Council ROTC Petition Reaches 220 Signatures

Only 50 more freshmen and sophomores showed up at the Student Council office yesterday afternoon to register interest in expanding R.O.T.C. here. Council president Richard M. Sandler '52 attributed the comparatively small turnout in part to yesterday's bad weather.

Twenty students of the total registrants during the two days have gone on record as intending to transfer to another college if they cannot enroll in R.O.T.C. here next year. Two hundred and twenty of the registrants expressed interest in enlarging R.O.T.C.

However, the possibility of these students entering the Army Unit (heretofore viewed by the Council as the most expandable unit) is extremely slim, Colonel Charles P. Summerall, professor of Military Science and Tactics, disclosed yesterday.

"Under existing Army regulations, I have no authority to compress the basic course into less than two academic years," he said. "A cadet must satisfactorily complete the basic course (Military Science 1 and 2 or the equivalent) before he may enter the advanced course (Military Science 3 and 4)."

No Enlargement This Year

Council president Sandler stated that there is no chance for further R.O.T.C. enlargement this term, but that the Council intended soon to send a brief on the situation to Provost Buck. This report will include figures on the recent undergraduate demand for more R.O.T.C. as well as a comparative analysis of R.O.T.C. enrollment in other colleges.

"If the draft law spares us over the summer," Sandler said, "we hope that the administration will make plans to open R.O.T.C. next fall to all those who want to enter and are physically fit."

Explaining his deferment policy, Summerall said first term freshmen will also be given preference in draft exemptions. "It is the view of the Department of Military Science that the R.O.T.C. course should be considered as leading to a degree--that of Second Lieutenant in a branch of the U.S. Army Reserve. Completion is necessary to obtaining a com- mission." Therefore it is our policy to give deferment preference to those R.O.T.C. cadets who will have a sufficient number of undergraduate years to complete the full course of instruction."

Deferment is not automatic for all R.O.T.C. students, but is awarded by special action. Several students now enrolled are 1-A and have had their pre-induction physical.

Colonel Summerall also announced that the Department of Military Science is now making a study to determine the maximum number of students that the Army unit can accommodate here next year.

"Enrollment," he said, "will be determined by how much more classroom and drill space the College will grant, as well as the number of additional hours of classroom instruction allowed. Rulings on additional instructors and equipment by the Department of the Army may be further limiting factors.