The Pendulum Swings: The Fall and Return of ROTC to Elite Campuses, and Why It Matters
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Donald A. Downs
Concerns have arisen in recent years about the alienation of the military from civil society, and especially from many major universities. This “gap” is not good for the constitutional order, and it jeopardizes the classic model of the citizen-soldier. Movements have arisen to address this issue, including efforts to return Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) to campuses from which the program was effectively banned during the Vietnam War. This essay chronicles and evaluates such political movements in the Ivy League, in particular at Columbia University, which was “ground zero” for such campus movements. The essay concludes by discussing why the presence of ROTC on campus is good for society and higher education.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Military in American Politics
- Article
- Civilian Control and the Constitution
- Scholarship on Strategic Studies and Civil-Military Relations: Is American Politics the Neglected 'Poor Relation'?
- The Changing of the Guard: The National Guard's Role in American Politics
- Political Indecision and Military Muddle in an Age of Grand Strategy
- A Political History of the All-Volunteer Army
- The Pendulum Swings: The Fall and Return of ROTC to Elite Campuses, and Why It Matters
- The Politics of Military Bases
- Presidents and Military Command
- Joining Forces: Bridging the Civil-Military Divide
- Review
- Review of Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations
- Review of Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don't Kill the U.S. Constitutional System
- Review of Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Military in American Politics
- Article
- Civilian Control and the Constitution
- Scholarship on Strategic Studies and Civil-Military Relations: Is American Politics the Neglected 'Poor Relation'?
- The Changing of the Guard: The National Guard's Role in American Politics
- Political Indecision and Military Muddle in an Age of Grand Strategy
- A Political History of the All-Volunteer Army
- The Pendulum Swings: The Fall and Return of ROTC to Elite Campuses, and Why It Matters
- The Politics of Military Bases
- Presidents and Military Command
- Joining Forces: Bridging the Civil-Military Divide
- Review
- Review of Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations
- Review of Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don't Kill the U.S. Constitutional System
- Review of Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate
