The article in the June 30 issue of The Dartmouth ("ROTC garners student support; admin. split") regarding attitudes toward Dartmouth's Army ROTC program created major misperceptions and raised questions that require clarification. The claim that a lack of College support is the cause of the Army's lower level of scholarship support for Dartmouth students than for those at our peer institutions is not based on any information from the Army, or on the facts of the situation. The fact is that College is supportive, and is not in any way "split" on the matter.
The administration's position is, quite simply, to fully support the existing program and the students who participate in it, while at the same time continuing to challenge the "don't ask, don't tell" position of the U.S. military and the federal government with regard to gays and lesbians who serve the country or wish to serve the country as members of the military. This is consistent with statements and actions of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees and administration for over a decade.
In mid-June, at President Wright's initiative, the President and I met with Major General Alan Thrasher, the Army's national commander for ROTC programs, during his visit at Commencement time to participate in the Dartmouth ROTC commissioning ceremony. In the course of that meeting we conveyed unambiguously both the strength of our commitment to the success of the Dartmouth ROTC program and the pride we feel for the accomplishments of the young men and women who have graduated from Dartmouth and been commissioned as officers in the United States Army.
Among the points we made to General Thrasher were: Participants in Dartmouth's ROTC program have the double benefit of being students at one of the country's finest undergraduate institutions and being part of an ROTC program affiliated with Norwich University, the birthplace of ROTC and one of the country's oldest military colleges. Since ROTC was reinstated at the College years ago, Dartmouth has provided on-campus administrative and classroom space for ROTC as well as access to facilities for physical training. In addition, the College provides administrative support for the program, and the ROTC instructor is included as a regular participant in annual staff retreats and monthly meetings with colleagues in the Dean of the College area. My senior associate dean and I meet with the ROTC instructor on a regular basis and have worked to address any needs or issues identified by the instructor.
The College's website provides information about ROTC at the same level as information about other campus offices and programs of interest to our students. Our ROTC program is included in an orientation week activities fair at our student center and last year was featured in a student-organized panel with three Dartmouth professors who have served in the military. These efforts reflect our ongoing commitment to help students become aware of the opportunities available to them through ROTC, and I have worked closely with a series of ROTC instructors to identify ways to further improve those communication efforts. Dartmouth is one of a handful of schools in the country that meets the full demonstrated financial need of its students, and we are confident that our approach to awarding financial aid to ROTC participants is at least as generous as those of our peer institutions. In the light of this information, the President and I urged General Thrasher to consider adding Dartmouth to the list of institutions where cadets are eligible for the highest value ROTC scholarships that are available. We told him that we believe that the Army, Dartmouth and our cadets would all be well and fairly served by that arrangement.
These actions clearly demonstrate the administration's commitment both to ROTC at Dartmouth and to achievement of military policies consistent with our institutional beliefs and values. In keeping with directives of the Board of Trustees, twin objectives guide the Dartmouth administration in its approach to ROTC on campus: to create the maximum variety of opportunities for our students to serve in positions of leadership and influence, including those in the military, and to speak up against policies that are not in accord with our own policies on equal opportunity, as is decidedly the case with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. It is certainly not always easy to pursue these objectives simultaneously, but this administration and its predecessor have consistently sought to do so and I have every intention of continuing to do so. I hope that anyone who is interested will take this into account in forming an opinion of the level of administrative support for ROTC at Dartmouth.
As the son of a career soldier, I am proud of those students and others who volunteer for military service. As I said in my remarks at this year's ROTC commissioning ceremony, I believe that service in the military is an honorable pursuit that is absolutely essential to our democratic way of life. In the same spirit, I believe that Dartmouth has an obligation that is deeply rooted in tradition to seek to change policies that deny equal opportunity to citizens of this nation.
