Faculty Senate ROTC Committee Reacts to DADT Overturn


As we [discussed yesterday](http://blog.stanfordreview.org/2010/12/18/dadt-overturn-paves-the-way-for-rotcs-return/), a series of Ivy League schools quickly signaled their intention to accelerate discussion of ROTC in the wake of the U.S. Senate’s vote to repeal the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Now the chair of the Faculty Senate’s committee on ROTC, Professor Ewart Thomas, has issued a statement regarding the effect of the DADT overturn on the ROTC debate at Stanford. As expected, Thomas indicated that the policy’s repeal removed a significant barrier to ROTC’s return to campus (via the Daily):

I have a feeling that this repeal will lighten the task of the Faculty Senate’s ROTC committee as we discuss whether, and in what form, Stanford University should expand its relations with the Reserve Officer Training Corps programs within the U.S. military.

That said, he did note that the debate over ROTC is likely to become even more contentious as the committee approaches its deadline for presenting conclusions to the Faculty Senate:

The impact so far of DADT on campus debates has been multifaceted and I expect that the debate in the months following DADT repeal will be almost as contentious.