Monday, April 25, 2011

Lead Story From CHINFO - Columbia University recognizes NROTC on campus

Columbia has reached an agreement with the U.S. Navy to officially recognize a Naval ROTC program on campus, University President Lee Bollinger said in a statement. The Reserve Officers' Training Corps has not been recognized by Columbia since 1969, when protests over the Vietnam War led to the elimination of Columbia's longstanding NROTC program. Bollinger told Spectator that the agreement is a “historic turning point” for the University.

Now that Columbia has decided that Naval ROTC is good enough for the campus - I really wonder if the Columbia campus is good enough for the U.S. Navy.  I don't think so.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since Congress repealed the military's gay ban late last year, several universities have begun exploring the return of ROTC, and additional federal funding, to campus.

Anonymous said...

Our CINC attended Columbia while the NROTC was banned and now he's Commander In Chief of our military. Shameful.

Anonymous said...

Captain Lambert,

It appears that many of the academic individuals of this United States have proven for the largest part to be Liberal Socialists and do not have the best interests of our country in mind when they act. I wonder what the curriculum for the students concerned might be; Minority Studies, Alternate Life Styles, Abnormal Philosophy 101 and related studies. I doubt very seriously if they will have Warriors 101 or anything of that order.

Very Respectfully,
Navyman834

Anonymous said...

Well, if I had a vote I'd stay we make them beg, wait a few years, then tell them "so sorry". They didn't want us...We don't need them.

Anonymous said...

@anon/1121: perhaps he should have remembered his crystal ball that would tell him he would be the CINC one day. What relevance does the absence or presence of a ROTC program at a school he attended have on anything? Did the last president's have one?

@navyman/0317: Won't these reconstituted ROTC programs have active officers leading them...and formulating the military science curriculum?

If there is a gulf between academia and those who serve (or have served..or would like to serve), commentary like this does little to help close that gap.

I spent longer than I care to admit as an adult learner (in uniform and after my service was complete)..in both non-traditional and traditional classrooms. The major reaction I received about my service was curiosity. I also have 11 years of experience as an adjunct instructor (in both community college and private, 4-year college environments). Never heard a negative word about my past service or the the current obligations of my classmates in the Guard and reserves.

After curiosity, here was what I found academics cared about more than anything else: the quality of my scholarship as a student and the quality of my pedagogy as a teacher.

Are there vocal, strident critics of the government --and of the instrument of government policy that people in uniform represent? Of course. And their message too does little close the gap.

Seriously folks: maybe both sides can learn from each other if we'd pause for a moment in formulating kneejerk reactions.