Word: rotc
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Well, that was certainly a close call. I was worried for a minute that, in light of the anti-Sikh policy, we might have to exile Harvard’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) to an undisclosed location in Kendall Square. But having seen the rationale of the rule in question, we can breathe a collective sigh of relief and go our merry ways...
...which is denied University recognition due to the military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy—should be invited back to Harvard. But there is one thing all sides—even ROTC supporters—seem to agree on: keeping open gays out of the uniform is a discriminatory act. Witness, for example, the words of John F. Bash ’03, whose opinion piece on this page began with the all-too-easy admission that “the United States military...
...nary a word is spoken against these regulations. No one cries for justice when deaf aspirants are turned away from flight school or foreign students learn that ROTC isn’t the club for them. We seem to recognize that in an organization where survival itself depends on individual competence and absolute trust between members, there can be grounds for having rules that differ from what we normally deem acceptable. In this light, the mere fact that a restriction exists, or that it is group-based, doesn’t make it discriminatory. What really matters is whether there...
...from doing anything without good reason. But it takes an act of mental gymnastics to leap from that principle to the conclusion that any group-based restriction is unjust. If Harvard wishes to trivialize the importance of military service by turning its back to the cadets and midshipmen of ROTC, it ought at least to justify its position with more than mere assertion. ROTC detractors can only win their case by proving that prohibiting homosexual behavior is unnecessary and persuading us that we should be more worried about whatever harms arise from that prohibition than about promoting the national defense...
Until they do, one can’t help but wonder if the shrill pitch of the ROTC debate has less to do with anti-gay bias than with the fact that homosexuals happen to be one of the groups deemed sacrosanct by the priests of the sensitivity cult. If so, then ROTC is simply one more sacrificial lamb immolated on the altar of political correctness...