old Harvard graduate studying in Britain, had been dismissed after informing their commanders they are gay.
The Navy had said it would seek reimbursement of their scholarship money: $38,612 from Bettiker and $50,687 from Carney.
Bettiker called the turnaround “great” and said he hoped that it would have implications for other ROTC cadets in similar circumstances.
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