National ROTC Coverage: 2012

• 13 January 2012 American Forces Press Service article "Developing Leaders is ‘Job One,’ Dempsey Tells ROTC Cadets".  Note:  "Faced with a dynamic between the two world wars that is similar to the Pentagon’s transitional situation today, Army Gen. George C. Marshall invested most heavily in leader development, Dempsey said.  “He knew that if he had the right leaders, once things clarified he’d call upon them to get it right, and that’s what we’ve got to do,” he added. “It’s about leader development. That’s the biggest lesson we’ve learned.”"
• 17 January 2012 Yale Daily News article "Naval ROTC students face finaid choice".  Note:  "Naval administrators said in December that they expect the scholarship program — which is widely used on a national scale — to be less popular at Yale because of the University’s generous financial aid policy. But Lt. Molly Crabbe, who will oversee Yale’s Naval ROTC unit, said all but one of 24 prospective Yale students interested in the program have already applied for the scholarship option."
• 18 January 2012 Wall Street Journal letter "Navy Working to Restore Relations With Elite Colleges" by Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Juan Garcia.  Note:  Garcia, the Pentagon's point man in negotiating the Naval ROTC deals with elite colleges, responds to a 30 December op-ed by writing that those deals "go well beyond the opening of an office. Both Columbia and Harvard agreed to permit access to classrooms, auditoriums, athletic facilities and outdoor fields for ROTC activities. Naval ROTC instructors will conduct office hours for both ROTC midshipmen and non-ROTC students, and the universities will now denote NROTC activities on student transcripts and in the course catalog."  Texts of those agreements have not been released.  Garcia noted that in the past 2 years the Navy opened "host units at Yale University, Arizona State University, the largest undergraduate population in the country, and at Rutgers University, a top-ranked engineering school".  He states that "NROTC is at 15 of the nation's top 25 universities", though that statistic includes colleges such as Harvard in which all classes are taught at cross-town programs.
• 9 February 2012 Yale Daily News article "Alumni veterans supporting ROTC".  Note:  The Yale Veterans Association is planning mentoring sessions with incoming ROTC students.  Naval ROTC instructor Lt. Molly Crabbe said the effort "is really important for our midshipmen because there are no upperclassmen, and the alumni are going to be able to provide some mentorship...We have a 40-year gap, but we do have this body of people, a lot of whom were Yale undergrads, who will have a lot in common, sharing the same values and interests."  Also, "The veterans group also plans to organize local chapters at Yale Clubs across the country, sponsor awards for outstanding cadets and midshipmen in Yale’s ROTC program, and organize an honorary ceremony for ROTC students with Levin, Opladen said."
• March 2012 book "Arms and the University: Military Presence and the Civic Education of Non-Military Students" by Donald Downs and Ilia Murtazashvili.  Note:  The core of the book is a detailed account of the estrangement of ROTC from elite universities and the reconciliation over the past year.  It focuses on the campus-centered effort at Columbia, where Prof. Downs attended some of the key events, but has detailed discussions of other colleges too.   There is substantial coverage of the issues likely to come up in the current phase of implementation of the return of ROTC, making this one of the key resources in planning the ROTC of the future.
• 21 March 2012 Harvard University Gazette article "Harvard formally recognizes Army SROTC: Signed an agreement with U.S. Army to re-establish on-campus relationship".  Note:  The arrangement is similar to the 2011 agreement with the Navy.  Harvard Army ROTC students will continue to train at MIT but Harvard will now "will resume direct financial responsibility for the costs of its students’ participation in the program and it will provide the Army with office space and access to classrooms and athletic fields."
• 22 March 2012 New York Times article "Ban Lifted, R.O.T.C. to Return to Harvard’s Campus".  Note:  "Under its agreement with the Army, Harvard will provide office space for the local R.O.T.C. commander to conduct classes and counseling sessions with cadets. It will also make classrooms and athletic facilities available for training. And it will assume financial responsibility for administrative costs associated with the program. Those costs were covered by a Harvard alumni group since the R.O.T.C. left the campus... Colonel Hall, who is a visiting professor of military science at M.I.T., said that he was considering recommending that the program hold some its classes and physical training sessions at Harvard. “I’ve gotten to see a lot of prospects and I’ve heard Harvard students say, ‘I would do R.O.T.C. if it were on campus,’ ” the colonel said. “This is going to make R.O.T.C. a little more accessible.”"
