National ROTC Coverage: 2005
- 2005 "The Organizational Evolution of Cadet Command, 1990-2003" by Dr. Arthur T. Coumbe, pp 515-51 in "An Army at War: Change in the Midst of Conflict: The Proceedings of the Combat Studies Institute 2005 Military History Symposium". Note: Major General John T.D. “Rusty” Casey, the Army ROTC Cadet Command Commander from the summer of 2000 through the summer of 2003, wanted to organize the ROTC along functional rather than geographic lines, with an Elite Brigade that included prestigious schools such as Princeton, MIT, Cornell, Duke and Johns Hopkins. "Just as the Elite Brigade was about to be implemented, however, a retired general officer who was a member of the ROCKS, an organization devoted to the mentoring of African American junior officers, learned of Casey’s plans and reportedly intervened with the TRADOC commander to block its formation. The general feared that the creation of this unit would greatly weaken the position of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) within the ROTC structure by siphoning off scholarship dollars to high cost, prestigious schools. His fears may have been justified because Casey was widely regarded as a great proponent of bolstering ROTC’s presence in the nation’s elite universities and of lowering the program’s presence in less competitive schools."
-
2 January 2005 Boston Globe article "Readying
to rise and shine in ROTC". Note: ROTC enrolments at
Northeastern University have fallen after their post-2001 surge.
-
10 January 2005 Wall Street Journal letters "Ivy
League Should Open a Long-Closed Door". Note: These
letters are in response to the
16 December ROTC article.
-
18 January 2005 USA Today column "Military
service can open the eyes of country's 'elite'" by Kathryn Roth-Douquet.
Note: The author relates a conversation with Senator Clinton
discussing how to get "educated and talented" people to serve in the
military. The article discusses a draft but does not discuss ROTC.
-
21 January 2005 Yale Daily News article "Return
of ROTC is debated: Defense Department shows renewed interest in bringing
program back to Ivy campuses". Note: The article also
discusses efforts to restore ROTC at Harvard and Columbia.
-
21 January 2005 Associated Press article "Decades
after Vietnam, ROTC making return effort to Ivy League". Note:
The article suggests that the "Captain
and a Sergeant" the military plans to post on the Harvard campus will be
to run "a recruiting office".
-
21 January 2005 Yale Herald article "The
Next Battle: ROTC at Yale: After a complex history, college military org.
may reoccupy hostile territory".
-
21 January 2005 Harvard Crimson article "Solomon
Case May Face Appeal". Note: Harvard Law School
professor Charles Fried said the Supreme Court "does
not like to leave a decision out there that says an act of Congress is
unconstitutional". The Bush administration cited the
“serious possibility” that the justices will uphold the
constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment. Harvard Law School is the
only law school to have barred military recruiters after the
Third Circuit
court decision.
-
23 January 2005 Sunday Times (London)
column "The
truth about men and women is too hot to handle"
by Andrew Sullivan. Note: Sullivan observes that Harvard
President Lawrence Summers "backed allowing military recruiters on
campus, despite a boycott because of their ban on gays. Some of the faculty
have been regretting Summers’s appointment ever since".
-
26 January 2005 Yale Daily News column
"Until it's "do ask, do tell," ROTC has no place on this campus" by Andrew Beaty.
-
26 January 2005 Yale Daily News column
"Think pro-gay and pro-ROTC is an oxymoron? Think again" by Tico Almeida.
Note: The author, a leader of a gay student group before his
graduation from Yale Law School, cites the increasing acceptance of gays by
junior enlisted service members and concludes that "progressives should be
fighting to bring ROTC chapters to all of the campuses with a current ban".
-
26-27 January 2005 University of Puerto
Rico conference "Anti Militarism
and the University". Note: The conference is
organized by anti ROTC students and professors.
-
27 January 2005 Oregon Daily Emerald
column "ROTC
cadets are students, not robots". Note:
A student tells an ROTC cadet "your uniform makes me uncomfortable".
- 28 January 2005 Columbia University Senate minutes "Update
from the Senate Task Force on ROTC".
-
28 January 2005 Yale Daily News
editorial "Bring
in ROTC as soon as 'don't ask' is out". Note: The
editorial claims incorrectly that "Don't ask, don't tell" is a Department of
Defense policy. It is
federal law.
-
31 January 2005 Columbia Spectator
article "No
Change for CU in Military Recruiting". Note: The ROTC and
Military Recruiter Equal Access to Campus Act of 2004 was
signed in October.
-
31 January 2005 Columbia spectator
article "University
Senate Debates Student Involvement in Future Task Forces". Note:
The University Senate also heard an interim report from the its ROTC task
force. A "town hall meeting is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 15 for
the task force to listen to the opinions of the Columbia community".
-
31 January 2005 Yale Daily News letter
"'Don't ask,
don't tell' is red herring in ROTC debate" by David Bookstaber '99.
Note: Bookstaber observes "It is true that any other employer
would be charged with unlawful discrimination if it enforced a "don't ask,
don't tell" policy on sexuality. But note likewise that any other employer
would be hauled into court for enforcing such strict and arbitrary physical
requirements as does the military, for forcing employees to at times work
100-hour weeks for below minimum wage, or for intentionally putting its
employees in mortal danger. Yep, the military is pretty special."
-
February 2005
US
Government Petition to the Supreme Court for Writ of Certiorari on Solomon
Amendment.
-
2 February 2005 Wall Street Journal
editorial "Wisdom
of Solomon: The disgrace of blocking military recruiters from campus".
Note: The Wall Street Journal predicts that the Supreme Court
will uphold the Solomon Amendment.
-
2 February 2005 Yale Daily News article
"University
bans JAG recruiters".
-
2 February 2005 Associated Press
article "House
urges recruiting decision reversal". Note: In a
non-binding 327-84 vote the House of Representatives urged a court
challenge to the
Third Circuit
court decision overturning the Solomon Amendment.
-
3 February 2005 Associate Press article
"Court
stays enforcement of ruling on college military recruiters".
Note: The Third Circuit court panel that
overturned
the Solomon Amendment halted
implementation of the decision while the case is appealed to the Supreme
Court.
-
7 February 2005 Harvard Crimson
article "After
Harvard, Yale Law Second To Ban Military Recruiters".
Note: Due to a local court ruling against the Solomon Amendment, Yale is not defying the Solomon Amendment, but Harvard is on shaky ground
after implementation of the
Third Circuit
court decision against the Solomon Amendment was halted.
-
8 February 2005 Yale Daily News letter
"Making light
of 'don't ask, don't tell is worrying" by Bradley Bailey '05.
-
9 February 2005 Yale Daily News column
"End to 'don't
ask' won't come through JAG ban" by Keith Urbahn.
-
10 February 2005 Washington Square News
column "NYU:
Sever all military ties" by Jason Rowe. Note: Rowe observes
"In 1969, as the United States was carrying out horrible atrocities in
Vietnam, NYU students evicted the ROTC from campus - literally. They broke
into its on-campus office and trashed the place" and says now "it is time
for us to finish the job". See
response on 16
February.
-
15 February 2005 Brown Daily Herald
article "Interest
in ROTC minimal at Brown despite debate at other Ivies".
