ROTC Task Force

In a resolution of March 26, 2004, the University Senate created the Task Force on ROTC to study a student proposal to return ROTC to Columbia.

The members of the task force were appointed later that spring. The group sought the views of the Columbia community by holding a town hall meeting on February 15 and by inviting e-mail submissions to the task force. We collected e-mails in two batches, one set received between February 9 and 24, the second between February 25 and March 28. Contributions were anonymous unless the author asked to be identified.

On April 25, 2004, the ROTC TF submitted a resolution on ROTC to the Senate Executive Committee, which substituted its own resolution, intended to offer the Senate a clear, unambiguous choice. It called for the establishment of an ROTC program on campus "as soon as is practicable." At the May 6 plenary meeting the Senate decided to conduct a record vote (with signed ballots) on the Executive Committee resolution, which was defeated 53-10, with 5 abstentions. For a more detailed account of Senate deliberations on ROTC, see the final report of the task force.

The Senate devoted an entire meeting to the subject of ROTC on April 15, 2005. Other Senate discussions of ROTC or the work of the Task Force are recorded in minutes of the following meetings:

MEETINGS ON ROTC SPONSORED BY OTHER GROUPS
Advocates for Columbia ROTC hearing: Perspectives on the Future of ROTC at Columbia, April 25, 2005