Alumni, cadets work to gain credit for ROTC classes

While Tufts students have the opportunity to participate in the well-known Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, current university policies have made the experience more challenging for some.

ROTC cadets at Tufts are required to travel to the MIT campus for all ROTC related activities, be it physical training or one of the mandatory military science classes.

In addition to not having ROTC events take place on campus, Tufts has a policy that it will not recognize any of the MIT-sponsored class credits earned by participating students.

A group of eight to nine Tufts naval ROTC (NROTC) alumni from the 1940s era have formed an ad-hoc type committee to campaign for at least a naval ROTC base on the Tufts campus, if not all three branches.

Jay Samuels, LA'45, and a veteran of World War II, has been working on the two main priorities of the committee.

"First of all, MIT students receive partial credit for the ROTC classes they take, and Tufts cadets should have credit, too. It's not fair. Secondly, Tufts cadets must depend upon private transportation, like their personal cars, to get to MIT everyday. We need a jitney or some form of public shuttle that can make this easier for them."

"I didn't speak to any of the faculty or administrators at Tufts yet about ROTC in general, because most of the time that I spoke to administrators at Tufts it has been about the NROTC," Samuels said. "I'm involved with a lot of alumni relations at Tufts, and I'm at the school often, so my conversations with the administrators have been during those times, and have been rather informal." He declined to reveal the names of the members of the administration with whom he spoke.

Samuel has wanted Tufts to establish an on-campus ROTC base for the past 14 years, primarily during the DiBiaggio and the current Bacow eras, "but we did not find out about the credits and transportation issues until the past five and six years."

"I've been getting some promises, but this kind of situation takes time, and it's much too early to see any results," Samuels said.

Similarly, sophomore ROTC cadet Sean Colon has been planning to talk to the administration about the credit issue. Colon has spoken with TCU senator Jose Vazquez about taking action against the administration, but nothing has been achieved yet.

"This past semester has been busy with the Sept 11th ceremony , UN day, and the Veteran's Day event," said Colon.

Military science classes have not been approved to count toward the distribution requirement for Tufts since the 1970s, according to Dean of Students Bruce Reitman

At the end of the Vietnam era the program was derecognized and students were allowed to take courses at MIT.

"By no means does the University discourage ROTC. We send out informative literature and we believe the $10,000 per year scholarship opportunity is great," said Reitman. "There was just controversy again about the issue of sexual preference, as well as the fact that some faculty members don't think a military science class is appropriate."

"It is essentially the faculty and only the faculty that makes the ultimate decisions about which classes may or may not be approved," he said.

The ROTC's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy has been an area of conflict between the program and the University.

Vazquez explained that informal proposals to accept ROTC credit have been rejected based on the findings of the 1993 Task Force on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual issues. The Task Force report cited a 1990 Arts and Sciences resolution which stated the intent to not cooperate with ROTC until their policy on sexual orientation was changed.

While the resolution, which called for a halt to the acceptance of ROTC scholarship money by 1998 should the policy remained unchanged, was not completely followed, its intent has been maintained.

"I think maybe the reason why this is not in effect today is because it would affect government funding to the University. Refusal to accept students applying for ROTC scholarships could mean a violation of federal law for Tufts. That could put us at risk for federal funding, possibly in the form of grants. I don't know of any schools which have rejected ROTC scholarships," said TCU senator Matt Pohl.

Samuels said that his committee does not discuss the issue of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'.

"The members of our committee and myself do not get involved with that subject. It doesn't come up in our conversations, it doesn't become an issue to us. I do recognize that it's an issue on campus, as well as nationally, but it has never really been an issue to us," he said.

Colon said that Tufts cadets spend between two and 14 hours per week at MIT. Freshmen take part in the fewest courses and physical training activities, while seniors have the most commitment.

Because the University does not give credit for ROTC courses, "the Tufts ROTC program doesn't have the strongest reputation right now," Colon said.

However despite the controversies surrounding ROTC, sophomore cadet Chris Robbins recently joined. He did not participate in ROTC his freshman year but signed up this year "I want to try and go into the government career field," he said. "ROTC is a great opportunity, especially with the scholarships. I just don't see myself as working in an office cubicle job."

Though Robbins is irritated by the lack of credit for his military science courses, it was not a deterrent.

"It makes my life a little more difficult, but [the University] has the right to do what they want to do," he said.

Reitman and fellow administrators are well aware that the requests from ROTC cadets on campus are out there.

"I think it is a good affiliation to have with our campus," Reitman said. "The scholarships, as well as graduating from Tufts and ROTC can make a real difference for some students when they're deciding where to apply to school. Plus, it's like an automatic career after graduation."

Other ROTC programs do not have the same problems. "Tufts ROTC cadets have every right to be upset," Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) sophomore Air Force ROTC cadet Mike Gerstenhaber said. "At RPI, four distribution credits can be satisfied with ROTC courses."

Aside from Tufts, Harvard and Wellesley both send their ROTC cadets to MIT; neither school grants class credit for the ROTC courses. BU and BC both grant partial credit for ROTC classes.

The Tufts ROTC program has approximately 40 students enrolled and has remained relatively constant in recent years.

Seventy-five percent of all Army officers have been commissioned previously by ROTC.