In its first-ever newsletter this fall, The Advocates for Harvard ROTC, which numbers among its supporters former Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger ’38 as well as about 1000 alumni, praised Summers as someone who “pierced the thirty-year dark cloud of disdain and intolerance that enveloped Harvard ROTC.”

David Clayman ’38, founder and chair of the group, said yesterday that Summers “came in with a breath of fresh air” when he praised those in uniform in public appearances at the Kennedy School of Government and in comments to The Crimson and other newspapers.

Despite his support of patriotism and military service, neither Summers nor the Faculty Council has indicated whether the University is considering changing its policy in regard to ROTC funding, a move that Clayman said would help legitimize the group.

Clayman said alumni were concerned not so much with the funding, but with the outward support such a decision would bring.

“We’re out in limbo,” he said. “If Harvard officially recognized the curriculum of ROTC, they’d make an unusual contribution to it. The richness of the resources [of Harvard] would be available to the students.”

Both Secretary of the Faculty John B. Fox ’59 and Professor of Psychology Marc Hauser, a council member, said that they were unaware of any movement among council members to rework the current legislation that prohibits Harvard from funding ROTC directly.

Fox added that despite its carefully-kept distance from funding ROTC, Harvard’s allowing students to participate indicated at least partial support.

“Harvard has had lots of interchange with the units at MIT,” he said. “The commissioning ceremonies for Harvard people in ROTC occur here at Harvard. It’s not as if ROTC is banned from Harvard.”

—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.