When Defense Secretary Ash Carter graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1976 with bachelor’s degrees in physics and medieval history, there was no Reserve Officers’ Training Corps on the New Haven campus.
In the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of faculty protests and sometimes violent anti-war demonstrations, ROTC units were kicked off many Ivy League campuses as an expression of opposition to the Vietnam War.
But that was then, and this is now.
Monday, Carter returns to his alma mater 40 years later to preside over a joint Navy and Air Force ROTC Ceremony to commission the first group of seniors to graduate ROTC since it was restored to the campus in 2012.
While the Vietnam War ended in 1975, opposition to ROTC on many college campuses continued into the 1990s and 2000s, in part in protest to the congressionally-mandated ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military, the law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
In 2011, Yale signed agreements with the Air Force and Navy restoring ROTC, and welcomed its first cadets in 2012.
At the time it was seen as a way to help bridge a growing divide between the majority of Americans and the relatively small minority who volunteer to protect them though military service.
Then-Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said, “A Yale presence will give the Air Force a way to connect and engage with some of the brightest and most diverse students in America.”
Yale University is celebrating its 315th commencement with a weekend of activities May 21-23, that includes a Class Day address by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.
