Harvard ROTC Coverage: 1950 - 1989
- Harvard
Archive material relating to the Deans of Harvard College. Comment: This general archive listing contains much authoritative
information about the history of ROTC at Harvard. It documents how
Harvard terminated some of the required elements of an ROTC program
specified under the ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964 (Part
1 Part 2), thus terminating the ROTC
program.
- 8 February 1950 Harvard Crimson article "Faculty
Discusses Informer Clause, Criticisms Will Go to Naval Heads".
Note: Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences expressed
displeasure with a Naval ROTC loyalty oath that required students to inform
on subversives.
- 9 March 1950 Harvard Crimson article "Navy
Policy on NROTC Certificate May Change".
- 4 February 1952 Harvard Crimson article "Harvard Today: Excerpts From the President's Report : Reserve
Groups". Note: During the Korean
War, President Conant notes that 40% of undergraduates are enrolled in ROTC.
- 8 January 1953 Harvard Crimson letter "Warburg Remembers When R.O.T.C. Caused University Dissension" by James P. Warburg '16 .
Note: Warburg recounts the debate on the Harvard campus in 1915-1916 about establishing an ROTC regiment.
- 4 February 1954 Harvard Crimson article "Committee Will Reopen Study of ROTC Credits".
Note: This article discusses the history of partial Harvard course credit for ROTC courses.
- 4 May 1956 Harvard Crimson article "AFROTC Will Now Include Outside Study:
Will Recognize One Non-Military Credit ". Note: ROTC credit was approved for two existing Harvard courses.
- 29 September 1956 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC's Entrants Indicate Greatest Gain Since 1952:
Officers Say Questionnaire Aroused Additional Interest". Note: An ROTC preference questionnaire sent to incoming freshmen is credited with increasing
ROTC enrollment.
- 21 May 1957 Harvard Crimson article "Princeton
ROTC Revision To Cause No Changes Here:
Has 'Gone too Far'". Note:
Harvard considered Princeton's move to give ROTC credit for many regular
courses to be too sweeping.
- 12 June 1957 Harvard Crimson article "All
R. O. T. C. Groups Plan Commissioning Ceremony for Today".
Note: This was the first joint Commissioning Ceremony of
graduates of the Army, Navy and Air force ROTC programs. President
Nathan M. Pusey and Dean McGeorge Bundy of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
were to address the graduates.
- 16 April 1958 Harvard Crimson article "Army
to Change College Courses In ROTC Study". Note:
The Army added courses by Henry A. Kissinger '50, lecturer on Government to
the ROTC curriculum. Col. DeVere P. Armstrong, professor of Military
Science and Tactics, said this was to give future Harvard officers a much
broader viewpoint on world affairs than the straight military reserve
training provides. The University's program is considerably more difficult
than the average Army ROTC course, and thus provides its students with a
better quality of training.
- 29 November 1958 Harvard Crimson article "NROTC
May Add, Replace Two Courses". Note: The
faculty were considering whether to allow midshipmen to take a regular
Harvard course to fulfill an ROTC requirement.
- 27 September 1967 Harvard Crimson article "Ex-Cadets
Criticize Army ROTC: 4
From Harvard Unit Write Letter to Ford". Comment:
The four students were denied ROTC commissioning after getting low
grades. The grades met Harvard standards but did not meet the higher
standard set by ROTC. They wrote to Franklin Ford, Dean of the Faculty
of Arts and Sciences.
- 29 September 1967 Harvard Crimson article "Harvard,
Col. Pell, and ROTC". Comment: The article
raises grievances against the Professor of Military Science for Harvard's
Army ROTC and his relationship to Harvard.
- 28 October 1967 Harvard Crimson column "To
be cool, detached is to be irrelevant. Passion is the way now"
by James K. Glassman '69. Note: The article states that Robert
McNamara "led a movement to abolish ROTC as a student".
- 11 November 1967 Harvard Crimson article "Smithies,
Walzer, and Peretz Discuss the Five R's: Recruitment, ROTC, Ranking,
Research and Relationship".
- 24 February 1968 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Program Gains Popularity".
- 14 March 1968 Harvard Crimson article "A history of ROTC: On to
recruitment". Note: The article contends that ROTC and military reserves are no longer relevant because the military has become highly technical, and that ROTC has become a pre-professional program.
- 15 March 1968 Harvard Crimson article "Harvard's
ROTC Serves Two Masters". Note: The
article says "To many anti-war students, the quiet presence of ROTC on
the Harvard campus appears as a recent and insidious intrusion of the
warmakers, an ill-conceived alliance between the University and the war in
Vietnam".
- 15 March 1968 Harvard Crimson article "Students,
Faculty At Yale Review Status of ROTC".
- 16 March 1968 Harvard Crimson editorial "Dis-Credit
ROTC". Note: The editorial calls for withdrawal of all academic recognition of ROTC, treating it
as an extra-curricular activity.
