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Show WINTER 2013 UHQ pp 4-90_UHQ Stories/pp.4-68 12/5/12 9:38 AM Page 75 facing draft-age students, the response tended to be favorable. “An ROTC unit here–now–would have certain very definite advantages,” one student commented. “...Male students who feel the warm breath of their local draft boards down the back of their necks would not have to transfer to schools which already have [a militar y prog ram] to finish their education.” 56 By 1953, enrollment had skyrocketed to eighteen hun- BYU students demonstrating for dred, then plummeted during the early 1960s the recall of student body to less than a hundred, but by 1965 had more president Brian Walton, than quadrupled.57 BYU subsequently obtain- November 1970. ed permission to establish an Army ROTC unit, and the Daniel H. Wells ROTC building was dedicated in 1969. Following the end of the Vietnam war in the mid-1970s, enrollment in both units again decreased, though participation has remained relatively strong. At the beginning of fall semester 1961, BYU administrators suggested that ROTC cadets supervise daily U.S. flag raising and lower ing ceremonies on campus. 58 Some students viewed the ceremony as an inconvenience, and one school official observed, “Very few will stop to pay proper respect by standing at attention...”59 Irked, administrators decided to have the national anthem played as well. The response was again mixed. While many students stood at attention, others protested.60 One wrote, “I believe that forcing people to surrender even one minute a day through coercion is un-American.”61 Another joked, “I have also watched many of the foreign students during these precious moments....They seem to show a passive tolerance and not a deep passionate commitment. They need to be taught true love of America, and if they are not going to develop that love they can leave–especially those ungrateful Canadians.”62 56 “BYU Men Voice Approval of ROTC Establishment,” Daily Universe, February 13, 1951. See Joseph F. Boone, “The Roles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Relation to the United States Military, 1900-1975,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Brigham Young University, April 1975), 446, 457-60, 462. 58 “ROTC Takes Care of Flag,” Daily Universe, October 5, 1961. 59 “Flag Deserves Attention,” Daily Universe, January 12, 1962. 60 Roger B. McFarland, Letter, Daily Universe, April 23, 1965. 61 David L. Daly, Letter, Daily Universe, March 28, 1967. 62 Mike Noonchester, Letter, Daily Universe, December 18, 1968. 57 75 THE BAyNAN STudENT POLITICAL ACTIVISM |
