ROTC Students at CSUN Report No Hostility : Sexual bias: Campus protests against a ban on gays receiving scholarships or serving in the military after graduation have left the university’s 21 Air Force cadets relatively unaffected.

It was the thrill of flying that first attracted Cadet Stephen Burrow to the Air Force ROTC program at Cal State Northridge, but it was the chance to help his country that made him stay.

“Learning to fly, initially that was my main motivation,” said Burrow, 23, a senior business major from Burbank. “Later I realized that that could change really quickly: One accident and you’re out of a flying position.”

For Cadet Lonnie Turner, 26, the officer-training program at CSUN provided a welcome alternative to working in the coal mines back home in Virginia. For ROTC Cadet Thomas Seeker, at 23 the youngest in a family of nine, it offered the possibility of a scholarship. Several of the CSUN cadets said they were following in the footsteps of parents or other relatives who had been soldiers.

Patriotic, practical, idealistic or merely loyal, the cadets interviewed last week during their Air Force Management and Leadership course said they have been relatively unaffected by recent campus controversy that has arisen from the U.S. Department of Defense policy banning open homosexuals. Although gays are allowed to join ROTC, they cannot serve in the military after graduation and neither can they receive scholarships because they cannot fulfill the required service commitment.

Part club, part class, part lifestyle, the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at CSUN currently has 21 members, who have pledged up to 10 years of their future to the service. Only Air Force ROTC holds classes at the Northridge campus, while about 20 other CSUN students participate in Army and Navy ROTC programs by cross-enrolling at UCLA.

“I keep almost anticipating it, but I have yet to have a problem,” said Seeker, referring to the controversy that has left the future of the campus ROTC program in doubt.

True, the cadets shifted uncomfortably in their seats during faculty meetings where ROTC was criticized for its anti-homosexual policy.

And they grimaced as first the Associated Students and then the CSUN Faculty Senate overwhelmingly voted to abolish the program, and again when students held sit-ins to protest the university president’s decision to overrule the faculty recommendation.

But as members of a student body raised on the glorious movie screen maneuvers of Top Gun’s Navy pilots, the cadets generally have encountered acceptance of and support for their right to belong to the military program.

Even on ROTC class days, when they must wear their blue-on-blue uniforms to school, the cadets said they have faced virtually no overt resentment.

“Today, when I was walking back to my car, one guy asked, ‘ROTC?’ I said, ‘Yes,’ and he said, ‘Way to go!’ ” said Cadet William Fortney, 21, a junior majoring in political science who considered going into politics, the CIA and the FBI before choosing the Air Force. He said he believes being an officer could be a springboard to success in other pursuits.

“I see it as a glamour position, a card to go off and do whatever you want to,” he said.

All five cadets said they are proud to wear their uniforms on campus, but only one, Fortney, said he frequently dons it on days when it is not required. Fortney helps with ROTC recruitment and he sees himself as a walking advertisement.

“Every now and then I see someone just looking away, but . . . I have yet to run into a liberal, anti-military faculty member,” he said. “When you wear your uniform, people ask questions. One guy asked about it and I got him into ROTC.”

Discussion of the fate of ROTC at CSUN began more than a year ago, when members of the student Lesbian and Gay Alliance objected to the Army’s proposal to expand into on-campus instruction. Their objections mirrored those raised by students at several other campuses across the country who argued that policies preventing homosexuals from serving in the military contradict campus anti-discrimination statements.

On March 22, two-thirds of the members of the Faculty Senate voted to oust ROTC. On April 16, President James W. Cleary said he could not support the resolution because university attorneys had advised him that states cannot preempt federal law. A week ago, the statewide CSU Academic Senate adopted a watered-down version of the CSUN proclamation that asks the Department of Defense to reconsider its policy.

The cadets’ instructor, Air Force Capt. Lynn Zabkar, agreed to allow the ROTC cadets to be interviewed for this article but asked that they not be quizzed about their opinions of the faculty vote.

Air Force ROTC first started holding classes at CSUN in the mid-1970s. Students who enroll must maintain a C average and must take four courses that include offerings such as U.S. Military in the Contemporary World and the History of Air Power.

The required uniforms cost about $120; optional patent leather shoes that save time on polishing cost $40 more.

Every ROTC student also has a job with the service--recruiting, organizing events, ordering supplies--and is expected to participate in weekend activities such as visiting Veterans Administration hospitals, organizing drills or raising money for charities.

The cadets said being part of ROTC rules out involvement in most other extracurricular activities, such as sports. Most said they have other part-time jobs and rarely have time for a social life.

Attendance at a four- to six-week camp is required between the sophomore and junior years, which is when most ROTC students sign a contract committing themselves to a certain number of years as Air Force officers after graduation. When they make the commitment, some students also receive a scholarship that covers tuition and books.

The five cadets described camp as the true test of their determination to enter ROTC. Days beginning at 5:30 a.m. and filled with running, exercises, drills, strategy sessions and more drills left all of them wondering what they had gotten into, they said.

“It’s not Club Med,” said Seeker, who has stuck with the ROTC program even though he didn’t get the scholarship that originally made him sign up for the program. “But at the end you really know what you want to do. . . . It’s hard to give somebody the duty, honor, country speech and get them to believe you.”

But Seeker said that at the end of the four-week retreat, when a patriotic song fills the air and the cadets are saluting the flag as it descends, “you look around and you see the toughest most macho guy . . . has a tear in his eye. It’s really emotional, but you can’t tell somebody about that. They won’t believe you.”