- 23 March 1968 Harvard Crimson letter "Trivial strikes at
ROTC" by Ronald T. Luke '70. Note: The writer dismisses the points in the
16 March editorial and suggests that the opposition to ROTC is a protest against the Vietnam war.
- 23 March 1968 Harvard Crimson letter "ROTC civilianizing the
military" by James N. Blair . Note: The writer disagrees
with the 14 March article and points out that the ROTC is not primarily a pre-professional program because only a small minority of ROTC graduates become career officers.
- 25 March 1968 Harvard Crimson editorial "Half-Way
Reform". Note: The editorial discusses the faculty vote reducing academic credit for ROTC.
- 29 March 1968 Harvard Crimson letter "NROTC curriculum
change" by John Miller '68. Note: The author takes
issue with some of the statements in 25 March editorial.
- 1 October 1968 Harvard Crimson article "HUC
Initiates Protest Against ROTC Status".
- 19 November 1968 Harvard Crimson article "SDS
Threatens ROTC Confrontation".
- 19 November 1968 Harvard Crimson article "HPC
[Harvard-Radcliffe Policy Committee] Report on ROTC at Harvard".
Majority Student with faculty and administration representatives.
- 2 December 1968 Harvard Crimson editorial "No
Military Training at Harvard". Note: The
Crimson opposed ROTC because "ROTC is based on the notion that the
country's universities should serve the needs of the warfare state" and
the "over-expansion of the American military machine has become perhaps
the greatest threat of all".
- 2 December 1968 Harvard Crimson editorial board minority opinion "Let
ROTC Stay" Note: The minority, including James Fallows, warned
"To justify a permanent exclusion of the army and navy from Harvard,
one must characterize them as inherently and irrevocably evil, as somehow
beyond the pale of civilized society. That analysis is a little glib.
Harvard was able to support the United States armed forces eagerly during
World War II, and the same might well be true of a future military
commitment--in the Middle East or Berlin, for example."
- 4 December 1968 The Case for ROTC at
Harvard. Note: The Army ROTC faculty at Harvard
University note that the Vietnam war "is the immediate source of their
blanket denunciation of everything related to the military" and "reasons for
wanting to destroy ROTC are patently contrived because they are exactly the
same reasons that existed without challenge for 50 years before Vietnam
clouded our vision and robbed our logic".
- 6 December 1968 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Can Stay on Penn Campus Despite Loss of Academic Credit".
- 11 December 1968 Harvard Crimson letter "Keep
ROTC" by Major General Joseph M. Ambrose '42. Note: MG
Ambrose, co-founder of the Harvard
ROTC Alumni Fund, argues for the importance to Harvard and the nation of
having Harvard graduates in the leadership of the military.
- 11 December 1968 Harvard Crimson article "CEP
Backs ROTC Change".
- 11 December 1968 Harvard Crimson editorial "CEP
on ROTC". Note: The Crimson opposes the faculty
Committee on Educational Policy recommendation that some ROTC courses could
get Harvard credit if approved by a degree-giving department, arguing that
it "allows the U.S. military establishment to trade on Harvard's name
and prestige in its recruitment efforts".
- 13 December 1968 Harvard Crimson editorial "Paine".
Note: The Crimson ponders the sit-in on 12 December protesting
a closed faculty meeting on ROTC.
- 13 January 1969 Old Mole column "ROTC: SDS
Challenges the Liberal Position" by Alan Gilbert. Note:
An instructor in government at Harvard compares the liberal position that
ROTC should be reformed to fit with academic standards, and the
radical position ROTC should be eliminated due to it being a tool of American
imperialism.
- 15 January 1969 Harvard Crimson editorial "Faculty
Power". Note: Harvard's faculty overturns
the Administrative Board expulsion of 5 students involved in the 1968
anti-ROTC sit-in, substituting probation.
- 29 January 1969 Harvard Crimson letter "ROTC
punishment for Grad students". Note: Five
graduate students provide the text of the disciplinary letter sent to
participants in the 1968 anti-ROTC sit-in.
- 3 February 1969 Harvard Crimson article "The
CEP Explains Its Motion". Note: The
faculty Committee on Educational Policy, seeking a way to keep ROTC at
Harvard, suggests that some ROTC courses could get Harvard credit if
approved by a degree-giving department.
- 3 February 1969 Harvard Crimson article "SDS
Position Papers: Why ROTC 'Must GO'". Note:
Students for a Democratic Society argues that ROTC should be banned in order
to undermine the strength of the US military.
- 3 February 1969 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
at Harvard--The Fight This Fall: Faculty
Meets Tomorrow To End the ROTC Morass".
- 3 February 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Col.
Pell's Case for ROTC". Note: Col. Pell notes, in this
memo submitted to the Committee on Educational Policy on 4 December, that
none of the arguments against ROTC relate to any factors that have not been
present for 50 years. He points out that withdrawal of faculty
appointments for the Professors of Military Science would trigger
cancellation of the programs under the terms of the ROTC Vitalization Act of
1964 (Part 1
Part 2). In
contrast, he thinks "the withdrawal of academic credit for Army ROTC
courses at Harvard would not, of itself cause the Department of the Army to
withdraw the ROTC unit from Harvard."
