Some Seniors May Defect From ROTC

A significant percentage of students in the University's Army ROTC unit may take advantage of a new law allowing any ROTC participant to withdraw quietly from the program, an informal survey revealed last night.

The law, passed by Congress last month requires juniors and seniors continuing all the ROTC programs to renew the contracts they signed as sophomores.

May Not Renew

About six of the two dozen seniors in Army ROTC indicated last night that they may not renew the agreements by a Dec. 12 deadline. The survey failed to turn up any students in the Air Force or Navy ROTC units who said they are considering dropping out.

The Army ROTC seniors explained that they are now considering going to graduate school or getting married soon. They said they joined ROTC as sophomores because they considered these possibilities distant and the army inevitable.

Penalties

One senior said he had thought about dropping out of ROTC before, but decided against it then, when he learned of possible penalties. Students who have not fulfilled ROTC contracts have been barred from government security clearance and from military commissions, he said.

But failure to renew a contract now will probably not involve a penalty, even though the students have been paid by ROTC for more than a year. Although the new law permits ROTC contract violators to be inducted immediately. University unit officers have advised students that this clause will be applied only when the student breaks his contract without an acceptable explanation.

No Guarantee

ROTC officials, however, pointed out there is no guarantee this protection will extend to students who enroll in future years. Since ROTC students are not normally given regular student deferments, draft would then be a real threat to anyone who wanted to get out of the program.

Consequently, the new clause may cause a decline in future enrollment if students fear to sign a contract with penalties much greater than those now in force.