ROTC resolution passed by TCU

A long-running debate about the place of military on the hill was revived at Sunday night's Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate meeting.

Senior David Taylor, who is a member of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, came to the meeting with a proposed resolution supporting academic credit for military science classes. The Senate passed the resolution with a vote of 14 to five with four senators abstaining, but not before a heated debate.

The resolution, which has no binding effect on curriculum requirements, recommends academic credit for course taken as part of the ROTC program.

In part, the resolution states, "Whereas, students are explicitly denied credit because they are ROTC participants; Resolved, that the Tufts students involved with the MIT ROTC program deserve credit and recognition for the courses they take while involved in the ROTC."

"I'm disappointed with Tufts' policy with the ROTC program," Taylor said at the meeting. The lack of credit for the program made him feel "discriminated against by both individuals and the official school policy."

The University has maintained that the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays in the service violates the school's non-discrimination policy.

As part of his presentation, Taylor described his personal experience trying to use military classes for credit, but being told they could not count.

Taylor said he was personally not in favor of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

He said Tufts, with its liberal-minded students, should work toward a solution. "We're ostracizing the people who could alleviate the problem down the road," he said. Taylor said Tufts ROTC graduates would be better suited to work for reform in the Army's policy toward homosexuals, since they would be more receptive to change than graduates of the Citadel or West Point.

The resolution notes that the military sciences courses are not subject to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

"These courses are open to any and all students regardless of race, gender, religion, and/or sexual orientation," the resolution placed before the TCU Senate stated.

Some senators supported the resolution regardless of their personal opinion on the issue. "This will be the first step to get people thinking about the issues. To support the student body," TCU Senator Mike Abare said. "We have an obligation to support the resolution."

A representative from the Tufts Transgendered Lesbian Gay and Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC), Kit Stanton, and two co-coordinators from the gay advocacy group Emerge, Mario Ceravantes and Matt Pohl, disagreed.

"By accepting the [ROTC] scholarship you accept the closet," Pohl, who is also a member of the Senate's Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs Committee.

Pohl is a former TCU senator who resigned in December to focus on Emerge.

"I don't know what other means we have of sending messages to the government regarding the [Don't Ask Don't Tell] issue," LGBT community representative Patrick Brown said. "Would we be sitting here if the government was excluding racial minorities?"

Pohl argued that in order to gain ROTC scholarship money, students must agree to join the army, which is discriminatory.

TCU President Chike Aguh tried to focus the conversation on whether courses should count for credit, rather than the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. "What we are debating is should these courses count," he said.

TCU Treasurer Josh Belkin agreed. "The issue I see is Tufts not recognizing the academic credit, not government policy," Belkin said.

When Aguh tried to focus the conversation, Pohl became frustrated. "I'm quite furious these concerns haven't been addressed at this meeting," he said. Pohl then threw some papers and left the room.

He clarified his comments at Sunday's Senate meeting, noting yesterday that "Sure, the military can definitely be appropriate for some people, and a lot of people derive positive experiences from it, but in the end discriminating against one group means that [that group] can't take advantage of all the opportunities the program has to offer."

Pohl said Taylor did not have adequate evidence from professors to prove that the courses would be accepted by the University, even if ROTC students were allowed to petition for credit.

"Why should the university offer academic credit to a program that systemically discriminates against a portion of the student body," Pohl said yesterday.

TCU Senate Vice President Joe Mead said there was no need to punish cadets for army policy. "I do not think you can fight discrimination with discrimination. We're punishing students for things they have no control over," he said.

The resolution is the latest in a series of efforts by both liberal and conservative activists to change campus policies on ROTC.

ROTC was banned from the Tufts campus during the Vietnam War. According to Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, military science classes have not been approved to count toward the distribution requirements since the 1970s.

Other schools give academic credit for such classes. MIT students, who take the same classes as Tufts ROTC students, receive partial credit for military science classes. The Arts & Sciences Department passed a resolution in 1990 which said it would not cooperate with the ROTC until the military's policy on sexual orientation was change.

Many of these issues surrounding ROTC were also discussed further at last night's Tufts Joint Operations Meeting.

Joint Operations is the new name of the Tri-Service Committee, which represents army, naval, marine and air force ROTCs at the school.