Ivy League Schools and Military Service

Frank Schaeffer explores quite a bit in this post; from the elite schools reluctance to offer ROTC, his transformation as the father of a Marine and a call to President Obama to aggressively encourage our finest universities to offer ROTC.

The issue of Ivy indifference to the military was highlighted by who did not participate at our conference. Though they had been repeatedly invited by both faculty and students no one from the Harvard admissions office, the provost of Harvard's office or the president of Harvard (or even a representative from her office) chose to attend.

The Harvard administration had an historic opportunity to enter into this vital discussion and they ignored it. In a time of war when their fellow Americans are dying, no one from the Harvard president's office would even cross the street to dialogue with top military educators and strategists or even pay their respects to the military visitors on campus.

The military participated on a high level, as opposed to the Harvard administration. We had generals, admirals, and top administrators present. It was a clear illustration of how many members of the academy have washed their hands of concerns for our national security, let alone respect for our men and women, as if somehow they are living in their own country, or even on another planet. It was not always so, as the memorial wall at Harvard to the many fallen Harvard hero alumni attests.