The following letter was sent to members of the UMBC community via e-mail:

TO: The UMBC Community
FROM: Freeman Hrabowski & Art Johnson
RE: Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Town Hall Meetings
DATE: May 8, 2008

As you may know, ROTC is a training and leadership-development program
for university students who are considering military careers and wish to
become commissioned officers. Currently, UMBC is a satellite site of
the Johns Hopkins University Army ROTC program, which serves as the host
site. This arrangement makes it necessary for UMBC ROTC cadets to
travel to the Hopkins campus for training and coursework.

Two weeks ago, the United States Army informed us that UMBC has an
opportunity to be considered to become a host site for Army ROTC. This
coming week, we will convene two community meetings to discuss this
opportunity.

If we become an independent ROTC site, our students could complete the
program’s requirements on the UMBC campus. Moreover, gaining host
status would increase the number of scholarships available to our
students. Under our current arrangement with the Hopkins ROTC program,
UMBC students have very limited opportunities for financial support.

We have scheduled two meetings next week for the campus community to
discuss this opportunity. Please join us either next Tuesday, May 13,
at 1:00 p.m. in the University Center, Room 312, or Wednesday, May 14,
at 12:00 noon in The Commons, Room 331.

We look forward to seeing you.

Today’s Baltimore Sun had more:

Faculty and other members of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County community have started circulating an online petition to protest a proposed ROTC unit at the Catonsville campus, which could open this fall.

According to faculty senate President Terrance L. Worchesky, the U.S. Army proposed establishing the ROTC unit during an April 25 meeting of campus leaders. The unit, which would be housed in an unused campus building, would function as a Department of Military Science, said Worchesky, who was present at the meeting.

Campus officials last night confirmed the Army’s proposal and said that responses from student government leaders have been positive, but that campuswide meetings will be held next week to give the entire UMBC community an opportunity to weigh in.

“There has been a desire on the part of students and prospective students, and also the Army, to establish an ROTC program here at UMBC,” said spokeswoman Lisa Akchin.

[...]

About 21 UMBC students participated in the ROTC program this academic year, Akchin said, but did their training at the Johns Hopkins University, which has a permanent unit on the Homewood campus in Charles Village.

“Having a program on this campus would open up a higher degree of scholarship opportunities for students,” Akchin said, as well as make the program more convenient for participating students. She said that though UMBC students constitute nearly half of the participants in the Hopkins unit, they receive fewer scholarships because the Army gives priority to Hopkins students in that program.

As of last night, more than 50 people had signed an online petition protesting the ROTC expansion to Catonsville. The petition says the Army’s treatment of homosexual soldiers conflicts with the university’s nondiscrimination policy, and also declares concern about “militarization” of the student body.

[...]

The petition itself:

We call on the University Administration to join faculty, staff, students and other members of the university in opposition to creating an Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at UMBC.

_Nondiscrimination_. Whereas ROTC openly discriminates against non-heterosexuals, we ask the administration to reaffirm its commitment to its stated policy of nondiscrimination: “The University of Maryland Baltimore County does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnic background, ancestry, sex, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran’s status, or religion in admission to and participation in educational programs …” (http://www.umbc.edu/ola/nondiscrimination.html)

_Civil Education_. In the spirit of President Dwight Eisenhower’s admonition against military-industrial influence in “the free university,” we call on the Administration to reaffirm the principles of civil education fit for a free-thinking, democratic society.

_Learning, Not Militarization_. In order to preserve the University as a seat of critical, independent thought, we call on the Administration to stand with us in principled opposition to ROTC expansion. We call on the Administration to oppose the empty rhetoric of patriotism and all such attempts at intimidating the spirit of free inquiry, dissent, and peaceful discussion.

_Decision Making Process_. The timing of this proposal does not allow for the necessary campus reflection, deliberation and public discussion for an informed decision making process.

For the reasons stated above and/or a variety of other concerns, we the undersigned oppose the creation of a ROTC program at UMBC.

I’m guessing there will be a pro-ROTC petition at some point soon. I’ll have more of a response on this matter later. I did start a Facebook group called I support ROTC at UMBC.

I will definitely be blogging more on this later.

Related posts:

1. UMBC and ROTC, continued
2. Update on “threatening” flyers at UMBC
3. “Threatening” flyers posted on campus at UMBC
4. Armed Robbery on campus at UMBC
5. UMBC sued by pro-life group over free speech zones