University of Virginia Library

Extra-Curricular Credit

Several interesting developments involving
ROTC units in schools across the nation
suggest that we should reassess the three
programs at the University.

There are three arguments why students
taking ROTC should not be allowed to count
credit hours towards the 120 hours needed for
graduation.

First, a faculty committee on Education
Policy and the Budget recommended in a
study that the number of hours that students
in ROTC may count towards graduation be
reduced from 14 to 12. The committee also
suggested that the students be allowed to
substitute courses taken at random selection
from the College. Both these suggestions were
adopted by the Faculty and put into
operation this semester. One of the objects of
this policy is to make effective use of the
faculty instead of the officers of ROTC.

This is clear evidence that the faculty
committee recognized the need to upgrade the
quality of the ROTC curriculum and desired
to liberalize the schedules of students who
must fill their elective hours with ROTC
courses.

Argument number two deals with the
extra-curricular aspects of ROTC. One of the
three commanders we talked to admitted that
the ROTC training was almost "an
extra-curricular activity for most of the
students." There are members of many student
organizations at the University that
spend more time working on their organizations
than students spend on ROTC, but
these students do not receive academic credit
for their time and work.

Also, ROTC, as an "extra-curricular activity"
with credit, benefits only the student
involved, whereas a student who works, for
example, on the University Union, benefits
the entire University.

Third, there is a discrepancy between
schools of the University. The College allows
students to count 12 hours of credit in ROTC
towards graduation, whereas the Engineering
School does not. It appears there should be
some consistent program and attitude towards
ROTC status. The Engineering School obviously
recognizes that the majority of courses
offered by the three programs are not of
sufficient academic substance to merit credit.

At the same time, ROTC is very useful for
channeling officers into the armed forces who
have a liberal arts background rather than
service academy training. Also, the programs
can be very beneficial for students in preparation
for their service commitment, and for
draft status considerations. The units should
then be available for those who wish to take
advantage of them, but no more credit should
be offered for them than is offered for any
other extra-curricular activity. The number of
students now enrolled in ROTC is small - the
Navy has 330 students, Army 356 students,
and the Air Force 150 students. Such a small
number of students could certainly design
their schedules to fit ROTC in as an extra-curricular
activity.

Alfred Fernback, who was chairman of the
committee which investigated the ROTC units
here last year, said, "we encouraged the
programs to substitute courses and use the
regular faculty where possible. The object of
reducing hours and substituting courses was to
maintain the integrity of the 120 hours we
have to protect the academic standards of the
College."

The courses of the military services are not
of sufficient breadth and sophistication to
warrant academic credit. The faculty committee
must recognize this fact in light of the
recommendations. Sadly, the committee was
reluctant to go all the way and accepted
instead a compromise situation with the
ROTC units. The committee should re-open
its investigation with the purpose of withdrawing
academic credit entirely. — C.L.W.