A Love-Hate Relationship : Reserve Officer Training Corps and Higher Education

Abstract

This paper will explore the basic history of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and their relationship with institutions of higher education. ROTC was well received on campuses during WWI, but its position of prestige was soon questioned and this was no more evident than in the Vietnam War era. This paper will examine the debate over ROTC on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus and how this small Midwestern campus compared with other universities across the nation with the issue of ROTC. UW-Eau Claire to this day does not house an ROTC program so this paper aims to try to speculate why Eau Claire was successful in keeping ROTC off of the campus.