University of Virginia Library

Williams Draws Fire
On ROTC Question

By Rob Buford
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

"A hot topic" was the way Dean of
Student Affairs D. Alan Williams described
the ROTC programs at the
University in the wake of a skirmish
between him and Chairman of Counselors
Bruce Wine.

Mr. Wine and another student, Michael
Russell, have charged that Dean Williams
deliberately misled them on different
occasions concerning a ROTC information
meeting held for first-year men
during Orientation.

According to Mr. Wine, he was told
early in the summer that there would be
no mandatory meetings during Orientation
Week at which the ROTC programs would be
presented to entering students.

Mr. Russell, who coordinates the Charlottesville
Draft Counselling Group, was angered
when he learned that "service information
meetings" were listed in the orientation
schedule as a mandatory attendance event.

"Dean Williams lied to me when he told me
about a month ago that there would be no such
meetings at which attendance would be
mandatory." Mr. Russell believes that Mr.
Williams acted in a "deliberate effort to
mislead" him.

"My charge," Mr. Russell continued, "is
based upon a meeting which Richard Boote, the
other coordinator, and I had Tuesday September
9 to ask Mr. Williams why such a
meeting had occurred after he told us it
wouldn't. At that time he told us that all
mandatory meetings had been scheduled for
months, and were coordinated through his
office.

"When we specifically asked him about the
nature of the "Service Information Meetings"
he stated that they were part of the ROTC
orientation. We then asked whether or not he
had indicated to us in August that there would
be no mandatory meetings for ROTC during
orientation. Mr. Williams said that some sort of
misunderstanding must have occurred, but Mr.
Boote and I asked him how this was possible
when the only information that was made
available to us concerning ROTC orientation
was the information he gave us.

"At that time he said that he had evidently
'misled' us but that he was not being
'duplicitous.' "

Replying to the charges, Dean Williams
stated fatly that the incident "was due to a
failure in communications which is partly my
fault. I never attempted to mislead anyone," he
said.

He continued, saying, "Bruce and I discussed
many aspects of Orientation during the
summer." Apparently, at that time there was
some doubt as to how the ROTC meetings
would be handled, and the trouble developed
when Dean Williams failed to notify Mr. Wine
of the final plans in advance of the meetings in
question.

In reference to Mr. Russell's charge, Mr.
Williams said that he did not want "to get into
name-calling contests" with anyone. Mr. Russell
has further claimed that Dean Williams "was
pressured from above to keep the plans for the
meetings quiet."

The service information meetings were held
on the night of Sunday, September 7. Students
were instructed to meet in groups according to
association membership. One first-year man
questioned said that there was much confusion
concerning the reason for the meetings because
of the wording of the schedule. Many
apparently attended thinking that they would
be informed about possible service to the
University. The description in the Orientation,
schedule made no mention of ROTC.

At the meetings representatives from the
three branches of ROTC presented reasons in
favor of joining their respective programs.
Three such gatherings were held concurrently.

Meanwhile, both Dean Williams and Mr.
Wine are promising studies in the near future to
determine more effective means of carrying out
Orientation. Mr. Wine especially wants to
investigate the matter of the ROTC meetings.

Dean Williams described the disagreement as
an "unfortunate misunderstanding on a controversial
issue."