History repeats itself. In asserting that the military should not be present in colleges (“Professor criticizes University’s links to U.S. military,” ODE, April 27), professor of peace studies Simona Sharoni reminds me of the Vietnam War debates and the response that my father, a 1937 University graduate, gave to my assertion in 1969 that ROTC should be thrown off campus.
My father suggested that our choice is simple: Do we want our entire military leadership trained at military academies, or do we want some University graduates making recommendations and decisions? The answer, to me, was clear. At the University, future officers take classes with a diverse student body and are taught by professors with a variety of political and cultural viewpoints. (Let us hope some take classes from Dr. Sharoni. I mean that seriously).
A number of my father’s life-long friends were officers who graduated from the University. One was a general. These were family men who served with honor. Let us not confuse anger and frustration (mine included) toward President Bush and his cronies with our need to keep a military comprised of well-educated private citizens.
Alice Kaseberg
Eugene