Note: Currently there are only two cadets. Another
student said "People at Brown are the
type of people who should be filling the military in large numbers... I
think the military is an institution we should be dedicated to repair and
bring into the 21st century."
-
15 February 2005 transcript "Proceedings
of the University Senate: Should Columbia restore ROTC? A Town Hall meeting
moderated by the Senate Task Force on ROTC".
-
16 February 2005 Columbia Spectator
article "Debaters
Battle Military Recruit Policies at CU". Note: The
article describes the Columbia
University Senates' Town Hall meeting about the
proposal to return ROTC to Columbia. ROTC proponents discussed how
ROTC at Columbia would be good for Columbia and good for the country and
ROTC opponents cited the
Federal Law
about homosexuality in the military.
-
16 February 2005 Columbia Spectator column "ROTC,
You Are (Still) Not Wanted Here" by Nick Rosenthal. Note:
The writer calls for preventing discussion of the Columbia ROTC issue in the
New York Times and says that the attitude of ROTC proponents to gays is that
"we like to rape them with broomsticks". See
Chadwick ,
Scavone and
Hwong letters in response.
-
16 February 2005 New York Sun article "ROTC
Program May Be Revived At Columbia U". Note: The
Chairman of Columbia's Senate
Task Force on restoration of ROTC, Prof. James Applegate said "If the
faculty senate voted to restore ROTC ... the program would probably come
without academic credit, and ROTC educators would receive the title of
instructor rather than professor. Drill instruction would probably take
place off campus."
-
16 February 2005 Washington Square News
letter "Rowe’s
anti-ROTC views unjustified" by Derick Vollrath '07. Note:
Vollrath denounces the apparent threat in
Rowe's 10
February column to expel ROTC students from the NYU campus.
-
18 February 2005 Wall Street Journal
article "Harvard
Clash Offers Management Case Study". Note: The
article discusses controversy
over Harvard President Summers and states that some professors "maintain that Mr. Summers's main failing
was running afoul of ideas favored by the liberal elite. Mr. Summers,
for example, has expressed his support for Reserve Officers' Training Corps,
which was banned from Harvard during the Vietnam era. While falling
short of calling for a return, that stance has angered gay students because
of the military's prohibition of openly gay soldiers."
-
18 February 2005 Columbia Spectator
article "Ghosts
of '68 Haunt Latest ROTC Debate: Current Fight Over ROTC's Return to Campus
is Newest Chapter in Program's Controversial History". Note:
Participants at the Columbia Senate Town Hall on ROTC looked ahead to the
wider campus debate on the ROTC restoration proposal. Student Nate
Treadwell said “This shouldn’t be up to majority opinion...
Nondiscrimination is a principle that shouldn’t be waived if any number of
students want it”.
-
19 February 2005 "Letter
to the Columbia Senate Task Force on Restoration of ROTC" by
Henry Waller, Columbia Business School '05.
-
19 February 2005 "Letter
to the Columbia Senate Task Force on Restoration of ROTC" by Shane Hachey
GS '04.
-
19 February 2005 "Letter to the Columbia
Senate Task Force on Restoration of ROTC" by Eric Chen GS '06.
Note: Chen discusses ROTC and Columbia's non-discrimination
policy and argues that excluding ROTC jeopardizes the university's
principles of diversity and inclusiveness.
-
19 February 2005 "Letter to the
Columbia Senate Task Force on Restoration of ROTC" by Jason Van
Steenwyk. Note: Jason Van Steenwyk runs the
Countercolumn blog.
-
19 February 2005 "Letter to the
Columbia Senate Task Force on Restoration of ROTC" by Sarah Walter.
Note: Sarah Walter runs the
Trying to Grok
blog.
-
21 February 2005 Columbia Spectator letter "Rosenthal
Wilfully Overlooks the Positive Aspects of Military Service" by Joshua
Chadwick, Law ’05. Note: This letter responds to a
16 February column.
-
21 February 2005 Columbia Spectator letter "Columnist
Espouses a “Narrow Political Agenda" by Adam Scavone. Note:
This letter responds to a
16 February column.
-
25 February 2005 Columbia University Senate
"Emails
Sent to the ROTC Task Force".
-
25 February 2005 Columbia Spectator column "Free
To Be You and Me" by Shane Hachey GS '04.
-
25 February 2005 Columbia Spectator letter "Columnist’s
Depiction of ROTC Was Inaccurate and Harmful" by Taylor Hwong, SEAS ’92. Note: This letter responds to a
16 February column.
-
25 February 2005 Boston Globe article "Professor's
motion seeks to air dissent on Summers". Note: Prof.
J. Lorand Matory's motion for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting in
March lists Summers' "support for the Reserve Officers Training Corps on
campus" as one of two grievances about Summers' term in office.
-
25 February 2005 National Law Journal
article "U.S.
Judge: No Yale Law Clerks". Note: The judge was
protesting Yale's exclusion of military recruiters.
-
27 February 2005 New York Times column "The
Battle Behind the Battle at Harvard" by James Atlas. Note:
Three reasons for the controversy
over Harvard President Lawrence Summers are cited. One is that "he
would like to see R.O.T.C., which was banished from Harvard during the
sit-ins of the 60's, restored to campus".
-
27 February 2005 Shots in the Dark blog item "A
Crucial Issue" by Richard Bradley. Note: Bradley,
author of "Harvard Rules",
predicts "If the military lifted its ban on gays, the Harvard faculty would
vote to bring ROTC back to campus the next week". (The ban on
open homosexuality in the military is actually a federal
law.)
-
28 February 2005 Columbia Spectator article "U.
Senate Meets, Responds to MEALAC Debate". Note: "James
Applegate, co-chair of the ROTC Task Force Committee, presented a report on
the Town Hall Meeting about the issue at Columbia on Feb. 15".
-
1 March 2005 Human Events column "The
War Within: Academia and the U.S. Military" by LTC Robert Patterson.
-
1 March 2005 Military.com article "Harvard
Graduate Answers Call to Duty". Note: Inspired by
fellow Harvard student Larry Obst '01 who completed Army ROTC, Moses Bloom '00 joined the Marines.
-
2 March 2005 FrontPage Magazine column "The
War on Men In Uniform" by Alec Mouhibian. Note:
"members of the Academic Senate at the University of California-Santa
Barbara have launched a crusade to ban the ROTC from campus".
-
2 March 2005 Yale Daily News article "Yale
schools vary on military recruiting policy".
-
2 March 2005 United Press International article "Bill
submitted to allow gays in military". Note:
Supporters of the bill include "eight
former generals and admirals, including
one who helped craft the policy for the Pentagon in 1993, and the three
retired officers who in December 2003 revealed their homosexuality after
decades of successful service".
-
3 March 2005 Harvard Crimson article "Motion
Filed to Censure Summers: Vote on docket for March 15 faculty meeting".
Note: The
motion lists Summers' "support for
the military’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program" as one of two
grievances about Summers' term in office.
