The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) has begun offering courses in military
strategy and taking up valuable space this spring semester of 2003 at CSUN as
part of a UCLA Extension program. The ROTC signed a controversial agreement
with CSUN President Jolene Koester last October that allows for the military
to stay indefinitely at our campus. The contract also includes a racist provision
called the “Hispanic Access Initiative,” and this gives the military
the ability to obtain information on every Latino student at CSUN. The presence
of the ROTC on campus makes the students, faculty, and staff uneasy, and many
are demanding the removal of the military from CSUN as soon as possible. A coalition
of students and professors from diverse backgrounds and disciplines are planning
to make the ROTC stay at CSUN a short and unpleasant experience.
The reason that the ROTC is able to invade our campus and every other academic
institution is due to the ongoing “war on terrorism” and the 1996
Solomon Amendment. The Solomon Amendment specifically states,
“no funds available under appropriation acts for any fiscal year for the
[government] may be provided by contract or grant to a covered school that has
a policy or practice that either prohibits, or in effect prevents, the Secretary
of Defense from obtaining, for military recruiting purposes entry to campuses,
access to students on campuses, access to directory information on students
or that has an anti-ROTC policy.”
The government funds that schools stand to lose include money from the Departments of Defense, Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and the Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. President Koester lied to the campus prior to signing the contract with the ROTC by stating that CSUN stood to lose over 80 Million dollars. When a group of students carried out independent research and found that her figure was wrong, she went back on her claim and admitted we stood to lose only 8 Million dollars.
The Solomon Amendment is named after Republican Representative Gerald B.H. Solomon of New York who sponsored the bill. Democratic Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts added language to the bill that exempts student aid from the federal funds that can be cut off. Initially, President Koester discussed the ROTC issue exclusively with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group on campus because of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell policy.” One of her first questions to the student group was in regards to the number of students from LGBT that received financial aid. She deceived them by telling the group that CSUN stood to lose 80 Million dollars including financial aid if the ROTC was denied entrance. The students were intimidated and consequently offered little resistance to the invasion by military recruiters on our campus.
Many universities are forced to accept the ROTC or face the threat of the government, and one college administrator admitted, “We didn’t have a choice but to let the military recruiters come on campus.” The truth is that since the bill passed, NO college or academic institution has lost federal funds under the Solomon Amendment in recent years according to a Defense Department spokesperson. The students, faculty, and staff at CSUN challenge CSUN President Jolene Koester to demonstrate some moral convictions and oppose the presence of the military on campus. CSUN has traditionally been regarded as a haven for progressive-minded individuals, and we intend to keep it that way. The campus community is ready to support President Koester whole-heartedly if she opposes the ROTC at CSUN. On the other hand, she can expect a long and sustained battle to oust the military from our campus if she chooses to allow CSUN to become a recruiting post for the unjust and racist “war on terrorism.”
CSUN Students Against War and CSUN United for Peace and Justice are just two of the coalitions on campus that oppose the ROTC on our campus based on moral convictions. The presence of the ROTC at CSUN is racist because the “Hispanic Access Initiative” gives military recruiters the ability to explicitly target Latino students. Also, the military purposely sends Black and Latino soldiers to fight on the frontlines of imperialist wars. Secondly, the ROTC is a sexist institution that only pretends to support equality between the sexes. Women are subjected to sexual harassment and are relegated to positions with no real power or authority. Finally, the military is a homophobic establishment that refuses to allow openly gay soldiers to join or defend this country. The racism, sexism, and homophobia practiced by the ROTC and the US military is in direct violation of the CSUN Mission Statement. The university should be an academic institution that promotes critical thinking and fosters a learning environment, yet that is no longer true at CSUN. Starting this semester, CSUN is a speck on the military recruiting map and a place where the ROTC hopes to find the next group of soldiers willing to die in imperialist wars. We must do our part to remove the ROTC or otherwise CSUN will be another brick in the escalating wall of ignorance and fear.