• 22 March 2012 Harvard Crimson article "After 43 Years, Army Welcomed in Harvard Yard Once More".  Note:  "Jia Hui Lee ’12, a former member of the Trans Task Force. said that the administration had invited the Trans Task Force to the official recognition ceremony for Army SROTC—a gesture he said he appreciated."
• 28 March 2012 Harvard Army ROTC Office Opening Ceremony.
• 28 March 2012 Remarks by President Faust: Army ROTC ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception.
• 28 March 2012 Remarks by Harvard College Dean Evelynn Hammonds at the Army ROTC Welcoming Ceremony to Harvard.
• 28 March 2012 Remarks by Col. Twala D. Mathis at the Army ROTC Welcoming Ceremony to Harvard.
• 28 March 2012 Remarks by Lt. Col. Timothy J. Hall at the Army ROTC Welcoming Ceremony to Harvard. 
• 28 March 2012 Harvard University Gazette article "Renewing Harvard-Army ties: Ceremony marks opening of ROTC office".  Note:  "Starting immediately, ROTC cadets will conduct physical training on campus once a week. And by September, some ROTC freshman courses in military science will be offered in a Harvard classroom as part of a pilot program."
• 28 March 2012 US Army article "Army ROTC officially welcomed back to Harvard".  Note:  LTC Tim Hall announced "starting in the fall of 2012, we will offer our freshmen courses on Harvard's campus, in addition to my offerings at MIT, on a pilot basis, to determine if there is sufficient student interest to justify further offerings of courses at Harvard". The article relates that the atmosphere was "joyous and positive" and "One of the tasks Hall performed after the ceremony was remounting a historic saber presented to the first commander of the Harvard Regiment. Capt. Constant Cordier so impressed the members of the Harvard Regiment that they presented him with an Army officer's saber May 30, 1916."
• 29 March 2012 Harvard Crimson article "With Ceremony, Army ROTC Moves In to the Quad".  Note:  "Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds said that Harvard’s distance from MIT had in the past deterred some students who might have been interested in ROTC.  “The two-mile trek to MIT for our students was a distance not only physical but also metaphorical,” she said. “I believe today we create a space for our future civic leaders to form relationships with our future military leaders, deepening the perspective for all concerned.”...  Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said that his office would look for applicants interested in ROTC during the admissions process."
• 31 March 2012 Columbia College Today letter "Return of ROTC" by David N. Stern ’66, ’72 GSAS.  Note:  Responding to a previous letter by Prof. Allan Silver advocating an ROTC program adhering to academic norms, Stern writes "Inviting a“stealth” ROTC back into the Columbia community validates and re-institutionalizes the military-academic complex and sends the wrong message to the wider public as to Columbia’s independence from the warfare state."
• 2 April 2012 Harvard Crimson editorial "The Army Arrives: New ROTC program merits welcome, offers opportunities".  Note:  "Harvard opened the door for a valuable form of public service—military service—to return to a place heavily steeped in the civic tradition of the armed services".
• 2 April 2012 Inside Higher Ed article "Arms and the University".  Note: In an interview with the authors of the book about ROTC "Arms and the University", the authors describe how having ROTC on campus can benefit the military, the university and the country.  They "found that some of the nation’s best security studies programs do an excellent job integrating ROTC and military history into their disciplines but that many history and political science programs have little if any integration of physical and intellectual presence of the military on campus."  In discussing the decisions about restoring ROTC at elite colleges, "it is perhaps most important that the process is deliberative and open, as it was at Columbia. Regardless of the outcome of these struggles, the process is important".
• 4 April 2012 Harvard Crimson column "Making ROTC Work at Harvard" by William H. Ryan ’14.  Note:  Ryan argues that ROTC being effectively barred from Harvard in the 1960s was due to academic issues, not the Vietnam War, an hypothesis given little credence by those who lived through the era.  The article fails to mention that the arrangements on course credit and faculty appointments now are very different from those in the 1960s, and indeed bear a lot of similarity to the reform proposals in the 1960s that were thrown aside as anti-war fervor escalated.
