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The Student Assembly tabled a contentious statement to support Dartmouth's Reserve Officers' Training Corps Tuesday night amid questions of whether the Assembly's support for the program would alienate gay students.
Carrie Pelzel, the College's vice president of development, attended the meeting to discuss the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience, and Assembly members passed a resolution to update and distribute student rights cards.
Elisa Donnelly '07 and David Nachman '09 sponsored the statement in support of full scholarships for Dartmouth ROTC members after ROTC member Jason Hartwig '06 spoke to the group last week about the declining importance of ROTC at the College.
Dartmouth is one of only three Ivy League schools at which ROTC members do not receive full scholarships, and many fear that a lack of funding will cause potential Dartmouth ROTC members to attend college elsewhere, Donnelly said.
Donnelly cited a survey conducted by the Assembly last spring, in which 69 percent of students polled said that the administration should do more to help the program.
Donnelly stressed that neither the Assembly nor the College would actually be involved in providing money for the program, but that College backing is crucial for the ROTC to receive Army funding.
"By stating our support for the program, we are showing the campus and the Army that we think it is important," Donnelly said.
Many Assembly members, however, were hesitant to endorse a program that employs the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Under the policy, openly gay students would be able to participate in the program and receive scholarships under the discretion of Dartmouth's ROTC supervisor but would not receive commissions in the Army after graduation like all other ROTC members.
Some members said they felt that showing support for the program was unlikely to bring increased funding and would only hurt the Assembly's image and alienate a section of the student body.
Pelzel spoke to the Assembly for 20 minutes, during which she urged students to personally thank donors for their gifts to the College's capital campaign.
"Nothing means more to an alumnus or parent than to hear from a student," Pelzel said.
