Whig-Clio votes to back ROTC

Members of Whig-Clio debated the future of Princeton's Army ROTC on Tuesday night, a week after a petition signed by 250 students called on the USG to take action against the group.

Following the debate, audience members voted that Whig-Clio should support the resolution that "ROTC should stay on campus in its present form" by a vote of 48 to 17. Whig-Clio will submit a letter to the USG and top administrators — including President Tilghman — in favor of ROTC on campus.

Arguing to keep ROTC at Princeton were Powell Fraser '06, a former ROTC cadet, and Dan Greco '06. Kate Reilly '05 and her brother Mike Reilly '07 argued that ROTC should be kicked off campus because the military's discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibits openly gay people from serving.

The debaters clashed over visions of national service, with Fraser opening by quoting the Army's motto of "Duty, Honor, Country" and saying that ROTC embodied "Princeton in the nation's service."

Kate Reilly responded that "being in the nation's service is to point to a policy . . . and say this isn't OK."

Fraser and Greco claimed that forcing ROTC to an off-campus location would significantly reduce the number of cadets participating.

"They make it such that fewer Princetonians are going to go on to be in the nation's service," Greco said. "You tell students, sure you can go and serve the country, but we're not going to make it easy for you."

Fraser noted that the on-campus Army ROTC program has roughly 30 cadets, as opposed to six in the off-campus Air Force program that trains at Rutgers University.

Acknowledging that pushing ROTC out might reduce the number of cadets, Mike Reilly said, "Being patriotic doesn't mean more soldiers, more ROTC; it means having a just system."

Fraser and Greco argued that kicking ROTC off campus would punish students interested in ROTC for a policy set by Congress and the President.

"Who's responsible for this policy? Not the cadets of the Tiger Battalion," Fraser said. "We are punishing the wrong people."

Greco also noted that the University accepts money from the federal government, saying, "We're still doing business with the people who wrote 'don't ask, don't tell.' "

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Both sides agreed that the military's policies are discriminatory, but differed about the best avenue for change.

Fraser said that by supporting a new generation of military leaders, "We exert a positive force on the United States Army."

But Kate Reilly said the University should set an example in its policies by showing "the students who will someday be in power in the military, who will be in the position to make changes, that what is going in the military today is wrong."

"LGBT students in the ROTC are not free to live their lives as they want to on campus," she said. "We actually have a nondiscrimination policy in place. We make an exception for ROTC."

Before closing arguments, audience members — including a section of ROTC cadets and several members of the Pride Alliance — spoke about the proposal.

Several stressed the need for discussion and compromise. ROTC cadet Amity Weiss '07 noted that at Cornell, gay professors spoke to ROTC cadets about homosexuals in the military and questioned why the sponsors of the petition to kick ROTC off campus tried to remove ROTC instead of working with it.

"It's discriminating against my lifestyle by telling me I can't serve my country and be on this campus," she said, noting that she has a gay brother and supports gay rights.

Robert Kennelley '06, a Pride Alliance officer whose family was evacuated from Indonesia by the military, agreed with Weiss, saying, "It's unfortunate this has poisoned the dialogue."