IB 
Union Calendar No. 257
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3966
[Report No. 108–443, Part I] 
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 
MARCH 23, 2004
Additional sponsors: Mr. BLUNT, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. ROGERS 
of Michigan, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. MCHUGH, Mrs. 
JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. MCKEON, Mrs. MILLER of 
Michigan, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, and Mr. BACH-
US 
MARCH 23, 2004
Reported from the Committee on Armed Services with amendments
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
MARCH 23, 2004
Referral to the Committee on Education and the Workforce extended for a 
period ending not later than March 23, 2004
MARCH 23, 2004
Committee on Education and the Workforce discharged; committed to the 
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered 
to be printed 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 12, 2004] 
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 undergraduates 
to become United States military officers. 
(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 en-
rolled 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 col-
lege campuses and to college students equal in quality 
and scope to that provided all other employers. 
(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 territory 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. 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 ‘‘pre-
vents, 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 Ac-
cess to Campus Act of 2004 and annually thereafter, the
Secretary of Defense shall request from each institution of 
higher education that has students participating in a Sen-
ior Reserve Officer Training Corps program during the 
then-current academic year of that institution a certifi-
cation that such institution, during the next academic 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 institu-
tion), 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 an-
other 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 para-
graph (1) as to whether the institution has a policy or prac-
tice 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 campuses 
and to students that is provided to any other em-
ployer’’. 
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-
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 insert-
ing ‘‘, to the head of each other department and agency the 
funds of which are subject to the determination,’’ after ‘‘Sec-
retary of Education’’. 
SEC. 6. EXCLUSION OF AMOUNTS TO COVER INDIVIDUAL 
PAYMENTS. 
(a) CODIFICATION AND EXTENSION OF EXCLUSION.—
Subsection (d) of section 983 of title 10, United 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 para-
graph:
‘‘(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 ‘‘(including a 
grant of funds to be available for student aid)’’. 
(c) CONFORMING REPEAL OF CODIFIED PROVISION.—
Section 8120 of the Department of Defense Appropriations 
Act, 2000 (Public Law 106–79; 10 U.S.C. 983 note), is re-
pealed. 
SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 
respect to funds appropriated for fiscal year 2005 and 
thereafter.
Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to amend title 
10, United States Code, 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 recruit-
ers entry to campuses and access to students that is at 
least equal in quality and scope to that provided to any 
other employer.’’.
Union Calendar No. 257
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3966
[Report No. 108–443, Part I] 
A BILL 
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 insti-
tutions 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. 
MARCH 23, 2004
Reported from the Committee on Armed Services with 
amendments 
Referral to the Committee on Education and the Work-
force extended for a period ending not later than 
March 23, 2004
Committee on Education and the Workforce discharged; 
committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed