N.R.O.T.C. Unit Alerted to Leave

No clear-cut orders from Washington, but "very good indications" from information available December 4, that the University ROTC unit will be disbanded by the end of January, were seen by Commander Roy M. Mundorff, associate professor of Naval Science and Tactics.

Commander Mundorff's press statement coincided with his directive posted on the Eliot House bulletin board warning all hands that "in accordance with latest information, the NROTC unit here will be deactivated as of 31 January."

Deactivation, Mundorff pointed out, means a return to the pre-war naval reserve program for civilians which was first inaugurated at Harvard in 1926. Under it any undergraduate could take courses in naval science, and if he qualified physically and academically, he would receive with his degree, an ensign's commission in the reserve of the U.S. Navy.

Anticipates Quick Conversion

The Commander said he expected that the College would revert to the old program quickly after the demobilization. "The wartime set-up was created primarily to conform to the draft regulations by actually enlisting the men in the navy. We couldn't maintain our civilian training policy in the face of Selective Service."

Mundorff emphasized that the nature of his "indications" were confidential but concrete. The ROTC unit at Yale is also confronted with a similar situation, he announced.

Not all of the 350 men in the program here will achieve civilian status by February, even if the Bureau of Naval Personnel follows its current signals. The 33 men in the most advanced class, 1a, will definitely receive their commissions around February 1, and will probably be assigned to active duty with the fleet.

The fate of the 10 per cent of regulars who are not enlisted in the naval reserve is still hazy. Mundorff did not know whether they will be sent to another institution to complete their training, or if so, to what institution.

"The entire situation is, unfortunately, pretty ill-defined," he commented. "The best think I can promise everyone right now is their two week Christmas leave, the first one since the war."