Advocates For Columbia ROTC

Sunday, April 28, 2002

Columbia: Forum "Should ROTC Return to Columbia"

28 April 2002 Forum: Should ROTC Return to Columbia? Comment: This was the initial meeting with groups supporting ROTC at Columbia. The handout is here.

Friday, April 26, 2002

Columbia: New York Sun

26 April 2002 New York Sun article "Patriotism is Columbia's Latest Cause Celebre".

Friday, April 12, 2002

Columbia: Spectator "ROTC Belongs at Columbia"

12 April 2002 Columbia Spectator column "ROTC Belongs at Columbia" by Eric Chen '04.

Wednesday, January 30, 2002

30 January 2002 SheThinks.org column "ROTC Renaissance" by Matt Continetti. Comment: The efforts of Advocates for Harvard ROTC mentioned in this column began far before September 11th; the group has been active since 1988.

Thursday, November 29, 2001

Columbia: CPR "Revisiting the ROTC"

Autumn 2001 Columbia Political Review article "Revisiting the ROTC: Is It Time to Bring the Reserve Officers' Training Corps Back to Columbia?" by Matt Continetti.

Monday, November 26, 2001

Columbia: "On Campuses, Seeing the Military With New Eyes After Sept. 11"

26 November 2001 New York Times article "On Campuses, Seeing the Military With New Eyes After Sept. 11"

Thursday, November 15, 2001

Columbia: Boundless Column

15 November 2001 Boundless column "Oh, Say Can't You See" by Sean McMeekin.

Tuesday, October 9, 2001

Columbia: "Hypocritical Diversity: Bring back the ROTC"

9 October 2001 National Review column "Hypocritical Diversity: Bring back the ROTC" by By Michael Knox Beran

Friday, March 10, 1995

Columbia: "From the Senate"

10 March 1995 Columbia University Record article "From the Senate"

Note: The Columbia University Senate registered disapproval of laws relating to homosexuality in the military.

Advocates for ROTC

is an umbrella group for organizations that promote an atmosphere supportive of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps on college campuses.

ROTC was active at all major universities in the United States until the Vietnam War, when it was de-certified by some colleges amid anti-war sentiment. Students at these colleges can take part in ROTC programs at other colleges and receive ROTC scholarships. Although much of the anti-military sentiment of the 1960s has waned, opposition to ROTC continues, centering around the "don't ask, don't tell" law about homosexuality in the armed forces passed by Congress in 1993 and signed into law by President Clinton.

ROTC is a core part of the nation's military training, producing more officers than the Service academies. At colleges without ROTC, students are growing up separated from some of the most important leaders of the future. Gen. David Petraeus, the military commander in Iraq, stresses that ROTC "is very important for our Army and our country" and that many ROTC graduates are "true national assets". President George W. Bush said "It should not be hard for our great schools of learning to find room to honor the service of men and women who are standing up to defend the freedoms that make the work of our universities possible". Both the country and the universities will benefit from having more such leaders.