Sen. wants status quo
Bill to study ROTC seeks House support
TOPEKA A study of Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) programs and college credits has been recommended for passage in the Kansas House Committee on Federal and State Affairs.
Author of the bill, Sen. Ben Foster, R-Wichita, told the House committee it is imperative that a study of ROTC programs be made and that faculties responsible for the program make no changes until the report is submitted to the legislature in 1970.
Foster said this would "keep it at status quo for the time being" by prohibiting any immediate moves to stop the program or alter its credit.
Robert P. Cobb, professor of English and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said that the faculty had been working on studies and revisions of KU's ROTC program for over a year, long before the proposed bill. It will go ahead and act on whatever is decided by the sub-committee of the University Senate.
He emphasized that this does not mean the college is in
opposition to the Kansas Legislature. Because dozens of bills are introduced in the house, Cobb said, the College of Liberal Arts is reluctant to suspend its study.
Philip H. Reidel Jr., professor of Army ROTC, said that at the last meeting of the faculty to discuss the status of ROTC, no one knew what the exact status of Foster's bill was. He said no one had full information on the bill.
The proposed bill would provide for a joint study between the Legislative Council and the State Board of Regents on ROTC programs at Kansas universities and colleges.
Foster, in response to charges that this bill would put the legislature in a position of trying to set the curriculum for the Board of Regents, said the purpose of the study is to determine the value of the program rather than direct the Regents.
Objecting to the law on the grounds that no problem seems to exist as to the program's continuance, Rep. Bill McCray, D-Wichita, said there is no reason for the legislature to
spend the money which will be required for the study.
Rep. Duane McGill, R-Winfield, feels the study is needed. He said the program is a valuable aid to the national defense and to individual advancement.
Cobb said there are a variety of objections to the ROTC program at KU, including that the curriculum in ROTC is purely professional, the staff and curriculum are chosen on grounds different from other university staff and ROTC contributes to the futherance of the Vietnam War.
10 KANSAN Apr. 14 1969