Recruiting on College Campuses

There is considerable controversy about the presence of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) on college campuses. The periodic visits of military recruiters who seek to interest students in entering other officer commissioning programs after they graduate have also been controversial. These periodic visits are episodic and do not involve a permanent presence. In general, those opposed to them cite grounds identical to those used in opposition to the ROTC. This entry discusses the history of military recruitment on college campuses and looks at opposition to the presence of recruiters.

Opposition to military recruiting on campus has, in recent years, usually been framed in relationship to the recently repealed statutory ban on open and admitted homosexuals serving in the military. This was known colloquially as the ...