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Show 6 The Daily Utah Chronicle, uecemucr ROTO: Innocent activity or part of the war machine? Guerilla Counters' Student-faculty committee studies the campus military Guerilla Counters' Army ROTC cadets have th . drill team too, and travel a the U.S. for meets. J team has been highly r PHde is the, guerilla unit. This m ,ff full year course, wMchi ; day a week, on ranger trai-H- students combanves, tactics, and surviva as well asmapandcQmpass ; ing. All services offer student advisory councils and council sub-committees, intramur als are also available. The Navy placed second in fall football and the Army nabbed first in Hon,e coming quartet competition Activities are nice - bat they don't justify a department's Piact in the University. Academic qua, ity does. So it's highly possiblf that the ROTC committee will recommend rec-ommend upgrading along academ-ic academ-ic lines. Already, changes art underway. By next year, all mem. bers of the University's Air Force ROTC staff will have masters degrees. It's not highly possible that He committee will call for abandonment abandon-ment of the program. It series many students average students. stu-dents. And if ROTC leaves college col-lege campuses, it will come to rest in the narrower atmosphere ol service academies. 17; (AtfS- ? ' j V-r ": i-LJi . ' - , w , , : . ; - f;:v , . ; : - i! ).V H 1 p J - I i I t S BY JAY SAVAGE Staff Writer (Editor's note: Savage is an Army ROTC cadet in the counter guerrilla program.) ROTC cadets think of themselves them-selves as "average guys." Some want to dodge the draft a very "average" reaction. To some, ROTC means a nice career after graduation, and one even views the program as "one big fraternity." Yet ROTC, a seemingly innocent activity something that has been around is coming under serious ser-ious scrutiny. A student-faculty study committee, commit-tee, chaired by Dr. Milton Voight, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, has been investigating the academic relevance of ROTC and questioning whether ROTC belongs at the University. Their final report, which should be presented early next quarter to University President James C. Fletcher, may recommend anything any-thing from totally abolishing the three ROTC programs, to altering their content, -to leaving them just as they are. The primary objection to ROTC is that it is related to war. Some feel a campus shouldn't be the place where war is taught or killers kill-ers recruited. War is immoral, they contend, and any class that emphasizes war or justifies it wm xiammmam mmm doesn't belong on a University campus. Another argument is that the ROTC instructors are not academically aca-demically qualified. They generally gener-ally have only four years of college. col-lege. Yet they are given status equal to instructors with doctorates and ROTC classes receive credit equal to other University classes. Skeptics also maintain that grades in ROTC are inflated to keep cadets in the course, and this is what gives cadets a higher grade average than non-cadets. Reportedly, ROTC classes taught are simply not as tough as the average university class. Politically Narrow The charge is also made that the program is too politically and academically narrow. ROTC some note, is open to only those with certain grades and majors, who are in good physical condition, condi-tion, it discriminates with regard to sex since girls can't take the classes. Further, it is said that participation partici-pation in certain political activities activi-ties adversely affects the cadet's ROTC grades. For instance, some contend if a cadet were to join SDS, it would hurt his ROTC grades, and he might even be dropped from the program. The question is also raised as i to what ROTC contributes to the community and to society. Engi- Blindfolded Navy ROTC cadet walks through line of swishing 12 lbs. rifles armed with bayonets. ROTC offers training, career opportunities oppor-tunities and extra-curricular activities for Army, Navy and Air Force cadets, yet the program has come under sharp criticism from a student-faculty investigating committee. In short, there are pros and there are cons, and arguments are logical and strong on both sides. The final decision might well rest on some middle ground. Air Force ROTC Col. McLach-land McLach-land feels his department has an important academic place on campus. It offers the only classes available on aircraft and airpow-er, airpow-er, he notes. These classes, contrary con-trary to charges, are open to anyone. any-one. There are several non-cadet students taking classes now. One girl was taking a Navy ROTC class here spring quarter. If an AFROTC student had a complaint, he could take the same measures that he would take in any other department, Col. Mc-Lachland Mc-Lachland added. Like all departments, depart-ments, AFROTC has its own Student Stu-dent Advisory Council. If a cadet t feels he couldn't get satisfaction I from talking with department i heads, he could go to the Dean I of the College of Letters and Science. What is the public opinion ol ROTC cadets? According to a masters thesis written for the Department De-partment of Education, most cadets ca-dets consider themselves average people and students. Their fellw students view them similarly. neers build bridges, doctors cure disease, chemists make medicines, and actors provide entertainment. ROTC graduates fight wars. So what good is ROTC and why should a University support it if its contribution is zero? Moreover, ROTC is charged with being static. Where universities univer-sities stress change and are dynamic dy-namic in nature, the ROTC is static and is repulsed, reportedly, reported-ly, by change or by criticism of either its policies or the policies of the service that supports it. But, the counter argument goes, can ROTC alone be condemned? As one cadet put it, "What about the physicists who invented the bomb, the chemists who invented nerve gas, and the biologists who have invented specialized bubonic plague? And what about the engineers en-gineers and draftsmen who design weapons and, especially, what about the politicians who start the wars?" "I can't see these people who want to abolish ROTC because they say it limits a person academically" aca-demically" a Navy cadet remarked. re-marked. "How can you broaden someone's horizons by subtraction?" subtrac-tion?" While an army cadet admitted that drill periods are "kind of Mickey Mouse" a cadet from the Air Force contended that his ROTC classes were among his most challenging because in them "not only do cadets decide what is to be the class content but each second reason is the desire to fly. Many are career-oriented. The survey showed the draft was not a prime motivation for Air Force cadets. Still other students avoid ROTC. In Army ROTC drill seem to be the primary repugnance. People stay away from the Navy because of the heavy mandatory workload. work-load. The Air Force's long term of required active duty seems to hurt its recruitment. Beyond the prime motives commissions, scholarships and avoiding the draft ROTC offers extracurricular activities and special spe-cial opportunities that are undoubtedly un-doubtedly attractive to some students. stu-dents. A Navy cadet finds that through his ROTC he can get into the Navy Air Corps and get his pilot's license with no additional expense. He can join one of two drill teams, a pistol team, or a rifle team. There's even a drum and bugle corp. Many scholarships are available, avail-able, and starting next fall they will be available to married cadets. cadet actually takes his turn teaching the class." An Appropriate Place The University is an appropriate appropri-ate place for ROTC the Air Force man contended because "a university uni-versity is more well-rounded than a service academy. An academy is not as exposed to society as is ROTC. On a campus you can become be-come involved in almost any area and come into contact with many people and experiences." And the cadet notes a more respectful re-spectful concerned relationship between faculty and students in ROTC departments. "As an underclassman under-classman you are treated like any student, but as an upperclassman you are treated as if you were already a junior officer," he said. Army Cadets join mainly because be-cause of the commission offered, a survey shows. The other common com-mon motives are putting of the draft and gaining leadership training. train-ing. In the Navy ROTC the major reason for joining is still the commission com-mission but the second reason is the scholarships offered with the draft taking a slow third. One naval cadet admitted that "about 25 percent of the freshmen are in to avoid the draft but they get weeded out to about five percent by the time they're seniors." sen-iors." Desire to Fly The Air Force cadets still want the commission first, but their I The Air Force cadet, of course, learns to fly. But he also has a better chance of going career if he chooses. And once a cadet's active duty is completed, he is highly qualified as an airline pilot or executive. |
