University of Virginia Library

Report Urges
ROTC Change

By Donn Kessler
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

In a report to the Faculty Curriculum
Committee, the ROTC Affairs Committee
and the Curriculum Evaluation Committee
of the Student Council have
requested that courses offered in Reserve
Officer Training Corps programs at the
University should not be granted academic
credit.

In the report given to The Cavalier
Daily yesterday, the two committees
analyze the ROTC courses and explain
why they thing ROTC courses deserve no
academic credit.

(See full text on page 2)

The two committees state that there
are two types of ROTC courses offered at
the University. The first of these are,
according to the report, "academically
oriented, including such areas as foreign affairs,
comparative government, and national security
policy."

The second type of ROTC course, according
to the report, is "professionally oriented." An
example of this type is an eight hour course
offered by the Army entitled "Leadership and
Management," in which the function of the
branches of the Army and small-unit tactics are
considered," the report says.

In the academic oriented courses, the
committees felt that the subject would be
"better taught by other University departments,
where the tradition of free and diverse
debate is encouraged" and where Department
of Defense manuals, "which present a simplistic
analysis of world politics . . . slanted so always
to be anti-Communist" are not used.

Contrasts Courses

The committees contrast the difference
between ROTC courses and other professional
courses, stating that in other professional
courses, faculty members are allowed to
establish the course content. In the ROTC
courses, the report claims, the Department of
Defense manuals "prescribe course content
and...the manner in which the material is to be
presented."

The report also states that ROTC has no
parallel to other professional courses. In other
professional schools, the report states, the
students are not taught by representatives of
the students' future employer.

Job Obligation

In ROTC, however, the students are
obligated to receive employment with the
armed forces upon graduation, and the report
claims that this practice is "antithetical to the
basic character of a university."

The report also comments upon the student
opinion of thy quality of the course. The report
describes student opinion on this matter
"diverse" but qualifies that, saying that some of
the favorable opinion of the ROTC programs
may be a "result of their desire to aid in the
continuation of credit."

The report also expresses the committee
members' opinion that the other departments
of the University would not grant assistant
professional rank to individuals who only hold
bachelor degrees, as is done in ROTC.

The report has been sent to the Faculty
Curriculum Committee and according to one
committee member, will be available to the
whole faculty at their meeting next week.