Advocates for
Brief: Proposal
to Return ROTC to
Prepared by Sean
L. Wilkes, CC’06; Chairman, Advocates for
OBJECTIVE:
Return the Reserve Officers Training Corps
(ROTC) to
“One should view
ROTC not as an example of the military in the university, but of the university
in the military. ROTC allows for an acceptable level of civilian control of the
military through the influence of civilian colleges and universities”
-Michael S. Neiberg, Assoc. Prof. of History,
USAFA
BACKGROUND:
The Reserve Officers Training Corps produces
over 60% of all Armed Forces Officers. It is designed as a college elective
that can be tried for up to two years with no obligation. The program provides
a wide range of experiences for Cadets combining military science classes with
hands-on leadership experience.
Students’ studies focus
on leadership development, problem solving techniques, management, strategic
planning and organization, and professional ethics and responsibilities.
“On
According to University documents, ROTC was
removed for two basic reasons:
1) Opponents of the program maintained that the presence of any military
organization on campus violated the goals of an academic community.
2) Many opponents disagreed with the appointment
of military officers to the academic position of Professor within the
Department of Naval Science, when most if not all had not obtained a degree
above a Masters and were employed not by the university but by the DOD.
CURRENT SENTIMENT TOWARDS ROTC
In April of 2003 the Columbia College Student
Council, with prompting from student groups, presented a referendum alongside
the CCSC elections to gauge student opinion on the issue of returning ROTC to
Columbia’ Campus. In one of the highest voter turnouts in the history of
student council elections, 973 students voted in support of ROTC while 530
voted against it. 65% to 35%.
Polling questions were reviewed by an impartial
REASONS TO RETURN ROTC TO
1. Scholarships: ROTC Cadets can obtain full scholarships worth
between $17,000 and $29,000 providing many underprivileged students the
opportunity to attend high-cost schools like
2. Leadership
Training: ROTC is one of the
premier leadership training programs in the world. Classroom instruction
combined with hands-on training in management, information analysis, and health
and physical fitness gives students an edge over their peers in any job market.
3. Job
Security and Opportunities:
Active Duty Commissioned ROTC Cadets are guaranteed employment after graduation
with extensive medical, dental, housing, and retirement benefits. In addition,
extensive summer courses and internships are available for additional training
and leadership experiences.
4. Service
to Country: ROTC serves as the
primary conduit for the commissioning of Military Officers. Many students have
a strong desire to serve their country as commissioned officers. A ROTC program
at
5. Careers
and Skills: The military is not
made up of just infantrymen and pilots. It takes a whole range of professionals
to support and run the military – from Doctors, Lawyers, Psychologists and
Scientists to Supply Officers, Logisticians, Foreign Area Officers, and
Veterinarians, as well as the requisite combat officers. Many advances in
science and business have come out of the military, from the very successful
burn treatments developed at the Army Institute of Surgical Research, to the product tracking
and shipping systems used at such companies as FedEx, Barnes & Noble, and
Wal-Mart, developed originally by military Quartermaster Corps.
Benefits to the University and Nation
1. End "Ivory Tower" separation of Columbia and the mainstream. Reinstating ROTC would make a
strong statement of
2. Societal benefit. Guide and improve the military
community with higher quality, better-educated, diverse leaders: Officers with
a Columbia-taught perspective of tolerance and respect directly benefit the
diverse members of the military.
3. Citizen Soldiers. Civilian educated officers bring to the military a wider and more
rounded background.
4. Educate the armed forces. ROTC on campus allows
5. Positive addition. A native cadet population increases diversity on campus and enriches
the community. Cadets state that ROTC provides focus, discipline and pragmatic
skills in their college education. Military service via ROTC embodies selfless
service, duty, respect, integrity, responsibility, courage and leadership as
core values.
6. Enrich Columbia educational and career opportunities. Provides students with an
on-campus military resource, increased academic options and career choices.
Adds military virtues and perspectives to
7. Increase interest for Columbia. A well-advertised ROTC program at
8. Professional benefit. The 21st century military requires smarter, better-educated,
ethical leaders. The military is becoming a faster-reacting force with an
emphasis on professional acumen and the adaptation of technology. The
situations and missions faced by the military are more varied and complex,
whether they are humanitarian, defensive, or nation-building.
