Does ROTC belong on a Jesuit Campus like Marquette University?
(Here is a copy of a letter I sent to those on my email list that have some type of direct connection to Marquette University, alumni, faculty, staff, students and Jesuits. My idea was to provoke a dialog. But all except one local friend and one out of town alumnus have responded. However, the Marquette Tribune published it in its Jan. 26th issue.) Dear Marquette faculty, staff, alumni and students past and present, Most of us, I believe, value our education in a Catholic Jesuit institution, like Marquette. As a result of this shared love of values and persons we have encountered at a Jesuit university, I feel compelled to challenge the military presence at Marquette in the form of the various ROTC programs on campus. My personal journey to this point began about 8 years ago when the connection of Ignatian Spirituality and, what we would call, for lack of better words, creative nonviolence, became evident to me. Here’s a definition of Gandhi’s notion of Satyagraha or creative nonviolen
