A press release has just been issued announcing that Prezbo and the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus will sign an agreement at 10:30 am tomorrow, “formalizing their intention to reinstate Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) programs at Columbia for the first time in 40 years.” The ceremony will take place onboard the navy ship USS Iwo Jima, which is currently docked at Pier 88 on the Hudson River (near the Intrepid) for the Navy’s annual Fleet Week.

According to the statement:

Under the agreement, the NROTC program will have an office on Columbia’s campus and active duty Navy and Marine Corps officers will meet with Columbia NROTC midshipmen during routinely scheduled office hours. Navy and Marine Corps-option midshipmen will participate in NROTC through a unit hosted at SUNY Maritime College in Throgs Neck, NY.

Columbia and the Navy have “agreed to officially reinstate Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Program enrollment opportunities at the University.” In a press release sent out today, PrezBo cites the repeal of DADT and the numerous student discussions as reasons for reengaging with ROTC. There are two practical details explicitly mentioned in the agreement. Provost Steele is to “establish a committee of faculty, students and administrators to oversee implementation of the ROTC program,” and it is already provided that “active duty Navy and Marine Corps officers will be able to meet with Columbia NROTC midshipmen on the Columbia campus in spaces furnished by Columbia.” The statement makes it clear that no changes will take place until DADT’s repeal comes into effect.

The press release is reproduced below. Read the full statement and PrezBo’s e-mail to the community (basically rehashing the same material) after the jump.

NEW YORK, April 22, 2011 — Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus today announced that Columbia and the U.S. Navy have agreed to officially reinstate Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Program enrollment opportunities at the University.

“Repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law provided a historic opportunity for our nation to live up to its ideals of equality and also for universities to reconsider their relationships with the military,” said Bollinger. “After many months of campus discussion, open forums, and a strongly favorable vote in the University Senate, together with consultation with the University’s Council of Deans, it is clear that the time has come for Columbia to reengage with the military program of ROTC. I believe that it is the right course of action for Columbia to formalize this recognition and thereby add to the diversity of choices for education and public service we make available to our students.”

Under the agreement, Columbia will resume full and formal recognition of Naval ROTC after the effective date of the repeal of the law that disqualified openly gay men and lesbians from military service, anticipated to come later this year. Read more…

Classes “begin” in a few days, figuratively because a few of Bwog’s have already been canceled for CC’83 Awesomeness Festivities.  But your fair university didn’t get nearly as much sleep as you did over break.  Here’s what Alma Mater’s been up to.

People of Old

Alumni provide proof that we’ll all find jobs, eventually.  In the meantime, buff your resume with good deeds for the UN, or fulfill your second grade dream and work for the circus (Bwog is jealous of the latter grads).  If the arts are your thing, you could end up guiding an opera company or debuting at Sundance.

People of New

The good times might be few years away, but you can still relish your present hell situation in this (frigid) town.  Alex Gross, CC’11, came here for football and was profiled by his local paper.  The Dayton Daily News mentions “learning how to get around the city by subway” as one of the things he has managed to pick up.  And how to stand on line, instead of in line.  Four other Columbians were recently profiled in The New York Times.  A few years ago, they formed the Columbia Ballet Collaborative after, you know, “juggling calculus, molecular biology and Hindi-Urdu” and the other cool things college kids do.  Representing straight-laced, conscientious Butler residents everywhere, one student assured the reporter “I never take drugs.” Read more…

In 2005, the University Senate voted 53 to 10 (with 5 abstentions) against repealing the ban of ROTC on campus. At the time, the most recent student survey conducted about the issue (in 2003) showed that 65% of students were in favor of repealing the ban. Two days ago, only 49% of students who participated in the survey were in favor of repealing the ban. So what’s up with the 15% shift in attitudes? Here are a few theories.

1. Less favorable attitude towards the military. During the 2003 vote, September 11th was still fresh in the minds of everyone on campus, and some had even been in New York at the time. According to a 2005 New York Times article, “one supporter of the R.O.T.C. said yesterday that the Sept. 11 attacks may have softened attitudes toward the military.” In addition, the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, which was, at the time, actually popular. A Washington Post/ABC news poll in March conducted at the onset of the war showed that 62% of the country was in favor of military action in Iraq. Things are different now: besides New York locals, no current undergrads were at Columbia during 9/11, and it’s not at the forefront of the national consciousness like it was in 2003. And the War is of course deeply unpopular. Both these things could color students attitudes towards the military.

Read more…

If you were surprised to find a Bwog sans Quickspec this morning, have no fear for QuickSpec is here, as the Spectator was a tad delayed in updating their website today, maybe just because of all of the breaking NROTC hooplah on campus.

NROTC at Columbia.  Just like a coin-flip.

“Healthy Aging Centers,” aging all too quickly, require a radical revamp.

Friends of Hillary friendly towards Obama Secretary of State choice.

Mailman School of Public Health delivers on AIDS research.

First there’s LionLink now there’s ArtsLink?

Hot on the heels of the CC/SEAS/GS results, Barnard’s numbers came in just a few moments ago. Here’s how they look:

According to SGA President Sarah Besnoff: “The results of this vote indicate that this is an issue that will be discussed in the University Senate.  Our University Senator will use these results when discussing student sentiment on the topic.  Because of the clear majority for “no” votes, should our University Senator be asked to vote on the issue, she will vote “no” in accordance with these results.” 

Keep in mind that Barnard’s tally isn’t subject to the same objections as that of the other three schools, as students used their UNIs to vote via their eBear accounts (Barnard’s SSOL).

Final results for the NROTC vote were just announced for three of the four undergraduate schools (CC, SEAS, and GS), with an extremely close result. From CCSC president George Krebs’s weekly email:

“The NROTC poll was closed at 9 am Monday morning and here’s the tally:

We sent out 6913 email invitations, including all CC, SEAS, and GS

undergraduate students. We received 2971 valid votes, representing 43% of the population.

1463 YES, 49.24%;

1502 NO, 50.56%;

6 ABSTAIN, 0.20%.

There were concerns about students being able to vote multiple times.  The Student Development and Activities office, which compiled the results, have assured us that one UNI was given one vote. Multiple votes were not counted. If a student attempted to vote multiple times,  only the last vote they cast was counted.”

Results for Barnard students, who used a different poll that closed later in the day, expect numbers to start pourng in around noon today.

Living in a thriving Democracy means having your NROTC vote stolen.

Native American Columbia students, voiceless no longer. 

Have you taken a gander at MARSLAC? 

Sing along: “Oh, who owns New York?”

Columbia on its way to discovering the cure to cancer.

Catch your first glimpse of the new permanent dean of the medical school — it’s no LandryView.

A tech-savvy commenter speculated that after “clearing their cookies” (a term we’ll define for the computer illiterate in just a minute), voters can change their personal survey ID number to someone else’s, which in theory would mean that anyone would be able to vote multiple times. 

Bwog’s on-call computer whiz kids Hans E Hyttinen and Anish Bramhandkar explain why this is actually possible, but relatively unlikely:

Hans: Once you access the survey page, a cookie is created on your computer that stores a bit of information, probably indicating whether or not you have completed the survey, so that the next time you visit that URL, it can let you resume your survey (try this by clicking on your link, but closing the page without voting and then reopening the page). I don’t think clearing the cookie would do anything of consequence.

Read more…

Guard the link to your NROTC survey with your life, as that link that was emailed to you this morning is a personalized link. What this strangely inefficient system means is that if someone clicks your link, they can change your vote.

Of course, this is only coming to light after numerous students group leaders have forwarded their survey emails to groupmembers with the intention of encouraging others to vote.  But don’t feel silly! Bwog posted our link earlier today too, before being gently reminded by a member of CCSC that someone had probably already changed our vote several times over.

Hot on the heels of an NROTC professor endorsement, a number of faculty members have signed the following statement of opposition to NROTC on campus. In fact, this petition is something of a direct response to the pro-NROTC side’s statements: “In contrast to those who have expressed support for ROTC based on hypothetical conditions, we recognize that any position on ROTC must be grounded in the present. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is official policy and exceptions cannot be negotiated,” it reads. 

