The role of JROTC in high schools has been a point of debate since its founding in 1916. It became a major point of protest during the Vietnam era with many college students who resented their school’s administrators and college trustees refusal to cut ties with military personnel. ROTC buildings across the country were trashed, burned, or set on fire- the most famous instance occurring at Kent State in May of 1970. An arson attempt on the campus’ ROTC building triggered a National Guard occupation where four students were fatally shot, leading to the biggest student strike in US history.
For students in low income homes, enrollment in the army can provide many privileges and basic needs they aren’t guaranteed access to, including a college education, a steady career, and even access to basic needs like food and shelter. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, around 64% of enlistments are made up of people with household incomes below 87,000$, and an additional 19% are from families that make less than 41,691$. Furthermore, a report by RAND corporation done in 2017 showed that 56% of schools that offer JROTC have federal funding for reduced or free lunch options, suggesting there is a significant number of students on or below the poverty line.
Many schools, including Portland Public, removed army based programs from their school due to the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, a policy that prohibited US military members from being openly LGBTQ. Transgender individuals weren’t allowed to serve under any circumstances until 2016, and quickly lost the right under the Trump administration. This actually wasn’t because of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policies, but because of a clause in the military’s medical policy that considers individuals with Gender Identity Disorder unfit for service. While these policies only affect ROTC programs in colleges, there’s no doubt that this culture of bigotry likely trickles down to high school programs.
The military also has a long history of discrimination and abuse towards female veterans. In 2010, the Department of Defense estimated that more than 19,000 military sexual assaults took place, but that only 14% of them were reported, and that 1 in 3 military sex offenders were permitted to stay enlisted even after an investigation took place. In June of 2024, a group of senate Democrats held a press conference with the Department of Defense to discuss the rampant abuse young girls face in JROTC programs, and requested for government officials to pass a reform to ensure students are protected from sexual misconduct.
This conference likely arose from a 2022 investigation in The New York Times that found at least 33 JROTC instructors across the country had been criminally charged with sexual crimes in the last five years. This led to the House Oversight Committee launching their own investigation, revealing an additional 60 instructors that were persecuted in the same time frame. In the 2024 letters to senators concerning the issue, the Pentagon revealed they had received over 114 allegations of instructors perpetuating acts of violence, sexual abuse or sexual harassment against cadets in JROTC programs across the country.
Oregon City High School stands for equality, inclusion, and diversity, and has several policies that prohibit students and teachers from bullying or discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, race, class and orientation. But by allowing the army in our schools, through recruitment and JROTC, we go against the very values we claim are a pillar of our community. By doing so, we create an environment that not only puts students at risk of discrimination, but abuse and harassment by those in an immense position of power over them, and perpetuates an already aching disparity between students in lower class homes. And that is why it’s essential that OCHS removes military involvement from our community, so we can instead have a community truly built upon the pillars of inclusion, diversity, respect and safety.
