The College

A "thorough review of the desirability and feasibility" of reinstating some form of ROTC at the college was authorized by the Trustees at their November meeting. Reporting on the meeting in his monthly press conference over WDCR, President Kemeny stressed that the Trustees at this time sought merely to initiate a fact-finding effort and a study of the "pros and cons" of restoration of military training at Dartmouth. The Trustees requested that a report be submitted to them in one year.

The issue of ROTC was revived a year and a half ago, when the Alumni Council requested that such a study be undertaken. At that time the Trustees termed the "overall question of ROTC and its relation to undergraduate education a matter that requires thorough review," but specifically deferred action until an "appropriate time." President Kemeny explained later that he felt any reconsideration of the emotion-charged issue should wait until American participation in the Viet Nam war had ended.

In his radio report President Kemeny cautioned against attempts to settle the question by contests over "the number of signatures that can be gathered on petitions or by the amount of noise that can be generated." He said he hoped that the question "would be considered on its merits," taking into account the needs and desires of that minority of students who might want to take ROTC, but without compromising the basic purposes of Dartmouth as a liberal arts institution.

In a subsequent editorial The Dartmouth commented that "the ROTC issue, tied as it was to the War, was the most intensely felt of issues at Dartmouth until the time coeducation was considered. Reexamination of the former question now, in a time of relative sobriety, seems eminently wise.... So long as there remain Dartmouth men who wish to find a career in the military, who wish to avail themselves of the opportunities of the ROTC programs, their legitimate option to go in these directions should not be hindered by the desires, even of a majority, of those who are highly critical of the military and who will remain unaffected by the presence of ROTC on the campus."

By comparison the same paper editorialized in April of 1969 that "ROTC is part of an immense military machine which is waging an immoral and unjustifiable war. . . . Many of the people who commit the American atrocities in Viet Nam are supplied by ROTC programs similar to the one at Dartmouth. By sanctioning the presence of ROTC on campus, even as an extra-curricular activity, the college gives at least a tacit support to this military effort. . ."