- 4 February 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Faculty
Will Meet Today To Decide ROTC's Fate". Note:
The article lists 3 different approaches to ROTC: banishment, denial of
academic credit and faculty appointments, and forcing ROTC courses to
"re-apply individually for credit through existing Harvard departments".
The second was chosen.
- 4 February 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Spokesmen
Debate ROTC 'Views For 700 at Sanders Convocation". Note:
James Q. Wilson, professor of Government, said that the proposal to allow
ROTC courses to reapply for credit through existing Harvard departments is
the only one consistent with Faculty policy, since it leaves the Faculty the
power to decide "what courses are given and who gives them."
- 4 February 1969 Minutes of Special Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences, Harvard University What to Do About
ROTC. Note: The faculty debated 4 proposals, ranging
from a proposal cutting all ROTC ties to a proposal that many ROTC courses
would be sponsored by academic departments. The faculty voted to
withdraw all faculty appointments and course credit for ROTC, but not
prevent ROTC from remaining as an extracurricular activity.
- 5 February 1969 Harvard Crimson editorial "Curbing
ROTC". Note: The editorial supported the faculty vote
denying academic credit and faculty appointments for ROTC.
- 6 February 1969 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Director Contradicts Pell On Harvard Unit". Comment:
Brigadier General C. P. Hannum, director of Army ROTC affairs, said that
prospects for the Harvard unit's continuing as an extracurricular activity
were "extremely good." Army Col. Robert H. Pell's, Professor
of Military Science said the Faculty's action would drive ROTC from
Harvard. The article presents these views as mutually exclusive, yet
both turned out to be accurate.
- 7 February 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Naval
ROTC Hinges Upon Professorship". Note:
Capt. Thomas J. Moriarty, professor of Naval Science, pointed out that
withdrawal of the faculty appointment for ROTC officers means that the
program must end because of terms of the ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964
(Part 1
Part 2).
- 11 February 1969 Letter from Dean Ford to President
Pusey. Note: Franklin L. Ford, Dean of Harvard's
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, wrote to Harvard President Nathan Pusey,
raising the possibility "the Corporation would offer professorial
appointments to the ROTC unit heads, quite outside the structure of this
Faculty". This would meet one of the key provisions of the
ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964.
- 14 February 1969 Letter from Dean Glimp to
President Pusey. Note: Fred L. Glimp, Dean of Harvard
College, wrote to Harvard President Nathan Pusey about his conversation with
General C. P. Hannum, Deputy Director of Individual Training for ROTC
affairs. Hannum related that "the Army simply can't expect to require
academic credit for strictly professional military subjects" and a proposal
for such credit to be optional was working its way through the Pentagon.
In addition, Army lawyers indicated that giving a title of "visiting
professor" to the professors of military science would also be consistent
with the provisions of the
ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964.
- 18 February 1969 Letter from Harvard President
Nathan Pusey to Dean Franklin Ford. Note: President
Pusey wrote "we shall endeavor as quickly as we can to negotiate with the
various military services in an effort to have changes effected to meet the
Faculty's desires". He continued, "Mindful of the lessons of history
and acutely aware of the dangers to a democratic society in the existence of
a corps of exclusively professional officers, the Congress established the
Reserve Officers Training Corps on a continuing basis when it became
apparent that this country was destined to maintain a large military
capability for the indefinite future. In the Corporation's view it would be
shortsighted in the extreme if academic institutions were now to withdraw
their cooperation from the ROTC program because of repugnance to an
unpopular war."
- 25 February 1969 Harvard Crimson column "Pusey's
Letter" by David I. Bruck. Note: The column
discussed the Letter from Harvard President Nathan
Pusey to Dean Franklin Ford and the difficulties of reconciling the
views of the faculty and the expected actions of the Defense Department.
The author minimizes the civilian-military gap concerns inherent in
separating students and a corps of officers educated exclusively in military
academies, writing that "people shouldn't allow themselves to be stampeded
into endless successions of compromises with the military out of a fear of
losing control of the generals".
- 7 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Statement". Note: Harvard College Dean Fred Glimp announces that the
Faculty's resolutions on ROTC will be implemented but "withdrawal of
the units seems to me to be an extremely unlikely outcome".
- 7 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Negotiators
To Heed Faculty ROTC Edicts".
- 7 April 1969 Harvard Crimson letter "Lines
drawn on ROTC". Note: Four members of Students
for a Democratic Society criticize President Pusey's 25 March appearance
before the Student-Faculty Advisory Council and announce that "ROTC
must go because we oppose the policies of the United States and we oppose
the military that perpetrates them. The lines are clearly drawn; the time to
take sides is now".
- 8 April 1969 Harvard Crimson item "ROTC".
Note: The item announced a meeting of Students for a Democratic
Society concerning "further strategy in the anti-ROTC campaign,
including the possibility of militant action".
