Since Bwog broke the news of the ROTC referenda last month, the logistical details behind it have still been debated. However, it appears that the student councils at last have a plan. In an email sent by SGA earlier today, a letter from the four councils at the end spelled out more about the timing of, and the run-up to the survey. 

The survey itself will go out to the student body the week of November 17th. Original plans had considered late October as the most likely date, but, according to the email, “we have had to postpone the dates due to difficulties in getting the survey technology set up.” The survey will have one question (“Would you support NROTC on Columbia’s campus?”), though it is unknown at this time how many possible answers the question will have.

The week beforehand, there will be two forums, one at Barnard and one at Columbia, in a “pro vs. con setup.” The panels themselves will be composed of students as well, and students can submit questions. Deadline for participation in panels, despite the email not having reached any other undergraduate schools yet, is this Wednesday, October 22. The full email is after the jump.

In an effort to be more transparent and get information to you about what

is going on with NROTC we wanted to recap what has been happening in our

planning process.

First, we decided on the format for the forums that will happen before the

survey.  One will take place at Barnard and one at Columbia, with both

using a pro vs. con setup.  This means that there will be even

representation for both sides of the argument and then questions about

specific topics will be asked of the panel to stimulate conversation and

inform the students attending the panels about NROTC.  These questions

will be submitted by each of your student groups and presented to the

group again in our next meeting (TBA) so that students can prepare

responses and not feel attacked.

Further more, these panels will be composed of students.  We ask that if

you are interested or know someone who is, please have them email us at

columbiaforums@gmail.com, stating whether they are pro or con NROTC, this

way we can put all of the people who support or do not support this in

contact with one another.  This will allow all interested to meet and then

select three representatives for each panel, making a total of 6 people

from each side of the debate.  It is important to remember that you can

either support your entire group’s point of view, or your individual point

of view in these conversations and by no means does a group have to take a

stance one way or another.  Individual members can be on each of the sides

if you wish.  In the email please also put your availability so that we

can help coordinate times that your side will be able to meet.

From there you can consolidate all of your concerns on the questions given

and present them so that the three people sitting on the panel will be

able to answer any of the questions posed to them.  The same questions

will be asked at both panels so that students only need to attend one if

they wish.

The deadline to respond is Wednesday October 22nd. Our forums will take

place the week of November 10th and the survey will go out to the student

body the week of November 17th. We have had to postpone the dates due to

difficulties in getting the survey technology set up. There will be one

question on the survey: “Would you support NROTC on Columbia’s campus?”

We hope to hear from you soon.

CCSC, ESC, GSSC, SGA