The Army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) offers college students the chance to simultaneously earn their bachelor’s degree and an officer commission as a second lieutenant. The ROTC program produces 65 percent of all of the Army’s officers. It is recognized as one of the top leadership education programs in the nation. ROTC scholarships are awarded on a basis of merit, not financial need. They are available for two, three or four-year periods, depending on when the student enters the program. Students also receive monthly stipends based on their level in the program.
            Military Science is the academic counterpart to the ROTC service component. Once a student enters the program, all of their involvement and achievement is weighted for credit on the National Order of Merit List, a ranking of all of the cadets in the nation. Their final rank on the list is 40 percent academic and 60 percent military aptitude. After graduation, cadets have their choice of the Active, Reserve or National Guard forces as well as a specialization. ROTC also offers a fully-funded graduate school option. 
             Monmouth College had an active ROTC unit on campus for many years. Despite its size, Monmouth maintained a successful program by national standards. The program was never discontinued, but it apparently suffered from budget cuts at the national level during the early 90s when there was an attempt to phase-out smaller programs or outsource them to nearby universities. Monmouth had always cooperated with Western Illinois University to provide a full program to its students. However, since the early 90s, any Monmouth student who wanted to participate in the program had to commute to WIU for all ROTC requirements.
            Some students have continued to take advantage of this partnership; although, Monmouth has failed to produce even a single officer a year in recent years. Junior Matt Montgomery is the only Monmouth student currently making the trip to WIU. Montgomery entered the program as a sophomore, so his past summer was spent at the Leaders Training Course (LTC) at Fort Knox in Kentucky.    Basic courses are those taken as electives in the first two years of college. There is no service obligation until the student enters the advanced courses in his or her junior year (or junior equivalent). 
           Montgomery said that so far his experience has been a positive one. However, there have been some difficulties, Montgomery noted, “Last year it was easy to do the class @ WIU, because it went directly through the Military Science department to MC. As far as WIU was concerned I was not a student there in Fall of 06. Being an MSIII was a little harder to pull off. I needed to be a student enrolled at WIU, so I had to apply and go through all the processes just like I did my freshman year at MC.” 
           Jane Jakoubek, dean of academic affairs and dean of the faculty, said that student interest is what brought the program to her attention.  She said that her job dictates that she monitor academic programs for functionality and accessibility. Sources should be informationally up-to-date and programs should be fairly represented to students. 
            President Mauri Ditzler reflected similar sentiments. He said that if Monmouth is going to have program then it must serve students well. Monmouth is a residential campus; so, one of his central concerns is the amount of time that these students have to spend off campus. Ditzler met with ROTC officials as early as last school year.
           The faculty senate has had a running dialogue about the expansion of the ROTC program, and what role it would play on campus.  They have agreed in previous meetings to treat Military Science like any other academic program on campus which included a spot on the Mentoring Day agenda. Ditzler acknowledged the full spectrum of faculty opinion, and welcomed future discussions on the matter.  He emphasized that the school has no plan at this time, just options.
            Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Steven Rosson is the chair of the military science department at WIU as well as its director of ROTC.  He was on campus to speak to students on Wednesday, Oct. 24 for Mentoring Day.  ROTC was listed on the Mentoring Day schedules along with the other academic programs on campus.  Rosson was slotted to speak at two different times, but student attendance was poor.  However, Rosson was optimistic about the future of the Monmouth program.  He expressed understanding about the time commitment that this type of project will require.
            Rosson was upfront about the goals of ROTC. He reinforced that ROTC is not an active recruiting tool. The Army has recruiters in charge of enlistment to do that job. ROTC is in the business of training officers. Rosson said that the program is set-up in a way that forces students into extended deliberation about their choice to serve.
           His ideal scenario would be to have enough student interest at Monmouth to make it beneficial to send a cadre to campus to teach the first two years of ROTC. Advanced courses have a lab component that would still have to be completed a WIU, but it would go a long way in student accessibility.
            Interested students may contact LTC Rosson through his e-mail at SD-Rosson@wiu.edu or by phone at (309) 298-1161.

Return to Home