__Educational Policy Committee recommends small increase__
The Educational Policy Committee has recommended a small increase in the number of credits that ROTC cadets receive from their courses.
p. The EPC, a faculty group that examines the number of credits a course is worth, suggested that the faculty assembly increase the number of credits that count toward a cadet’s graduation from six to eight, and increase the number of credits cadets receive from all standard military science courses from 11 to 12.
p. These credit changes, which the faculty will vote on this fall, are drastically lower than those proposed by the unanimous student assembly vote on the issue.
p. The Senate requested a full credit change – cadets would earn three credits a semester, and all would count toward graduation.
“The changes proposed by this committee are quite insignificant and will make very little difference in the lives of cadets. It is a far stretch from what the student senate voted unanimously on,” ROTC cadet Matt Pinsker ’09 said.
p. ROTC cadets at other schools are taking action to increase the number of credits awarded for courses, but most of the publicity on the issue is directed at the College.
p. “We are leading the fight for fair credit for ROTC cadets, and many students, teachers, veterans and politicians across the nation are watching to see how the situation works out here,” Pinsker said.
p. ROTC courses cover a range of topics from the military’s role in American society to map reading and land navigation, which involves analytical thinking, math and memorization. These courses, focused on leadership, also teach the cadets about the intricacies of what it would take to lead soldiers into battle. There is also a rigorous physical fitness commitment – sessions take place three times a week at 6 a.m.. They do not spend their time exclusively marching or firing guns; instead, the courses encompass a holistic combination of academic and physical challenge. Pinsker, a government and pre-medicine major, believes that ROTC courses are the most difficult he has taken at the College.
