Charles Moskos
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Charles C. Moskos is a sociologist of the United States Military and a professor at Northwestern University. Described as the nation's "most influential military sociologist" by the Wall Street Journal (where his byline occasionally appears over op-ed pieces), Moskos has long been a source for reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today and other periodicals. He is perhaps most well known as the author of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which governs the conduct of homosexual servicemembers.
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[edit] Biography
Moskos was born May 20, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois to Greek immigrant parents from Northern Epirus. In his book Greek Americans: Struggle and Success (Transaction Publications, 2001) — which he jokingly calls "his bestseller" bought only by Greek Americans — he recalls that his father, christened Photios, adopted the name Charles after pulling it out of a hat full of "slips with appropriately American-sounding first names."
He met his German wife Ilca, a Spanish/German foreign language teacher, while studying at the University of California, Los Angeles. She recently retired from New Trier High School where she taught foreign languages. They have two sons, Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Andrew Moskos, co-founder of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. Moskos has written for many scholarly and popular publications.
Charles Moskos coined the phrase and policy don't ask, don't tell.
[edit] Career
Charles Moskos attended Princeton University on tuition scholarship and waited tables to pay for room and board. He was drafted into the US Army right after graduation in 1956. Moskos served with the Army's combat engineers in Germany where he wrote his first article, "Has the Army Killed Jim Crow?" for the Negro History Bulletin.
After leaving the military, he enrolled at UCLA, where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees. His first teaching job was at the University of Michigan, but he was soon lured away to Northwestern University, where he is one of the most popular sociology professors in the school.[1]
Of the course of his career, Moskos has traveled to war-torn countries throughout the world, including a stay in Panama during the U.S. Invasion that led to the overthrow of Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega.[1] In 1997 he was awarded the first ever award for field work that "addresses the general population and makes an impact on the real world" at the annual convention for the American Sociological Association.[1]
What Moskos calls his "real fame" came when he coined the phrase "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and attached it to the controversial compromise policy he developed for the Clinton administration on gays in the military. The military's code of conduct prohibits homosexuality, but according to the policy, which is still in effect, the government cannot "ask" about an enlistee's sexual preferences, and homosexuals do not have to "tell" military superiors they are gay.
Charles Moskos remains a respected source for the military and the media and his influence in the military goes very high.[1] Military commanders such as Gen. James L. Jones, the U.S. Marine Corps commandant, and Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, former U.S. Army chief of staff, regularly seek his advice.[1] In 2005 Moskos completed a study for the Joint Chiefs of Staff on international military cooperation.
[edit] Controversy
In 2000, Moskos told academic journal Lingua Franca that he felt the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy will be gone within five to ten years. He went on to debunk the unit cohesion argument, the most frequent rationale given for the continued exclusion of gay service members from the U.S. military, instead arguing that homosexuals should be banned due to the "modesty rights" of heterosexuals, saying:
- "I don't care about that...I should not be forced to shower with a woman. I should not be forced to shower with a gay [man]."[2]
Moskos comments were met with outrage by gay activists and Northwestern University students who argued that his fear of being ogled in the shower was not sufficient justification for denying equal rights to gay men and lesbians. [1] [2]
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b c d e Taubeneck, Anne. "'All That He Can Be'", Northwestern, Spring 2002. Retrieved on January 21, 2007.
- ^ Frank, Nathaniel. "The Real Story of Military Sociology and 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'", Lingua Franca, October 2000, pp. 71-81. Retrieved on August 9, 2006.