- 9 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC,
Merger Also Discussed". Note: At a
faculty meeting, Harvard College Dean Fred Glimp announced plans to withdraw
academic credit for ROTC courses.
- 9 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "300
Storm Pusey's House After Anti-ROTC Meeting". Note:
The demonstrators announced anti-ROTC demands and plans to occupy an
unspecified university building.
- 9 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Students
Occupy University Hall, Eject Deans, Staff from Offices".
Note: Two of the demonstrators' demands were anti-ROTC, and a
third demanded amnesty for students involved in a 1968 anti-ROTC sit-in.
- 9 April 1969 Harvard Crimson column "Pusey
at SFAC" by Robert M. Krim '70. Note:
Krim commented on President Pusey's 25 March appearance before the
Student-Faculty Advisory Council in which he discussed ROTC.
- 10 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Occupiers
Remain in Univ. Hall; Administration Silent on Action".
Note: The anti-ROTC occupiers of University Hall forcibly
removed several administrators from the building, several of whom struggled
and two were "bodily thrown out the door".
- 10 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "SDS
Statement". Note: This statement, issued
by Students for a Democratic Society during their occupation of University
Hall, demands that Harvard "Abolish ROTC".
- 10 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Police
Raid Sit-In at Dawn; 250 Arrested, Dozens Injured".
- 14 April 1969 Harvard Crimson editorial "Strike".
Note: The Crimson calls for termination of ROTC, arguing "The
present contractual arrangement for the training of officers here
constitutes, as President Pusey indicated during his appearance before the
SFAC [Student-Faculty Advisory Council] last month, support for the U.S. military and the policies which it
carries out." It opposes the ROTC question being decided by a
referendum of the university community since "ROTC is not a question,
to be resolved by majority vote. It is a moral question, and for this reason
a majority vote cannot be considered binding".
- 14 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Dean
Ford's Letter to Pusey on ROTC". Note:
This contains excerpts from an
authentic
11 February letter found by students occupying University Hall who searched
through university files. Franklin Ford, Dean of the Faculty
of Arts and Sciences, states his support for ROTC being extracurricular and
suggests the possibility of the Professors of Military Science having
faculty appointments outside the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
- 15 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Stadium
Meeting Votes to Strike, Backs Teaching Fellow Proposals".
Note: Various ad-hoc student groups assemble and vote for a
strike with demands including abolition of ROTC.
- 15 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Who's
Lying About the Original Demands?". Note: This
is a 9 April statement by President Pusey, discussing the demands of
Students for a Democratic Society.
- 15 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "'They
Were Never Meant Seriously'". Note: This
is an 11 April statement by Franklin Ford, Dean of the Faculty
of Arts and Sciences, discussing the demands of Students for a Democratic
Society.
- 18 April 1969 Time Magazine article "Harvard
and Beyond: The University Under Siege". Note:
Students for a Democratic Society charged that the university wanted ROTC
because "These businessmen want Harvard to continue producing officers for
the Viet Nam war or for use against black rebellions at home for political
reasons." After police cleared University Hall of students and
outsiders who had taken it over the Faculty of Arts and Science voted 395 to
13 that the university should drop all criminal charges against the Harvard
intruders. The administration immediately agreed to do so.
- 19 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Corporation
Statement". Note: The Harvard Corporation
announced that it would treat ROTC as an extracurricular activity "no
special facilities or privileges not ordinarily available to other
extracurricular activities".
- 29 April 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Corporation
Approves Of Faculty Resolution In 'Letter and Spirit'".
- 6 May 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Fire
Hits ROTC Building; Evidence Indicates Arson".
- 8 May 1969 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Telegrams". Note: Harvard President Pusey
informed the Navy that Harvard's policy is that ROTC may have
extra-curricular status only. Admiral Charles K. Duncan, Chief of
Naval Personnel, replied that the terms of the ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964
(Part 1
Part 2)
require termination of the program under this condition.
- 10 June 1969 Harvard Crimson article "The
Class of 1919 Comes Home". Note: The
alumni discuss the founding of Harvard ROTC in 1916 and its early years.
- 11 June 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Fifteen's
Report on the Crisis". Note: This report
discusses the ROTC issue in the context of the April 1969 occupation of
University Hall.
- 12 June 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Pusey
Commends ROTC Cadets" Note: This was the
last appearance of a Harvard President at a Harvard ROTC Commissioning
Ceremony until President Summers appeared in 2002, the first year of his
presidency. Pusey said that "I think in time this attack made on
ROTC will not look too good and will be found to be one of the shameful
episodes in the history of this university."
- 12 June 1969 Harvard Crimson article "SDS
Member Talks at Ceremonies". Note: A
member of Students for a Democratic Society was allowed to talk at Harvard
Commencement. He said that "ROTC must be smashed" and that
David Rockefeller and C. Douglas Dillon, president of the Board of
Overseers, "need ROTC to protect their foreign investments" before
six Class Committee members and Class Marshals came to the stage and led him
away.