-
3 March 2005 Columbia Spectator editorial "ROTC:
Return". Note: Columbia's student newspaper said
"While we oppose many of the military’s policies, particularly its “don’t
ask, don’t tell” program, we recognize the valuable ideological and
socioeconomic diversity that a military presence would bring to campus... As
we hope the military would change our campus, so would we hope to change the
military".
-
3 March 2005 Columbia Spectator column "Columbia
Liberals and ROTC Conservatives Can Help Each Other" by Jason Elliott.
Note: The author said "As the debate over whether to bring the
ROTC back to Columbia rages, I’d like to be one of the first left-wingers to
rise in support of reinstating the program... If we—the left wing—want to
fundamentally change the way America’s military is managed, we should do it
from the inside, by becoming the leadership: officers in the armed forces,
or officials in the Department of Defense".
-
3 March 2005 Wall Street Journal "Best of the Web Today"
item "The New
Generation Gap" by James Taranto. Note: Taranto cites the
pro-ROTC
editorial and
column in the Columbia Spectator and suggests that students are "more
patriotic today than their predecessors were in the 1960s and '70s".
-
3 March 2005 Shots in the Dark blog item "The
Motion" by Richard Bradley. Note: Bradley quotes the
text of Harvard Prof. J. Lorand Matory's motion for the March 15 meeting of
Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences "to register dissent from Mr.
Summers' stated opinions". Of the three issues cited from Harvard
President Lawrence Summers' term in office one is "the authorized presence
on campus of organizations that infringe upon the equal rights of gay
people".
- 3 March 2005 GedankenTravelExperiment blog item "ROTC".
Note: The author criticizes reasons cited against ROTC at
Columbia.
-
13 March 2005 Advocates for
Columbia ROTC flyer "A
Vote for ROTC Is a Vote for Affirmative Action".
-
13 March 2005 Advocates for
Columbia ROTC flyer "ROTC:
Democracy's Champions".
-
18 March 2005 Advocates for
Columbia ROTC flyer "ROTC
Addresses Class Inequality".
-
18 March 2005
Students United for America flyer "Why
is the Reserves Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Right for Columbia?".
-
22 March 2005 Columbia Spectator column "Against
the Proposed ROTC Restoration" by Yi-Sheng Ng, Karyn Lukoff, Katherine
Redmon, Christian Sjulssen, and Dustin Brauneck. Note:
The Columbia Queer Alliance, the Coming Out Group and Q, Barnard College’s
queer student organization, say that "Members of the ROTC have been expelled
after marching in a PRIDE parade, even though some were straight allies".
-
22 March 2005 Columbia Spectator column "Don't
Ask, Don't Tell, Pretend Nobody Gets Hurt" by Matt Grice.
-
23 March 2005 Army Times article "Army
seeks to increase ROTC commissions".
-
28 March 2005
Columbia University Senate's
Task Force on ROTC "More
emails to the Senate ROTC Task Force". Note: One writer
says that a "quick review" of ROTC courses
suggest they are "hardly likely to be of interest to non-ROTC students". A good counterexample is the
course detailed in MIT Sloan Fellows Learn
from Army During Leadership Exercise. The same writer says the "oft-repeated claim is that military
experience is widely valued by civilian employers" which the writer
thinks this is "generally untrue".
Some good example on this issue are in the Associated Press article "Secretive
Military Units Provide Training Ground for Israel's High-Tech Leaders".
Perhaps there would be more such examples in the United States if
universities such as Columbia had ROTC programs.
-
29 March 2005 Columbia Spectator column "When
Exclusion Breeds Exclusion" by Dennis Schmelzer. Note: The author asks
why the military, which was ahead of society in integration of blacks and
women, lags on integration of gays, and suggests that one factor is the
absence of ROTC programs at elite universities.
-
1 April 2005
Columbia University Senate's
Task Force on ROTC "Results
of deliberations". Note: The Task Force deadlocked
5-5 on the question of whether ROTC should return despite the
"Don't ask, don't tell" law.
-
5 April 2005 FrontPage column "The
Campus Left's War on ROTC" by Jamie Weinstein. Note:
The author is uncomfortable with the "Don't ask, don't tell" law
but notes "There are reasons why men and women do not share barracks today,
and it is the same reason -- or at least a major part of the reason -- for
the reluctance to allow gays into the service. " He goes on to call
for modification of "Don't ask don't tell" to exclude soldiers for which
sexual privacy concerns are not very relevant, such as translators.
-
5 April 2005 Columbia Spectator article "ROTC
Debate Advances Toward Senate Decision: Task Force Split on Recommendation;
Debate Centers on Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy".
Note: The full University Senate is planning a May 6 vote on the
proposal.
-
5 April 2005 Columbia Spectator column "A
Betrayal in Soldier's Clothing" by Matt Smith. Note:
Smith calls for taxpayer-funded scholarships to be free of payback
provisions such as military service.
-
6 April 2005 Columbia Spectator article "Panel
Examines ROTC Conflict: Clash Between CU Non-Discrimination Policy And
Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Stressed".
-
6 April 2005 Columbia Spectator article "Conservativism
and Feminism Combined". Note: Tammy Bruce, an author and
former chapter head of the National Organization for Women said "the
exclusion of the ROTC is no different from the exclusion of other on-campus
groups".
-
7 April 2005 Daily Princetonian article "Referendum
sought on Army ROTC: Students petition USG to take action against ROTC,
military recruiting on campus".
-
8 April 2005 Daily Princetonian article "Petition
on ROTC to be discussed".
-
11 April 2005 Daily Princetonian article "Senate
tables amendment: Vote on proposed USG non-discrimination policy postponed".
-
13 April 2005 Daily Princetonian article "Whig-Clio
votes to back ROTC". Note:
Student Powell Fraser noted that "the on-campus
Army ROTC program has roughly 30 cadets, as opposed to six in the off-campus
Air Force program that trains at Rutgers University".
-
13 April 2005 Daily Princetonian editorial "Student body needs to voice opinion on ROTC: Debate on the issue should continue despite USG decision to table amendment".
-
14 April 2005 Daily Princetonian column "ROTC
debate tests limits of empathy" by Jeremy Golubcow-Teglasi. Note: A student argues for
expelling ROTC because "the deprivation of
all is preferable to the depriviation of some", referring to gay students
excluded from the military.
-
14 April 2005 Daily Princetonian letter "Sacrifice
of ROTC cadets should not be undervalued" by
Will Wrightson '88.
-
14 April 2005 Washington Times article "Youth
group backs ROTC on campus". Note:
Young America's
Foundation launched a nationwide pro-ROTC effort.
-
14 April 2005 New York Post column "Columbia's
Bigotry" by Charles E. F. Millard. Note: The column
describes how supporters of ROTC at Columbia offered to make common cause
with opponents of the "Don't ask Don't tell" law and were spurned.
-
14 April 2005 The Heights (Boston College) column "ROTC
espouses Jesuit values through and through" by Lt. Richard J. Holahan.
-
14 April 2005 Power Line blog item "Don't
ask, we'll tell". Note: The preference of anti-ROTC forces
at Columbia for a "Teach-In" instead of a debate is criticized.
-
14 April 2005 Johns Hopkins News-Letter article "ROTC
offers cadets unique education".
