mr. speaker , issues like this one -- first brought to our attention with a passion and eloquence only possible in a man like jerry solomon -- provide our democracy a valuable service : they cut through the fog of spin and force us to tell the american people exactly where we stand . 
pure and simple , this bills says our armed services -- the army , navy , air force , marines , coast guard , and national guard -- should have the same right to recruit at colleges and universities who receive federal funding as any other group . 
every year , thousands upon thousands of businesses , industries , non-profit groups , and even other colleges recruit underclassmen to sign up to become investment bankers and computer engineers or environmental lawyers or medical students . 
and yet , some colleges -- principally the elitist and elite colleges -- refuse to even allow military recruiters on their campuses . 
such policies are obnoxious in times of peace , but they are simply intolerable in times of war , and the equal access of our military recruiters to federally funded colleges and universities must be protected . 
but that , mr. speaker , is the easy part . 
the hard part is understanding why facilities and administrations of these colleges do n't want military recruiters on their campuses . 
because , at bottom , their opposition to the presence of veterans at their schools is not about academic freedom , or civil liberties . 
it 's about them not liking the military , or the values our men and women in uniform represent . 
it 's about many of them preferring the company of people who blame the united states for 9/11 -- who compare the world trade center victims to nazis -- to the company of a soldier or a sailor or an airman or a marine . 
it 's about academia feeling more sympathy for terrorists than for the women and children they murder . 
it 's about a fundamental misconception about the purpose of a university -- the professors are there for the students , mr. speaker , and not the other way around . 
that our military makes our academia possible , and not the other way around . 
indeed , the right of tenured academics to be publicly insufferable exists only because of the sacrifices of our servicemen and women . 
the least they could offer in return is a booth in the field house on career day . 
of course , men and women who have dodged bullets and held dying comrades in their arms do n't take seriously people who live by the glib professional code `` publish or perish. '' but those elite campuses , who claim to educate our nation 's best and brightest , who claim to train our leaders of the future : how can we possibly not allow military recruiters to have the right to talk to such students ? 
what profession , if any in our entire society , needs the opportunity to recruit the sharpest and broadest minds of every generation more than our armed forces ? 
america 's armed services have molded great men from all walks of life , and when given brilliant men and women , they have produced legends . 
how can we let such minds pass through our top colleges without even the chance that they might bump into a veteran recruiter who could change their life ? 
america in the future no doubt will need its brilliant businessmen and lawyers and poets , but what good can such genius do without brilliant admirals and generals to protect them ? 
mr. speaker , it 's a shame this issue was ever forced on us at all , but the vote on this bill will help to clarify exactly what we each mean when we say we support the troops . 
we 'll finally see who among us really believes the military deserves more than just lip service from those of us they protect . 
votes like this , after all , remind us of one of the great blessings of american democracy : that unlike college professors , congressmen do n't have tenure . 
