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| NJIT President Protests Closing of Air Force ROTC Base on Campus |
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NEWARK, August 11
Robert A. Altenkirch, PhD, president of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), supports the efforts of members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation to halt the closure of Air Force ROTC Detachment #490. NJIT has hosted this detachment since 1949.
Closing the program, which has produced more than 1000 graduates since its inception and serves 12 other area colleges and universities, would discriminate against the nation’s most densely populated urban center. The closing would leave only one existing Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) program in central New Jersey, too far to serve local students according to Air Force standards.
Altenkirch cited the following reasons for keeping the program open:
- AFROTC provides scholarship assistance that is the only route to higher education for some NJIT students.
- AFROTC provides a pathway into a productive career.
- AFROTC needs NJIT graduates.
“The NJIT program is almost exclusively populated by students pursuing engineering, science and computing degrees which are precisely the disciplines sought for the future force,” said Altenkirch.
“I attribute this closure to faulty thinking,” continued Altenkirch. “The criterion for the closure was graduating class size. Using class size inherently discriminates against smaller universities like NJIT. Our program draws twice the fraction of cadets relative to total enrollment than that of universities with student bodies four times NJIT’s size.
”Recruitment of cadets into the program has been the responsibility of the Air Force’s detachment commander with support from NJIT. “If the Air Force was recently concerned about its AFROTC class size at NJIT, perhaps a stepped-up recruitment effort for cadets on the Air Force’s part would be appropriate. It is inappropriate to deny access to AFROTC to a large population base,” said Altenkirch.
“To focus on class size is to focus on the wrong issue,” said Altenkirch. “Similarly misguided,” he said, “is the USAF focus on keeping ‘units and instructors in the schools and localities that produce significant numbers. Recruitment is the issue here-- or much smaller population bases would not have proportionally such large programs,” as U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg has communicated to the Secretary of the Air Force. Less populated areas have much larger programs, with North Dakota enrolling more AFROTC cadets than the two detachments in New Jersey combined.
Altenkirch has proposed that, should the program remain open, NJIT would undertake responsibility for AFROTC recruitment in consultation with the Air Force as part of NJIT’s general undergraduate recruiting and admission process.
The university was informed of the program change several weeks ago as part of a budget reduction effort.
NJIT is a public, scientific and technological research university enrolling more than 8,800 students. The university offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees to students in 80 degree programs throughout its six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, Albert Dorman Honors College and College of Computing Sciences. The division of continuing professional education offers adults eLearning, off campus degrees and short courses. Expertise and research initiatives include architecture and building science, applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, environmental engineering and science, information technology, manufacturing, materials, microelectronics, multimedia, telecommunications, transportation and solar physics. NJIT ranks among the top schools of U.S. News & World Report's list of national doctoral universities.
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New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey's science and technology university, enrolls more than 8,000 students in bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in nearly 100 degree programs offered by six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, Albert Dorman Honors College, and College of Computing Sciences. NJIT is renowned for expertise in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering, and eLearning. NJIT: The Edge in Knowledge.
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