- 12 August 1969 Harvard Crimson article "Army
Plans to Terminate Harvard ROTC in 1970; Air Force Stays Until '71"
- 23 June 1971 Letter from the Office of the Chief
of Naval Personnel to the Commanding Officer of the Harvard NROTC Unit on
its Disestablishment. Note: Harvard had informed the
Navy that it would only accept ROTC as an extracurricular activity, the Navy
responded that the law forbade such an arrangement, Harvard terminated its
ROTC programs "as presently constituted", and the Navy then disestablished
the NROTC program at Harvard.
- 15 October 1971 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
May Return to Ivy Schools".
- 13 January 1972 Harvard Crimson article "Princeton
Students Protest Return of ROTC"
- 19 March 1973 Harvard Crimson article "Harvard
Republicans Campaign To Reinstate ROTC Program".
- 14 June 1973 Harvard Crimson article "Bok
Urges Reconsideration of ROTC, Wants Programs to Meet Harvard Ideals".
Note: "According to Bok, many alumni protested Harvard's
abolishing its ROTC and "sensed" that "Harvard had not
opposed ROTC solely for academic reasons but had behaved expediently in the
face of pressure."" Bok said that he was "inclined to
agree" with this opinion.
- 2 July 1973 Harvard Crimson article "Buckley
Commends Bok For Position on ROTC".
- 1 September 1973 Harvard Crimson column "ROTC:
Is It Coming Back?" by Peter M. Shane '74.
- 19 September 1973 Harvard Crimson editorial "No
ROTC".
- 28 September 1973 Harvard Crimson article "A
Survey of ROTC's Status in the Ivies".
- 3 October 1973 Harvard Crimson article "NAM Asks CHUL to Sponsor Referendum on ROTC's Return". Note: Amid talk of ROTC returning to Harvard, the leftist New American Movement asked the Committee on Housing and Undergraduate life to conduct a referendum on continuing or removing the ROTC ban. A CHUL executive board member Merrick Garland '74 was said to be the one asking for consideration of this request.
- 4 October 1973 Harvard Crimson article "CHUL Will Consider Request To Conduct ROTC Referendum". Note: The Executive Committee of the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life unanimously agreed to consider a referendum on ROTC. The proposal asks students whether they "favor the return of the Reserve Officers Training Corps to the Harvard campus."
- 13 October 1973 Harvard Crimson article "CHUL Nixes ROTC Poll". Note: At the urging of Harvard's administration there will be no ROTC referendum. "[Dean] Rosovsky told the Wednesday [Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life] meeting that there were no schemes in the works to bring the military back to Harvard, and the Committee was satisfied with his explanation... the Dean promised to inform them immediately if the ROTC issue does rear its head in the Faculty and he offered to invite Bok to next month's CHUL meeting to answer questions about ROTC... Both [David L. Johnson '74] and Merrick B. Garland '74, the Quincy House CHUL member, stressed that the refusal to hold a referendum is provisional, and that CHUL discussion of the issue will revive instantly if the Faculty starts to move on it. A lot of us don't want ROTC to ever come back here," Johnson explained. "We felt that today's CHUL resolution is the best way to keep that from ever happening.""
- 10 November 1973 Harvard Crimson article "Bok
Inches On ROTC". Note: Harvard President Bok
said that the 1969 Faculty decision to abolish ROTC was made under extreme
pressure and great haste.
- 16 February 1974 Harvard Crimson letter "Changed
minds" by John Hook '69. Note: The writer, "twice
suspended from Harvard for occupying buildings with the demand to abolish
ROTC", advocates a return of ROTC to Harvard since "the United
States should seek the best officers possible for our armed forces.
Harvard has an obligation to educate men and women to complement the
officers of the military academies".
- 15 April 1974 Harvard Crimson article "The
Faculty And the Strike".
- 15 April 1974 Harvard Crimson article "A
History of the Strike".
- 15 April 1974 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Makes A Stormy Exit".
- 21 February 1975 Harvard Crimson article "Dartmouth
Faculty Rejects Proposal to Reinstitute ROTC".
- 8 October 1975 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Funded Scholars Can Now Attend Harvard".
- 2 December 1975 Harvard Crimson article "CUE
Recommends ROTC Clarification". Note: The
Committee on Undergraduate Education recommended that the Faculty permit two
Harvard students to cross-register at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in order to take a Reserve Officer Training Corps course for credit.
- 1 March 1976 Harvard Crimson article "Pipkin
Will Request Vote On ROTC Policy Change".
- 5 May 1976 Harvard Crimson article "Faculty
Moves to Allow Students to Take ROTC". Note:
The faculty decided to allow students to cross-register in non-credit ROTC
courses at MIT.
- 7 May 1976 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Slips Through the Backdoor".
- 20 May 1976 Harvard Crimson editorial "ROTC
Is Unacceptable". Note: The Crimson said "ROTC
in its guise as a non-credit, extra-curricular activity is no more
acceptable than in any of its previous forms".
