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ROTC Coverage Added Recently

  • 21 May 2013 New York Times article "After Decades, Boots Are Back on Campus".  Note:  Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell and others were present as New York's City College welcomed back ROTC.  "But three professors stood outside the ceremony holding antiwar placards, protesting what they see as the remilitarization of their school. “Bringing back R.O.T.C. cheapens our curriculum,” said one of them, Bill Crain, a psychology professor. Mr. Powell, a former secretary of state, passed the protesters on his way into the hall. “Don’t agree,” he said, “but you’re entitled.”"  For a discussion of the issue of whether the cultures of the university and the military are compatible on questioning authority see this issues page.
  • 20 May 2013 New York Times commentary "R.O.T.C. Returns to New York’s City College More Than Four Decades After Removal" by Don Gomez.  Note:  "When I attended City College a few years ago and spoke with college officials about bringing back the Reserve Officer Training Corps, or R.O.T.C., they dismissed the idea as impossible. The wounds from those wild days during the Vietnam War were still too raw. But in an afternoon ceremony on Tuesday that Colin Powell — the former secretary of state and retired four-star general who happens to be a City College graduate — is expected to attend, Army R.O.T.C. will be welcomed back to the City University of New York, with its headquarters at City College... In the spring of 1969, according to City College’s student newspaper, The Campus, student anti-war activists disrupted an R.O.T.C. recruitment event by dumping buckets of ox blood on the registration table as baffled officers and students looked on. It was one of numerous examples of how the boutique R.O.T.C. program at City College, once the largest in the nation, had become embattled as a symbol of American power... Bomb threats to Harris Hall, home of the R.O.T.C. office, were typical, causing many evacuations. Masked men and women banged on doors to disrupt R.O.T.C. classes until professors dismissed the cadets for the day. Student activists held counter-marching formations on campus, walking alongside the cadets during their drills, cursing them and carrying the black flag of anarchy next to the cadets’ American flag."
  • 5 May 2013 Daily Princetonian article "Despite combat ban reversal, Princeton ROTC cadets' plans remain unchanged".  Note:  "Eight out of the nine female ROTC cadets interviewed for this article, including four of the five enrolled at the University, noted that they wish to serve in the military in non-combat positions.... Hannah Martins ’13, a graduating female cadet at the University who has already been assigned to the military police branch, said that she is hopeful about the changes outlined in Panetta’s January decision but also noted women have already been serving in harm’s way for a long time."
  • 29 April 2013 The Atlantic article "Can ROTC Solve Its Minority Problem?" by Colin Daileda.  Note: With the expansion of ROTC in the New York City area, the writer profiles a student from Brooklyn in a military course who would have considered ROTC if it had been available earlier.  The interest of NY colleges in the military "hasn't gone unnoticed: Former four-star General David Petraeus recently announced that he will be a visiting professor for a year at the City University of New York's Macaulay Honors College."

Older material added recently:

  • 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."

Previous material on the sites can be reached using the links on the sidebar.  Please contact us if you have more links to add.