Princeton Students Protest Return of ROTC

More than 200 students demonstrated Tuesday at Princeton to protest the possible return of Army and Air Force ROTC to the campus. Following a rally outside Princeton's administration building, the students presented President Robert F. Goheen with a supporting petition of 1154 signatures.

ROTC is making determined efforts to return to both Princeton and Brown, according to the student newspapers at both universities.

At Princeton, the Board of Trustees will vote next Saturday on whether ROTC should return. The faculty had decided in the spring of 1968 to end all academic credit for ROTC courses, and in the spring of 1970 all ROTC contracts expired and were not renewed.

In a university-wide referendum last spring, Princeton undergraduates voted to bring back ROTC as an extracurricular activity, and the Princeton administration decided that ROTC had met the necessary guidelines for reinstatement.

This fall, however, both the faculty and the undergraduate assembly voted against ROTC's return. But shortly afterwards, the University Council--a committee of faculty, students, and administration officials--voted in favor of its return, with both Goheen and President-elect William G. Bowen assenting.

At Brown, the Navy is attempting to bring back its ROTC program, which is scheduled to be phased out in June.

Captain John Kane, chairman of Brown's Navy ROTC program, said yesterday that he is in the process of negotiating ROTC's return with the Brown administration.

"We've met five of the guidelines that they've set up," he said, "but two important points have yet to be resolved." Kane referred to Brown administration's refusal to give the head of the ROTC program faculty status and to recognize ROTC courses for academic credit.

"Our insistence on the matter of faculty status is non-negotiable," Kane added.

Negotiations are being conducted with the academic departments in an effort to devise "cooperative courses"--regular Brown courses with some ROTC adaptions, Kane said.