The Faculty, in 1969, argued that ROTC was incompatible--in the kinds of courses it offered, in the lack of Faculty supervision it permitted, in its ties to the government, in its means of appointing the teachers it employed--with Harvard's strictly academic standards as well.
The report of the HRPC argued that "the military training goal of the ROTC program is a clear violation of the liberal arts norm."
In short, many opponents of ROTC maintain that no "free and open university" with any sense of academic integrity or social responsibility would include ROTC study in its curriculum.
6) A university willing to take funds related to defense research should be willing to train military officers.
Liberal Response: To determine academic programs on the basis of sources of outside funds would undercut the very foundations of academic freedon and the independent university.
President Bok said several weeks ago, "Nothing could be worse for the Faculty's credibility than to reconsider ROTC under obvious financial pressure."
Radical Response: Universities should not be willing to do defense research for an imperialist military industrial establishment.