ABSTRACT
Students across the country, in growing numbers, have been picketing, protesting and demonstrating against the presence of Reserve Officer Training Corps units (ROTC) on their college campuses. Most recently, notably at the Ivy League institutions, undergraduates have been putting pressure upon educational administrators to withdraw academic credit for ROTC courses. ROTC, since the Korean conflict, has been the Army's major source of officers. With the passage of the ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964, the program has been modified to incorporate a number of additional inducements to prospective enrollees. The long hours required by ROTC have become "an intolerable burden" in the face of increasing academic demands on students. The trend toward optional ROTC is a direct response to the active student protest against ROTC programs on many college campuses. The decision of a number of schools to strip ROTC of academic standings poses a serious threat to the military.
