University of Virginia Library

Equalize The Draft

(Reprinted from the Washington Post)

The admission of General Hershey that it
is legally and administratively possible to
change the order of call in the draft ought
to be enough to set the Administration to
work doing just that. As the situation now
stands, draft quotas beginning in June will
be filled primarily by college graduates and,
in some areas, 19-year-olds will be virtually
exempt. This is as unfair to the college
graduate as the old system was to the
19-year-olds who weren't enrolled in college.
A better solution is for the draft's
order to call to include both college graduates
and 19-year-olds, thus putting both
groups on an equal footing while giving the
armed forces more of the men they want
and leaving a few for the graduate schools.

General Hershey also told a congressional
committee that he has authority to authorize
deferments for students actually enrolled in
graduate schools. He should exercise that
to the extent of allowing a graduate student
to complete the semester in which
he is enrolled at the time his draft number
comes up.