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Barzun on Columbia
National Humanities Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom, former ACTA National Council member, and Columbia legend Professor Jacques Barzun has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for the return of ROTC to Columbia.
He asks:
In the funeral oration of Pericles, still required reading in the renowned Core Curriculum of Columbia College, the Athenian leader reminds his embattled people that "when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit." Do Columbia's administrators and trustees believe that the students in the college should live by the values they are required to learn?
And he concludes:
Pericles concluded his remarks in ancient Athens by reminding his people that in detailing the merits of their city-state (in contrast to the characteristics of neighboring Sparta) "we are contending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges." A citizenry's willingness to serve in its defense makes a "government that does not copy our neighbors, but is an example to them." Most will choose not to answer the call—that is acceptable, the natural result of relying on an all-volunteer military. What is not acceptable is denying the army the opportunity to even make that call.Columbia's president and trustees must act to restore the university's long-estranged relationship with the armed forces.
Read the whole piece. After the return of ROTC to Harvard, why is Columbia waiting?
Posted by Michael Pomeranz on March 09, 2011 at March 9, 2011 08:03 PM
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