• 11 April 2012 Daily Pennsylvanian article "For students in Penn’s NROTC program, training a test of skills, endurance".  Note:  "Penn NROTC wants about 85 percent of its students to be engineers. Even students who study liberal arts must take two semesters of physics and two semesters of calculus as part of the program."
• 12 April 2012 Yale Daily News article "Yale ROTC competes with academies".  Note:  Naval science instructor Lt. Molly Crabbe said "six students have accepted their Naval ROTC scholarships and matriculated to Yale, and 10 admitted students have received scholarship offers from the Navy but have yet to accept their packages. Still, she added that it is too early to estimate the eventual size of the ROTC units, since some potential midshipmen have not yet been offered scholarships.. Matt Smith ’16 said he received acceptance letters to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis — as well as Duke and Notre Dame, both of which have a larger, well-established Naval ROTC units — but ultimately chose Yale and its new ROTC unit for the University’s academic and social culture."
• 7 May 2012 New York Times article "After War Room, Heading Ivy League Classroom".  Note:  "In the last year, Harvard, Yale and Columbia have invited R.O.T.C. back to campus after banning the program during Vietnam, citing the end of the military’s ban on openly gay troops as the reason. The hiring of retired military officers as teachers in the Ivy League is part of the same evolution... “There is almost no antimilitary bias among students,” said John Lewis Gaddis, a Yale history professor and the recipient of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for biography, who has welcomed General McChrystal to Yale. “I wouldn’t say it’s true among the faculty.”"  Also, Ivy League colleges "still shy from teaching military history, although that is changing. (The Yale historian Paul Kennedy is developing a course on the military history of the West for undergraduates and Air Force R.O.T.C. students at Yale this fall.)"
• 16 May 2012 This Side of the Pond blog item "The “New” Politics of ROTC?" by Donald Downs and Ilia Murtazashvili.  Note:  The authors of "Arms and the University" discuss recent claims about the history of ROTC, noting "One claim that needs to be addressed first and foremost is the claim that academic standards comprised the main reason for ROTC’s exit from the Ivies and other schools in the late 1960s. We think this claim is historically wrong, and that perpetuating it threatens to distort the present debate." As perspective, they quote then Dean Carl V. Hovde of Columbia University who wrote about the history of ROTC at Columbia that "there is a difference between the reason why a particular issue is raised and the principles in accord with which the issue is resolved".
• 23 May 2012 Harvard ROTC Commissioning Ceremony
• 23 May 2012 Harvard President Drew Faust Remarks at the 2012 ROTC Commissioning Ceremony.  Note: President Faust said "The Founding Fathers cautioned that we as a nation must not permit the military to become separated from its society and its citizenry. In the era of the All-Volunteer Force, we must be particularly attentive to this imperative. And as Harvard seeks to shape that society and educate its citizens, it must necessarily be connected to its military. We must ensure that Harvard students understand military service as a choice to consider and honor, even if – and perhaps especially if – they pursue other paths. And we hope that students from Harvard will dedicate themselves to military service in increasing numbers, using their remarkable talents to play a significant part in the responsibility and the privilege of defending our nation. I am pleased to see that indication of interest in participation in ROTC from members of next year’s freshman class is very high, and I hope to see many of them on this stage four years from now."
• 23 May 2012 LTC Timothy Hall Remarks at Harvard ROTC Commissioning. 
• 23 May 2012 Navy Secretary Ray Mabus Remarks at Harvard ROTC Commissioning. 
• 23 May 2012 Harvard Magazine article "Harvard ROTC Commissions Four Officers".  Note:  Navy Secretary Ray Mabus '75 said "when I ended my military service and came to law school here, ROTC was gone. I am very proud that our country today may debate the purpose of a war, but is united in the support of the warriors who fight. And I am proud to have been a partner with President Drew Faust…in bringing ROTC back to Harvard—one of the great delights I’ve had in this job."
• 24 May 2012 Harvard Crimson article "Harvard ROTC Commissions Four".  Note:  The graduates reflected on the progress in the Harvard-ROTC relationship in recent years with the Army and Navy, and the desire for similar progress with the Air Force.