- 20 May 1976 Harvard Crimson dissenting opinion "A
Blow to Paternalism" by Mark D. Stegall '79.
Note: Stegall said to "argue that Harvard should prohibit
enrollment in ROTC on moral grounds leads to the conclusion that it should
extend moral judgements to other student activities".
- 25 May 1976 Harvard Crimson letter "For
a Shortened Crimson" by Peter Keyes '78. Note:
Keyes wrote "The editorial on the ROTC left me dazed... one wonders
what would have been the reaction if the faculty had been considering a
prohibition on participation in a radical organization, instead of the
ROTC."
- 17 June 1976 Harvard Crimson editorial "No
to ROTC". Note: The majority on the
Crimson note that the "student antiwar movement which forced ROTC off
campus in that late '60s held that there should be no connection between the
university and the military", and conclude that "ROTC in its guise
as a non-credit, extra-curricular activity is no more acceptable than in any
of its previous forms".
- 17 June 1976 Harvard Crimson dissenting opinion "Anti-Paternalism"
by Steven A. Ballmer '77, Paul L. Bixby '77, Stephen J. Chapman '76, Francis
J. Connolly '79, Jefferson Flanders '77, Robert B. James, Jr. '78, Sharon E.
Jones '77, Grover G. Norquist '78, William L. Pollak '78, Mark D. Stegall
'79. Note: The future presidents of Microsoft and
Americans for Tax Reform and others say that "the decision to permit
participation in ROTC eliminates a glaring example of University paternalism
that has existed too long".
- 7 October 1976 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC".
Note: The article relates that only three Harvard students enrolled in
the ROTC program at MIT, though more are expected.
- 8 April 1981 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC:
Making a Comeback". Note: "Through
cross-registration at MIT, 41 Harvard students are enrolled in the Army
ROTC--a 65 per cent jump from last year--and 29 are in the Air Force
program." In December 1980, ROTC requested "the use of a
room on campus to tutor students who could not reach their MIT classes".
This was turned down. Stanley Hoffmann, Dillon Professor of the
Civilization of France, who also argued against ROTC in 1969, now says
"if some kind of loose association were to be proposed, it's possible
that we could arrange something" between Harvard and ROTC.
- 2 October 1982 Harvard Crimson article "Yale
ROTC". Note: The article describes the
resignation of the last ROTC cadet at Yale and quotes a professor as saying
"The Army's image of Yale is not good. They're not recruiting [at
Yale]," adding that, they think "what you get are bugouts."
- 20 November 1982 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC".
Note: George Washington University announced plans to start a
Naval ROTC unit.
- 15 March 1983 Harvard Crimson article "New
Name May Gain Approval For Proposed ROTC Group". Note:
Some undergraduates sought approval for an ROTC-related club at Harvard, but
others felt such a club may recruit others into ROTC or promote
"military and ROTC policies against hiring and recruiting homosexuals
and handicapped students".
- 11 April 1983 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
at Harvard: Three Views".
- 15 April 1983 Harvard Crimson letter "Misrepresented?"
by Alden Cavanagh. Note: The writer, a member of the Spartacus
Youth League, announces that his group has formed an "Enemies of
ROTC" group in response to the official recognition of a "Friends
of ROTC" club. However, a 16 April letter "No
Relation" by Jonathan E. Elwitt '84 pointed out that a
different "Enemies of ROTC" group was already forming and the
Spartacus Youth League was pirating their name.
- 16 April 1983 Harvard Crimson letter "Misguided
Foes". Note: Some friends of ROTC were refused
entrance to an "Enemies of ROTC" meeting on the grounds that
"it was perfectly right to discriminate against "murderers,
peasant killers, and those who practice genocide"". Members
of "Enemies of ROTC" "exclaimed that the Soviets were doing
an excellent job crushing the Afghan rebels".
- 23 April 1983 Harvard Crimson article "A
Campus in Revolt:
The
ROTC at Harvard During the 1960s". Note:
Professor James Q. Wilson recalls the words of one colleague at the time,
saying something to the effect of "As long as there is a war going on
in Vietnam, we cannot have ROTC here". Professor Richard Pipes, a
faculty sponsor of "Friends of ROTC" said "We need good
officers, and Harvard, as part of an intellectual elite, and other schools
like Harvard, should provide their share".
- 26 April 1983 Harvard Crimson article "Divide
and Conquer". Note: Both an "Enemies of
ROTC" group and an "Opponents of ROTC" group were approved,
with the Spartacus Youth League changing their group name to Opponents.
- 28 October 1983 Harvard Crimson article "Inactivity
Plagues Friends of ROTC".
- 2 December 1983 Harvard Crimson article "MIT
Asks for Help Funding ROTC; Harvard to Weigh $40,000 Request".
- 27 January 1984 Harvard Crimson article "Harvard
May Start Paying MIT for ROTC Expenses". Note:
A faculty committee voted to pay the expenses but some students objected
that the military discriminated against gay students.