9. Fair treatment for ROTC cadets. Cadets deserve the benefits of a Columbia-based ROTC
program. Ending separate and unequal status for ROTC training at
10. Practice inclusion, not exclusion. Fight ignorance and
misunderstanding about the military at
11. ROTC scholarships. ROTC provides scholarships and financial assistance to many of its
participants and can help qualified, underprivileged students attend
Changes in ROTC since the
1.
Reduction of the importance of
drill: In the
1960s many, including some in the military, criticized drill as outdated,
irrelevant, mindless, and embarrassing to the student. As such, with prompting
from various universities on the issue, drill requirements were significantly
reduced and in some cases eliminated completely. In the modern ROTC program, drill
is relatively infrequent and is taught simply to give students familiarity with
the commands and training processes of enlisted soldiers, who they will soon be
commanding as 2nd Lieutenants or Ensigns when commissioned.
“To succeed in the new American military system, ROTC had to focus less on
drill and more on assuring its place on the campus through congruity with the
goals of higher education” (Michael Neiberg, Making Citizen Soldiers; Harvard
University Press: 2000,. Pg 138)
2.
Substitute Coursework: Professors of Military Science
were authorized to substitute the time formerly spent on drill with academic
coursework. “MIT, for example, replaced it with cadet research on aspects of
engineering and physics relevant to the military.” Others had students take
courses in such areas as “American military history, world military history,
diplomatic history of the United States, political geography, American
government, international relations, geopolitics, international trade and
finance, psychology, biology, physics, chemistry” and so on and so forth
(Neiberg, 140).
3.
Professional Recognition: While the academic qualifications
of ROTC officers improved since the 1960s, many university administrators and
faculty still disagreed with the academic titles of Professor and Assistant
Professor given to ROTC officers. Some universities voted to modify the titles,
while others removed them altogether. “The services initially resisted this
change but amended their stance after the civilian leadership of the DOD accepted
the position that the titles themselves were not important” (Neiberg, 144).
Many colleges and universities still confer the official title of Professor to
ROTC officers, but others, including Ivy League sister
4.
Academic Credit: Another major contention many
universities had was with the credit granted for ROTC courses, which many
considered academically inferior to other coursework at the colleges. This was
challenged by many in the military who feared,
1) “That faculties were repudiating the military and the military model for
organization and authority”; and 2) “That losing credit would adversely effect
enrollment in ROTC” (Neiberg, 146)
This was repudiated even by
some in the military, who “noted that engineering schools rarely gave any
academic credit to ROTC, yet several engineering colleges, like Georgia Tech,
supported strong and vibrant ROTC programs.” Again to give a contemporary
example, Princeton has a strong Army ROTC program at their school which grants
no credit whatsoever to their students, while those Cadets who cross-enrol at
Princeton ROTC from New Jersey’s public university do gain credit from their
institution. (Neiberg, 147)
Cons against the ROTC Program
Arguments made against the return
of ROTC to
1. Lack
of Interest: Today’s privileged
Answer: The number of students who
currently participate in off campus military training programs (a total of 14
as of Jan. 2004) despite the travel requirements and hardships of integrating
them with the rest of their curricula shows that there is indeed interest. In
addition the many benefits of a military career are attractive to many
students, who simply don’t see it as an option going to a school lacking in an
ROTC program.
2. Military courses not Columbia-caliber.
Military courses are sub-standard. Officers are not qualified to teach at
Answer: Many cadets and midshipmen taking the Advanced ROTC courses might tend
to disagree; ROTC coursework is challenging and engaging. And if classes in
weight-lifting and fencing have enough academic value to receive credit, one
wonders why Military Science is considered so inferior. Even so, ROTC Courses
do not necessarily have to be given credit, as shown by
3. The
Program would be too costly:
Bringing an ROTC program to campus and having to pay for all the supplies and
books and personnel would be too costly for
Answer: There is no cost to
4. Non
Discrimination Policy: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Don’t Pursue (DADT) goes
against university non-discriminatory policies and therefore prohibits ROTC’s
presence.
Answer: Most people on this campus, including many proponents of ROTC’s return,
agree that an anti-homosexual policy in any shape or form is wrong. Almost all favor changing the policy. However,
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is not a military policy, it is a Federal Law rooted in 10
USC 654. ROTC is bound by Federal
Law as is the rest of the military. To change this situation one must address
not ROTC or even the DOD, but the United States Congress. To disallow the
presence of so positive and advantageous a program simply because it is
required to follow a federal law is just as wrong.
