Woods Gets Honorable Discharge, Must Repay Tuition

Anthony Woods, M.P.P. ’08—a U.S. Army captain who had served two tours in Iraq—was dismissed from the military after coming out as gay.

Anthony C. Woods, M.P.P. ’08 (the subject of this item in our January-February issue), recently learned that his discharge from the military will be classified as honorable.

A former captain in the U.S. Army who served two tours in Iraq and had been tapped to teach at West Point, Woods gave the graduate English address at Commencement last year. Soon after, he informed his Army supervisor that he was gay, effectively initiating his own dismissal.

Woods, who now works in the Washington, D.C., office of New York governor David Paterson, will still be required to pay the government $35,000, the cost of his military scholarship to the Harvard Kennedy School—a “small price to pay,” he notes, “for being able to live my life."

 

Most popular

Jerome Powell Talks Risk, Resilience, and AI at Harvard

The Fed Chairman laid out the U.S. central bank’s approach to global conflict and an unpredictable future.

Pete Buttigieg Calls For a Politics of ‘Belonging’

A Kennedy School panel discusses polarization and the uncertain future of American democracy.

Is Copyright Law the Wrong Weapon Against AI?

Harvard law professor Rebecca Tushnet explains how “fair use” applies to LLMs.

Explore More From Current Issue

A lively street scene at night with people in colorful costumes dancing joyfully.

Rabbi, Drag Queen, Film Star

Sabbath Queen, a new documentary, follows one man’s quest to make Judaism more expansive.

A person climbs a curved ladder against a colorful background and four vertical ladders.

Harvard’s Productivity Trap

What happened to doing things for the sake of enjoyment?