Ouster of ROTC Program Rejected at Northridge

Cal State Northridge President James W. Cleary on Monday rejected a recommendation to oust the school’s ROTC military training programs, which the faculty wanted abolished because the Pentagon excludes known homosexuals from the armed forces.

The Faculty Senate voted by a large margin on March 22 to withdraw the San Fernando Valley campus from the Reserve Officer Training Corps program. But Cleary said barring ROTC from college campuses is unlikely to alter Defense Department policy, an argument advanced by ROTC officials who spoke at the March faculty meeting.

“Refusal to provide instructional space and removing ROTC course listings from the catalogue may be perceived as meaningless gestures that are not apt to move Congress to take appropriate action,” Cleary said.

Instead, Cleary said, state university attorneys advised him that getting rid of ROTC could jeopardize federal funding for the college and could hurt students currently enrolled in the program by causing the ROTC to strip them of their military scholarships.

Furthermore, university attorney Carlos Cordova questioned whether state institutions have a legal right to interfere with federal policy.

This semester, 42 Northridge students are participating in Air Force, Navy and Army ROTC, according to spokesmen for the three services. Of those, 11 receive ROTC scholarships which cover tuition and books.

Capt. Robert Feliz, an Air Force ROTC instructor, said ROTC cadets were ecstatic about the news. But Cleary’s decision angered some faculty members, who maintain that the military’s policy violates campus anti-discrimination policies.

“There’s unhappiness about it and . . . a feeling he may be overstating the legalities,” said Henry Abrash, president of the Faculty Senate.

The campus’ agreement with the Air Force ROTC, the only branch which actually holds classes on the Northridge campus, allows either party to terminate the agreement with six months’ notice. Army and Navy ROTC cadets from Cal State Northridge travel to UCLA for their classes.

“If we’re in our rights (to terminate) the agreement, our motivation for doing so shouldn’t be an issue,” Abrash said.

In a policy recently bolstered by U.S. Supreme Court rulings, avowed homosexuals are not allowed to serve in the military. Although openly homosexual students may enroll in ROTC courses, they are prohibited from accepting officers’ commissions after graduation. ROTC scholarships are given only to those eligible to serve.

The March 22 faculty vote, with 44 faculty members voting for the ban and 15 against, came in the midst of similar discussions at other U.S. colleges and universities. Harvard University discussed the military’s homosexual policy before deciding to allow ROTC--ejected during the Vietnam War era--to return to campus. Faculty at the University of Wisconsin voted to abolish the school’s ROTC program late last year, but their ruling was vetoed by the university’s Board of Regents.

The current controversy marks the first time since the Vietnam War that colleges have debated ROTC presence on campus. In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, the catalyst was anti-war sentiment, not homosexuality.

The issue arose more than a year ago at Northridge when the Army ROTC asked to expand its program onto the campus.

The Cal State Northridge Lesbian and Gay Alliance objected to that expansion, which prompted a review of the entire program by a faculty subcommittee.