Yes on NROTC

The last and only time Columbia’s football team won the Rose Bowl was in 1934. In one of the greatest athletic upsets of the 20th century, Columbia defeated Stanford 7-0, thanks to a trick play carried out in the second quarter by quarterback Cliff Montgomery, CC ’34.

Montgomery was named Most Valuable Player of the game, but his accomplishments go much further than being part of Lion football’s greatest moment. Montgomery was commissioned as a lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War II, and is credited with saving the lives of 400 sailors during the 1945 invasion of Okinawa. Montgomery brought the flagship he was commanding alongside a burning destroyer in rough seas in order to bring the endangered sailors aboard his own ship before the destroyer exploded. For his valor in the face of the enemy, he was given the Silver Star, the third highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Armed Forces.

Montgomery is only one of many notable Columbia graduates who has made a difference in the United States Armed Forces. At one point, Columbia was producing more naval midshipmen than even the Naval Academy. Outside Butler, students can view a plaque that celebrates the 23,000 Navy midshipmen who trained at Columbia and served in World War II. A photograph of Columbia Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps students participating in a ceremony on Low steps hangs in the New York Public Library.

NROTC was kicked off Columbia’s campus in 1969 amidst anti-Vietnam War fever and has not been invited back since. The ’60s were a tumultuous time for Columbia, with great civil unrest that resulted in riots and a student takeover of campus buildings in April of 1968.

Forty years later, it is time to reclaim Columbia’s historic role in the shaping of the armed forces and our future military leaders. A university whose graduates include Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and Robert Livingston, among America’s great founders, Columbia has always played a special role in shaping our nation’s history.

The military is an imperfect institution. Policies such as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell are outdated and are not reflective of the values of our military and American society. Two days ago, over 100 retired admirals and generals signed a statement calling for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a federal law passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1993. Only Congress and the president have the power to overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Discriminating against NROTC does nothing to change this policy. In fact, Columbia’s actions have only further prevented the University from changing the military from within.

Columbia can have a role in correcting some of the military’s problems by allowing it back onto campus. I remember sitting on Low steps with thousands of my classmates as then-Senator Barack Obama said at the ServiceNation Summit that “it’s also important that a president speaks to military service as an obligation not just of some, but of many ... if you go to small towns, throughout the Midwest or the Southwest or the South, every town has tons of young people who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s not always the case in other parts of the country, in more urban centers. And I think it’s important for the president to say, this is an important obligation. If we are going into war, then all of us go, not just some.” Graduates of elite universities, especially those in urban centers, are underrepresented in the military. President-elect Obama has stated that he will work with military leaders to decide the best way to include openly gay soldiers in the military. A good way for Columbia students to have more influence on the military is to have an NROTC programs on our diverse campus.

Obama also stated during the ServiceNation Summit that it was a mistake for elite universities like Columbia to prevent ROTC from operating on their campuses. By not allowing NROTC on Columbia’s campus, Columbia is pitting itself against the military and chipping away from the possibility of playing a role in military reform.

Yesterday I went to read the commemorative plaque outside of Butler, thanking our University for its “generous assistance and unceasing cooperation in the training of 23,000 officers who went from the U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School to active duty in World War II to defend the principles which this university has always upheld.”

For most of its history, Columbia and the military worked with each other, not against each other. If the military is not what we want it to be, then we must work within the system to change it. To get the best and the brightest into the military, we must allow the military to train officer candidates on our campus. I strongly believe that my classmates could be among the next generation of outstanding military leaders of our country. Over 60 percent of all Armed Forces officers are trained through ROTC. More of those officers should be Columbia students. I believe that this remarkable institution that I am privileged to attend can continue to have an important role in shaping the institutions of the 21st century. One of these institutions should be the military. On Nov. 24, student councils will be conducting a survey asking students whether we want to welcome NROTC back on campus. Vote yes.

Lauren Salz is a Barnard College sophomore. She is the executive director of the College Republicans and the Communications Coordinator of the Columbia Political Union. Check Your Premises runs alternate Wednesdays. Opinion@columbiaspectator.com">Opinion@columbiaspectator.com