IIB 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3966 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 31, 2004 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 
AN ACT 
To amend title 10, United States Code, 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 pro-
vide 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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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
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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
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to prevent discrimination against ROTC and mili-
tary recruiters should be updated. 
SEC. 3. 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—
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‘‘(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-
ance with subparagraph (B), or if the certification does 
not state that the university will comply with both clauses 
(i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) during its next academic 
year, the Secretary shall make a determination under
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paragraph (1) as to whether the institution has a policy 
or practice described in that paragraph.’’. 
SEC. 4. EQUAL TREATMENT OF MILITARY RECRUITERS 
WITH OTHER RECRUITERS. 
Subsection (b)(1) of section 983 of title 10, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘entry to campuses’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘access to campuses’’; and 
(2) by inserting before the semicolon at the end 
the following: ‘‘in a manner that is at least equal in 
quality and scope to the degree of access to cam-
puses and to students that is provided to any other 
employer’’. 
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF FUNDING FOR POST-SECONDARY 
SCHOOLS THAT PREVENT ROTC ACCESS OR 
MILITARY RECRUITING. 
(a) COVERED FUNDS.—Subsection (d) of section 983 
of title 10, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘limitation established in 
subsection (a) applies’’ and inserting ‘‘limita-
tions established in subsections (a) and (b) 
apply’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘for 
any department or agency for which regular ap-
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propriations are made’’ after ‘‘made available’’; 
and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraphs: 
‘‘(C) Any funds made available for the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security. 
‘‘(D) Any funds made available for the National 
Nuclear Security Administration of the Department 
of Energy. 
‘‘(E) Any funds made available for the Depart-
ment of Transportation. 
‘‘(F) Any funds made available for the Central 
Intelligence Agency.’’; and 
(2) by striking paragraph (2). 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) Subsection (b) 
of such section is amended by striking ‘‘subsection (d)(2)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)(1)’’. 
(2) Subsection (e) of such section is amended by in-
serting ‘‘, to the head of each other department and agen-
cy the funds of which are subject to the determination,’’ 
after ‘‘Secretary of Education’’. 
SEC. 6. EXCLUSION OF AMOUNTS TO COVER INDIVIDUAL 
PAYMENTS. 
(a) CODIFICATION
AND EXTENSION
OF EXCLU-
SION.—Subsection (d) of section 983 of title 10, United
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States Code, as amended by section 5(a), is further 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘The’’ after ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting 
‘‘Except as provided in paragraph (2), the’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(2) Any Federal funding specified in paragraph (1) 
that is provided to an institution of higher education, or 
to an individual, to be available solely for student financial 
assistance, related administrative costs, or costs associated 
with attendance, may be used for the purpose for which 
the funding is provided.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Subsections (a) 
and (b) of such section are amended by striking ‘‘(includ-
ing a grant of funds to be available for student aid)’’. 
(c) CONFORMING REPEAL
OF CODIFIED PROVI-
SION.—Section 8120 of the Department of Defense Ap-
propriations Act, 2000 (Public Law 106–79; 10 U.S.C. 
983 note), is repealed.