-
14 April 2005 Johns Hopkins News-Letter column "ROTC
policy incongruent with 'tolerant' university" by Blake Trettien.
Note: The author notes that the ROTC program does not follow
the university's nondiscrimination policy for sexual orientation, but does
not mention that it doesn't follow provisions on age, gender, veteran status
or disability either.
-
14 April 2005 "Union
Theological Seminary, Columbia University: Statement of the Student Senate
Executive Committee". Note: The statement said "We
believe ROTC’s war-making and policy against homosexuals are violations of
the sacredness of human life" and urged shunning the military "until drastic
democratic reforms are made to US foreign and domestic policy ... Some of us
are pacifists and others of us simply reject the US military in its current
manifestation".
-
15 April 2005
Columbia University Senate "Transcript
of Special Senate Meeting on ROTC".
-
15 April 2005 Advocates for
Columbia ROTC handout for 15 April Columbia University Senate debate on
the
Proposal to Restore ROTC "Salient
points for ROTC".
-
15 April 2005 Power Line blog item "Honor
and disgrace". Note: Scott Johnson recalls the "military brief" solicited
by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger in the University of Michigan
affirmative action case and asks why Bollinger "isn't equally solicitous of
those signatories on the subject of ROTC on campus".
-
15 April 2005 "Report
to the Columbia University Senate and Personal Statement" by Nate
Walker, co-chair of
Columbia University Senate's
Task Force on ROTC. Note: Walker amends his original
comments on the meaning of the wide agreement that ROTC should return to
Columbia if there were no "Don't ask,
don't tell" law.
-
18 April 2005 Columbia Spectator article "U.
Senate Hears ROTC Findings: Task Force Split 5-5 On Proposal to Return ROTC
Immediately".
-
19 April 2005 Daily Princetonian column "ROTC
debate must focus on community" by
Freddie LaFemina. Note: LaFemina argues for
"examining the effects of "don't ask, don't tell" on our own community, not the nation."
-
19 April 2005 Personal Statement by Fred W. Cook "ROTC
at Columbia". Note:
This statement outlines a plan for an ROTC presence at Columbia. It
is similar to the plan discussed in 2004 for Harvard as outlined in a statement by LTC Brian
Baker and covered in a
16 December 2004 Wall Street Journal article.
Fred Cook is a member of
the Defense Business Board.
Transcripts of
14 May 2003,
30 July 2003 and
12 May 2004
Defense Business Board meetings discussing return of ROTC to elite colleges
contain key comments by him, thus his personal statement is likely to
represent Pentagon thinking.
-
20 April 2005 Cornell Daily Sun column "DADT:
Facing Facts and Summing Up" by Jamie Weinstein. Note:
The author asks whether it would have been right to exclude the US military
during World War II because of discrimination against blacks.
-
21 April 2005 Columbia Spectator article "ROTC
Debate Continues at Open Forum". Note: Nate Walker, co-chair
of the
Columbia University Senate ROTC Task Force, seems to indicate that all 5
who voted for the "ROTC if no DADT" resolution voted against the "ROTC even
if DADT" resolution, meaning that the sole abstention on the "ROTC if no
DADT" resolution was by an ROTC supporter.
-
21 April 2005 Daily Cardinal (University of Wisconsin)
article "Protesters,
ROTC clash over campus recruiting".
-
21 April 2005 NBC News (Madison WI) item "Forum
Held on Military Recruiting on UW Campus". Note:
Chancellor John Wiley said the campus is a place to hear all kinds of
viewpoints, whether students support them or not. "I find it frankly
condescending and insulting to assert that the military is so deceptive you
can figure out what deception they're engaged in and the other students
can't; they need your help to protect them from themselves."
-
24 April 2005 Washington Post article "Enrollment
in Army ROTC Down in Past 2 School Years: More Officers Now Being
Commissioned From Earlier Pool, But Problem Looms". Note:
Army ROTC enrollments are now below pre-9/11 levels, but commissionings are
still high as the post-9/11 surge graduates. Navy and Air Force ROTC
are still above pre-9/11 levels.
-
25 April 2005
Speakers and
transcript of the panel and discussion,
“Perspectives on the Future of ROTC at Columbia”.
-
26 April 2005 Columbia Spectator article "Panelists
Examine ROTC's Role on Campus: With University Senate Vote Approaching,
'Advocates for Columbia ROTC' Sponsors Forum".
-
27 April 2005 Columbia Spectator article "Univ.
Senate Advances Toward Vote on ROTC: Executive Committee Approves Resolution
on Future of ROTC for May 6 Senate Body Vote". Note:
ROTC Task Force co-chairman Prof. Applegate raised the possibility that a
vote on ROTC may not occur at the 6 May Columbia University Senate meeting.
-
27 April 2005 Brown Daily Herald article "Brown
and the military: 33 years after ROTC, Brown and the military still on
unsteady terms". Note:
Lt. Col. Steven McGonagle, professor of military science at Providence
College said his Brown cadets are "the very best leaders of my battalion
here," calling them "really world-class people and great leaders."
-
28 April 2005 Brown
Daily Herald OpEd "Pro-ROTC
doesn't mean pro-war" by Brian Barbata '68.
Note: Barbata asks "why not "support our troops" by providing them
with the best and brightest leaders?"
-
29 April 2005 article ""Don't ask, don't tell" and ROTC:
Taking the moral high ground at Columbia"
by Michael Segal.
-
29 April 2005 "For
ROTC at Columbia" by Prof. Allan Silver,
Department of Sociology,
Columbia University. Note: Prof. Silver, who supported removal of
ROTC in 1969, argues for the importance in reducing the civilian - military
gap.
-
29 April 2005 Columbia News Tonight segment "Should
ROTC return to Columbia? A Roundtable Discussion. Guests: Nate Walker,
Co-Chair, ROTC Task Force; Scott Stewart, Columbia student, former soldier."
-
1 May 2005 New York Times
article "Offering
R.O.T.C. a Truce". Note: The movement at Columbia to
restore ROTC has "signaled a shift in student attitudes toward the
military and encouraged vigorous conversation on campus."
-
1 May 2005 "The
Case for ROTC at Columbia" by Prof. James
H. Applegate, Professor of Astronomy, Columbia University, Co-Chair,
Columbia University Senate
Task Force on ROTC. Note:
Prof. Applegate suggests that the arguments against ROTC
"arise from our looking inward and
seeing Columbia in isolation".
-
1 May 2005 INTEL DUMP blog item
"Bringing ROTC
back to Columbia's campus". Note: In the responses to
the item, Dave Glazier gives practical reasons why having ROTC is
more important than whether recruiting is on campus.
-
1 May 2005 UW-Madison Stop the War press release "Air
Force ROTC cancels recruiting event in response to student protest".
-
1 May 2005 Outside the Whale blog item "Columbia
May Reinstate the Campus Reserve Officers Training Corps Chapter".
Note: The importance of universities such as Columbia being
involved in ROTC is stressed because the military now has a "greater
emphasis on dealing with the threat of terrorism but also democratization
and nation and institution building".
