UT Martin To Lose ROTC Program
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MARTIN, Tenn. – The United States Army is cutting the ROTC programs at 13 colleges or universities nationwide. The University of Tennessee at Martin is one of the schools. “It’s a disadvantage to some of the cadets because some of the cadets have put in a lot of hard work and development, and they have grown tremendously,” the school’s Professor of Military Science and Leadership, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Johnson, said. Johnson said he was disappointed upon learning his program will be shut down in two years. “The decision to close down UT Martin has nothing to do with the quality of education or the quality of the cadet,” Lt. Col. Johnson said. “It just basically comes down to resources.” For juniors and seniors scheduled to graduate by May 2015, there will be no impact. But for younger ROTC students, major changes are on the way. “If they want to be any Army officer, they’re going to have to transfer to another university that has a ROTC program,” Johnson said. The school still has plenty of questions, and plans to push to keep the program. “We don’t know everything that went into the reasoning for this, so we hope to find that out I guess over the next two years and we plan to see what we can do to maintain the program,” said school chancellor Tom Rakes.
