Just last year, Yale University was engaged in what it portrayed as a valiant fight against discrimination. You see, the school wanted to receive federal tax dollars, but it did not want the federal government’s military recruiters to have the same access to graduating students that private companies have.

Their rationale was that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy enacted by the Clinton Administration voilated the school’s non-discrimination policy by preventing gays from serving openly in the military. But rather than stand on principle and reject the federal funding, the school wanted to take the money and to tell the military to take a hike at the same time. So Yale fought the government all the way up to the Supreme Court (and lost).

Still, let’s give Yale the benefit of the doubt and assume that they really are concerned with discrimination. If that’s the case, then why is Yale thinking of opening up a satellite campus in the United Arab Emirates? Not only is it a country that won’t even allow Israeli citizens to set foot within its borders, but it bans homosexuality by law. In the U.A.E., gays are arrested, imprisoned, subject to therapy and even hormone treatments.

Certainly, that’s quite a bit more discriminatory than the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, but standing on principle against the U.A.E. is apparently not nearly as satisfying to the folks running Yale as grandstanding against the U.S. military. Hence the school’s evasive explanation for why it is proceeding with its plan. The Yale Daily News reports:

Other universities have been wary of dealing with the United Arab Emirates. The University of Connecticut’s plans to open a satellite campus in Dubai were set aside recently because of concerns about discrimination against Israeli citizens.

[Deputy Provost Barbara] Shailor said Yale is taking these concerns seriously, but that they have not stopped the University from moving forward with its talks with Abu Dhabi’s government.

“There are lots of issues,” Shailor said. “Certainly if you think about our interactions with China or with India, one could express some more concerns across the board. So what one would do is to look at all of these concerns, see exactly to what extent they seem to be justified, and then to weigh the positive aspects of having a relationship and building a relationship with not having a relationship.”

Well, at least now we know the truth: Yale doesn’t give a damn about discrimination. They just wanted an excuse to give the middle finger to our military.