-
2 May 2005 "Tell
Me Again Why Columbia Should Restore ROTC" by Columbia Alliance for ROTC.
-
3 May 2005 New York Times article "Justices
Accept a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Recruiting Suit". Note:
The Supreme Court accepted a case about military recruiting and the Solomon
Amendment. The ROTC issue is similar in terms of the compulsion claim
but different in terms of the free expression claim.
-
4 May 2005 "Statement for the Final
Report of the Columbia University Senate Task Force on ROTC" by Sean
Wilkes CC '06, Member of the Task Force and Chairman of
Advocates for Columbia ROTC.
-
4 May 2005 Columbia Community
Discusses "Don't ask, don't tell" and ROTC. Note: A
set of actual e-mails debating the "Don't ask, don't tell" issue from a
variety of perspectives.
-
4 May 2005 SF Gate column "Supporting
The Troops? Not On Campus" by Cinnamon Stillwell.
-
5 May 2005
The
Dartmouth article "ROTC may receive full college grants from Army".
Note: A student-initiated request may lead to an upgrade of ROTC
funding and status at Dartmouth.
-
5 May 2005
Columbia University Senate Task Force on ROTC "Final
Report of the ROTC Task Force".
-
6 May 2005 Columbia University Executive Committee "Resolution
to Establish a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Program at Columbia
University".
-
6 May 2005
Advocates for Columbia
ROTC statement on ROTC at Columbia and “don’t ask, don’t tell”
-
6 May 2005 Columbia Spectator article "Senate
Rejects ROTC's Return: Resolution Overturned in Last Meeting of Year".
Note: The Columbia University Senate rejected a
proposal to invite ROTC to Columbia (this article reports the initial
inaccurate tally). The reason most cited was the "Don't
ask, don't tell law".
-
6 May 2005
Columbia University Senate transcript of
Senate meeting on ROTC.
-
6 May 2005
Columbia University Senate "Columbia
University Senate vote on resolution to establish an ROTC program at
Columbia University". Note: The Senate includes
faculty, administrators and students. Although the vote was reported
slightly differently initially, it was 53-10 against establishing an ROTC
program.
-
7 May 2005 New York Times article "Columbia
U. Senate Votes Against Return of R.O.T.C.". Note:
Alan Brinkley, Columbia's provost, said during the debate "Would we agree to
an organization on campus," that allowed "African-Americans to join this
organization only if they pass for white?"
-
8 May 2005 INTEL DUMP blog item "Columbia
U. makes a myopic move".
-
8 May 2005 article "After
the Vote: Why ROTC Belongs At Columbia" by Prof. Allan Silver,
Department of Sociology, Columbia University.
-
9 May 2005 Columbia Spectator article "Reserve
Officer Training Corps: After Semester of Debate, ROTC To Stay Off Campus".
-
9 May 2005 New York Sun editorial "AWOL
at Columbia". Note: The Sun notes "the lack of
protest of the policies of the Islamist enemy in respect of gay rights" at
Columbia and argues that one is not "helping the causes of tolerance or
civil rights by staying on the sidelines of this war".
-
9 May 2005 Inside Higher Ed article "Columbia
Says No, Still, to ROTC".
-
11 May 2005 Wall Street Journal editorial "A
Tale of Two Columbias: The patriotic and the politically correct".
Note: See
responses on
17 May
and 26 May.
-
11 May 2005 Harvard Crimson letter "Military
Not the Only HLS Recruiter That Discriminates" by Elliott Marc
Davis. Note: The writer points out that Harvard Law
School allows recruiters to discriminate by race but does not allow military
recruiters to follow the "Don't ask,
don't tell" federal law.
-
13 May 2005 Wall Street Journal column "Neither
Fools Nor Cowards: Barriers between military service and higher education do
a disservice to both" by Eliot A. Cohen. Note: Prof.
Cohen discusses the civilian-military divide in light of Columbia's
rejection of ROTC and the fact that "the institutional military is not all that
eager to re-establish a ROTC presence on elite campuses". See
letter
in response on 18 May. Prof.
Cohen, a Harvard ROTC graduate, is pictured
here at his son's Harvard ROTC commissioning.
-
13 May 2005 Stanford Review article "ROTC's
Continued Exile Disgraceful".
-
13 May 2005 Stanford Review column "Students
Deserve to Have ROTC Back on Campus" by Milton Solorzano.
-
13 May 2005 Villainous Company
blog item "The
Wisdom of Solomon". Note: Cassandra discusses the
University Senate vote against ROTC at Columbia and argues that using the
Solomon Amendment for ROTC
removes the argument that universities with ROTC are tacitly
expressing approval for the "Don't ask,
don't tell" law.
-
16 May 2005 New York Sun article "Fossella:
Federal Money at Risk For Columbia". Note: A
New York City congressman suggests that the Secretary of Defense could
invoke the Solomon Amendment over Columbia's rejection of ROTC.
-
17 May 2005 Wall Street Journal letter "Columbia,
ROTC and Sexual Orientation" by President Lee C. Bollinger (also on
Columbia's Web site).
Note: Responding to an
editorial,
Pres. Bollinger writes "After acknowledging that reasonable people can
differ over the military's prohibition on openly gay and lesbian servicemen
and women, the editorial goes on to suggest that those of us who disagree
with that prohibition are anti-military, and to question our motivations."
However, this is not an accurate portrayal of the debate at Columbia.
As the
Columbia ROTC Task Force report makes clear, proponents of the return of
ROTC to Columbia also opposed "Don't ask, don't tell". The
disagreement between pro and anti-ROTC sides at Columbia was whether the
benefits of ROTC outweighed the disagreements with the
federal law. Pres. Bollinger
went on to blame the government for putting an end to the discussion about
ROTC at Columbia, noting that his vote against return of ROTC "was based on
a serious concern for the integrity of the university in the face of the
federal government's use of the power of the purse to force institutions to
compromise their principles". However, the best
indications of Pentagon
intentions available before the vote were that "the
Pentagon cannot provide a positive request or indication to Columbia to
reestablish an ROTC unit on campus because, to do so, would trigger the
Solomon Amendment should Columbia turn down the request".
See also a
letter in response on 26 May.
-
18 May 2005 New York Sun article "Columbia
To Consider Bringing ROTC Back to Campus". Note:
The chairman of the
board of trustees, David Stern, said he is pushing to
the forefront of the board's agenda the issue of the university's policy
toward ROTC.
-
18 May 2005 Wall Street Journal letter "Denying
Students ROTC" by David Thomas. Note: Responding
to Prof. Cohen's
article on 13 May, Thomas states
that "denying students exposure to ROTC and military history is as
short-sighted as eliminating, say, women's studies."
-
19 May 2005 New York Sun editorial "Wisdom
of Solomon". Note: The Sun calls for the
trustees of Columbia to restore ROTC and notes that "many
of those most committed to pressing the government to change its policy
toward gays in the military are those asking that Columbia open its doors to
ROTC." For examples, see the
Columbia University Senate Task Force Report, this
email discussion and this
proposal for immediate changes in
the law.
