Dartblog

In light of the recent New York Times piece on ROTC in the Ivy League — in which the College was not mentioned — let’s take a look at our ROTC program, of which I am a current member. I have previously written about ROTC at the College here.

To be clear, Dartmouth does support the ROTC. Our program has a $10,000 annual budget, and President Wright and a handful of Trustees (mostly petition, mind you) attended the commissioning ceremony last spring when Second Lieutenant Chris Koppel ‘09 officially became an officer in the US Army. The College was also able to help the program secure General Abizaid as a guest speaker and honorary degree recipient. In the classroom my professors have always been understanding when I have been required to miss class to attend a field training exercise or the like. Although most students are very apathetic, cadets have not been subjected to harassment or angry tirades as at some other campuses.

This level of support should represent the minimum standard in regards to the treatment of ROTC on an American campus today. It is embarrassing that some of the other Ivies cannot even do this. Dartmouth should be proud of leading its peers on this issue and should continue to be out front.

Dartmouth can improve its support of ROTC in two ways.

1. An ROTC scholarship covers our entire tuition, but it does not provide any support for room and board; currently that $11,000 charge is born by cadets and their families. Dartmouth should pick this up as part of financial aid, as do many other schools.

2. The Admissions Department should work to attract new members.

Adopting my first point would be a big step towards the second one. Receiving an ROTC scholarship is the major reason why I am able to attend Dartmouth. However, it is disapointing that the College is not willing to chip in one dollar of aid for the four dollars that it receives from the government for cadets who will serve our country for four years after graduation.

It may sound crazy to ask for more support for ROTC in a time of budget cuts, but the idea makes financial sense for the College. Consider this: when I first enrolled here I was granted $15,000 of financial aid each year. However when I was admitted to ROTC, I lost that money, which the College now had available for other purposes. Multiply a similar figure by seven (the number of Cadets currently on scholarship) and that’s over $100k! Cadets who qualify for more financial aid save the College even more money.

About half of all incoming freshmen receive financial aid; the average award is $32,413 in grants or scholarships. The College would gain considerably if we had a larger ROTC program with more Cadets whose tuition were paid for by ROTC. Even with ROTC cadets receiving free room and board, the College would come out ahead in the financial game.

Obviously these savings would not add up to the $100 million dollar goal of budget cuts, but they certainly wouldn’t hurt! I hope that President Kim’s search for increased revenues does not discard this notion without a serious look.