ROTC

Walking South down Agate Street across from Hayward Field you will pass a sign that reads “Military Science,” that marks the current home of UO’s Reserve Officer Training Crops (ROTC) Program. A twisting hawthorn tree shades pull up bars just to the South of the old white house turned office building that is conjoined with the Labor Education and Research Center. This peaceful location near the edge of campus tells little of the program’s long and tumultuous history. 

 

Historically, the ROTC quarters have garnered perhaps the most physical aggression of any department at the University. As American troops have deployed across the world, protestors have often concentrated on the ROTC as the local representative of American foreign policy and imperialism. This has mobilized students and charged the atmosphere in Eugene, setting the scene for both non-violent protest but also escalating violent action. University support for the program, or simply allowing it to maintain a physical presence on campus, has been perceived as capitulation to American involvement in horrors abroad [1]. It is also worth noting that the sheer scale and fervor of action against ROTC has ushered increased militarized responses to protestors – including the first use of tear gas and National Guardsman against students. This is true both at UO and nationally. All together, ROTC’s reception reveals it as UO’s most profound spatial entanglement with militarism and US Empire; one that sends brutality outwards across borders which rebounds back to campus. 

 

Seen as a war preparedness program for white and able-bodied civilian men during the first World War, the signing of the National Defense Act in 1916 facilitated the establishment of numerous ROTC programs on campuses across the nation [2], including at the University of Oregon. Then President Prince Lucien Campbell supported the adoption of ROTC, framing that [3] –  “the matter of military training in any school seems to me to be a training for better citizenship, rather than for war,” in 1915, shortly before the program was housed in a small building near the corner of 15th and University Streets (which is now the northwest edge of Esslinger Hall) [4].   

 

For its first five decades, ROTC at the UO was ‘compulsory,’ meaning participation in its training program (or ‘drill’) was mandatory for all freshmen and sophomore men. Though this primarily took the form of physical education, it sparked a tension between administrators and the University community on the basis that it gave the military inappropriate control over students and influence on academic requirements. In April of 1937, a large crowd of students a part of the national Peace Movement walked out of class, rallying outside of Fenton Hall to protest the potential of another World War for profit and the compulsory status of ROTC. A white sign reading “What is ROTC, but Murder in its Infancy?” peaked out of the crowd. 

 

The Oregon State Board of Higher Education had to be lobbied to change ROTCs regulations, and in 1935, UO faculty found themselves deadlocked in a 42-42 vote to recommend the board make participation voluntary. UO President C.V. Boyer leveled his tie breaking vote against the recommendation in order to maintain compulsory status [5]. Faculty remained resolute, and between 1935-1962 several votes came close to delivering the recommendation. Successful votes by faculty at both UO and Oregon State University in 1962 moved the state to declare participation in the programs voluntary. The record high enrollment of the program peaked in 1959 with 1400 cadets. 

 

In the early morning of April 25th, 1963 the ROTC building on 15th and University was burned entirely to the ground, the cause later confirmed as arson [6]. The program moved offices into the nearby French and Cherney Halls (which were located underneath the current footprint of the Student Rec Center) and its storage into the depth of the Physical Education/PE Building (now Esslinger). 

 

1968 saw both the United State’s involvement in Vietnam and the target on ROTC grow. Graduate students who were forced to share offices with ROTC in French and Cherney delivered a petition to interim President Charles Johnson demanding its eviction, citing the potential danger of a political attack on the buildings. They were ignored, and on Monday November 4th, an explosion of dynamite ripped through the building. The blast collapsed the floor of the Air Force ROTC’s (founded in 1948) administrator’s office into the basement and left an eight foot wide hole in the adjacent wall. None were injured [7]. Neither this nor the 1963 fire were solved. 

 

Things kept heating up during the 1969-70 school year. The campus chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) ran a year-long campaign demanding ROTC be removed from campus, along with all other ‘pigs’. They kept busy – within months a torchlit march of over 200 protestors accosted President Robert Clark on his front porch in the middle of the night [8], ROTC recruiters were splashed with animal blood by members of a women’s militia [9], a Chicago Concert at Macarthur Court and was disrupted [10], and a ‘People’s Trial’ found the University and ROTC complicit in Racist War Crimes in Vietnam [11]. 

 

On January 19th, 1970 hundreds of protestors marched through Cherney and French Halls to disrupt classes chanting “Smash ROTC.” Many returned the next Friday (the 23rd) and ransacked the buildings’ administrative offices [12]. On Valentine’s Day, February 14th, another arsonists’ fire broke out, this time in the ROTC storage room in the PE Building (Esslinger Hall) [13]. It caused over $250,000 (nearly $2.1 million today) in damages and destroyed ROTC records, weapons, hundreds of uniforms. The message “My Lai” was later found written on the outside of the door to the storage room. 

