Ben sent us a link to an article by Daniel Flynn on Frontpage Magazine that recounts the history of the removal of ROTC from some college campuses during, and to protest, the Vietnam War. It reminded me of the events much more recently at the university where I taught ROTC for a few years. It was at the University of Vermont, and if I remember correctly, it was in 1989.
We were a small unit with about 30 cadets and our office was a two-story house between the campuses and the residences. One morning I came in to do my daily PT and discovered that someone had broken the glass in the front doors and spread red paint over our porch in some weak attempt at intimidation. Like I said, it was 1989 – what pray tell was going on in the world that could inspire such an act of childish endeavor?
There were usually posters stuck up near our building from Geezers For Sitting On Our Hands about the evil US war machine which was destroying corn crops in El Salvador with mini-guns. At the time each round of 20mm was about $50 a piece, so it always seemed to me that if the Army wanted to destroy a corn field, there were cheaper ways to do it.
That same year, teachers at UVM shut down my Wilderness Survival class (a half-credit PE class) by complaining that I was abusing the chickens I bought for the students to kill and eat because I’d teach them to pull the heads from the chickens – a method approved by the ASPCA as humane. When that didn’t work, they disapproved of the way the chickens were stored in cages the night before our exercise. The recommendation that came from the board after my testimony was that we take the students on a field trip to a slaughtering facility. So, obviously, we weren’t going to get any rational alternatives and we shut down the program.
Within a few months of that, the university decided that they needed our building for another department and they made plans to move us off campus – several miles away to the campus of Saint Micheal’s College, a Catholic college, to an ancient set of government quarters. Of course, the best part of being on campus was our access to students for recruiting purposes. Despite our protests, we were forced to move. Our cadets suffered most because they were unable to get our offices for help with their various activities.
Anyway, this was all before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and it wasn’t until after they’d moved us someone made the connection to the gay issue as an excuse to keep us off campus. So I don’t expect the repeal of DADT to yield much more access to campuses.
But, but…..it’s all sunshine and skittle farting unicorns now! Are you implying that DADT was just one in a long line of excuses to keep ROTC off college campus??? I’m shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED!!
“Like I said, it was 1989 – what pray tell was going on in the world that could inspire such an act of childish endeavor?”
Probably Panama.
Anyway, they just lost their most convenient excuse to keep the military off campus. And that’s all it ever was–an excuse. The great thing about excuses is that they can always think up another one.
I wonder, if they’re so upset about the military’s “discriminatory” anti-homosexual policy, would they consider boycotting ROTC until the military ends its discriminatory affirmative action policies? How about until women have to meet the same physical standards as men? Didn’t think so.
Just Cause was in December, 1989. All of this happened before December.
“what pray tell was going on in the world that could inspire such an act of childish endeavor?”
I have a theory… was there a “Y” in the name of the day of the week?
So now that DADT is no more, does that mean our little liberal douchenozzles at Harvard like Sandy Korn are gonna welcome us with open arms?
Yeah, I didn’t think so either.