USenate not ready to consider ROTC with ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ still uncertain

Even though the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy may soon be repealed, the University Senate does not plan to reopen the possibility of bringing the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps to campus until the repeal is official.

DADT has been at the heart of the ROTC discussion for the past several years, said University Senator and astronomy professor James Applegate.

In 2005, the University Senate voted 53-10 against having ROTC on campus, with five abstentions. Then, in 2008, the student body voted against ROTC, with 51 percent opposed and 49 percent in favor.

One main reason for the smaller margin in 2008, Applegate said, was the substantially higher military presence on campus in 2008, due to the increased recruiting of veterans by the School of General Studies.

“They were basically split even, and it was dominated by ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Applegate said of the 2008 vote. “My personal guess is that if you got rid of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and said ‘Do you want ROTC back?,’ the vote would be overwhelmingly ‘yes.’”

If DADT is repealed, Applegate said the issue will go back to the University Senate and that body would most likely pick up the issue where it left it in May 2005. The USenate would in that case reconsider the resolution, which called for the establishment of an ROTC program on campus “as soon as is practicable.”