Report Is Said To Criticize On-Campus Recruitment

A report by a civil liberties group and the president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, will criticize military recruitment tactics at some city school campuses.

A source familiar with the findings of the report, which is drawn from the survey responses of nearly 1,000 students, said it alleges that military recruiters have been given too much access to public school classrooms, and that the city's Department of Education has not adequately informed students about their right to remove their names from recruiting lists.

Though details of the report, which was undertaken by both the office of the Manhattan borough president and the New York Civil Liberties Union, were not divulged, Mr. Stringer's office said it would describe violations of Department of Education guidelines by military recruiters.

A spokesman for Mr. Stringer, Eric Pugatch, declined to comment.

"We have an all volunteer force in a democratic society," Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Withington, of the Department of Defense, said. "In terms of military coming on to campus, No Child Left Behind basically says that the military should have equal access on par with any other third party org much like any other recruiters - college recruiters, even yearbook salesmen."

He added, "Most school systems make it very clear that opt out is an option, and that's fine."

A spokesperson for the city's Department of Education, Margie Feinberg, said that the department had received the report and was reviewing it.