Cambridge, MA, United States (AHN) – Harvard University has decided to reinstate the Reserve Officers Training Corps four decades after it ended the program, and two months after the ban against gays from serving in the military was repealed.
The university is resuming the Naval ROTC this summer, when a law overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” takes effect. It is also working on bringing back programs of other branches of the Armed Forces.
Under an agreement with the Navy, Harvard will cover the costs of students’ participation in the program. In addition, it will provide the Navy with office space and access to facilities.
“Together, we have made a decision to enrich the experience open to Harvard’s undergraduates, make the military better, and our nation stronger,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.
Harvard, one of six partner institutions of the Navy when the program was established in 1926, stopped the ROTC 40 years ago following massive student protests against the Vietnam War.
“Our renewed relationship affirms the vital role that the members of our Armed Forces play in serving the nation and securing our freedoms, while also affirming inclusion and opportunity as powerful American ideals,” Harvard University President Drew Faust said in a statement.
After the repeal of the ban on gays was enacted in December, Faust said he would meet with military officials to revive the ROTC. The repeal “affirms American ideals of equal opportunity and underscores the importance of the right to military service as a fundamental dimension of citizenship,” he had said.
The university will form a panel responsible for bringing back the ROTC and for making improvements to the program. The committee will be chaired by an Army major who served in Afghanistan, Kevin Kit Parker, who is also a professor in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
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