Council's ROTC Dilemma: Preparing for an About-Face

The proposed return of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) to campus electrified the student body last spring, and the issue is once again likely to dominate the Undergraduate Council's agenda this fall.

Some observers even predict that the issue--which prompted a full week of campus protests in April--could be a litmus test in the upcoming council elections.

Last spring two council members who were also ROTC cadets introduced a resolution urging the faculty to bring ROTC back to campus. It had been ejected 20 years before in the wake of massive student unrest and the takeover of University Hall.

After the council passed the resolution, activists launched a full-scale campaign against the decision, echoing the protests of 20 years past.

Their strategy--to argue that the military's policy of barring gays and lesbians from service should keep ROTC off campus--proved remarkably persuasive to council members.

The council's constitution requires that it work to stop discrimination based on sexual orientation, and it was this factor which prompted the council to reverse itself.

After the dramatic vote on the constitutionality of bringing ROTC back to Harvard, a host of other proposed resolutions dealing with the ROTC issue were put off until this year.

One of those bills, which would ask ROTC back only if it stops discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, is given a good chance of passage by some council members.

Regardless of which specific measures are considered or passed by the council, the ROTC debate is likely to become an issue in the campaign for council seats and for chair, much as the question of the nine all-male final clubs did a year ago.

For the Harvard student body, ROTC seems to be an issue that will not go away.