B a c k g r o u n d  a n d  B a s i c s

WHAT IS COUNTER-RECRUITMENT?

     Counter-recruitment is a term used for a variety of actions people take against aggressive military recruitment. It may involve anything from writing letters to the editor, to lobbying your elected officials, to distributing literature exposing the lies recruiters tell, to demonstrating outside a recruitment center or setting up a table next to a recruiter in a school cafeteria.

     Supporting counter-recruitment does not mean opposing the military or disrespecting its soldiers. It simply means you believe joining the military should be a choice, not something people are pressured or harassed to do. It means you don’t support the right of recruiters to show up on teens’ doorsteps and pester them to join the military. It means you don’t want anyone to enlist based on false information. It means you support people’s right to join the military if they want to, and to be left alone if they do not. It means you recognize where the military belongs and where it does not, and are willing to take action to keep it within these boundaries.

WHERE AND HOW DID OUR EFFORTS BEGIN?

     In 2004, a group of students at Montclair High School, led by Elizabeth Lipschultz (now in college) formed a club called OYE OYE (Open Your Eyes, Open Your Eyes). Outraged by the general inattentiveness to Clause 9528, they lobbied the school administration and the district Board of Education to distribute opt-out forms to all Montclair students as part of the August registration packet each year. The town did, and over 90 percent of the student body opted out! The group’s success received extensive media coverage, and numerous students and parents told the press they would have opted out sooner had they known their information could be released in such a way!

     Other towns, such as Maplewood/South Orange and Somerville, New Jersey, followed suit; however, students in most towns are still in the dark. In 2005, we requested a hearing with the New Jersey State Board of Education to extend Montclair’s policy statewide. Our request was denied. Now we are lobbying Governor Jon Corzine to pressure the board to act. More information on this and other initiatives can be found here.

WHAT IS THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT?

     The No Child Left Behind Act is a major public education law passed by Congress in 2001. According to the United States Department of Education, it “helps schools improve by focusing on accountability for results, freedom for states and communities, proven education methods, and choices for parents.” However, it includes a highly disturbing clause: Clause 9528, which states that all public schools must release students’ personal information—name, address, phone number and more—to military recruiters, or risk losing federal funding. Recruiters then use this information to contact students—often multiple times and in increasingly aggressive ways—to pressure them to enlist in the military.

     The clause includes a provision allowing students and parents to “opt-out” of having their information released, and, in theory, requires schools to inform families of this right. However, there are no laws governing how schools must inform families, and as a result, most people are never given this information. In fact, many have no idea their information can be released without their consent in the first place!

     New Jersey Peace Action supports the amendment of the No Child Left Behind Act to make the “opt-out” provision an “opt-in” provision, in which students interested in the military could request that the school release their information, and other students’ data would, by default, be kept private. However, with the Bush administration in power, this is a highly unlikely goal; so we are devoting our efforts to the next best solution: ensuring that all families are informed of their rights and given a real chance to opt-out.