Over the past several years, Tufts has taken clear and definitive steps to connect its traditional nature as a liberal arts college to the unconventional and quickly growing theme of active citizenship.
Among undergraduate researchers, Tisch scholars and volunteers, there is another group of students on campus that extends the idea of active citizenship far beyond the degree of most Tufts students.
These are the members of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), a group of students who incorporate military training into their undergraduate educations to prepare for a certain level of commitment to the U.S. military upon graduation. Despite the rigorous nature of these students' academic lifestyles, however, Tufts does not grant course credit for much of the work they do as part of their military preparation.
Junior Nancy Henry*, a member of the Air Force ROTC, explained that the ROTC program requires a great deal of time and commitment from its members. Freshmen must attend an hour-long class on joining the Air Force each week, while sophomores must take a similar class each week about the history of the Air Force. Juniors attend two and a half hours of class every week on military leadership, while seniors attend class for the same amount of time to obtain a practical understanding of post-graduation military life.
ROTC members also attend additional meetings and commitments.
"Everybody goes to a leadership laboratory," Henry said. "It's a chance for freshmen and sophomores to learn more hands-on type skills and for juniors and seniors to practice teaching those skills." The classes take place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which services cadets from MIT, Harvard, Wellesley, Gordon, Salem State College and Tufts.
Henry said that in addition to the time she spends at MIT taking courses, she also listens to another ROTC course via video chat one morning per week. Tufts ROTC members must also submit proof that they have completed at least two physical training sessions per week.
Senior Ed Warren*, also an Air Force ROTC member, said that he would have appreciated the ability to get credit for the courses he has taken at MIT.
"As an Air Force cadet, you're doing four full classes, but you can basically count [ROTC coursework] as two full credits of time," he said. "You get a lot of academic achievement out of it, and yet it does not count as a course. For someone so busy with all of that commitment, still having to take five credits but it being equivalent to taking seven credits really strains the experience and makes ROTC a harder commitment to do. It's not rewarded with any compensation from Tufts academically."
Although Warren does not believe that the lack of credit discourages people from entering the program, he said that it may play a role in an ROTC student's eventual decision to withdraw from the program.
"There's a sizable dropout rate, and it may contribute to that," Warren said.
When freshman Tufts Community Union Senator Chas Morrison realized that ROTC students were not receiving credit for some of their coursework, he went to Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser in the hopes of encouraging a change in this policy.
"[Glaser] said it was unlikely to happen," Morrison said.
Glaser explained that this policy has been in effect for quite some time. "ROTC courses do not receive course credit from Tufts because of a faculty vote taken several decades ago," he said in an e-mail to the Daily.
Tufts does, however, make other allowances for ROTC, according to Glaser.
"There is a leadership course taught at [Boston University (BU)] that ROTC accepts and we accept (through cross registration)," Glaser said. "Moreover, the new leadership program will accept ROTC participation as a leadership experience that applies to the minor. (It's not a credit-bearing experience)."
Glaser said that ROTC students will not be able to receive credit for the courses they take at MIT in the near future.
"We don't have cross-registration with MIT," he said. "We do have cross-registration with BU. The cross-registration issue involves much more than the ROTC relationship and the situation is very unlikely to change."
According to Gregg Nakano, an INSPIRE fellow at the Institute for Global Leadership and an advisor to ALLIES, the student-led group on campus that seeks to create pathways for understanding between civil and military leaders, ROTC has a rich and important history at Tufts.
In 1941, Tufts became one of eight schools awarded a Naval ROTC unit after University President Leonard Carmichael solicited a number of Washington, D.C. officials in pursuit of a program. Carmichael praised the NROTC program because it helped increase enrollment to the university when high demand for men to fight in World War II had decreased the size of the student population.
"So while the military was beneficial for the survival of Tufts through World War II and had as many as 70 percent of its male student population enrolled in ROTC during the Korean War era, the military was banned from active campus presence when it became politically inexpedient in the 1960s," Nakano told the Daily in an e-mail.
While Nakano does not necessarily believe that ROTC should be allowed back on campus the way it was during World War II, he does believe that Tufts is reflecting a national schism between civilians and members of the military.
ROTC members had mixed feelings regarding their place at Tufts. While Warren does not feel unwelcome on campus as an ROTC cadet, he feels a certain level of ambivalence on the part of the administration and his fellow students, citing the history of the ROTC program at Tufts in comparison to the current lack of accreditation of his courses.
Warren, however, believes this may be changing.
"I think most people on campus hold pretty liberal views and, in theory, don't support the military, and I feel that in personal interaction," he said. "But on the whole, I've noticed a trend of more curiosity and openness to what we're doing. It's not a simple issue, and it's great that Tufts students are willing to look past the initial biases that they have."
Henry has found the administration to be supportive of ROTC. "I definitely feel really supported, not just by the administration, but also by the faculty. We had a ceremony on Memorial Day, and Dean Glaser attended, and they supported us with that."
Still, Henry said there is room for slight improvement. "The only thing I could think of would be if Tufts could somehow provide transport [to MIT], but that would be really difficult because everybody goes at different times," Henry said.
Regardless of what form it can take, cadets like Warren and external supporters of ROTC like Nakano and Morrison believe that it is imperative that Tufts support an awareness of the military and the kind of soldiers that the ROTC program forms. "[ROTC] is actually making the army less conservative," Morrison said. "The military academies have a very set way of thinking that emphasizes how to get the job done. Liberal arts questions how you get the answer and focuses on intellectual stimulation. Having people of different backgrounds in the military is a very healthy thing to have."
Warren said he believes that Tufts' potential to provide more support to soldiers would be extremely valuable to the military.
"Tufts is a prestigious university, and right now there's a lack in the military of the elite, of the brightest people. There is a need for that," he said. "People in the field need to make decisions, understand context, and being from a liberal arts university makes you a better officer."
*The views of both Henry and Warren reflect their positions as members of the Tufts student body and are not reflective of the ROTC.