-
19 May 2005 Inside Higher Ed article "ROTC
Debate Not Over at Columbia". Note: The
board of
trustees will meet on 4 June and "has invited Senate representatives from
both sides of the debate to answer questions on that, and a host of other
issues".
-
20 May 2005 New York Daily News editorial "Columbia
declares war on ROTC".
-
23 May 2005 New York Daily News column "Columbia's
old elite a new ROTC enemy" by Shane Hachey. Note:
The submitted text is here.
-
23 May 2005 Voice of America story "U.S.
Supreme Court Will Review Law that Denies Funding to Campuses that Bar
Military". Note: Columbia University student
Scott Stewart, a gay veteran who supports ROTC on campus, says you have to
associate with the military to influence it.
-
24 May 2005 "Amendment
to H.R. 1815, As Reported: Offered by Mr. Stearns of Florida".
Note: The amendment specifies that "the Secretary of Defense shall
submit to Congress a report on the colleges and universities that are
denying equal access to military recruiters and ROTC programs".
-
25 May 2005 Minneapolis Star Tribune article "ROTC
ban brings attention to UW-Stout campus".
-
25 May 2005 Congressional Record
Debate on the
Stearns Amendment to H.R.
1815. Note: Rep.
Cliff Stearns (R-FL) cited the difficulty
of Yale students traveling to ROTC training and praised the support of
Harvard President Lawrence Summers for ROTC.
-
26 May 2005 Chronicle of Higher Education "House-Passed
Bill Orders Pentagon to Report on Colleges That Ban Military Recruiters".
Note: On 25 May the House of Representatives passed
Rep. Stearns' amendment to
H.R. 1815
on ROTC and military recruiting by a vote of 336 to 92.
-
26 May 2005 Wall Street Journal letter "Columbia's
'Compromising' Exactly What Principles?" by Irving Louis Horowitz.
Note: Prof. Horowitz responds to President Bollinger's
letter about the
editorial
on ROTC at Columbia.
-
27 May 2005 Washington Blade column "Backwards
ban on military recruiters" by James Kirchick. Note: A Yale
undergraduate argues for ROTC in a gay weekly: "The military brass itself is
far more likely to empathize with someone who once wore a uniform and risked
their life than they are to heed the hectoring of a liberal faculty
member... While I may find “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to be unjust, it is more
important that my straight peers have the opportunity to serve their country
and defend the freedoms that gay activists have also fought so courageously
to enshrine".
-
30 May 2005 Washington Times column "Honor
thy soldiers" by Suzanne Fields. Note: Fields
discusses the University Senate vote against ROTC at Columbia and quotes
Harvard President Lawrence Summers as saying that military service is
"vitally important to the freedom that makes possible institutions like
Harvard".
-
31 May 2005 Associated Press article "UW-Stout
now welcomes ROTC chapter, chancellor says". Note:
The chancellor said he didn't know his initial
decision to deny ROTC could jeopardize more than $16 million in federal
funds annually.
-
Spring 2005 Columbia magazine
article "University
Senate Says No to ROTC". Note: Although the Senate
vote was not binding "the administration has pledged to respect the vote".
Nate Walker '08TC, who co-chaired the ROTC Task Force, said "It's clear to
me, from my work on the senate, that when the military stops its invidious
discriminatory practices, Columbia probably will support ROTC's return",
referring to the "Don't ask, don't tell"
law. Provost Alan Brinkley, who abstained from voting as is his
custom, despite an impassioned anti-ROTC speech, said "there does not seem
to be strong intrinsic opposition toward the military, other than with
regard to this discriminatory policy".
-
1 June 2005 Stanford Daily
article "Students
question ROTC policy". Note: A
sophomore an ex-Air Force ROTC member, describes how he had to drop out of
ROTC because "the three trips a week to San Jose State did not fit into his
schedule".
-
1 June 2005 National Public Radio "All Things Considered"
item "U.S.
Government Punishes Schools That Ban Military Recruiting". Note:
NPR interviewed Rep. Cliff Stearns
(R-FL) about his amendment to
H.R. 1815
on ROTC and military recruiting that passed by a vote of 336 to 92. NPR also
spoke with Rich Jacob, Associate Vice President for Federal Relations at
Yale, who read a statement saying "For many years we have not had enough student
interest to warrant the establishment of an ROTC unit at Yale".
-
2 June 2005 Associate Press article "Wisconsin
Lawmakers Threaten To Pull College Funding In ROTC Gay Flap".
Note: Wisconsin state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald said "I expect more out of
our state's academic leaders than to let their own personal politics try to
deny UW students interested in training for a career as a military officer
from being allowed to do so".
-
8 June 2005 Harvard Crimson article "ROTC
Delays Office Request: Head of training program at MIT decides not to ask
Summers for space in Yard". Note: The
article says that in a private meeting with LTC Brian Baker in July 2004
President Summers said "that he was “not prepared” to make the argument for
ROTC space on campus, according to Baker". Actually, according to Baker,
Summers said only that he was not prepared to do so in 2004. Also, the
"November 2004 speech" mentioned in the article was actually a
letter, never delivered as a speech.
-
8 June 2005 "Harvard ROTC
Commissioning Ceremony 2005". Note: LTC Brian L.
Baker, Professor of Military Science at MIT, presented a civilian award for
patriotic service to President Summers and thanked him for "supporting our
program through thick and thin".
-
8 June 2005 Associated Press article "Army
Headed to Recruiting Shortfall". Note: "Charles
Moskos, a sociology professor and expert on military personnel issues at
Northwestern University, has said the Army's recruiting woes are likely to
persist until the children of upper-class America begin to enlist more
readily".
-
8 June 2005 Harvard Independent article "ROTC
Commissioning Ceremony".
-
8 June 2005 Harvard University Gazette article "ROTC
commissioning ceremony stresses importance of scholars and soldiers".
Note: Capt. Vincent Tuohey '01 said "Now more than ever, the
armed forces need leaders of your background and education".
-
9 June 2005 Harvard University Gazette article "Graduating
into service: Seven seniors begin military service with ROTC commissioning".
-
18 June 2005 New York Times letter "When
the Army Comes to School" by Barbara Bernstein. Note:
The Executive Director of the Nassau Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties
Union lists two ways to bar military recruiting from high school, including
adopting a nondiscrimination policy on the basis of sexual orientation.
-
30 June 2005 The Dartmouth article "ROTC
garners student support; admin. split". Note:
Dartmouth College President James Wright is described as supporting ROTC in
private but being "afraid of the faculty". A poll showed students
supportive of ROTC but opposing the "Don't
ask, don't tell" law.
-
July 2005 Harvard Magazine article "Commencement
Confetti: Prepared to Serve". Note: "Lieutenant colonel Brian L. Baker, professor of military science and head of the ROTC program at MIT that Harvard students attend, told the gathering, “I can imagine a day when [Harvard] will allow us to post a captain and a sergeant on campus once again,
sometime in the future.” He presented an Army citation and an award to Summers. “You are a true patriot,” he said as he affixed a lapel pin that reads “Patriotic Civilian Service.”"
-
18 July 2005
Amicus brief by Daniel Polsby et al. in Rumsfeld v. FAIR.
