Special Collection #0007:

Temple University Military Recruitment Case: Commission on Human Relations, Brown and DeLoggio v. Temple University Law School

1982-1984, 1.25 linear inches

The collection preserves copies of documents filed with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations in the case of Commission on Human Relations, Brown and DeLoggio v. Temple University Law School.  A local researcher collected these at the time and donated them anonymously to the Library/Archives in 1994.  Access is unrestricted.

In 1982, two Temple University Law School students, Richard Brown and Loretta DeLoggio, accused the university of violating the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance.  The case challenged Temple's policy of letting the United States military recruit workers through the Law School's employment office.  The complaint argued that since the military discriminated against homosexuals, Temple should not let it interview students on campus.  In 1983, the staff of the Commission on Human Relations issued its own complaint against Temple on the same grounds.  In reply, Temple framed the case as a First Amendment issue.  The university further argued that the Commission on Human Relations, as a municipal body, had no jurisdiction over the U.S. military.  Even if the case had not raised those issues, Temple's attorneys said, an employment agency should not be held accountable for the discriminatory practices of employers who use it.

In 1985, the Commission ruled that Temple's policy "aided and abetted" a discriminatory employer, and ordered the university to stop letting the military recruit on campus.  The next year, a federal appeals court ruled that the City of Philadelphia had no authority to ban military recruitment from universities.

The collection contains photocopies of memoranda, proposed findings of law, and amicus curiae briefs filed on behalf of the complainants and on behalf of Temple University.  The papers document conflicting viewpoints in this controversial case: the U.S. government's viewpoint, Temple University's, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's, that of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and those of the complainants.

Many issues involving the civil rights of gay citizens intersect in this case: questions of federal versus local authority, the autonomy of the military, the applicability of Philadelphia's antidiscrimination laws to employment agencies, and the responsibilities of state-run educational institutions.  As such, the collection contains information relevant to a wide range of research areas.