Faculty awaits vote on ROTC issue
By JOHN GILLIE
Kansan Staff Writer
Awaiting publication of the University Senate ROTC study the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences yesterday deferred consideration on a motion increasing the 124-hour College graduation requirement for ROTC students by the number of hours they earn in ROTC.
ROTC officers voted, but it didn't count
Should the resolution pass, and ROTC curricula remain the same, Army and Air Force cadets, beginning the program in the fall of 1971 would have to earn 140 hours for graduation from the College, and Naval ROTC students 142 hours.
Before the vote was deferred, the faculty amended the original motion so that all ROTC credits would have to be added to the graduation requirements rather than just those hours in excess of eight as the College Educational Policies Committee had proposed. The vote was 59 to 57.
Photo by Ron Bishon
Ruling on a point of order, chairman Robert Cobb, dean of the College, prohibited the 16 ROTC faculty members from voting on the question.
Cobb said College faculty rules permit only those on the College payroll to vote in faculty meetings.
When the vote was called for, ROTC cadre voted against the resolution. Cobb said he did not count the votes.
Col. Rayburn D. Lancaster, professor of aerospace studies, explained, "It wasn't clear to me that we weren't able to vote. I was a little surprised to find we don't belong to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences although we're listed in the College catalog. Where do we belong?"
Both Cobb and Lancaster admitted that ROTC faculty had traditionally been allowed to vote in College faculty meetings.
14 KANSAN Mar. 19 1969
Laneaster said ROTC faculty voted at the last meeting when the College decided ROTC
should be available in some form to college students.
The meeting was peppered with strong rhetoric.
Howard Kahane, associate professor of philosophy, compared ROTC to a business firm carrying on a private training program on campus.
He reminded the faculty that ROTC is unlike other departments because textbooks, faculty and curricula are under the control of an authority outside the University.
Saying that the faculty was not just deciding on credit but making foreign policy, Carl Lande, associate professor of political science, told the group, "The University should take a very permissive and broadly-expansive view."
John Wright, associate professor of human development and family life, talked about the evolution of ROTC programs.
Wright said ROTC courses could often be replaced by regular College courses. When this is accomplished, ROTC personnel would teach only the vocational and professional aspects.
"What is left for ROTC to teach is less than a liberal art, so why award credit?" he asked.
William Conboy, professor of speech and drama, retorted "We have traditionally allowed a student to take 25 hours outside the College in many areas that might be considered professional," he said. "I find it irksome that ROTC is the only target singled out in this anti-professional bias."
When the amendment was passed, William Merrill, professor
of geology, spoke from a prepared text expressing his "shock and disappointment" in the committee report on which the recommendations were based.
Merrill claimed that conventional academic criteria had not been applied in the
committee's judgment of the ROTC programs. The committee had not studied the texts, visited classes or evaluated the ROTC faculty, he said.
Merrill moved that further action on the motion be deferred until a University
Musical beef
Senate Committee studying ROTC publishes its report.
Merrill's speech received applause and the motion passed.
ST. LOUIS (UPI) - A letter to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch complained about "tuneups" by St. Louis Symphony musicians before performances.
Cobb said the report would probably be considered at the April 29 College faculty meeting.
"Will someone please explain why all those expensive symphony players array themselves on the stage before a concert and practice? Don't they have homes or studios in which to do their scales?"
The musicans had been on strike for higher wages earlier in the season.