 

On April 15th, members of the Faculty Senate called a vote to terminate ROTC from campus. Many in support cited that no other university program saw a prospective employer (the US Military) entirely dictating the related course of study (ROTC). Despite a close margin of 199-185, the vote failed and incited clashes between students and police. Just hours later, tear gas was deployed for the first time in campus history by the Eugene Police Department in an attempt to disperse hundreds of protestors throwing rocks, fire crackers and torches at Cherney Hall [14]. Both the ROTC buildings and Johnson sustained substantial damage and seven students were arrested, four of which were held at $25,000 bail – the highest amount in Eugene history to date for a non-capital crime (and equivalent to over $200,000 today) [15]. A 700 person-strong march rallied to the County Jail that night to demand their release. The situation on campus continued to escalate the following week, and the movement peaked in its power as covered in other entries. Despite the, most student demands were never addressed, and ROTC remained in place. The May 4th killing of four student protesters by National Guardsmen at Kent State jolted the nation and the campaign, cancelling classes nationally and chilling the protest movement at UO for the remainder of the spring [16]. Following the school year, French and Cherney Hall were demolished due to the damages and ROTC moved to temporary quarters in an old fraternity house near 18th and Alder. 

 

A year later, as multiple US backed military operations failed in Laos, the most violent riot in the history of UO ROTC unfolded. A day of varied pro-peace activities on Thursday, May 6th, 1971 culminated in an evening of street warfare: a march from the downtown courthouse to campus nearly 100 law enforcement officers, exchanging rocks, bottles, tear gas and nightsticks with over 500 protestors. Among the bonfires that stretched Adler Street and the broken glass from the windows of the ROTC house, 38 students were arrested and several injuries were treated [17]. The evening rocked Eugene as one of the most disruptive protests in city history. Later anti-war demonstrations saw students digging faux bomb craters and setting the ROTC building sign on fire in the spring of 1972 [18], but the pressure on the program slowly relented and focuses shifted as the campus anti-war movement dissipated. 

 

In the Fall of 1976, the ROTC moved into its current office on Agate Street as enrollment totaled just 80 students. The decades here have been significantly more peaceful for program, though not uneventful. In 1983 ROTC drew Faculty scrutiny for not abiding by affirmative action anti-discrimination practices that the rest of the University was required to (the program would not allow gay students to receive scholarships or enter into upper divisions) [19]. Pro-American sentiment during the Gulf-War in 1990-91 and following September 11th, 2001 subtly increased cadet enrollment and campus support for the program, though seven community members were arrested for trespassing at the ROTC during a peaceful protest against the Iraq War in November of 2005 [20]. As of 2025, the program has produced 48 General Officers, more than any other program at a non-military school in the country [21]. 

 

Questions as You Visit 

 

How the tactics of protestors in 1937 (Peace Movement) and from 1968-1972 (Anti-War) differ, and/or to compare to present movements against militarism? 

 

How and where do you see power moving through the “profound spatial entanglement” of the University, ROTC and US Empire? 

REFERENCES

 

    1. https://www.vietnamfulldisclosure.org/student-protests-uo-campus-demonstrations-late-1960s/  
    2. https://armyrotc.army.mil/history/  
    3. Then and Now: ROTC’s Life on Campus https://pages.uoregon.edu/jrussial/cyberj/thenandnow/rotc.html#top 
    4. 4/26/63 Emerald https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1963-04-26/ed-1/seq-7/ 
    5. 1935 Faculty vote 42-42 to recommend state end compulsory rotc, president C. V. Boyer breaks tie against motion; kills it. https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1935-04-11/ed-1/seq-1/  
    6. Arson Confirmed https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1963-05-03/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Fire+ROTC 
    7. 11/4/68 Dynamtie Bombing  https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1968-11-05/ed-1/seq-1/ 
    8. 9/29/1969 200 SDS torch lit protest to Clarks House over ROTC https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1969-09-29/ed-1/seq-3/  
    9. 1/6/1970 ROTC Recruiters splashed with Blood 
      1. https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1970-01-07/ed-1/seq-1/  
    10. Chicago Concert Disrupted – https://doublesidedmedia.com/2021/02/17/eugene-rising-part-iii/ 
    11. 1/15/70 People’s Trial – https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1970-01-15/ed-1/seq-1/  
    12. 1/23/70 protestors ransack offices in the buildings and “cherney hall”? Call guy a nazi https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1970-01-26/ed-1/seq-1/  
    13. 2/14/70 – Valentine’s day fire in PE building, rotc offices/storage hit hard https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1970-02-17/ed-1/seq-1/  
    14. Police, Demonstrators Clash at ROTC https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1970-04-16/ed-1/seq-1/ 
    15. Bail at $25000https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1970-04-17/ed-1/seq-1/ 
    16. Classes Called off – https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1970-05-07/ed-1/seq-1/ 
    17. Protests Rock Eugene https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1971-05-07/ed-1/seq-1/ 
    18. May 1972 – Sign set on fire (incredible photo!) https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1972-05-05/ed-1/seq-1/#words=building+buildings+ROTC 
    19. ROTC In a Lot of Trouble https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1983-05-04/ed-1/seq-1/#words=ROTC+ROTC%E2%80%99s 
    20. Nonviolent Iraq War protesters arrested on University campus https://dailyemerald.com/90245/archives/nonviolent-iraq-war-protesters-arrested-on-university-campus/ 
    21. Correspondence with ROTC program via email, 9/X/2025