Student group stirs up ROTC debate
Alexander Roehrkasse
Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: Campus News
The perennial debate over whether the Reserve Officer Training Corps should have a home on Brown's campus may be reinvigorated with the creation of a new student group - tentatively called "Advocates for Brown ROTC" - calling for the military program's reinstitution on College Hill.
Jason Carr '09 and Josh Teitelbaum '08 founded the group to take steps toward breaking down the campus community's isolation from what they say is an important social institution.
"The military is a big part of society, and as of the moment, Brown has chosen to separate itself from it, and I believe it's a bad decision on their part," Carr said. "Brown graduates should be exposed to all walks of life, and exposure to the military can certainly inform Brown students."
Since Brown's own ROTC program left campus in 1971 over faculty protests of the Vietnam War, students pursuing ROTC have participated in the Army program at Providence College, the Patriot Battalion, which also serves several other campuses in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts.
Currently, only one Brown student is participating in the Patriot Battalion, according to Lt. Col. Paul Dulchinos, the battalion's commander and a professor of military science at Providence College. Since a spike of 11 Brown cadets in 1991, he said he typically graduates only one or no Brown students from the program each year.
Nevertheless, Carr said it's hard to gauge the true interest in ROTC on campus when institutional barriers make participation in the program difficult for Brown students. Carr said he considered joining an ROTC program but chose not to participate in the Patriot Battalion while at Brown because the University does not give credit for military science classes taken at Providence College.
For this reason, Teitelbaum said, the primary goal of Advocates for Brown ROTC will be persuading the University to award course credit for ROTC classes. The group held a meeting with Dulchinos Wednesday night to finalize a proposal it plans to present to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 and the College Curriculum Council.
Jason Carr '09 and Josh Teitelbaum '08 founded the group to take steps toward breaking down the campus community's isolation from what they say is an important social institution.
"The military is a big part of society, and as of the moment, Brown has chosen to separate itself from it, and I believe it's a bad decision on their part," Carr said. "Brown graduates should be exposed to all walks of life, and exposure to the military can certainly inform Brown students."
Since Brown's own ROTC program left campus in 1971 over faculty protests of the Vietnam War, students pursuing ROTC have participated in the Army program at Providence College, the Patriot Battalion, which also serves several other campuses in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts.
Currently, only one Brown student is participating in the Patriot Battalion, according to Lt. Col. Paul Dulchinos, the battalion's commander and a professor of military science at Providence College. Since a spike of 11 Brown cadets in 1991, he said he typically graduates only one or no Brown students from the program each year.
Nevertheless, Carr said it's hard to gauge the true interest in ROTC on campus when institutional barriers make participation in the program difficult for Brown students. Carr said he considered joining an ROTC program but chose not to participate in the Patriot Battalion while at Brown because the University does not give credit for military science classes taken at Providence College.
For this reason, Teitelbaum said, the primary goal of Advocates for Brown ROTC will be persuading the University to award course credit for ROTC classes. The group held a meeting with Dulchinos Wednesday night to finalize a proposal it plans to present to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 and the College Curriculum Council.