ROTC early scheduling urged

When sophomore Aryn Morrison wakes up every morning, she gets ready for ROTC physical training. She must balance her class schedule with mandatory ROTC activities like physical training and Ranger Challenges.

Morrison said she has experienced difficulty in arranging her schedule to accommodate her ROTC activates.

“As an underclassman, the prerequisite classes do go pretty quickly,” Morrison said. “Every semester I’ve had a really late class because that’s the only place I could fit it ... so you’re getting home late and starting homework late, and it just adds extra stress for you.”

On Oct. 2, IUSA Congress members voted unanimously in favor of a resolution urging the University to allow priority registration for students that participate in Army ROTC.
Price said in an email he hopes the resolution will be implemented by the University and that ROTC numbers will increase as a result.

“Included in the resolution is our hope that allowing ROTC students to have priority registration will increase the number of students enrolled in the program,” he said.
“Some students may not be able to be involved with ROTC because of other conflicts, and hopefully this will fix that issue.”

Mark McConahay, Associate Vice Provost and Registrar, said in an email the proposal was received by the Office of Enrollment Management on Oct. 7.

“Registration is an academic process, and in the purview of Bloomington Faculty Council who would, in all probability, assign the proposal to the Educational Policies Committee for review,” he said.

McConahay added at this time it has not been determined when and if the proposal will go into effect.

If approved by the BFC, the proposal would be reviewed by staff in the Office of the Registrar and other campus and system-wide officers. At that point, the process would be defined and technical specifications would be developed.

Ben Krebs , a senior and the cadet battalion commander for the IU Army ROTC battalion, said in an email he spends an average of 20 hours a week on ROTC activities and often, those activities make scheduling for academic classes difficult.
“Some things, like our two-hour Thursday labs, are always at the same time every semester,” he said.

“So if you have a class you have to take, and there are multiple sections but you can’t get into the one that fits your ROTC obligations, then you can’t take it that
semester.”

Priority registration could benefit ROTC members in several ways, Krebs said, including allowing them flexibility while scheduling as well as a possible increase in grade point average and PT scores.

“If they have more time get work done and more wiggle room to manage all of their activities, then they should be able to perform better as scholars, athletes and leaders,” he said.

Price said he felt passionate about the resolution because he is grateful for the work that ROTC students and all men and women in the service do.

“We are grateful for what the men and women in the armed forces sacrifice on a daily basis for all of us, and we were just happy to be able to contribute something to help them,” he said.

Morrison said the proposal, regardless of whether it’s implemented by the University, is an appreciated gesture.

“It’s nice to see that somebody’s thinking of us putting in all that time,” she said.

Follow reporter Holly Hays on Twitter @hv_hays.