Harvard Hypocrisy on ROTC

To the editors:

To the current debate regarding whether or not to support a return to campus of ROTC (News, April 5), please allow me to add further considerations.

Whether one likes it or not, military service remains in this country a major conduit to power. For a great university to absent itself from injecting into the mix its own ideas and values is a gross neglect of duty and is a disservice to the nation.

Contrary to common assumption, ROTC is not mainly a refuge for the economically disadvantaged, but rather a path for those who seek to oversee and influence millions of dollars, service-members, voters, or what have you. For many, military service fulfills some inchoate, societal obligation and reflects honor upon the individual and the individual's family and associates.

Reflect upon this: Is Harvard a leader? Is Harvard in the business of producing leaders? Why then would Harvard recoil from producing `certain' leaders? If the Harvard community objects to the values and ideals of a particular segment of authority, shouldn't it, rather than abrogating its influence, seek to make louder its say? Disagree with current military thinking? Change it!

Seize the opportunity to indoctrinate future leaders with all the tenets and philosophies inherent in a liberal education.

If one truly has faith in the innate rightness and righteousness of a broad, liberal arts education and its ability to deliver truth even to the most unenlightened, does it not follow that the proper course is to dispatch as many missionaries as possible, even into war, wilderness and the lions' den? DAVID J. RISGIN   New Haven, April 7, 1999