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.”


Dear Colleagues:

Student initiatives in support of returning an ROTC program to Columbia are culminating in a public debate November 19 and a survey of undergraduate student opinion on November 24.  We hope that in this short interval in which to express faculty support for this initiative you can subscribe to the statement below.

It obviously cannot address every relevant nuance, but if you broadly agree, please send your assent to as35@columbia.edu with Subject Line: “ROTC Statement”, if possible by Return. The need for a faculty support group has arisen suddenly and  time is of the essence.

Please forward this message to colleagues who might be prepared to support it. The statement follows:

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 this university.

Co-sponsors: Prof. James Applegate, Department of Astronomy

                      Prof. Allan Silver, Department of Sociology

These links…

http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/56819

http://www.advocatesforrotc.org/columbia/SilverOct2008.html

… are to recent statements offering some reasons for supporting an ROTC program, and background for the issues.