One of the positives that came out of the presidential forum held at Columbia University (with Judy Woodruff and Richard Stengel) was that Barack Obama agreed with John McCain that military ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) belongs on the New York City campus of Columbia University.
I don’t know who was in the audience but both candidates got broad cheers when they criticized Columbia for banishing the program from campus. The military officers training program is an honorable calling and it has repeatedly turned out great leaders, some of whom return to civilian life with a better understanding of what it takes to lead.
What was Columbia U. thinking when it banned the ROTC recruitment from campus? That students needed to be sheltered from ideas which did not conform with those of liberal-left professors? If ideas are regarded as viral infections by a major academic institution like Columbia, then the much vaunted “freedom of thought” is a joke.
Both candidates are to be applauded for calling for the return of ROTC to the Columbia campus. Obama’s position on that score should be heeded, and he should repeat his call on other campuses which have followed Columbia’s narrow-minded and onanistic approach. McCain’s daughter graduated from Columbia U., an indication that this is a good time to make things right with the honorable profession of military service.
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