After entering the College following three years in the U.S. Army Reserve, Philip Aubart '10 needed more funding than the College's financial aid package could offer him. In exchange for a four-year commitment to the Army and enrollment in Dartmouth's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Aubart received a full tuition scholarship that financed his educational expenses.
"Dartmouth could do a better job of letting students on campus know that there is this program that can pay your entire way with a full tuition scholarship," Aubart said. "The College could do more in helping students realize this opportunity without necessarily pushing or advocating it."
ROTC programs at Ivy League schools have recently come into the spotlight, following controversy last month over Harvard University's lack of an ROTC program. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., recently called on Harvard students to mount opposition to the University's ROTC ban, at the same time that Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust said she would reconsider the ban if the federal government repeals the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, The Harvard Crimson reported.
Although it is officially run through Norwich University, Dartmouth's Army ROTC trains on campus, according to Sgt. Maj. Levi Bennett, who heads the Dartmouth ROTC. Unlike Dartmouth's program, Norwich University's Army ROTC is a standalone, which provides resources such as instructors to the College, he said.
Despite the growing size of Dartmouth's Army ROTC program, the College cannot guarantee a "decent amount of officers annually," Bennett said. The College's program usually has 10 to 12 cadets enrolled and is not large enough to contract an independent on-campus program, he said.
"We have more cadets who have made commitments in past years," Bennett said. "The program is on the rise."
Jacob Wijnberg '12 a cadet enrolled in the College's Army ROTC explained the three sections that compose the ROTC curriculum. The classroom session, which teaches cadets basic skills required in the Army, begins at one hour each week for freshmen and increases in length as the cadets advance, he said. Cadets are also required to attend a one-hour physical training session three times a week.
The last component of the curriculum is a weekly military lab each Friday, which is designed as a practical application of the class material, Wijnberg said.
The lab allows junior cadets to lead a squad comprised of members of other classes in mock missions. These exercises are often conducted with paintball equipment in the woods near Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
The length of military sessions are not predetermined, but depend upon the successful completion of the missions. While there is no set time span, the lab takes no more than a few hours each week, Wijnberg said.
Although the programs between Norwich and Dartmouth remain relatively separate, there are certain necessary collaborations between the two schools, Aubart said.
"We attend our weekly classes on campus, but for the big events where you need a lot of cadets and a lot of support staff we participate with Norwich," Aubart said.
The cadets are also required to participate in a field training exercise over a long weekend each fall and spring, Aubart said. The cadets either travel to a firing range in Norwich or complete mock missions that are "specific" to situations that they may encounter during their time at the Leadership Development and Assessment Course a 35-day assessment of a cadet's leadership skills typically completed between a cadet's junior and senior years of college Aubart said.
Many colleges and universities discontinued their ROTC programs at the height of the Vietnam War as a form of protest to the war, Bennett said. Princeton University and Cornell University are the only two Ivy League schools with on-campus Army ROTC programs, according to Bennett.
Aubart said he believes that the military needs strong, well-educated leaders that come from schools of the same the caliber as Dartmouth.
"By not having ROTC programs, I think that these schools are not only missing one element of diversity on campus, but they are also hurting the U.S. Army, in that there isn't as easy a pass for students to participate in ROTC at those schools," he said. "A lot of students at these schools are highly qualified to be army officers."
Aubart obtained an education delay from the Army that will allow him to complete his studies at Duke Law School. Afterward, Aubart plans to serve his time in the Army as an attorney, he said.
Wijnberg recalled a few examples of universities refusing to reinstate their on-campus ROTC programs because students were concerned that the programs would be an endorsement of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy."
A "subconscious aversion to the idea of a military" may cause the lack of on-campus knowledge or enthusiasm for the ROTC program at the College, Wijnberg said.
"The military isn't just for people who have nothing better to do, nor is it beneath someone with an Ivy League education," he said.