-
24 July 2005 New York Times article "All
Quiet on the Home Front, and Some Soldiers Are Asking Why".
Note: ""Nobody in America is asked to sacrifice, except us," said
one officer just back from a yearlong tour in Iraq, voicing a frustration
now drawing the attention of academic specialists in military sociology".
Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr. said he had heard a heavy stream of concerns
from current officers that "the military is increasingly isolated from the
rest of the country".
-
26 July 2005 Boston Herald Op-Ed "On
national defense, Harvard's boss AWOL" by Virginia Buckingham.
Note: She writes "Summers is the one Ivy
League president with the guts to lead the charge to return the Reserve
Officer Training Corp. to every campus".
-
29 July 2005 Instapundit blog
item by Glenn
Reynolds. Note: Reynolds cites criticism of the volunteer
military and writes "I do agree that the "distance" of the military from
American society is really a distance from left-leaning American society.
Perhaps we should bring back mandatory ROTC at universities".
-
18 August 2005 Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal item "Make
Class War, Not War" in "Best of the Web Today" by James Taranto.
Note: Taranto cites New York Times columnist Bob Herbert's call
for children of the privileged classes to serve in the military and suggests
that Herbert write about the efforts to restore ROTC at elite colleges.
(A correction on the military recruiting part of the item
appeared
the next day.)
-
29 August 2005 University of South Florida Oracle article "ROTC
programs prepping for unique change: New joint program would be
one-of-a-kind". Note: Army, Air Force and Navy ROTC
programs will operate jointly.
-
30 August 2005 Pew Research Center for the People and the
Press report "Religion
A Strength And Weakness For Both Parties". Note:
The study shows an increase in public support for gays in the military and a
decrease in intense opposition since the DADT legislation in the 1990s.
-
August 2005 American Council of Trustees and Alumni article
"Universities
and the Military: What You Should Know About the Upcoming Supreme Court Case"
by Melvin H. Bernstein. Note: The article recounts the
history of the Solomon Amendment and compares the attitude of the presidents
of Harvard and Columbia towards ROTC.
-
September 2005 VFW Magazine article "Anti-Military
Sentiments Persist on Elite Campus". Note: Many of
the leaders of the Columbia effort were quoted, including Advocates for
Columbia ROTC chairman Sean Wilkes and alumni group Columbia Alliance for
ROTC chairman Ted Graske CC'59.
-
September 2005 "Washington
Monthly College Guide: Other guides ask what colleges can do for you. We ask
what are colleges doing for the country." Note: A
college's ranking is improved by forms of national service such as ROTC.
-
20 September 2005 Harvard Crimson article "Law
School To Allow Military Recruiters On Campus". Note:
Harvard President Lawrence Summers announced that Harvard would file an
amicus brief against the Solomon Amendment.
-
21 September 2005 Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal item "The
Enemy Within" in "Best of the Web Today" by James Taranto.
Note: Taranto notes
Harvard's
concerns about discrimination against gays on campus and notes how it
pales in comparison to
discrimination against gays by America's enemies.
-
22 September 2005 Harvard Crimson article "Professors
Stand Up To Recruiters: Forty law faculty
members file brief opposing military’s presence on campus".
Note: The 40 professors claimed that the Solomon Amendment has
unlawfully given the military a “unique privilege” to
overrule university policies but Professor of Law Janet Halley suggests that
Title IX rules on women in universities involves similar compulsion and if
the Supreme Court overturns the Solomon Amendment it could use the same
reasoning to invalidate Title IX.
-
22 September 2005 Wall Street Journal
editorial "'To
Serve Better Thy Country'". Note:
The Journal quotes from the words on a gate to Harvard Yard and notes that
Harvard Law School's decision to allow military recruiters was grudging.
-
22 September 2005 National Review
column "Do
Tell" by David Frum. Note: Frum compares Harvard Law
School dean Elana Kagan's exclusion of the
military to Harvard President Larry Summers' championing of the
military, and suggests that readers check out the Web site for
Advocates for Harvard ROTC.
-
23 September 2005 Harvard
Crimson article "In
Reversal, Harvard Takes Legal Action on Solomon Case: Brief by 7 schools
urges Supreme Court to overturn military recruitment law". Note:
The Crimson hears from Professor of Law Janet Halley that the arguments
"could conceivably undermine, for example, the high court’s 1983 decision in
Bob Jones University v. U.S., which held that the federal government could
deny tax-exempt status to a South Carolina college that prohibits
interracial dating."
-
26 September 2005 Daily Princetonian article "Solomon
Amendment: Schools file brief on recruiting". Princeton is not
joining the legal action by law schools because it welcomes ROTC and
military recruiting and it does not have a law school.
-
28 September 2005 Harvard
Crimson editorial "Upping
the Ante: Kagan had to submit to Solomon, now the University must push back".
Note: The Crimson editors call for Harvard to push for repeal of the
"Don't ask, don't tell" law and
assert that "in the civilian world, this type of discrimination has long
been considered unconstitutional".
-
3 October 2005 Harvard Crimson
article "Military
Presence at Career Forum Sparks Student Protests".
-
7 October 2005 The World (PRI / BBC / WGBH) radio segment "ROTC
Report" (audio
here). Note: Harvard Navy ROTC students and faculty
are interviewed about the importance of doing ROTC at elite colleges.
-
10 October 2005 Daily Princetonian editorial "University
should lobby against Solomon Amendment".
-
12 October 2005
American Council of Trustees and Alumni press
release "Hypocrisy
101: The Academy and Military Recruiters". Note: ACTA
lists the federal funds at risk under the Solomon Amendment. Of the
listed colleges barring ROTC, Columbia leads with $457 million at
risk.
-
13 October 2005 Harvard Crimson
article "Experts
Debate Army Recruiters: Two law professors argue the constitutinality [sic]
of the Solomon Amendment"
-
13 October 2005 Harvard Crimson
article "HLS
Protest Takes on Military: Students and profs call on Harvard to help repeal
“don’t ask, don’t tell” policy".
-
13 October 2005 Stars and
Stripes article "Most
Recruits Don't Object to Gays in Military". Note: The study
of a group "targeted to mirror people most likely to join the military" was
done by Aaron
Belkin, founder and Director of the
Center for the Study of Sexual
Minorities in the Military. The study found that 76% of
respondents felt that having openly gay soldiers in the military would have
no effect on their own decision to enlist, 2% said it would increase their
likelihood of enlisting and 21% said it would decrease their likelihood of
enlisting.
-
19 October 2005 The Dartmouth article "Assembly
divides over ROTC statement". Note: A proposal would increase the ROTC scholarships and open them to students who were openly
gay.
-
21 October 2005 Yale Daily News
editorial "To
defend academia, keep fighting Solomon". Note: The
editorial responds to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni
initiative on the Solomon Amendment by asserting that the government
should not have the "authority to leverage federal financing and dictate
university policies". The editorial did not discuss the use of such
federal authority in the Title IX rules about university gender policies.
-
21 October 2005
Columbia University Senate
"Minutes
of September 16, 2005". Note: Senator Paul Duby
reported on the discussions at the June
Columbia University
Trustees meeting about the ROTC issue. When "a Trustee
asked if there was anything else the Trustees were expected to do on this
subject; Sen. Duby said Provost Alan Brinkley answered in one word: No".
