Bok on ROTC

PRESIDENT BOK'S statements on ROTC to the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life only underscore that committee's shortsightedness in failing to conduct an undergraduate referendum on ROTC.

Bok's memories of ROTC's abolition do not mesh with facts. In 1969, the Faculty insisted only that ROTC be given no special privileges; the Corporation, not the Faculty, negotiated ROTC's withdrawal. Bok said the 1969 decision was made in great haste. It was, in fact, made after months of hearings and committee reports.

President Bok told CHUL that a petition from students at any graduate school would lead him to re-open the study of ROTC. This is difficult to reconcile with CHUL's refusal to respond to a petition of 2500 undergraduates calling for a simple vote.

At its next meeting, the CHUL should reconsider the New American Movement petition. It is not too late to begin a student-initiated debate or to respond to Bok's "personal opinions" with a genuine expression of student sentiment.