University of Virginia Library

ROTC Stand

Why was the article on "Pittsburgh
Drops Credit for ROTC
Courses" shunted off to the back
page between the "Rotunda Tree"
and Peanuts, rather than being
given the banner headlines it
deserved? Indeed, why was Peanuts
put on the back page? - it's far and
away your best regular feature.
Most importantly, why doesn't a
responsible University official declare
publicly why we have not
followed Pittsburgh's example in
dealing with ROTC?

Captain Meade's revelation that
ROTC courses are recommended by
the Dept. Of the Army is totally
irrelevant to our objections, to
them: it says nothing about the
anti-intellectual nature of those
courses (or is he merely "name
dropping?"). Furthermore, the Dept.
of the Army is hardly infallible -
one of its latest goofs was to advise
President Johnson in the early
summer of 1965 that American
combat troops, in introduced into
Viet-Nam, could have that country
"pacified." and begin to withdraw,
in the late fall of that year (!).

I suggest that ROTC be relegated
to its proper place as an
off-grounds military training center,
without University credit - or that
the administration publicly rationalize
its presence here (both it's
presence, and that of ROTC).