Arms and the University: Military Presence and the Civic Education of Non-Military Students

455 Pages·2012·2.514 MB·English

by  Donald Alexander Downs, Ilia Murtazashvili

ArmsandtheUniversity
MilitaryPresenceandtheCivicEducation
ofNon-militaryStudents
Alienation between the U.S. military and society has grown in recent
decades. Such alienation is unhealthy, as it threatens both sufficient
civiliancontrolofthemilitaryandthelong-standingidealofthe“citizen-
soldier.”Nowhereisthisissuemorepredominantthanatmanymajor
universities,whichbeganturningtheirbacksonthemilitaryduringthe
chaotic years of the Vietnam War. Arms and the University probes
variousdimensionsofthisalienation,aswellasrecenteffortstorestore
a closer relationship between the military and the university. Through
theoretical and empirical analysis, Donald Alexander Downs and Ilia
Murtazashvilishowhowamilitarypresenceoncampusintheformof
theReserveOfficers’TrainingCorps(ROTC)(includingacasestudyof
ROTC’sreturntoColumbiaandHarvarduniversities),militaryhistory,
andnationalsecuritystudiescanenhancethecivicandliberaleducation
of non-military students, and in the process help to bridge the civil–
militarygap.
DonaldAlexanderDownsisAlexanderMeiklejohnProfessorofPolitical
Science,Law,andJournalismattheUniversityofWisconsin,Madison.
Heistheauthoroffivebooks:NazisinSkokie:Freedom,Community,
andtheFirstAmendment;TheNewPoliticsofPornography;MoreThan
Victims:BatteredWomen,theSyndromeSociety,andtheLaw;Cornell
’69:LiberalismandtheCrisisoftheAmericanUniversity;andRestoring
FreeSpeechandLibertyonCampus.Heistheco-founderanddirector
of the Wisconsin Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy at the
University of Wisconsin and a frequent contributor to local, state,
national,andinternationalmedia.
IliaMurtazashviliisAssistantProfessorattheGraduateSchoolofPublic
andInternationalAffairsattheUniversityofPittsburgh.Heearnedhis
Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
and his research interests include institutional design and political
economy.

Arms and the University
Military Presence and the Civic Education
of Non-military Students
DONALD ALEXANDER DOWNS
UniversityofWisconsin,Madison
ILIA MURTAZASHVILI
UniversityofPittsburgh
cambridge university press
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Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
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Downs,DonaldAlexander.
Armsandtheuniversity:militarypresenceandtheciviceducationofnonmilitary
students/DonaldAlexanderDowns,IliaMurtazashvili.
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Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn9780521192323(hardback) isbn9780521156707(paperback)
1. UnitedStates.Army.ReserveOfficers’TrainingCorps. 2. Education,Humanistic
UnitedStates. 3. Soldiers Education(Higher) UnitedStates. 4. Civil militaryrelations
UnitedStates. 5. UnitedStates.Army Recruiting,enlistment,etc.
I. Murtazashvili,Ilia,1975 II. Title.
u428.5.d68 2012
355.20232071173 dc23
2011032229
isbn9780521192323Hardback
isbn9780521156707Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofurlsforexternalorthirdpartyInternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublicationanddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
ToJen,Leo,Zoe,Susan,Jacqueline,andAlexander;andtothestudent
cadetsandveteranswhohavestrivensoablyandhonorablytofosterthe
citizen-soldieridealandtobridgethegapbetweenthemilitary,the
university,andsociety
[Lincoln] expressed the new idea in the Gettysburg Address.... He
addressed Tocqueville’s worry about the longevity of liberal democratic
governments....ButtheCivilWarraisedthequestionofwhethersucha
governmentcouldsurvive,“testing whether that nation or any nation so
conceivedanddedicatedcanendure”...
Butwhatgaveforcetothisargumentwastheoccasionandsettingofhis
speech. Hedeliveredhis remarksat abattlefieldcemetery, dedicatingthe
site.Hisspeechwasaboutdeath....Hesaidnothingtosuggestthatdeath
wasgood....Hedidnotthink,asQutbdid,thatmartyrsgoonlivingin
some respect, and that death is a garden of delights. He did not find
brotherhood in death – did not see his highest aspirations realized in a
field of the dead, as the totalitarians of the twentieth century have done,
andarestilldoing....
But neither did he avert his eyes from death. He spoke about death as
“the last full measure of devotion,” which Union soldiers had given....
Deathwasnottheirgoal;butdeathwasthemeasureoftheircommitment.
“Fromthesehonoreddeadwetakeincreaseddevotion,”hesaid.Hewas
explaining that a liberal society must be, when challenged, a warlike
society;oritwillnotendure.
PaulBerman1
1 PaulBerman,TerrorandLiberalism(Norton,2003),pp.169 70.
Contents
ListofTables pageix
Acknowledgments xi
part i. a normative and pedagogical framework
1 Introduction:TheClosingoftheUniversityMind:The
Military–UniversityGapandtheProblemofCivicand
LiberalEducation 3
2 EducationintheRegime:HowaMilitaryPresenceCan
EnhanceCivicandLiberalEducation 40
part ii. rotc and the university
3 ROTCandtheUniversity:AnIntroduction 77
4 ROTCandtheIvies:BeforetheStorm 103
5 ROTCandtheIvies:TheDivorce 131
6 ROTC,Columbia,andtheIvyLeague:SisyphusRenews
HisQuesttoRenewaTroubledRelationship 161
7 Post-DADT:SisyphusAscendstheMountain 198
8 PedagogyandMilitaryPresence:TheEducationalInfluence
ofStudent-SoldiersinTheirOwnWords 226
9 WinningHeartsandMinds?TheConsequencesofMilitary
PresenceforNon-militaryStudents 256
part iii. military history examined
10 MilitaryHistory:AnEndangeredorProtectedSpecies? 283
11 HalfEmptyorHalfFull:MilitaryHistorians’Perspectives
ontheStatusofMilitaryHistoryattheLeading
Departments 320
vii
viii Contents
12 MilitaryPresenceinSecurityStudies:PoliticalRealism
(Re)Considered 356
13 SecurityStudiesintheWakeoftheColdWarUniversity:
ParagonsofProductiveFriction,orThrowingtheBabyout
withtheBathwater? 381
part iv. concluding thoughts
14 Conclusion:PlacingtheMilitaryintheUniversity 411
Index 425
Tables
8.1 Cadets’ReasonsforJoiningROTC page235
8.2 Cadets’ViewsontheImportanceofROTCtothe
MilitaryandUniversity 237
8.3 NegativeExperiencesofCadets 242
8.4 PositiveExperiencesofCadets 246
8.5 Cadets’PerceptionsofBenefitsofROTConCampus 248
8.6 Cadets’Self-DescribedImpactonCampus 249
8.7 InfluenceofNon-ROTCStudentsintheROTC
Classroom 253
9.1 StudentInteractionswithROTC 258
10.1 MilitaryHistoryandNationalSecurityinHistory
Departments:AFirstTake 308
10.2 TraditionalandNewMilitaryHistoryinHistory
Departments 311
10.3 TraditionalandNewMilitaryHistoryinPoliticalScience
Departments 317
11.1 FacultyinVariousMilitaryHistoryOrbits 325
11.2 CoursesinVariousMilitaryHistoryOrbits 328
13.1 OrientationofSecurityStudiesDepartments 385
ix