• 24 May 2012 Harvard Crimson op-ed "ROTC Is Not Any Other Scholarship" by Adam M. Guren '08.  Note:  A former Crimson editorial chair writes that Harvard "should take steps to mitigate the extent to which its generous financial aid undermines the military’s ability to recruit Harvard students to ROTC...  Harvard treats ROTC scholarships as any other non-Harvard scholarship: it first reduces students’ term-time and summer earnings expectations and uses any remaining funds to replace Harvard grants. For many families, the net effect of an ROTC scholarship is still positive, but the financial benefit of ROTC is far smaller than at institutions without such generous financial aid... the University should consider other ways in which an ROTC scholarship should be treated differently from a standard outside scholarship... Some may argue that ROTC scholarships should be treated the same as other non-Harvard scholarships. But ROTC scholarships are different. They come with a quid pro quo of four years of military service that makes them a singular recruiting device for a unique form of service the University has deemed particularly honorable."  As noted in the comments, "One possibility would be to allow ROTC and Harvard scholarships to combine to produce a full scholarship, without any loan burden. This has been raised with Harvard officials at the highest levels, and it appears that there is concern this would violate Ivy scholarship rules and the principles that underlie them. But as argued in this article, ROTC is not any other scholarship, and this issue needs to be re-opened at the highest levels, even if that means an Ivy-wide re-examination of the scholarship rules."
• 27 May 2012 Brown University News item "Two Brown grads enter Marine Corps".  Note:  Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron offered remarks.
• 13 June 2012 Stanford University News article "Stanford to offer activity and academic credit for ROTC classes next year".  Note:  "Students will not receive letter grades for ROTC courses, but the activity and academic credits they receive for the courses will make obtaining a diploma a bit easier, and the time and effort spent taking them will be acknowledged on their Stanford transcripts."  The Stanford Subcommittee on ROTC report "judged the academic value of the more advanced ROTC courses to be worth some academic credit, but the work required in these classes is insufficiently granular to warrant academic letter grades."
• 16 July 2012 Sudbury Town Crier article "Sudbury Navy officers meet with Secretary of the Navy".  Note:  At Harvard ROTC Commissioning Advocates for Harvard ROTC chairman Paul Mawn met with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.
• 23 July 2012 The Atlantic article "No More Urban Officers? How an Uneven ROTC May Change Our Military" by Colin Daileda.  Note:  In discussing the low number of ROTC programs in New York City, Daileda documents how cross-town students have a more difficult ROTC experience that those who have ROTC based near their college.  He notes that Duquesne University in Pittsburgh "had only 3 to 5 cadets per year in ROTC until the university asked for a representative on campus five years ago. After that, the program ballooned to 10 to 12 cadets, and it will have between 17 to 20 this coming fall."  He observes that the under-representation of New Yorkers "seems to undercut the main mission of the ROTC program, which has its origins in the Morrill Act of 1862. The government, in the throes of the Civil War, was afraid of having a military taught and trained solely at specific Armed Forces institutions such as West Point or the Naval Academy" and aimed instead to have "a military from which no region of the country would feel alienated".
• 28 August 2012 Associated Press article "Navy Sub Base, Yale Renew ROTC Ties".  Note: The commanding officer of the Naval Submarine base in Groton CT, Capt. Marc Denno, said in an interview that he hopes to develop an even tighter relationship beyond tours and rides do so far, and "perhaps inspire Yale-educated officers to pursue careers in the submarine force... The synergy is obvious and necessary... We're pretty excited about it."  The article also notes that "The inventor David Bushnell is credited with creating the first submarine ever used in combat while studying at Yale in 1775, and one of the original six Naval ROTC units was established at the university in 1926."  ROTC officials have sought to build connections with the faculty, particularly members of the engineering department.  "Vincent Wilczynski, a deputy dean at the Yale School of Engineering & Science, is one of two faculty members who accompanied the crew of the submarine USS Missouri on a three-day sea transit this spring. He said he was struck by the complexity of the submarine as an engineering platform and the young age of the sailors responsible for the nuclear plant."It was tremendous," Wilczynski said. "It was a good reminder of the end game of what we're teaching in the classroom and what we're teaching in the lab.""
