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Section I: The Development of the ROTC program in America, 1862-1916

Section II: The Golden Age of ROTC at Ripon College, The 1920s and 1930s

Section III: Ripon College and its ROTC Unit during World War II

Section IV: Postwar Reconstruction: The Ripon ROTC Unit, 1945-1950

Section V: An Era of New Challenges: The Ripon ROTC Unit in the 1950s and 1960s

Section VI: The Ripon Battalion in Crisis: The Ripon ROTC Unit, 1967-1970

Section VII: The Ripon Battalion as a Volunteer Organization: The Ripon ROTC Unit 1970-1991

Concluding Observations

Appendix: ROTC Personnel, Ripon College, 1919-1995

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{ ROTC History at Ripon : Faith and Courage }

Section VI

The Ripon Battalion in Crisis: The Ripon ROTC Unit Between 1967 and 1970

Whatever confidence the Ripon cadets might have held in their Unit at the moment of its 50th anniversary, it was becoming quite clear in 1969 that the battalion was entering the most severe crisis in its history. The major causes of the crisis were new developments both in the nation and on campus. At the national level, the growing unpopularity of the Vietnam War created a rapidly spreading anti-militarism that soon spread to the campuses, alienating significant portions of a college community from ROTC.

At Ripon, this alienation was felt and its impact aggravated the continued development of new activities and organizations as rivals to ROTC for the attention of the students. Social life increasingly centered on the fraternities and sororities who now staged their own dances that rivaled the Military Ball in their trappings and thereby signalled the end of the social preeminence of ROTC. Coverage of the sororities and fraternities in the Crimson expanded year after year, while the number of pages devoted to ROTC rapidly contracted. Finally, and most important, women students became more active. They were no longer satisfied with passive and supportive roles such as cheerleaders and "sponsors" of ROTC units. Instead, seeking to become equal participants in the life of the College, they began to form their own athletic teams and organizations. While this new activism on the part of women ultimately worked to the benefit of the battalion, its initial impact was a significant further loss of support.

The onset of the crisis was signalled by an event which occurred in 1967 and which, while relatively minor itself, demonstrated dramatically the degree to which ROTC had lost its former prestige and support on campus. Warned that student protesters against the Vietnam War might make a demonstration during the Annual Inspection scheduled for April 24, 1967, Colonel Leo Eberhardt, as professor of military science (PMS), instructed the cadets that they were to take no countermeasures against such a demonstration as long as it did not interfere with the conduct of the inspection. Despite this injunction, two cadets did accost several sign bearing students and tore up their signs.

The incident blew over quickly. President Bernard S. Adams ordered a full investigation of the affair which almost entirely absolved the Unit of responsibility by noting that the action of the cadets "was in direct violation of the instructions they were given." Adams then issued a policy statement reaffirming the commitment of the College to the right of free speech and its opposition to any action that might obstruct such free expression. His action satisfied even the radical elements on campus and the commotion aroused over the incident died out. That it died out so quickly was testimony of the continued respect in which the Unit was held by many, but the commotion itself indicated that the preeminence once enjoyed by the battalion on campus was now all but gone.

Moreover, within a year, ROTC was again the center of conflict on campus. This time the controversy was focussed on the mandatory requirement that all male students take the Basic Course. In 1967, sensing that mandatory participation in the Basic Course could have a negative impact on admissions, the College had reduced the requirement from two years to one. However, opposition to even a one-year requirement began to appear the following year and by the 1969-70 academic year the issue had become the leading controversy on campus.

The organized opposition to the requirement was led by College Chaplain Jerome Thompson. As a pacifist, Thompson was opposed to war in general and to the Vietnam War in particular, and he was instrumental in organizing anti-war activity on campus. Starting with a group called "Concerned Democrats," Thompson and a few other faculty members had been able to mobilize a small number of students into an antiwar movement. Despite Thompson's own personal popularity with the students, however, this movement did not attract wide student support. And, while faculty support was greater, the move to cancel classes a day for a "teach-in" about the war failed to win acceptance.

However, while the antiwar movement on the campus was always a minority affair, the opposition to a mandatory Basic Course was far greater. Thompson and others argued with considerable effect that ROTC had nothing to do with liberal education, and, indeed, since it stressed obedience it was anti-liberal in its teaching. ROTC supporters, on the other hand, found it difficult to defend the requirement on any basis other than the economic value that ROTC provided the College in terms of scholarships which would be lost if the program were terminated for lack of numbers. Moreover, given the national unpopularity of ROTC at this time, the requirement was a clear detriment to admissions and, therefore, an economic liability as well. Efforts to neutralize the opposition to the requirement by shortening it to one semester and "demilitarizing" the course failed. Tactics of passive resistance and several student walk-outs made the course unteachable and served to mobilize further support for the move to abolish the requirement. In October, 1969, President Adams was presented with a petition signed by 210 of the 250 freshman males enrolled in the course demanding an end to the requirement. The faculty supported the move and in February, 1970, voted 46-32 to terminate the requirement. The board of trustees reluctantly accepted the faculty action, claiming the right to reinstate the requirement should it appear that the College was in danger of losing the Unit. Later, responding to a petition signed by 46 faculty members, President Adams also agreed to end the practice of including commissioning as part of the college's graduation ceremony.