1983 President David Fraser Testifies before Congress

"We must be willing to enter the fray when the issue is important."  Less than a month after taking office, David Fraser asked the Board of Managers to respond to the Solomon Amendment to the Military Selective Service Act, which required schools to withhold federal financial aid from students who failed to register for a draft. Fraser considered the law, scheduled to take effect in July 1983, unconstitutional and feared it would allow governmental pressures to restrict college enrollments. In February, he testified on the matter before a House subcommittee on education.

At Fraser's instigation, the College became the third in the country to join a Minnesota lawsuit against the amendment; similar briefs were filed by two schools in the state. Students also presented to the Board a petition signed by more than half the student body that urged the College to support the financial needs of nonregistrants. At its next meeting, the Board unanimously voted to replace any funds lost by students who declined to register.