• 29 August 2012 Yale Daily News article "ROTC returns after decades-long hiatus".  Note:  Twenty-one Yale students are participating in the new ROTC programs - 11 in Naval ROTC (10 freshmen and 1 sophomore) and 10 in Air Force (4 are juniors).  Senior students, who typically provide leadership within the units, are lacking, so others will fill in during this transition year.  The Air Force program is part of a consortium with nearby schools (with 43 students total), while the Navy program has only Yale students.  Col. Scott Manning, Yale’s Air Force ROTC commander, said “Just the intellectual capability that Yale brings to those who wear the uniform, and even the cross-towns who will take classes with professors like Paul Kennedy, you can not put a price tag on how that will influence the thinking and development of the U.S. Air Force as an institution”.
• 11 September 2012 Wall Street Journal article "ROTC Returns to Harvard: Armed Services Training Is Back After Exiting Some Schools Over Vietnam War".  Note:  Army ROTC students reported to duty on 10 September at Harvard university; "under new agreements with the Navy and Army, Harvard will offer ROTC funding, prominently placed offices, military-science classes and campus-based training - from combat first aid to land navigation."  See associated photos and video.
• 11 September 2012 Harvard Gazette Article "Back to basics: Army cadets work out at Harvard for first time in 41 years".  Note:  On 13 September "Harvard will host the first military science class taught on campus since 1971, when ROTC was banned from University property in the wake of Vietnam-era protests".
• 13 September 2012 Hartford Courant editorial "ROTC Welcomed Back At Yale".  Note:  The editorial notes that "Yale and Harvard produce a disproportionate number of national leaders" and if more of them have military experience the country will be less likely to get into "ill-advised wars".
• 22 September 2012 Stars and Stripes article "Yale welcomes Air Force, Naval ROTC units back to campus".  Note:  Yale President Richard C. Levin told the students “The Navy, the Air Force and Yale have worked together this past year with one goal in mind — your arrival, and the launch of programs that will prepare you to be the best officer candidates in the nation”.  "Levin also noted that 140 Yale students this year signed up for a new class, developed in conjunction with the Air Force, on the impact of air power on war and world history."  See photos here.
• 25 September 2012 Wall Street Journal op-ed "ROTC Returns to the Ivies: This month, the first military-science class is being taught at Harvard since the Vietnam War era" by Jonathan E. Hillman.  Note:  A graduate student at Harvard, who also leads Brown Alumni for ROTC, describes the first ROTC class at Harvard of this century.  He noted "the standing invitation for any Harvard student or faculty member to attend the course shows that the program has nothing to hide.  I was there to witness history, but the students making it were there for many reasons. During a round of introductions, one cadet explained that he chose Harvard for its academic rigor but wanted "to challenge both body and mind.""  See letters on 29 September.
• 26 September 2012 Yale Daily News article "For country or for Yale?"  Note:  "When the ROTC courses were introduced at Yale by the new unit leaders, Dean of Undergraduate Education Joseph Gordon said they were reviewed by an ROTC advisory committee composed of Yale faculty and administrators. This committee decided not to recommend any courses this year to a second committee that would have been able to award them credit.... Only Air Force cadets in history professor Paul Kennedy’s “Military History of the West since 1500” gain credit for time spent in a class also required for the ROTC program. The class has been approved according to the national Air Force ROTC standards, and Manning serves as a teaching fellow for one section of the course, which all Air Force students joined along with a few other Yale students.  [Midshipman Matt] Smith [’16] said he believes this system of having Yale professors “sponsor” ROTC classes may be a way to work for credit. Crabbe said she hopes the ROTC “Navigation” class that will be offered next semester could also potentially receive a [Quantitative Reasoning] credit in the future... “Students here are constantly challenged to see the big picture in their courses, and that type of thinking in combination with military training can be really powerful,” said Ret. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who teaches a seminar on leadership at Yale, in an email to the news."
• 26 September 2012 Brown Daily Herald article "ROTC looks to increase campus involvement".  Note:  The Office of Student Veterans and Commissioning Programs "established in spring 2012 at the Corporation’s instruction, focuses on supporting students who are involved or would like to become involved with the military. The office is also charged with facilitating student participation in ROTC at other schools in Rhode Island."
