I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3966
To amend title 10, United States Code, and the Homeland Security Act 
of 2002 to improve the ability of the Department of Defense to establish 
and maintain Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps units at institutions 
of higher education, to improve the ability of students to participate 
in Senior ROTC programs, and to ensure that institutions of higher 
education provide military recruiters entry to campuses and access to 
students that is at least equal in quality and scope to that provided 
to any other employer. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 12, 2004
Mr. ROGERS of Alabama (for himself, Mr. COX, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. BOEHNER, 
Mr. PICKERING, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. KENNEDY of Min-
nesota, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, 
Mr. SOUDER, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. AKIN, Mr. KOLBE, 
Mr. PEARCE, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. TOOMEY, and Ms. HARRIS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
Services, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Work-
force, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title 10, United States Code, and the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002 to improve the ability of the De-
partment of Defense to establish and maintain Senior 
Reserve Officer Training Corps units at institutions of 
higher education, to improve the ability of students to 
participate in Senior ROTC programs, and to ensure 
that institutions of higher education provide military re-
cruiters entry to campuses and access to students that 
is at least equal in quality and scope to that provided 
to any other employer.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ROTC and Military 
Recruiter Equal Access to Campus Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The Reserve Officers Training Corps 
(ROTC) program is the most common path for un-
dergraduates to become United States military offi-
cers. 
(2) The inclusion of both public and private un-
dergraduate institutions in the ROTC program in-
sures a more racially, ethnically, and socially diverse 
pool for leadership in the higher ranks of the Armed 
Forces. 
(3) The majority of both minority officers and 
female officers in the Armed Forces are acquired 
through undergraduate ROTC programs. 
(4) The presence of ROTC programs on college 
campuses benefits even those students who are not 
enrolled by making them aware of the presence and 
role of the United States military.
(5) Land-grant colleges received land from the 
United States on the condition that they offer some 
military instruction in addition to their regular cur-
riculum, forming the basis for the Nation’s tradition 
of college and university acceptance of responsibility 
to contribute to the Nation’s readiness. 
(6) The Armed Forces face a constant challenge 
in recruiting top-quality personnel that ROTC pro-
grams are ideally suited to meet. 
(7) Military recruiters should have access to 
college campuses and to college students equal in 
quality and scope to that provided all other employ-
ers. 
(8) If any college or university discriminates 
against ROTC programs or military recruiters, then 
under current law that college or university becomes 
ineligible for certain Federal taxpayer support, espe-
cially funding for many military and defense pro-
grams. 
(9) The personnel and programs of the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security and the Department of 
Energy are mutually dependent upon a high caliber 
of well-educated, professional leadership in the 
Armed Forces in order to protect the people and ter-
ritory of the United States.
(10) In order to more fully promote the ability 
of the Nation’s Armed Forces to recruit on college 
campuses and to facilitate the ability of students to 
participate in ROTC programs on campus, the laws 
to prevent discrimination against ROTC and mili-
tary recruiters should be updated. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF HOMELAND SECU-
RITY-RELATED 
FUNDING 
TO 
POST-SEC-
ONDARY SCHOOLS THAT PREVENT ROTC AC-
CESS OR MILITARY RECRUITING ON CAMPUS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Homeland Security Act of 
2002 (Public Law 107–296; 6 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new title: 
‘‘TITLE XVIII—ADDITIONAL 
PROVISIONS 
‘‘SEC. 1801. PROHIBITION OF FUNDS BEING PROVIDED TO 
INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION THAT 
PREVENT ROTC ACCESS OR MILITARY RE-
CRUITING ON CAMPUS. 
‘‘No funds made available for the Department may 
be provided by contract or by grant to an institution of 
higher education (including any subelement of such insti-
tution) that, by reason of a determination by the Secretary 
of Defense under subsection (a) or (b) of section 983 of 
title 10, United States Code, is ineligible for the receipt
of a contract or grant from funds specified in subsection 
(d) of that section.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the 
end the following new items:
‘‘TITLE XVIII—ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS 
‘‘1801. Prohibition of funds being provided to institutions of higher education 
that prevent ROTC access or military recruiting on campus.’’.
SEC. 4. CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH ROTC AC-
CESS PROVISIONS. 
Subsection (a) of section 983 of title 10, United 
States Code, is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘No funds’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘prevents—’’ and inserting 
‘‘prevents, either (or both) of the following:’’; 
(3) by striking ‘‘(1) the’’ and inserting ‘‘(A) 
The’’; 
(4) by striking ‘‘; or’’ and inserting a period; 
(5) by striking ‘‘(2) a’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) A’’; 
and 
(6) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2)(A) Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of the ROTC and Military Recruiter Equal 
Access to Campus Act of 2004 and annually thereafter, 
the Secretary of Defense shall request from each institu-
tion of higher education that has students participating
in a Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps program dur-
ing the then-current academic year of that institution a 
certification that such institution, during the next aca-
demic year of the institution, will—
‘‘(i) permit the Secretary of each military de-
partment to maintain a unit of the Senior Officer 
Training Corps (in accordance with subsection (a)) 
at that institution (or any subelement of that insti-
tution), should such Secretary elect to maintain such 
a unit; and 
‘‘(ii) if the Secretary of the military department 
concerned elects not to establish or maintain a unit 
of the Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps at that 
institution, permit a student of that institution (or 
any subelement of that institution) to enroll in a 
unit of the Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps at 
another institution of higher education. 
‘‘(B) Any certification under subparagraph (A) shall 
be made by the president of the institution (or equivalent 
highest ranking administrative official) and shall be sub-
mitted to the Secretary of Defense no later than 90 days 
after receipt of the request from the Secretary. 
‘‘(C) In the case of any institution from which a cer-
tification is requested under subparagraph (A), if the Sec-
retary of Defense does not receive a certification in accord-