January 12, 1972 — Approximately 200 persons massed on Cannon Green for an anti-ROTC demonstration Monday and, after several speeches, submitted to President Goheen a petition protesting the proposed return of military training to the campus.
The petition, whose signers were opposed to the return of ROTC "in any form," had 1,151 signatures, according to demonstration organizer Alexander W. Farquhar '73.
The protesters plan another rally for 9 a.m. Saturday — when trustees will open a meeting in which they are expected to approve the recommendation of their Executive Committee that the proposed contract for the return of Army and Air Force ROTC to campus be accepted.
Duplicate signatures had been eliminated before the petition was submitted to Goheen, he added.
President Goheen was present in the crowd from the beginning of the demonstration. He listened impassively as various speakers condemned the proposal to bring ROTC back.
'Lens of devastation'
After accepting the petition, Goheen stepped to the microphone and said, "I do appreciate and share the strong emotions which many of you have brought to bear on the ROTC matter because of American military involvement in Indochina. But I think it is wrong to look at ROTC just through the lens of the devastation and tragedy of this involvement."
Goheen said yesterday, "The trustees are going to have to take this petition as part of the data in making their decision."
Many of the demonstration speakers attacked ROTC for what it symbolized as well as for what it was. John M. McEnany '72 said, "ROTC at Princeton, despite its small size, is quite a symbol to the Defense Department."
Attacking the argument that ROTC at Princeton would liberalize the army by providing it with better-educated officers, McEnany said, "We are not fighting for a better army, we are fighting the army. We are not fighting for a better war, we are fighting the war.
"To get the U.S. out of Vietnam, we have to get ROTC out of Princeton," he said.
Victor Sapojnikoff GS read a poem which he said expressed his "rage" at the probable return of ROTC. It concluded:
"The message of the prophets of salvation was love and sharing, and helping hands / Where have they gone, the dream / And the old notion of man's idyllic quest for promised lands?"
In an impromptu speech which received the most applause of the rally, history lecturer Peter E. Winn said, "We are approaching the ultimate in the American way of war — automated warfare."
'Push the button'
Attacking the ease with which a soldier can shirk responsibility in such a war, Winn said, "You can trust them to push the button 10,000 feet above the ground and watch the pretty psychedelic colors as people, houses and villages get wiped out."
Goheen said he could identify with many of the things Winn said, and that "America has behaved arrogantly and rather like a predatory power in its involvement in Indochina.
"I guess the differences between his views and mine is that I am more concerned about the other predatory powers and have a fear of what kind of people the ones with control over the button may be," Goheen said.
Winn said Goheen is not an "evil" man but rather "fails to realize the relationship between ROTC on a literal and symbolic level and what is happening in Southeast Asia."
"I believe Professor Winn's views to be short-sighted," the president said yesterday, "but he probably thinks mine are reactionary."
Farquhar pleased
Farquhar said after the demonstration that he was pleased with its outcome.
"The confrontation was sharp. The number of people here at the worst time of the year to attack ROTC shows the depth of sentiment there must be."
Farquhar said he felt Goheen should have been more closely questioned on his anti-war stance. "How can you say that you are against the war and then support ROTC?" he asked.
Other speakers at the protest were Macklin Smith GS, Neal I. Koblitz GS and Shane J. Hunt, associate professor of economics.
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