A Message Regarding ROTC
Dear fellow members of
the Columbia community:
After many months of
campus discussion, open forums, and a strongly favorable vote in the University
Senate, together with consultation with the University's Council of Deans, it
is clear that the time has come for Columbia to reengage with the military
program of ROTC, subject to certain conditions and with ongoing review. Accordingly, I am announcing today that after
four decades Columbia again will recognize ROTC on campus through an agreement
to reinstate a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program at the
University.
Formal recognition of
Naval ROTC by Columbia will resume after the effective date, expected later
this year, of the repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law that disqualified
openly gay men and lesbians from military service. Under the agreement, Columbia’s Navy and
Marine Corps-option midshipmen then will participate in Naval ROTC through the NROTC
unit hosted at the SUNY Maritime College in Throgs Neck, NY. They will join Columbia’s Army and Air Force
ROTC members who will continue to train, as they do currently, with other New
York area students at consortium units at Fordham University and Manhattan College. Provost Claude Steele will establish a
committee of faculty, students, and administrators to oversee implementation of
the ROTC program consistent with Columbia’s academic standards and policies of
non-discrimination.
Columbia’s long and
honorable history of engagement with the military includes major training
programs for naval officers and medical personnel during World War II, and the
founding of our School of General Studies in the aftermath of the war in part
to provide a Columbia undergraduate education to returning veterans. During
both of last century’s world wars, Columbia’s College of Physicians and
Surgeons created and staffed hospital facilities in Europe for wounded combat
troops, in some cases operating in the field of battle. In recent years, hundreds of talented veterans
welcomed here as undergraduate, graduate, and professional students have added
to the diversity of experience and perspectives essential to making our
University a place of intellectual discovery and open debate. In recognition of those efforts, Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen last spring came to our campus for a
day of discussion of issues facing the military and our society.
I have confidence that,
with the return of ROTC, Columbia will be an even more valuable forum for enhancing
the relationship between our military and civil society in the years ahead.
Sincerely,
Lee C. Bollinger
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