In this WSB newsfilm clip from May 25, 1970, students at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia vote on the future of the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at the school and share their feelings about the program with a reporter.

The clip begins with students walking out of the post office and up a nearby flight of stairs. Other students stand around a table set up outside the post office. Men and women students fill out ballots and place the forms into a box. Next, a reporter interviews an African American woman. The woman expresses her support for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program. She feels the program has a right to be on the campus and that students have the right to take the class for credit. After this the reporter speaks to a young white man who is a member of the ROTC. The young man suggests that the university should follow the social structure of the nation, the military should be included in the campus. However, he also believes that by giving credit to ROTC classes, the university is sanctioning the program which he disagrees with. Finally, the reporter interviews another white young man who does not believe the military should be on campus at all. The young man feels that the military on campus is "paranoid" and "powerful". He believes that if the ROTC remains on campus, it "would still be using their power to influence opinion in a way that I don't think they should." The clip ends with another view of students voting in front of the post office.

During the spring of 1970, faculty and students reviewed the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program at Emory University. On May 25, 1970, students were asked if the ROTC should be kept as a credit-granting department or if the program should become an extracurricular activity. Several days later, the school's faculty voted to no longer allow the ROTC program to provide college credit for participation. Emory's administration did not immediately end the ROTC program on campus but did agree to reconsider the issue in 1974 when the newest class to enter the program neared graduation. The school's Board of Trustees placed the program under the jurisdiction of the vice president and dean of faculties. Over the next several years, interest in the program declined and the program was terminated in June 1974. Emory students who wished to participate in the ROTC program were permitted to take courses at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Title supplied by cataloger.

The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for digital conversion and description of the WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection.

1 clip (about 3 min.): color, sound ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a reporter interviewing students about the future of the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at Emory University while students vote about the future of the program, Atlanta, Georgia, 1970 May 25, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1641, 31:51/34:21, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga, as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.

Forms part of: Civil Rights Digital Library.