A little more than a year after surviving a near-death experience, Dartmouth's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program is still alive and the debate over the decision whether to keep the program has largely subsided.
ROTC, derided by some as the embodiment of institutionalized homophobia, sparked tensions on campus last spring as the College's Board of Trustees prepared to vote whether to continue the program.
The Board was forced to address the ROTC issue because the military's "don't ask, don't tell" military policy conflicted with the College's equal opportunity principle. According to the military's policy, homosexuals cannot openly display their sexuality without fear of dismissal from the military.
The College's Equal Opportunity Principle states: "Dartmouth does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or status as a disabled or Vietnam era veteran in its programs, organizations and conditions of employment or admission."
On April 16, 1994, the Trustees -- in a controversial and conciliatory move -- voted to continue the program, leaving the future of ROTC and the College's stance on the military program unclear.
In the statement announcing their decision, the Trustees said they were in a bind because they had to "make an unconscionable choice as to which students to disadvantage" -- the ROTC cadets or the College's gay, lesbian and bisexual community.
The Trustees also said the College would work to change the military's policy toward homosexuals, which the Trustees viewed as unsatisfactory.
ROTC today
These days, Dartmouth's ROTC program is quietly going about its business and carving out its niche on campus.
Sergeant Terry Damm, the head of Dartmouth's ROTC program, said no one involved with ROTC has spoken much about the controversy which raged on campus last year. He said his cadets have only expressed relief that the debate has subsided.
"The U.S. military policy on homosexuals is only one of the many policies obeyed every day," Damm said. "There are no on-going plans to promote the policy, we're just going about our business."
Damm said during last year's debate the cadets strongly supported ROTC and they felt people were not knowledgeable about what the program offers to students.
Brandon Del Pozo '96, an ROTC cadet who took a leading role in the effort to keep the program on campus, said while there was a genuine concern last spring, ROTC cadets don't talk about the debate very much today.
"These days it's business as usual," Del Pozo said in a recent interview. "We go about our training ... we leave people alone, they leave us alone."
Currently, 26 students are enrolled in the program -- four seniors, six juniors, seven sophomores and nine freshmen -- a relatively small number, according to Damm.
Bill Bleier '98, a cadet in the program, said he knows "a lot of people who wouldn't be here without" ROTC and its financial benefits. He said the controversy is "not something we discuss at length, but it comes up every now and then."
Del Pozo said membership in ROTC may be increasing at the College because students are seeking the added economic security and the prestige of being in uniform.
Del Pozo said the program's opponents should note the College's efforts to change the military policy and that historically, no one has either been kicked out of Dartmouth's ROTC program for admitting they are homosexual nor been denied admission for answering on the application they are gay.
Working for change
Since the Board's decision, the College has worked to change the military policy on the national level.
When the Trustees announced their decision to keep ROTC at Dartmouth, they also admitted the program discriminates against homosexuals.
To compensate for retaining the ROTC program, the Board said the College would work to change the military's policy on homosexuals by submitting amicus briefs in court, pressuring national government officials and working with other schools and institutions.
Special Assistant to the President Peter Gilbert said he has refocused the College's resources to the judicial branch of government, where Gilbert said there is the greatest likelihood the College can change the military's policy.
"The focus of the College's efforts is judicial -- through the courts is the best opportunity to play a helpful role," Gilbert said.
Gilbert, who is the College's point-man in the effort to change the military policy, said Dartmouth is a member in a coalition of universities and groups that are "prepared to join in a collaborative effort in support of a legal challenge."
Recently, there was new hope for opponents of the gay ban. On March 30, Judge Eugene Nickerson of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., struck down the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, saying it violates the First and Fifth Amendments and caters to the prejudices of heterosexual troops.
"Congress may not enact discriminatory legislation because it desires to insulate heterosexual service members from statements that might excite their prejudices," Nickerson told The New York Times.
Gilbert said Nickerson's ruling, which is the first legal rejection of the government's policy, makes him more optimistic about the College's efforts to affect change.
English Professor Peter Saccio, who helped mobilize support among faculty against ROTC, said the prospects have dimmed for changing the policy through legislation because of the new Republican majority in Congress. The majority, composed largely of conservatives, supports the ban.
Faculty and student response
Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Organization co-Chair Earl Plante '94 said people have generally accepted that the Trustees have made their final decision. He said trying to work against the decision would be "running up against a brick wall."
Plante said he has not heard very much about the status of the College's efforts to change the policy on the national level.
Saccio said there has not been a recent concerted effort by the faculty to get the Trustees to overturn their decision.
At its 1994 Winter-term meeting, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to recommend the Board eliminate ROTC. When it voted to continue ROTC, the Board went against the recommendations of both the faculty and College President James Freedman.
"I'm still upset about the decision," Saccio said. "It was a bad one and the wrong one for Dartmouth to make."
The faculty reaffirmed its stance against ROTC following the Board's decision and asked the Trustees to explain the rationale for the action.
Saccio said about 25 professors met with the Trustees at the Board's June meeting to express their dismay about the decision. Saccio said he thought that meeting was probably the "last episode of public debate" between the faculty and the Board on the gay ban.
Religion Professor Susan Ackerman, the co-convener of the Coalition for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns, said the faculty and the College's gay community continues to disagree with the Trustee's decision.
"The faculty response has been that we did whatever we could do, fought the good fight, and we left," she said.
She said Gilbert has kept her informed about the College's efforts, but she added that while the College has followed the Trustees' mandate, there is only a small chance for change through executive or legislative channels.
In 1991, the Board said it would discontinue ROTC in two years if the U.S. Department of Defense did not change its policy prohibiting gays from serving in the military.
But encouraged by the election of President Bill Clinton, who pledged during his campaign to end the gay ban, they voted in April 1993 to grant ROTC a one-year extension at the College.