• 29 September 2012 Columbia Spectator article "At plenary, USenators updated on Naval ROTC".  Note: "Of the four students enrolled in NROTC, three are in the School of General Studies and one is a Columbia College first-year."
• October 2012 Upcoming Harvard Club of Boston talk "Philip Keith '68, Author of "Crimson Valor"".  Note:  The talk about the book about Harvard's Medal of Honor recipients is scheduled for 16 October 2012.
• October 2012 Upcoming Harvard Club of New York dedication "Harvard Club of New York and its Medal of Honor Members".  The dedication is scheduled for 7 November 2012.
• October 2012 Military Order of the World Wars article (pp. 16-17) "Harvard Honored: Harvard Leaders Receive Silver Patrick Henry Awards at the Greater Boston Chapter".  Note:  Silver Patrick Henry Awards were presented to CAPT Paul E. Mawn, USN (Ret), and LT Malcolm T. Hill, Jr., USNR (Fmr) for their role in the return of ROTC to Harvard.
• 2 October 2012 Columbia Spectator column "Where's ROTC again? ROTC is back on campus, but a half-hearted implementation could stifle the program" by Ryan Cho CC'13.  Note:  An ROTC student argues that exclusion of ROTC students from the task force on ROTC implementation has led to problems such as the need to travel over two hours to get to an ROTC class and back, and the absence of Naval ROTC from the career fair and activities day.  "Individuals with full scholarships choose to attend our peer institutions, such as Harvard, Princeton, and MIT, who sponsor closer and better-integrated programs... A half-hearted implementation will only mean a half-hearted program, both of which are a disservice to the students and the University."
• 2 October 2012 Brown Daily Herald editorial "Reconsidering ROTC".  Note:  The editors call on Brown's new president to "reconsider the campus ban on ROTC".  They note: "We are quite proud of Brown’s reputation as an outspoken liberal institution. But this reputation may discourage students with other political beliefs or backgrounds from matriculating at Brown. This is a distinct loss to the community, as we could all benefit from thoughtful and rational debates with those with whom we disagree."
• 5 October 2012 Stanford Daily article "ROTC cadets wear uniforms to increase awareness of civilian-military gap".  Note:  "Recent changes include funding from the Haas Center for Public Service toward Zipcars that allow cadets to commute to their training sites, recognition as an official student organization, permission to take part in the annual Activities Fair in White Plaza and a physical office for the Army branch of ROTC in Sweet Hall. But most importantly for Lopez, cadets can now receive activities and academic credit for their ROTC classes."
• 7 October 2012 Columbia Spectator op-ed "Promoting private over public service: Our relegation of ROTC to an obscure office says much about our disdain for public service" by Andrew Godinich CC'13.  Note:  Godinich argues that Columbia is placing a low value on ROTC, and on public service in general.
• 25 October 2012 Harvard Crimson column "Welcome to East Point? Harvard welcomes ROTC, but not critique of the military" by Sandra Korn.  Note:  Korn criticizes the Harvard Gazette for having "made a concerted effort to publicize one of Harvard’s newest student organizations, the Reserve Officer Training Corps Association" and President Faust for restoring ROTC "without room for critical discourse".
• 26 October 2012 Columbia Spectator article "NROTC students feel welcome as committee evaluates class credit".  Note:  There are now four Columbia undergraduates enrolled in the new cross-town Navy ROTC opportunity at SUNY Maritime, in the Bronx. "The program’s inaugural students say that it’s going smoothly so far, even though they have to commute to the Bronx for classes and physical training. [Patrick] Poorbaugh, an active-duty Marine who commutes to SUNY Maritime three times per week, said that Columbia professors have been flexible about his schedule... Columbia’s NROTC program serves two types of students—traditional undergraduates, who commit to serving in the Navy or Marines after they graduate, but also active-duty soldiers like [Jose] Delgado and Poorbaugh. These service members can attend the School of General Studies through the Seaman to Admiral-21 program or the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program, both of which give them the chance to attend school full-time and then return to the military after graduation as commissioned officers."  Captain Matthew Loughlin, the commanding officer of the NROTC program at SUNY Maritime, said “We understand that our presence here is going to be disproportionate to the number of students we have here for a while, because it’s so important for us to be here—to interact in a natural manner with the entire community here at Columbia.”
