From Draft NOtices, July—September 2009
– Linda Pershing
During the 2008-2009 academic year, a proposal to start an Army ROTC program at California State University San Marcos, a 20-year-old campus in northern San Diego County, met with accolades from supporters and strong resistance from students, faculty, and community members who oppose the militarization of schools and universities. Military officials and a sponsoring faculty member withdrew their proposal without explanation when an ROTC Study Group, created by the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate, made the recommendation not to offer the ROTC program on campus. The recommendation was the culmination of a prolonged process of meetings, information gathering, testimony and input from members of the campus community, and a town hall meeting open to the public.
Context is everything. Traditionally, San Diego’s North County is politically conservative and pro-military. Since 2006, Brian Bilbray, a strong supporter of “national security” and anti-terrorism legislation, has been elected twice as the U.S. Congressional Representative in the 50th District, where Cal State San Marcos is located. The military presence in San Diego County is pervasive and goes largely unquestioned, with an estimated 100,000 military personnel stationed at many bases and installations in the area.
ROTC students at Cal State San Marcos currently take their military courses at other local universities, transferring the military science credits from San Diego State University (for the Army and Air Force) and the University of San Diego (for the Navy and Marines).
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
- David Morales
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Inadequate High School Courses Pushes Students into the Military
From Draft NOtices, July—September 2009
– David Morales
I remember meeting a girl named Katia Ortiz. She was a junior in high school, probably 16 years old. She was in JROTC. Katia would hide from me the days she was forced to wear her Marine JROTC uniform. She was embarrassed. I asked her why she was in JROTC. She told me her counselor had placed her there for the physical education credit and that there was no other class available. So there was Katia, a week into the semester of JROTC, learning how to march and being bombarded with military propaganda. There was no more room in the 11th grade English classes; she was stuck until the following semester. “JROTC will have to do for now,” her counselor said.
Katia’s situation is no surprise or abnormality. There is a lack of academic and college preparatory courses in our public high schools. If more students decided to take the courses required to apply to colleges in California, there would not be enough space, books, or teachers for them. This contributes to the increasing military recruitment in schools.
In 2006, at Mission Bay High School in San Diego, where 75% of the students are youth of color, there was a highly promoted college-preparatory AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination). A section of the school was set aside for the AVID Academy, which consisted of a network of teachers supporting students fulfilling academic requirements. Mission Bay had an AVID coordinator, an AVID counselor, and more than 120 students in the AVID Academy.
From Draft NOtices, April — June 2009
– Paula Hoffman Villanueva
A truly monumental victory against militarism in our schools has been achieved! And for this victory to come from the city of San Diego makes it even more amazing. The Education Not Arms Coalition, after a 1½-year campaign, has succeeded in moving the San Diego Board of Education to ban rifle training on 11 high school campuses. At the board meeting on February 10, after 90 minutes of testimony and discussion, the vote was 3-2 in favor of banning JROTC weapons training. More than 200 students and local activists filled the auditorium with their now-familiar, bright orange “No Weapons Training” signs.
In the summer of 2007, the San Diego-based Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (Project YANO) was supporting students and others in a struggle to stop the opening of a Marine JROTC program at Mission Bay High School. At the same time, people were learning that a rifle range was to be part of the newly built Lincoln High School campus. When it was discovered that more high schools in San Diego had shooting ranges as part of JROTC, teachers, community activists, parents and students formed the Education Not Arms Coalition (ENAC). Community organizations that supported the coalition included Project YANO, UJIMA Institute for Civic Responsibility, Association of Raza Educators, MEChA and AFSC, among others.
Ninth CIRCUIT COURT RULING: CONFRONTING MILITARISM BY USING EQUAL ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOLS
When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view. This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:
