Students Give Nod to Navy

Students favored the return of a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program to campus by a two to one margin in a recent poll conducted by the Student Assembly, which will vote on the matter next term. Student Assembly President Kevin Rosen 'B4 said to the Dartmouth, "This is a good example of how the Student Assembly is effective in presenting student opinion to the administration, faculty, and Board of Trustees." He called the 63-percent response to the poll "a significant enough cross-section of the campus."

Respondents were asked to note the single most important factor in their decision; at the top of the list for those favoring the plan was the "scholarship aid and career opportunities" offered by NROTC, while the prime consideration for those opposing the program's adoption at Dartmouth was the "inconsistency of ROTC with the goals of a liberal arts education." In another question, 66 percent of the respondents said they would not have seri- ously considered applying for an NROTC scholarship if the program had been available when they applied.

The overall 66-34 split was just the reverse of a two-to-one vote to abolish NROTC in a 1969 poll to which roughly 90 percent of . the student body responded.