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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1971)
Military planners worried ROTC enrollment plummets WASHINGTON (AP) —Enrollment in college ROTC programs, source of more than half the regular officers in the arment services, plummeted this year to the lowest level since 1947. This sharp decline for the second straight year is causing concern among military planners over the future ability of the Reserve Officers Training Corps to turn out enough officers. According to new figures compiled by the Pentagon for release later this week, enrollment in Army, Air Force and Navy ROTC programs at 502 schools during the current academic year dropped to 109,598. This compares with 155,946 last year and 212,417 the previous year. At the University freshmen enrollment in the Army ROTC program is down to 18 cadets. This is only half of the 36-cadet enrollment of freshmen of last year. The Pentagon hopes to reverse the downward trend by submitting to Congress early next year a legislative package proposing to double the number of ROTC scholarships from about 15,000 a year to about 30,000. The monthly subsistence allowance paid to juniors and seniors would be doubled to $100. ROTC scholarships pay for a student’s tuition, books and other school fees, but do not cover room and board. Under the proposal, schools also would be reimbursed for the direct costs of supporting ROTC programs on their campuses. If this doesn’t work, sources say, the armed services may have to resort to other means, such as stepping up the number of graduates from the military officer candidate schools or possibly even lowering standards and taking men with only two years of college. Officers entering the military through ROTC are college graduates. Officials say the decline in ROTC stems largely from students “taking a wait-and-see attitude” based on declining draft calls, knowledge of their draft status under the new lottery introduced last year and the prospects for an all-volunteer force, which the Nixon administration hopes to achieve by mid-1973. There is also the widespread student opposition to the Vietnam war, hostility toward the military and the growing number of schools converting from compulsory to noncompulsory ROTC programs. Only 48 make the enrollment compulsory this year against 112 two years ago. The latest Pentagon figures show ROTC enrollment this year down 33 per cent for the Army, 24 per cent for the Air Force and 14 per cent for the Navy. Of even more significance is the marked decrease in the numbers of freshmen and sophomores signing up. This will mean even fewer officers entering the services from the colleges four years from now. The last time ROTC enrollment fell this low was in 1947, when 101,438 signed up. The nation was talking about an all-volunteer force and the draft law was allowed to expire. But less than a year later, President Harry S. Truman announced that voluntary methods didn’t work and asked Congress to enact new Selective Service legislation. Automatic parking installed at EMU When all the construction in the parking lot south of the EMU is completed, probably by Monday, the University will have its first fully automatic parking facility. To use the lot, which is specified as visitor’s parking, one merely has to drive up and drop 25 cents in the box to raise the gate. Incoming and outgoing traffic is counted, and when the lot is full, a sign on the mechanism will inform drivers of the fact. According to John Rushby of the parking division of the Office of Campus Security, the gate is being installed to save visitors time and energy. “Previously, when a visitor wanted to use the lot, he had to come all the way over to the Traffic Office to obtain a permit,” Rushby commented. “The gate makes the procedure much more convenient.” Parking does cost a quarter now, however, where before it was free. The receipts from the parking will pay for the gate mechanism, making it a self-supporting operation. The University Traffic Subcommittee, which recommended the con struction of the gate, got the idea from Oregon State University, which has used the plan quite success fully. The EMU lot was chosen mainly because of its central location. There are spaces for 38 cars. The construction work is being done by the University Physical Plant. There are no plans at present for automating any other parking lots. TODAY i 1< BANANA SPLIT SALE Thursday January 7 Buy one at the regular price, get the second for Dairy Queen EUGENE . . . SPRINGFIELD JUNCTION CITY dairij Queen Take Time To Check Out DUCK DOPE 'Available on EMU Terrace SALE Assorted skirts, tops, dresses, jeans and pants - Now 9300 Fruit of the Loom panty hose - several shades to choose from. Were 1.49 - N°w Alvin Duskin knits - plus dresses, pants, pant outfits & Blouses */3 to % off StassI BAC ^ SAFEWAY BLADE CHUCK ROAST USDA CHOICE LB. 49* Potatoes 98 US NO. 2 50 lb. bag 9