Some of Columbia’s biggest names have signed on, including Eric Foner, Dennis Dalton, Victoria de Grazia, and Michael Taussig, among others.

The ad will be published in tomorrow’s Spectator — there’s a screenshot of the PDF, above. There’s also a concurrent online petition that was made available for faculty to sign this morning.

Full text of the statement after the jump.

Read more…

Sociology Professor Allan Silver forwarded Bwog the following email, which was the impetus for yesterday’s NROTC professor statement of support. “I am simply responding to an item in Bwog mentioning that it is inquiring into the origin of the faculty statement in favor of ROTC. There is no mystery, nothing is concealed, all is transparent,” he said.

Silver said he “didn’t count” how many professors this support-seeking email was sent to, but that “it was sent to people we knew and/or those we had reason to think are in favor of ROTC at Columbia. [...] This was not a sample in the statistical sense, so the rate of return, or the percentage agreeing, among those to whom the statement was sent, is not relevant or meaningful.”
Read more…

Some heavy (and not-so-heavy) hitting faculty came out in the Spec today endorsing NROTC’s presence on campus. Bwog is inquiring into the genesis of the list–mostly male–and will update as information becomes available. The ad ran as follows, with editorial notes in italics:

“We broadly support the return of ROTC to Columbia University — some of us unconditionally, others if legislation prohibiting military service by open homosexuals is reformed, and/or provision made for faculty control of appointments, curriculum and credit.  We all believe, in principle, that an ROTC program at Columbia is an appropriate
educational responsibility of the university.”

—–

Michael Adler (School of Business)

Mark H. Anders (Earth and Environmental Sciences)

James H. Applegate (Astronomy, and co-chair of the 2005 University Senate committee on ROTC)

Richard T. Betts (Political Science)

Paul Duby (School of Engineering)

Eugene Galanter (Psychology, Emeritus)

Kenneth T. Jackson (History)


Mark Kesselman (Political Science, Emeritus)

Robert A. McCaughey (History, Barnard, author of Columbia history Stand Columbia)

Letty Moss-Salentijn (College of Dental Medicine)

Richard M. Pious (Political Science, Barnard)

Robert Y. Shapiro (Political Science, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP))

Allan Silver (Sociology)

For the sake of your children’s legacy admissions, donate!

CC brother, can you spare a dean?

Gay folks for fighting

Gay folks for loving 

Old-time religion it’s not 

No, you’re not in prison, just a Barnard res hall 

Plus: Spec adds new stuff!  

If the fliers, op-ed pieces, and general media frothing about ROTC on campus haven’t swayed your opinion in time for the CCSC-produced survey next Monday, on Wednesday night a moderated panel pitted pro against con ROTC factions in Sulzberger Parlor. (Not the same event in the flier pictured at right, but we couldn’t get a snapshot of the debaters.) Each side laid out its main talking-points without introducing too many new facets, and while the debaters were impassioned, all were well-behaved.

On the anti-ROTC side of table, Aries de La Cruz, GS’09, of the Columbia Queer Alliance, Ira Stup, JTS’10, of Everyone Allied Against Homophobia, Rahel Aima, CC’10, of Students for a Democratic Society and the Columbia Coalition Against the War, and Lucha’s Rudi Batzell, CC’09, explained that the debate was “plain and simple.” Their side does not support the “homophobic, racist, and sexist” institution of the military, they said, although Stup mentioned repeatedly that Columbia students are free to participate in ROTC programs at other schools–albeit not NROTC, the Naval division.

On the pro-ROTC side, self-identified gay veterans Scott Stewart, GS, and Justin Johnson, SIPA; Kelley Victor-Gaspar, CC’09, who will be commissioned as a Marine officer in May; and Kate O’Gorman, BC’10, a member of the College Democrats executive board although she was merely representing herself, all agreed that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a discriminatory policy. They support ROTC on campus, they said, for various reasons: It will encourage progressive and pro-gay officers, it will provide students with more scholarship opportunities, and it will improve the “diversity of thought” at Columbia. Read more…