The minutes also note that "the Task Force made some recommendations
for improving conditions for Columbia students who are pursuing ROTC off
campus, at Manhattan College or Fordham. One was to provide more assistance
in the form of transportation, or maybe a small office on the Columbia
campus. Another was to assure that any students barred from ROTC because of
their sexual preference would be eligible for equivalent financial support
from Columbia. Sen. Duby said he and Sen. Applegate would discuss these
issues with the provost."
-
24 October 2005 History News
Network article "Why Don't
Harvard Graduates Join the Military Anymore?" by Richard F. Miller.
Note: Miller suggests that a lack of leadership and character
education result in an inward-looking attitude.
- 25 October 2005 Columbia Spectator column "Columbia
Plays Dirty Pool" by John Mateus. Note: A Columbia
Law student calls interference with military interviews, which blocked him
from being interviewed, "underhanded and sabotage" and criticizes the
unwillingness of Columbia to stop the interference. See also responses
by
Karyn Lukoff,
Michelle Rutherford and
Cuauhtemoc Ortega.
- November 2005 The Blue and White article "Embedded
in New York: Or, How I Learned to Stop Whining and Love ROTC".
Note: The article describes some of the ROTC training for Columbia
students "In one Chemical Warfare exercise, Wilkes had to walk through a gas
chamber filled with CS gas (ortho-chlorobenzylidene-malononitrile). Cadets
wore gas masks, but were required to remove them in the middle of the room,
state their name and social security number, and answer a simple question
such as, "What's one plus one?""
-
1 November 2005 Military.com
column "Are
ROTC Officers Better?" by Bruce Fleming. Note: A professor
at the US Naval Academy looks at the cost and benefits of ROTC versus
service academies.
-
4 November 2005 The Lafayette
article "ROTC
wants more recognition".
-
6 November 2005 Upside Down
world article "Students
Occupy Army ROTC Building in Puerto Rico".
-
21 November 2005 Daily Princetonian article "ROTC
cadets do battle at simulated war zone in nearby Fort Dix".
- December 2005 Yale Free Press article "ROTC and Yale: Which is the
four-letter word?" by Joseph Callo. Note: A Yale Navy
ROTC graduate observes "Part
of the problem with “don’t ask, don’t tell” is the unwillingness by some to
recognize that the military is not the same as corporate, academic, or, in
fact, any other kind of civilian activity" and notes "you can
judge an organization by whom it honors. Now, think hard; when was the last
time Yale honored a graduate—anyone, for that matter—for achievement in a
military career?"
-
3 December 2005 Wall Street Journal column "The Wisdom of Solomon" by Gerald Walpin (also available without
subscription on the
OpinionJournal
site; with
responses). Note: A director of
the Center for Individual Rights discusses the reasoning of their amicus
brief in FAIR v. Rumsfeld. He does not mention the irony that
Association of American
Law Schools accreditation rules compel law schools to oppose military
recruiting on campus.
-
6 December 2005 Wall Street
Journal article "Law
Schools, Military Battle Over Recruiting".
-
6 December 2005 "Supreme
Court Audio". Note: Full audio of oral arguments in
Rumsfeld v. FAIR.
-
7 December 2005 Washington Post
article "Before
High Court, Law Schools v. Military: Can Congress Cut Funds Over Curbs on
Recruiters?"
-
7 December 2005 Harvard Crimson
article "Court
Seems Ready To Uphold Solomon Law: Justices slam schools’ free speech
claims; only Souter is likely to vote for FAIR". Note:
The only argument taken seriously by the Justices was a question about the
wording of the
2004 change to the Solomon Amendment, an argument disavowed by the
lawyer for FAIR. "Experts weren’t surprised that FAIR spurned
the statutory argument, since Congress could just amend the law again" and
there is little question about the intent of Congress.
-
7 December 2005 Columbia
Spectator article "Supreme
Court Hears Solomon Amendment Case". Note: The
article mentions how Solicitor General Paul Clement began to argue that the
2004 change to the Solomon Amendment
did not demand greater access for the military than other employers and
Justice Scalia said he was "galloping in the wrong direction".
-
7 December 2005 New York Times article "Supreme
Court Weighs Military's Access to Law Schools". Note:
The Times notes the
Association of American
Law Schools accreditation rules that compel law schools to oppose
military recruiting and quotes the justices as rejecting the constitutional
argument that the Solomon Amendment
and its
2004 revision compel speech about military recruiting.
-
8 December 2005 Wall Street Journal "Best of the Web Today"
item "The
Antimilitary Party" by James Taranto. Note: Taranto
notes the civilian - military gap in political views and suggests this could
be overcome with more bipartisan support for programs like ROTC.
-
9 December 2005 New York Times Op-Ed "Fighting
on the Wrong Front" by Peter H. Schuck. Note: Prof. Schuck
discusses the Supreme Court deliberations on the Solomon Amendment case and
writes "Universities should allow equal, unfettered access to their students
by any employer whose policy with regard to sexual orientation is legal, so
long as that policy is disclosed."
-
12 December 2005 Harvard Crimson column "Solomon's
Other Song: The debate over the Solomon Amendment is about more than gay
rights" by Samuel M. Simon '06. Note: Simon writes
"The debate over the Solomon Amendment on this campus has largely become a
proxy war between those who love the military and those who don’t...
The question isn’t whether gays and lesbians at Harvard are moral enough for
the military; it’s whether the military is moral enough for Harvard".
See 19 December
response by Peter H. Brooks '06.
-
19 December 2005 Harvard Crimson article "Recent
Grad Injured By Bomb in Iraq". Note:
George Morris
’04 was wounded in Iraq on 5 December and said “I want to get back to my
platoon—they are an amazing group of individuals and it is an honor to lead
them.”
-
19 December 2005 Harvard Crimson letter "Majority
Of Military Not Poor And Uneducated" by Peter H. Brooks '06.
Note: Brooks corrects "a claim based upon what is perceived as
common knowledge" in a
column by
Samuel M. Simon '06 and suggests that such misperceptions are a symptom of
the military-civilian divide.
-
19 December 2005 Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal column
"Reporting for
Duty: The U.S. military tells Iraqis the truth, and some call it a "scandal""
by John R. Guardiano. Note: Guardiano recounts how "an
enterprising young Harvard graduate and physics major, Marine Corps Lt. Seth
Moulton, founded his own television show, "Moulton and Mohamed" in Iraq".
Moulton was
interviewed in 2003 by National Public Radio.
-
19 December 2005 Providence Journal column "Military
and colleges in duel at high court" by Melvin H. Bernstein.
Note: The chairman of the New England region for the American
Council of Trustees and Alumni points out that students are much more
welcoming of the military than are faculty.
-
20 December 2005 "The
Drill Field Inside the Ivory Tower: Harvard Officer Training the Creation of
the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps" by Erik Sand '07. Note:
Sand, an ROTC midshipman, recounts the how Harvard was ahead of the rest of
the country in creating an ROTC program in 1916.
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