The Cavalier daily :: Wednesday, December 16, 1970 :: University of Virginia Library

Richard T. Selden, chairman of the
Faculty Senate committee on ROTC, said
last week that the ROTC programs at the
University will "continue only as long as
there is sufficient demand for them."

Statistics compiled from recent ROTC
reports indicate that the demand for
ROTC has declined considerably this
year. Army ROTC enrollment has
dropped 40 per cent from last year, while
Naval ROTC and Air Force ROTC
have dropped 28 per cent and 26 per cent
respectively.

Only 200 students are presently enrolled in
Army ROTC programs compared with last
year's enrollment of 328 students. Naval ROTC
enrollment has drastically fallen to 220 people
from last year's total of 305 while Air Force
ROTC enrollment has dropped from 144 to its
present number of 107.

When asked about the future of the ROTC
program, a spokesman for the Army ROTC
admitted that the "Army will drop ROTC if
the commissioning of officers is unproductive."
He also said "the Army will withdraw its
programs if the lack of University support is
shown." Colonel James P. Robertson, head of
Air Force ROTC programs at the University,
"It's hard to say just what is the cause of the
decrease of ROTC enrollment. It's a
combination of things."

Reduction of academic credit for ROTC
courses from 12 hours to six has been cited as a
major factor in the drop of ROTC enrollment
at the University. In the Spring meeting of the
Faculty Senate a motion was adopted creating a
Faculty committee which would investigate the
ROTC programs with relation to the academic
standards set by the University. This
committee, headed by Mr. Selden, consists of
eight faculty members from the various schools
of the University.

The proposed curriculum revision limiting
the credit of ROTC courses to six hours was
adopted by the faculty and administration only
after much deliberation. Before the revision last
Spring a person enrolled in ROTC could receive
12 hours of academic credit from the 15 hours
of required ROTC courses. With this new
revision a person in ROTC can presently receive
only six hours of academic credit while still
being required to take 15 hours of ROTC
courses. He does not receive any academic
credit for the remaining nine hours.

Faculty also called for an investigation into
the requirement made of ROTC candidates at
the beginning of their third year that they sign
an affidavit stating that they are not a member
of a subversive organization.

There have been numerous reasons cited by
students for the decline in popularity of ROTC.
Some first-year students, hearing stories of last
Spring's strike, were not encouraged by student
political attitudes to join ROTC. Also, ROTC
rules, such as the hair-cut requirement, added
to the peer group pressure against the military,
and ROTC in particular.

Last year 66 first-year men entered the
Army's four year program while this year there
are only 25 enrolled Air Force ROTC reports
show that while there were 45 first-year men in
their program last year only 23 enrolled this
September. Navy has dropped from 82
first-year men last year to 72 this year.

Of the 114 third year men in the Army
ROTC last year there are only 84 finishing their
final year. There are only 39 people in Navy's
third year program this year while 73
second-year students were enrolled in the
program last year. The Air Force dropped 12 of
the 37 second-yearmen from their ranks during
the past year.

Captain Walter C. Blattman, commander of
the Naval ROTC detachment at the University,
said that with the end of the Viet Nam war is
sight the ROTC units were only "returning to
peacetime numbers." and that, "The draft
caused people to join ROTC to serve as officers,
not as enlisted men."

Continental Army Command (Contact)
headquarters recently issued a statement
through the Associated Press about nationwide
ROTC enrollment stating that, "ROTC
enrollments are lower than last year- 74,000
compared to 109,700." The statement went on
to say this decline in enrollment may be
attributed primarily to the easing of draft
pressures."

The AP article also stated that "Other
factors reducing young men's interest in
military activities are the Army's efforts to
switch to a volunteer force, and the gradual
reduction in the armed forces as the fighting in
Viet Nam lessens." There was an armed forces
reduction of 200,000 people last year with a
projected reduction of 400,000 people over the
next eighteen months according to a recent
article in an armed forces newspaper.

Attempts are being made by the ROTC units
at the University to make the ROTC program
more appealing to students. The Air Force has
thoroughly revised the first two year
curriculum and will implement a revised second
two year curriculum next year. The Navy has
provided more scholarships to incoming
first-year men and its restrictions on majors will
be eliminated next year. Captain Blattman said
he also hoped that a new scholarship Medical
program would draw prospective candidates.

The Army has organized a publicity
campaign aimed at present second-year men.
Broadcasts on the University radios, advertising
in The Cavalier Daily and letters to individual
second-year men have emphasized the Army's
two year program beginning in the summer
before a student's third year.

When asked about the future of the ROTC
programs at the University, Mr. Selden
suggested that, "a period of quiet go by for
several years to see what happens." and
that, "ROTC is a dead issue."