ROTC has troubling direction

I am disturbed by the frequency of laudatory human-interest articles on ROTC in the Daily Forty-Niner. Is it the result of conscious policy, naively supportive reporters or ROTC public relations efforts?

One of the problems with the ongoing natural turnover of students is that campus history is lost on the current readership and Forty-Niner reporting. ROTC has been a very hotly debated and widely opposed issue since the Air Force and then the Army invaded our campus back in the 1980s. ROTC is not a respected academic program. It has no peer review by the university facult y, nor is it accountable. Its instructors are certified by the Army and not by university screening and approval. Its textbooks and curriculum are not subject to university review.

There are many on the faculty who are disturbed by ethical concerns raised by the program. True, some students get a college education through ROTC, but is this not a refined form of prostitution? There are more wholesome ways to support indigent students than those inculcating the skills of killing and lockstep, bli nd obedience to orders.

There may be a place in our society for armed forces, but it is not on our university campus.

Robert Brophy
English department