University of Virginia Library

ROTC Alert

Remember back in the fall when the
College Faculty voted to do away with degree
credit for ROTC courses starting in 1971?
You thought the issue was settled then, didn't
you? Well, that just goes to show how easily
deceived you can be. The ROTC credit
question may be still very much a live issue.

The motion that did away with ROTC
degree credit contained a rider to the effect
that students ought to have a choice when it
comes to ROTC and that a committee be
appointed to investigate the feasible means of
retaining the ROTC units on the Grounds.
Not too many people were concerned about
that rider - everyone took it for granted that
the credit question had been settled, and few
faculty members had any desire to throw the
ROTC units off the Grounds entirely.

But when Dean David Shannon appointed
the committee, things began to look a bit
worse. There were no students on the
Committee - according to Dean Shannon,
there was no need for that, since the group's
work would consist primarily of negotiating
with the Pentagon. Even more disturbing, the
committee of five faculty members seemed
stacked with some of the most outspoken
advocates of ROTC credit on the faculty,
notwithstanding the fact that the majority of
their colleagues had voted to remove the
degree credit.

Rumors are beginning to circulate among
the Faculty that this Committee is going to
try and help the ROTC units pull an end run
to regain credit. The theory has it that the
College liberals are tired of the whole issue
and that the Committee, if it avoided
publicity, could reasonably expect to present
its proposal at a sparsely attended April
faculty meeting and push the restoration
through by presenting a report to the effect
that the ROTC units are willing to make a few
token changes in their curricula, but will pull
out if they don't get some credit.

Material has been circulating among some
members of the College Faculty asking
whether certain people might not be
interested in helping to teach ROTC courses,
in curriculum planning to help strengthen the
academic credentials of the ROTC courses,
etc. It would appear, therefore, that there is
some validity to the rumors. How much is
difficult to ascertain; the committee's
chairman, Mr. Selden, assured us that it has no
intention, as far as he knows, of seeking to
reverse the faculty's earlier decision. But
the facts of the matter point to other
interpretations. Due to a misunderstanding,
the University Notice which Mr. Selden placed
with us announced the time of the
committee's open meeting as this past
Tuesday. It will be held next Tuesday evening
at 7:30 in 402 Wilson Hall. It might be a good
idea to attend and find out what's going on.