Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" affects change for ROTC programs

After the December 22 repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prohibited gay or lesbian people from serving in the armed forces, many elite colleges and university are reexamining their ban of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) participation on their campuses. With the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the program no longer violates these universities anti-discrimination policies.

Many elite schools, such as Harvard and Yale, banned ROTC during the tumultuous era of the Vietnam War, but more recently in opposition to the military’s discriminatory stance on non-heterosexual people. Alfred University voted to remove academic credit from the program in 1992, effective in 1997. When colleges ban ROTC, cadets must travel to other schools who offer the program in order to participate. They cannot receive recognized credit toward their degrees.

The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has already prompted conversation at many universities about reinstating ROTC programs. The presidents of Harvard and Yale have already issued statements expressing interest in the return of the program. The only Ivy League school that never banned ROTC is Cornell University, and most other elite colleges have less than ten cadets enrolled. This raises many questions about the future of ROTC at many schools: even if the program is brought back, will there be an increase in participants?

The biggest obstacle facing the return of ROTC is financial. ROTC scholarships not only pay for cadets’ tuition, but they also cover the cost of books and provide a monthly stipend. At low priced state colleges and universities, this may reasonable. However, for a military financially strained by two wars, it may not be reasonable that they can afford these scholarships at expensive private schools like Harvard.

If ROTC is reinstated, it could drastically change the relationship between colleges and the armed forces. The political and social culture of college is traditionally opposite of the culture of the military. However, ROTC could change this relationship and transform it into a positive one. Reinstating ROTC could strengthen bonds between future civil leaders and future military leaders. It will also provide the military with more access to recruit sharp minds and it will give the military exposure in places like the Northeast, where recruitment efforts are not as successful. Also, it may allow the military to recruit more Arabic speaking cadets. Perhaps most important is that ROTC may bring in more officers with liberal arts backgrounds, which will bring people with more geopolitical and diverse knowledge to the military.

The future of ROTC is unknown, but as Columbia’s President Lee C. Bolinger said in a press release, it will certainly usher in a “new era in the relationship between universities and our military services.” Alfred University officials have not yet publicly announced any interest in removing the ban on the program.