MIT ROTC Coverage

• 28 September 1917 Harvard Crimson article "Military men begin study".  Note:  The article describes how "Military Science and Tactics 1" will be the nucleus for the ROTC program at Harvard, and mentions the ongoing program at MIT.
• 2 December 1983 Harvard Crimson article "MIT Asks for Help Funding ROTC; Harvard to Weigh $40,000 Request".
• 17 March 1990 Harvard Crimson article "MIT Students Criticize ROTC".  Note:  "MIT student Robert L. Bettiker wrote last week in The Thistle, a liberal student paper at MIT, that he had been denied a commission and asked to pay back the value of his $38,000 scholarship by Navy ROTC because he was openly gay."  About 1500 students signed a petition to "sever all ties" with ROTC by 1994 if it continues to deny scholarships to gay students. 
• 9 May 1990 Harvard Crimson article "Navy Reverses Stand On ROTC Funds For Two Gay Men".  Note:  Harvard graduate David E. Carney '89 and MIT senior Robert L. Bettiker, discharged from ROTC because of homosexuality, will not have to repay their scholarships.  At MIT, 47 percent of students participating in a referendum said the school should cut ties with ROTC if its policies did not change within four years.
• 30 October 1990 MIT Tech article "ROTC questions remain: Resolution does not guarantee severance".  Note:  The article recounts that on April 27, 1863, the Massachusetts Legislature approved MIT's charter, including the provision that the "Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in addition to other objects set forth, shall provide for instruction in military tactics."
• 6 November 1992 MIT Tech article "ROTC Ban on Gays Faces Reversal under Clinton".
• 17 April 1996 "MIT ROTC Task Force Reports".
• 19 April 1996 Harvard Crimson article "MIT Faculty Ask ROTC Program To Admit Gays".
• 19 March 1997 MIT News Office TechTalk press article "ROTC aid policy established: Move guards against loss due to sexual orientation".  Note: "MIT will guarantee an equal financial aid package to its ROTC students whose federal scholarships are terminated because of their sexual orientation."  No students involved in ROTC are known to have lost funding for this reason.
• 4 April 1997 MIT Tech article "ROTC Reinsurance Policy Gets Approval".  Note:  Compensation for ROTC students who lose scholarships because of their sexual orientation was approved.
• 7 May 1999 MIT Tech article: "ROTC, Sloan Team Up"
• 1 May 2001 MIT Tech article "ROTC Celebrates Pass in Review".
• 13 March 2002 MIT News article "Army selects MIT for $50 million institute"
• 22 November 2002 MIT Tech article "Training to Serve".
• 2 May 2003 MIT News article "Army ROTC honors Paul Gray".
• 18 June 2003 MIT Tech article "ROTC Discrimination Statement to Change".  Note:  A reference to MIT attempts to change the "Don't ask, don't tell" law was removed from MIT statements since that effort is dormant.  In addition, the opening of some ROTC courses to non-ROTC students is detailed.
• 18 June 2003 MIT Tech editorial "Revisiting Gays in ROTC".
• 9 July 2003 MIT Tech column "Gays And ROTC" by Prof. Michael J. Piore.
• August 2004 MIT Sloan Fellows Learn from Army During Leadership Exercise.
• 8 June 2007 Video "MIT Army ROTC Year in Review '06-'07".
• 8 September 2007 Associated Press article "Petraeus travels to Benning to see son jump".  Note:  Gen. Petraeus took a break from preparing for his congressional appearances to pin jump wings on his son, and Army ROTC cadet at MIT.  Stephen Petraeus said "My dad is a jumpmaster and a master parachutist,” he said. “I hardly think he’s nervous about giving a speech."
• 29 September 2007 Boston Globe article "On campus & in training: As the Iraq war continues, it's a challenging time for area ROTC students".  Note:  The article describes experiences of ROTC students in the Boston area, including a protest by the City of Cambridge about military exercises.
• 7 March 2008 Comments at the MIT ROTC Tri-Service Military Ball, Cambridge, MA "Trustworthy Leaders of Character: Leading Foremost by WHO you ARE" by Dr. Don M. Snider.
• 31 October 2008 Chronicle of Higher Education article "ROTC Seeks to Expand on Campuses, and Colleges Cope With a Conflict".  Note:  "Colleges with programs have found different ways to address the conflict between "don't ask, don't tell" and their own antidiscrimination policies. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology promises to replace any scholarships a ROTC student loses due to the policy, while the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says its nondiscrimination policy does not apply to its relationship with outside organizations such as ROTC."
• 4 November 2009 MIT Admissions ROTC Blog item "AFROTC = stress, and why that's okay".  Note:  A first year Air Force ROTC cadet describes routine ROTC activities and a Field Leadership Exercise.
• 30 December 2015 Wall Street Journal op-ed "At Last, Some Campus Sanity: ROTC Gains" by Jonathan E. Hillman and Cheryl Miller.  Note:  "Yale, with 41 midshipmen, boasts the largest NROTC unit in the Ivy League. Harvard senior Charlotte Falletta was recognized as one of the top 10 Army cadets in the nation... There are plenty of opportunities to improve recruitment efforts. Cornell, MIT and other universities allow prospective students to indicate their interest in the military on their application and pursue ROTC scholarships. Once admitted, interested students receive more information and guidance from ROTC staff. More institutions should adopt this practice... Faculty should also consider designing courses that meet both ROTC and university standards, such as Professor Paul Kennedy ’s popular military history course at Yale... As former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates told an audience at Duke University five years ago: “A return of ROTC back to some of these campuses will not do much good without the willingness of our nation’s most gifted students to step forward.” But if this year’s talented graduates are any indication, many more young Americans will answer that call."
• 29 December 2016 MIT News article "Martin York named U.S. Air Force Cadet of the Year".  Note:  In addition to his ROTC role, he was in the top 1% of his MIT class academically and "worked as a research assistant on the groundbreaking D-8 “Double-Bubble” design for a future commercial aircraft".
• 18 January 2017 MIT News article "MIT Air Force ROTC Detachment 365 named best in the nation".  Note: "Among other accomplishments, Detachment 365 achieved the highest overall grade point average of 3.545/4.0 and physical fitness scores of 97.42/100. "