Text of New ROTC Rulings on Enrollment Policy

The following policy pertaining to enrollment in the Air Force, Army and Navy ROTC units, Harvard University, is hereby announced. Further information may be obtained from the respective Departments.

Army and Air Force

1. BASIC COURSE:

a. Only these students who have a sufficient number of years of undergraduate study in which to complete the full four years ROTC program. Credit not to exceed the entire Basic Course may be awarded as provided in current regulations.

b. A student entering college as a freshman who, by virtue of previous military training or service, is entitled to credit for the first year, Basic Courses, but who, in the normal course of events, will complete the four years undergraduate study and graduate prior to reaching his 20th birthday, may be required to defer his enrollment in the second year, Basic Course, until the commencement of his sophomore year.

c. Initial registration of freshmen for Military Science 1, (Army) and Air Science 1 (Air Force) will not be restricted as to numbers. Through a screening process, final enrollment in each of these courses will be reduced to not to exceed 80. Selection will be accomplished in time to enable these rejected to drop the course without payment of the usual fee.

2. ADVANCED COURSE:

a. Undergraduate students who have completed the entire Basic Course, or so much thereof for which prior military service or previous ROTC training does not entitle them to credit.

b. With concurrence of the Dean of the Graduate School concerned, students at a Harvard University Graduates School who have completed the first year Advance Course.

c. Veterans who:

(1) Have had twelve (12) months or more of honorable active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard.

(2) Are in their senior year in college, (either the fourth or fifth year) in a course leading to a degree.

(3) Are not currently enrolled in this ROTC.

(4) Have not reached 28 years of age at time of enrollment may apply for enrollment in the second year, Advanced Courses, ROTC.

Under this policy, only these individuals who are considered by the Professor of Military Science and Tactics or Professor of Air Science and Tactics as being well qualified to become officers will be accepted.

Applicants selected must agree is attend ROTC summer camp during the summer of 1951 and, at the completion thereof, to accept a commission as a second lieutenant in the Reserve Corps and to serve on active duty for a period of not less than two years, if called by the Department of the Army or Department of the Air Force. An agreement to this effect will be prepared locally, signed by the student concerned and made a part of the present Advanced Courses contract.

d. Freshman may not enroll in the Advanced Course except under unusual circumstances, the merits of which will be determined in each individual case as it arises.

3. DEFERMENT POLICY:

a. Deferment from induction is effected through signing a Deferment Agreement.

b. Deferment quotas for Military Science II, III and IV and Air Science II, III and IV are allotted to the Military and Air Force Departments, respectively, by higher headquarters. Selection of ROTC students who will be permitted to sign the Deferment Agreement will be made from among all students enrolled in each of these courses by a board composed of officers of the respective Services and members of the Faculty of Harvard College.

c. Deferments once granted, including those currently to effect, are valid provided the terms of the agreement are met.

d. Selection of Military Science I and Air Science 1 ROTC students for deferment will not be accomplished until the beginning of the Spring Term.

e. Enlisted personnel of the Enlisted Reserve Corps and National Guard of the United States, concurrently enrolled in the Advanced Course, Senior Division, ROTC, and who have accomplished a valid Deferment Agreement, may receive a delay in call, to active duty until receipt of a commission or cancellation of their agreement.

Navy

The Naval ROTC Unit at Harvard includes three categories of students, i.e., "Regular," "Contract" and "Naval Science," information on each type of student together, with policies concerning each follows:

"REGULAR" NROTC STUDENTS are actually appointed midshipmen, U.S. Naval Reserve and receive a substantial scholarship from the Navy plus pay in the amount of $50.00 per month. In return they agree to accept a commission in the regular Navy or Marine Corps upon graduation and serve for two years. They may then apply for retention and become career officers or accept a commission in the Reserve and maintain this status for a minimum of four years. In asmuch as the procedure leading to this type of student commences nearly a year before the beginning of freshman year, the above information is believed to be only a matter of interest to the entering class.

"CONTRACT" NROTC STUDENTS are referred to within the NROTC Unit as Midshipmen for administrative purposes. However, they are strictly speaking, civilian college students who have entered into a mutual agreement with the Navy. By the terms of the agreement, the student agrees to complete the courses offered, to participate in one summer training period (now of three weeks duration and given after the Junior year in college), and to remain unmarried until commissioned. He further agrees to accept a commission if offered, and to serve if called by the Secretary of the Navy. At Harvard, "Contract" candidates usually first contact the NROTC Unit by letter during the summer prior to entry into Harvard. They are given application forms and asked to appear in person at this unit prier to fall registration if they desire to apply, in order to schedule the necessary U.S. Navy physical examination, interviews and test. When the candidate appears at this unit, he is processed and a "jacket" assembled on him. After applications have been closed, the Professor of Naval Science and his entire staff assemble and consider all applications. Selection of the quota set for that year by the Navy Department is arrived at and that information is disseminated. The quota this year (1950) is fifty students, who may be selected only at the entering freshman level. Naval Science textbooks and uniforms are provided "Contract" students, and during the last two years of the course (that is, after completion of the initial two years), subsistence at the rate of ninety cents a day is paid. Contract students' pay while on the required summer, training period is at the rate of $75 a month. Upon being commissioned. Contract students are commissioned Ensign, U.S.N.R., and affiliate with a Naval Reserve unit of their own choice. Contract NROTC students are deferred from draft by virtue of written agreement to accept commission if offered and to serve if called.

"NAVAL SCIENCE STUDENTS" are regular Harvard students who desire to take a course offered in this department either to round out a special area being undertaken at Harvard e.g., History, Engineering, or to satisfy a desire to acquire certain knowledge, e.g., Navigation. These students enter into no written agreement with the government. Textbooks for the course undertaken are provided by the government. Because of limited facilities, only a small number of "Naval Science" students can be accommodated. Naval Science applicants should apply to person to the officer offering the desired courses.