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ARMY ROTC BOOSTS BLACK ENROLLMENT

[[image - black and white photograph of three men, two of them in Army uniform]]

[[caption]] PRESIDENTIAL DISCUSSION. Dr. King V. Cheek, Morgan State College, discusses Academic-Curriculum, and the ROTC program with Colonel C. M. Hurtt, Professor of Military Science, and Cadet Colonel Theodore C. Newman, Cadet Brigade Commander. [[/caption]]

FORT MONROE, VA. - A concerted and continuing effort by the Army ROTC Directorate here has increased black enrollment in Army ROTC by 5.3 percent in the last two years. This program, the Army's largest source of junior officers, is currently conducted at 294 colleges and universities nationwide.

General Milton E. Key, the ROTC Director, has said that in order for Army ROTC to be truly representative of all segments of the American Society - geographic, economic, ethnic and religious - it "must assure that all minority group prospects and those who influence their decisions know that the Army is committed to abolishing all situations which segregate or demean its members or their families.

"This effort must reach into the community," General Key has stated, "and we must eliminate problems which embarrass any of our members because of their race, creed, national origin. To achieve this, each of us must make the Army an example of understanding and harmony among the races."

Nowhere in the Army has the success of the effort been more evident than in the ranks of the Army ROTC cadets. Since school year 1970-71, black enrollment in Army ROTC has risen to a total of 5,627 cadets, or 13.7 percent of the entire enrollment in the nationwide ROTC program.

This represents an increase of 5.3 percent in the short span of two years. And the effort is continuing, with direction and emphasis coming from all levels of Army command.

Army ROTC offers a wide variety of benefits and advantages for blacks and members of other minorities. Chief among these is the possibility of winning an Army ROTC scholarship.

About 1,000 scholarships are awarded each year to high school seniors who must apply for them during the period between 1 September and 31 December of their senior year. The scholarships pay the cost of tuition, textbooks, lab fees and other educational expenses. They also provide a subsistence allowance of $100 a month for up to 10 months of the school year. And they also pay the winners' initial transportation costs from their homes to their schools.

Three- and two-year Army ROTC scholarships