Reader Responses to Our Courageous Military

I’m glad Brown is making it possible for veterans to get the education they desire, but I’m appalled at her delight in connections with the military establishment. The notion that “the principles of military service are always noble and courageous” is nonsense. Members of the military are trained for destruction, destruction of both property and human beings. Our country is becoming so militarized it is shocking. A private university like Brown is free to explore different directions and I urge Brown to support and join in those explorations.

Thank you President Paxson for your insightful and much needed to be said article in BAM honoring our military and their desired inclusion in Brown’s student body. I was privileged to have participated in Naval ROTC while at Brown and found that experience and my military service after graduating were just as rewarding, in different ways, as the wonderful education I received at Brown. We too often forget, as you correctly pointed out, that our academic freedom and freedom of expression are core freedoms that our military strives to protect. Well said.

I’m pleased to see Brown do an about-face on ROTC. When I was a cadet 30 years ago, my fellow students were fine with ROTC but many of the Vietnam-era faculty were openly hostile to me. This was during the Gulf War, and I suppose they felt I was somehow responsible. Brown’s very few Army cadets woke up at 5:30 every morning and drove across town to Providence College for daily physical training throughout the year. Each month we spent a weekend in the woods, regardless of the temperature outside, in addition to weekly military classes. Most colleges give credit for ROTC and some even offer it as a major. When I asked Brown’s Dean of Undergraduate Students to at least note it on my transcript, he told me he would “no more recognize ROTC than if you went to Sunday school every week.” It’s good to see minds have progressed over the past 30 years.