• 28 October 2012 Columbia Spectator column "Military education: ROTC's presence on campus has serious drawbacks that reflect badly on Columbia" by Alex Collazo CC'12.  Note:  Collazo opposes Columbia's involvement with the military because women are typically not allowed in combat and that as a result of welcoming ROTC "the University provides direct support to the reprehensible actions the military carries out overseas and takes the American side in any conflicts".  Collazo goes on, however, to argue that since ROTC at Columbia appears to be a settled issue, that Columbia should do its best to use its curriculum to give ROTC students "the sort of political education a drill sergeant will never provide".
• 29 October 2012 Columbia Spectator article "With low-key ROTC rollout, little chance for uproar".  Note:  "When the University Senate voted to reinstate a Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at Columbia at the end of the 2010-2011 school year, it would be nearly 18 months before the program showed any signs of activity on campus. The many Columbians who vocally opposed the return interpreted the year of silence as inaction. “My sense was last year that it was primarily a symbolic win and there didn’t seem to be much interest in the establishment of a fully functioning program,” said GSAS student Sumayya Kassamali, who spoke out against NROTC in 2011.   Until Thursday, she had not realized that NROTC students were already on campus or that officials from the Navy and Marine Corps were holding regular office hours in a new space in Lerner."  Remaining concerns about ROTC center around the transgender issue; Gavin McGown, CC ’13 and president of GendeRevolution, a transgender support and advocacy group, said. “What it comes down to is that the administration doesn’t care.”  In contrast, an article by Columbia alumnus Colin Daileda in The Atlantic discusses the potential for medical schools such as Columbia and Harvard in making progress on the transgender issue.
• 29 October 2012 The Atlantic article "For Transgendered Soldiers, Don't Ask Don't Tell Carries On" by Colin Daileda.  Note:  The article cites several reasons why changing the status quo on the issue of transgender people in the military could be less of a battle than occurred for inclusion of gays and lesbians.  One is that no change in law is needed, and another is that faculty of top medical schools would get taken more seriously by the military now that their universities have welcomed ROTC.  The article cites claims by some that gender is as simple as XX versus XY, a notion belied by extensive knowledge of the genetics of gender determination and by changes over recent decades in medical policies on neonatal surgery for ambiguous genitalia.  The article notes that transgender people are twice as likely to have served in the military than the general population, evidently making their transition in post-military years. 
• 8 November 2012 Philadelphia Inquirer article "ROTC's ranks are swelling".  Note:  "The number of college students in the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps has grown 50 percent since the 2005-06 school year ... reaching near-historic highs for enrollment... There wasn't just one answer: Many students have parents or relatives in the military, and some came to the program after not getting into a service academy. Others were enticed by the possibility of scholarships and a job after graduation. Some were looking for leadership training that could bolster their resume, or they wanted the structure and rigor of Virginia Tech's Corps of Cadets."
• 13 November 2012 Fox News article "Harvard slammed for “anti-military” ROTC policy".  Note:  Harvard does not consider its financial aid and ROTC scholarships to be additive in any way.  A student getting an ROTC scholarship has the corresponding amount deducted from Harvard financial aid.  Retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Rick Coveno said of his daughter, an Army ROTC student at Harvard, "From our perspective, ROTC is earned money from her five-year service commitment in the military and it's not some grant or other free money... That's very little incentive, almost a disincentive, to do all that extra work for ROTC when if you do nothing you get about the same amount of financial aid."
• 16 November 2012 Harvard University Gazette article "Stars and stripes at The Game: Harvard-Yale game to include special recognition of military".  Note:  In addition to the flyover, "At the end of the first quarter, all attendees who have served, as well as all active members of the military, will be asked to stand and will be recognized for their service to the United States."
• 17 November 2012 Harvard-Yale game flyover.  Note:  One of the F18s was piloted by piloted by Harvard ROTC graduate Lieutenant Danielle Thiriot ’07.
• 9 December 2012 New York Post article "CUNY’s ROTC reveille".  Note:  An Army ROTC program has started at CUNY's York College in Queens, and one will start next fall at City College of New York in Manhattan.  Due to the proximity of CCNY to Columbia this could offer a closer option to Columbia Army ROTC students than the existing arrangement with Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus.

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