( CNN ) -- Harvard University moved Thursday to allow ROTC programs to set up on campus , after years of restricting the U.S. military 's access because of its `` do n't ask , do n't tell '' policy . The Cambridge , Massachusetts , school barred Reserve Officers ' Training Corps programs from being based on its campus 40 years ago , at the height of the Vietnam War . For more than a decade , university leaders -- among them , former law school dean and current U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan -- have cited the military 's policy prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving openly as the chief rationale for continuing the ban . Harvard President Drew Faust cited the recent decision to overturn that policy as the genesis for the university 's new tact . She will sign an agreement Friday with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to re-establish a home for ROTC on campus , the school announced in a press release . `` Our renewed relationship affirms the vital role that the members of our armed forces play in serving the nation and securing our freedoms , while also affirming inclusion and opportunity as powerful American ideals , '' Faust said in the statement . The full , formal recognition will take effect once repeal of the so-called `` do n't ask , do n't tell '' law , which had made it against military policy for homosexuals to serve openly , is complete this summer , according to the release . Harvard will appoint a director for the Navy ROTC program and take over direct financial responsibility for the cost of students to participate in the program . Congress voted to repeal the policy in December , setting off a three-part process . Last month , for instance , all four branches of the U.S. military began training required as part of the repeal . The university is setting up a committee , to be chaired by professor Kevin `` Kit '' Parker , a U.S. Army Reserve captain who served three tours in Afghanistan , to look into a host of issues , including bringing other military branches back onto campus . Harvard was one of the first six educational institutions , in 1926 , to host Naval ROTC programs , the Navy noted in a release . Once the change goes into effect , active-duty Navy and Marines personnel will meet on campus with students participating in the ROTC program . `` ( Navy ) ROTC 's return to Harvard is good for the university , good for the military , and good for the country , '' said Mabus , in a statement from the Navy . `` With exposure comes understanding , and through understanding comes strength . '' Harvard 's own policy regarding ROTC on campus was the subject of national attention eight months ago , when Kagan -- who was then a nominee for the high court -- came under criticism by Republican senators who complained that she actively tried to block military recruiters from Harvard Law School when she was dean . Kagan and the White House strongly defended her actions , saying that while she opposed the military 's policy , Kagan never kept recruiters off the university . Four months after taking the job as Harvard 's dean , in October 2003 , Kagan sent a campus-wide email to students saying that to give recruiters equal access to the campus `` causes me deep distress . I abhor the military 's discriminatory recruitment policy . '' She called the `` do n't ask , do n't tell '' policy `` a profound wrong -- a moral injustice of the first order . '' CNN 's Greg Botelho contributed to this report .
NEW : The Navy secretary calls the move `` good for the university , good for the military '' Harvard 's president and the Navy secretary will sign a deal to return ROTC to campus . The school had banned ROTC , in part due to opposition to the `` do n't ask , do n't tell '' policy . Change will take effect this summer , once the repeal is implemented by the military .