Tomorrow’s opinion section of the Wall Street Journal features a familiar byline: a one Mr. Learned Foote, CC 2011 President.

Foote, speaking as a gay pro-ROTC student, said that he felt conflicted in his eventual decision to back repealing the ROTC ban. “I wanted to fight discrimination, but I also wanted Columbia to restore its relationship with a fundamental American institution,” he said.

Foote argued that if students are unhappy with the current DADT policy, they would be wise to permit the return of ROTC to campus, to influence change “from the bottom up.” He concludes by stating that since Columbia is “a university funded in part by taxpayer dollars, we cannot excuse ourselves from actively engaging with the military.”