- 13 February 1984 Harvard Crimson column "Anti-ROTC"
by Jake Stevens. Note: Stevens argues that paying ROTC
expenses supports discrimination against gays and handicapped people by the
military, and compares this to discrimination against Blacks.
- 27 February 1984 Harvard Crimson article "Gay
Conference". Note: A conference speaker
compared discrimination against gays by the military to discrimination
against blacks by the Ku Klux Klan.
- 9 April 1984 Harvard Crimson column "Reflecting
On the 1969 Student Strike" by Nathan M. Pusey '28. Note:
President Pusey reflects on the ROTC-related unrest during his presidency.
- 13 December 1984 Harvard Crimson article "Some
ROTC Classes May Get Credit". Note:
"Harvard students are already permitted to take these two or three
classes for credit, because they are pre-screened and co-offered by
MIT."
- 5 February 1985 Harvard Crimson editorial "The
Decent Thing to Do". Note: Harvard agreed
that ROTC courses recognized as credit-worthy by MIT should be accorded the
same treatment by Harvard.
- 9 February 1985 Harvard Crimson letter "ROTC:
Gay Discrimination" by Jake Stevens '86. Note:
Stevens criticizes the Crimson editorial and asks "What if Harvard gave
students academic credit for a course which no Black students would
attend?"
- 25 February 1985 Harvard Crimson letter "Courses
Don't Discriminate" by Harry R. Lewis '68. Note:
The future
Dean
of Harvard College points out that the MIT courses are open to all,
including gay students.
- 12 May 1986 Harvard Crimson article "Preparing
Today for the Military Tomorrow: Harvard and
ROTC".
- 12 May 1986 Harvard Crimson article "The
Return of the Military: Harvard and ROTC".
- 2 October 1986 Harvard Crimson editorial "AIDS
Testing Arrives". Note: The Crimson
protests the policy of the military to discharge soldiers (and ROTC cadets)
infected by the AIDS virus, calling it "unsupported by clinical
evidence about AIDS" and advocating keeping AIDS testing off the
Harvard campus.
- 9 October 1986 Harvard Crimson letter "AIDS-ROTC"
by Christiana B. Huffaker '87 and Stephen J. Smith '87. Note:
Two ROTC midshipmen observe that argue that the policy on AIDS in the
military is "certainly consistent with the military regulations which
exclude from active duty anyone suffering from a variety of ailments".
- 18 October 1986 Harvard Crimson letter "ROTC
& AIDS" by Brian C. Harrington '87 and 13 other
Harvard students in ROTC. Note: The writers observe that
the military policy on AIDS is consistent with other disqualification for
enlistment including "being allergic to wool or sleepwalking."
- 23 March 1989 Harvard Crimson letter "ROTC"
by Sumner Anderson '92. Comment: A Navy Midshipman
criticizes a quote in a 21 March news article that an ROTC student is like
an "indentured servant" because of the agreed military service.
Similar service requirements in other programs such as the
MD
PhD program are not mentioned.
- 5 April 1989 Harvard Crimson letter "In
Defense of ROTC" by Timothy McCormack '91. Note:
A Naval ROTC midshipman criticizes a professor's "derogatory
generalizations" about ROTC students in a 21 March news article.
- 10 April 1989 Harvard Crimson column "Forcing
a Military Option" by Daniel B. Baer. Note:
The author observes that 20 years after the expulsion of ROTC from Harvard,
a "full batallion [sic] meeting of the ROTC took place on campus this
semester".
- 24 April 1989 Harvard Crimson article "The
Resolution". Note: Text of a proposed
Undergraduate Council resolution advocating holding of non-credit ROTC
classes on the Harvard campus.
- 24 April 1989 Harvard Crimson article "Activist
Response Planned". Note: After the
Undergraduate Council passed a pro-ROTC resolution "40 anti-ROTC
protesters, several in tears stormed out of the council's meeting".
The head of one group said militants should "take over the
Undergraduate Council office". Another student said "If we
approach this with the attitude of fighting the military establishment,
people will shut their minds right there ... I think we should concentrate
on [ROTC's] weakest point, and their weakest point is homophobia."
Another counseled against a referendum on ROTC because "we would
lose."
- 25 April 1989 Harvard Crimson letter "ROTC
and the Council" by Charles W. Henebry '90 and Matthew
F. Drummy '89. Note: The writers oppose ROTC on the
grounds that the military discriminates based on sexual orientation.
- 25 April 1989 Harvard Crimson article "Students
Plan ROTC Protests". Note: Joseph H. Cice
'89 of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students Association denounced ROTC,
citing military discrimination against gays, lesbians, women, minorities and
the handicapped.
- 25 April 1989 Harvard Crimson article "Committee
Ignored ROTC Bias". Note: The Academics
Committee of the Undergraduate Council did not debate the military
discrimination against gays and lesbians during their ROTC deliberations.