In addition DADT does not outright prevent openly gay/lesbian students from participating in ROTC: it only prevents them from receiving ROTC
scholarships and being commissioned (see note below); and it prevents cadets from being open and public
about their sexual preferences
in the military. Under DADT, the
feeling is that service people's private
lives are their own business. On the flip side the military cannot pursue
members “suspected” of being homosexual and force them to say so.
Many saw this law as a stepping stone to phase-in the full integration of
homosexuals and lesbians into
the military, but in order for this to happen Congress must change the law
again, to offer protection to all, regardless of sexual preference.
The military has no say in the matter except to make recommendations to
Congress.
Note: The answer above follows from a
question as to whether there were
any examples of ROTC programs being implemented in which only the stipend and
commissioning aspects (a Dept. of Defense
issue) were deemed as
discriminatory under DADT, while any campus activities (such as classes,
training, meetings) would be open to everyone, even though the program is
funded by the Dept of Defense. There are indeed examples of such a program
being implemented: The AF ROTC program at Manhattan College (and indeed all
AFROTC programs to our knowledge) allows non contracted students who wish to do
so to participate in the program for the leadership experience and training
without stipend or commissioning requirements, and the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law
does not apply to them.
5. Financial
Aid: What are the details of
the money received? Would not ROTC cadets be receiving scholarship funds above
and beyond the amount of financial aid they have, thereby getting more
financial aid than he/she would need?
The ROTC monthly stipend is given to any student who is contracted (who has
signed a service agreement for a certain amount of time after college). The
scholarships are merit based and not based on need, but according to Columbia’s
financial aid policy these funds would be used to reduce the student loan
and/or work study part of a financial aid package and once that need is eliminated
the scholarship will then be used to reduce any Columbia grant received. So,
for instance, if a student is using work study and loans to pay for $8000 of
annual Columbia tuition, but then receives a $22,000 scholarship from ROTC,
$14,000 of that would be used to reduce the Columbia grant specifically, $8000
in place of the work study and loans.
6. Maintain intellectual elitism. The military perspective has no place in
Answer: The military officer is a
professional, as much as any doctor or lawyer. Officers are educated, most field grade officers having obtained
at least one if not multiple higher degrees, and worldly, having been more
places and seen more of the world than even some in academia. Among them are
experts in their fields who could prove to be invaluable resources to the
education of
7. ROTC is racist: Just like the rest of the military, ROTC is racist, preferring
protestant white males to serve in their officer caste over just about anyone
else.
Answer: This is not true, and one
look at the numbers will tell you so. For the most relevant example, look at
the Fordham University Army ROTC program: As of 2002 over 50% of their Corps of
Cadets were minorities, including 23% Hispanic. As President Bollinger’s fight
for affirmative action in the Supreme Court showed, the Military has been one
of the staunchest proponents of affirmative action. A Supreme Court Brief filed
in support of U. Michigan’s AA policy by many of the nation’s best known
military officers and former top Pentagon officials stated that service academies and ROTC programs need
affirmative action to maintain a highly diversified officer corps. Officials
supporting the brief included Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander in the
first Persian Gulf War; Adm. William Crowe, Gen. Hugh Shelton and Gen. John M.
Shalikashvili, all former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Gen.
Anthony Zinni, former head of the U.S. Central Command.
8. The military restricts free speech. ROTC restricts the free speech of cadets, which is
unacceptable for
Answer: ROTC does not restrict the
free speech of cadets and midshipmen. ROTC may request that students not make
political statements while in uniform, as that uniform represents the
For a full list of resources on the
arguments made regarding ROTC at Columbia please visit http://www.advocatesforrotc.org/columbia/coverage.html
which contains many articles, mostly Columbia Spectator and New York Times, on
the issue. www.advocatesforrotc.org
also includes information on the movement at other Ivy League schools and a
broad range of resources on such topics as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Solomon
Amendment.
Contact Information
Sean L. Wilkes
Chairman,
Advocates for Columbia ROTC President, Students United for
slw2014@columbia.edu
jst75@columbia.edu
917.686.0524 212.853.5730
6254 Lerner Hall 6643 Lerner Hall