ROTC Distribution Map
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Coverage
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Alliance for ROTC
Hamilton Society
2002-2005 Effort led by Advocates for Columbia ROTC
Contact
Photos
The Solomon Amendment
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Despite having a population comparable to that of
entire states, New York City and its citizens are not granted the same
opportunities for service as military officers as many other regions of
the United States:
- There are 594,000 university students in New
York City, the highest number of any city in the United States.1
- New York is the nation's largest
importer of college students, according to statistics which show that
among freshmen who leave their home states to attend college, more come
to New York than any other state, including California. Enrollment is
led by New York City, which is home to more college students than any
other city in the United States, even Boston.2
- With over 8 million
residents, New York City has a greater population than either the state
of Virginia or North Carolina. While both Virginia and North
Carolina maintain twelve Army ROTC programs each, however, New York City
hosts only two.
- Both ROTC Programs are located a significant
distance away from the areas most concentrated in colleges and
universities, as evidenced by
this map.
- The City University of New York is the third
largest public university system in the nation, though all of its campuses
are located within a single city. It provides post-secondary higher
education in all five boroughs of New York.3
- The City University of New York system, with
more than 450,000 students, confers nearly 3 percent of all bachelor's
degrees awarded to African-Americans in the United States. Former
Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell is a CUNY ROTC product.
Yet today there is no longer an ROTC presence to be found anywhere in
the CUNY system.4
- Neither is there an
ROTC presence in Brooklyn, home to a diverse population about the size
of Mississippi, which has five Army ROTC units despite a much lower per
capita college attendance. In 2005, two of the top five ZIP codes for
Army enlistments were in Brooklyn, yet there are no commissioning
opportunities in the borough. Could one imagine no ROTC programs for the
population of Mississippi?
- New York City also has a vast array of private
universities, including Columbia University, a prestigious Ivy League
university and the fifth oldest educational
institution in the nation, and New York University, the largest private,
non-profit university in the United States. Yet neither university
graduates more than a handful of military officers per year.
- The allocation of ROTC recruiting assets in
urban areas is insufficient to serve the large population assigned.
Three recruiting officers are expected to canvass the more than 100
colleges and 13 million people in New York City, Long Island and
Westchester County. Compare this with the 10 recruiters assigned for 4.5
million Alabamans or five for 2.5 million Mississippians.
- The scarcity of
commissioning opportunities in New York City hurts our community and the
military. Moreover, in light of September 11th, we have a distinctly
personal stake in the Global War on Terror. New Yorkers should be
afforded every opportunity to serve as military leaders, and to be
granted the responsibility for defending our city and our nation.
"If the United
States Army wants to dedicate itself to recruiting more minority officers,
it could begin by allocating more resources to the urban Northeast in the
same proportion it does the South."4
- CPT Stephen Trynosky, USAR
Contact us at
slw2014@columbia.edu or
elc2003@columbia.edu
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