Joseph H. Cice '89 of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students' Association
denounced a student-initiated meeting with Dean of Harvard College L. Fred
Jewett '57, saying "It horrifies me that a dean seems to have thrown
all of his bigoted weight on top of lesbian and bisexual and gay
students."
- 27 April 1989 Harvard Crimson column "Lieutenant
Second-Class?" by Laurie M. Grossman. Note:
Grossman opposes the Undergraduate Council vote supporting ROTC and asks
"How can our student representatives ignore the students that preceded
them by 20 years, who got beaten and jailed".
- 27 April 1989 Harvard Crimson column "Still
Time for a Just Vote" by Joseph R. Palmore '91. Note:
Palmore describes the debate in the full Undergraduate Council about
homosexuality in the military and the conflict with Harvard
anti-discrimination rules.
- 29 April 1989 Harvard Crimson column "History's
Lessons" by Rebecca Walkowitz '92. Note:
Walkowitz points out that the ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964 (Part
1 Part
2) prohibits ROTC from being a completely extra-curricular activity,
making the resolution passed by the Undergraduate Council "completely
meaningless".
- 29 April 1989 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Re-Vote Set for Sunday:
Student
Poll: Return ROTC".
- 29 April 1989 Harvard Crimson column "Just
Not Now" by Joshua A. Gerstein '91. Note:
Gerstein relates that "ROTC has reached extremely innovative and
flexible arrangements with colleges which have had qualms about outside
interference with their curricula". He also advocates permitting
homosexuality in the military.
- 29 April 1989 Harvard Crimson column "ROTC's
Already Here" by Michael J. Note: Lartigue '89.
Lartigue argues that since Harvard pays MIT overhead charges for ROTC
students it is already supporting ROTC.
- 29 April 1989 Harvard Crimson article "Other
Campuses". Note: A summary of the status
of ROTC at several elite universities.
- 29 April 1989 Harvard Crimson editorial "Never
Again:
ROTC
at Harvard". Note: The editorial says
"ROTC should not return ever, under any circumstances".
- 29 April 1989 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Re-Vote Set for Sunday".
- 29 April 1989 Harvard Crimson article "A
Week the Council Will Never Forget:
The
ROTC Debate". Note: Some members of the
Undergraduate Council say they voted on ROTC without knowing much about the
homosexuality issues.
- 1 May 1989 Harvard Crimson letter "No
ROTC" by David E. Carney '89. Note: A Naval
ROTC Midshipman says Harvard should not endorse ROTC now because "the
armed forces specifically prohibit women from holding certain jobs" and
"Department of Defense regulations require commands to discharge
homosexuals" and these conflict with Harvard's anti-discrimination
policies.
- 3 May 1989 Harvard Crimson article "Council
May Consider Tabling ROTC Debate". Note:
On 30 April The Undergraduate Council narrowly voted to repeal its
resolution calling on Harvard to work toward reinstating ROTC, without
academic credit.
- 5 May 1989 Harvard Crimson letter "Explanation"
by Lawrence Goodman '92. Note: The only member of the
Undergraduate Council to vote against a 30 April resolution calling on the
military to admit gays explains that he did so because the military
separates men and women in different barracks as a way of regulating
heterosexual contacts in the military and it would be unclear how a similar
policy could regulate homosexual relationships in the military.
- 5 May 1989 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Debated at Forum".
- 5 May 1989 Harvard Crimson column "What
Cost Constitutionality?" by Garrett A. Price III '92.
Note:
Price points out that the military separates men and women in different
barracks as a way of regulating heterosexual contacts in the military and it
would be unclear how a similar policy could regulate homosexual
relationships in the military.
- 17 May 1989 Harvard Crimson letter "Our
ROTC Coverage" by Andrew Clubok '90. Note:
The writer criticizes Crimson news stories as anti-ROTC and asks why the
endorsement of ROTC by Reverend Jesse Jackson was buried deep in an article.
- 2 November 1989 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Holds Second Drill On Campus Since 1969". Note:
In an effort "to show MIT members the annoyance of a daily commute for
Harvard ROTC students "more than 100 midshippersons in formal Navy
blues gathered in Harvard Hall for orders and a weekly officers'
address".
- 3 November 1989 Harvard Crimson article "Activist
Groups to Hold Anti-ROTC Meeting". Note:
Discussing the 1 November ROTC drill on the Harvard campus, Harvard College
Dean L. Fred Jewett '57 said, "ROTC has a right to request campus space
on an individual, time-to-time basis like any other activity."
- 13 November 1989 Harvard Crimson letter "ROTC"
by Chad Heap '90. Note: The writer criticizes the 1
November ROTC drill on the Harvard campus and argues that ROTC shouldn't get
privileges of undergraduate organizations because of discrimination against
gays.
- 16 November 1989 Harvard Crimson letter "Rejecting
Rooms for ROTC" by Jed David Kolko '92. Note:
The writer criticizes the 1 November ROTC drill at Harvard and argues that
it violates a 4 February 1969 faculty vote "to cease the free
allocation of space in University buildings to ROTC."
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