Auburn’s ROTC program hold tradition as old as the University itself.
Auburn University began as the East Alabama Male College in 1859.
However, in 1872, under the Land Grant College Act, the school was reformed to become the Agriculture and Mechanical College of the State of Alabama.
The name would later become Alabama Polytechnic Institute before changing to Auburn University.
As a land grant college, the school was required to teach subjects predominantly related to agriculture and mechanical arts, as well as provide a general curriculum of instruction in science, the classics and military tactics.
“The school from that day, for years after that, was organized into cadet units and all students were cadets, even if they weren’t majoring in military tactics,” said Dwayne Cox, head of Special Collections and Archives at Ralph Brown Draughon Library.
All land grant universities required military training for at least students’ freshman and sophomore years. Many universities, such as Auburn, required training all four years.
Auburn military cadets lived highly regimented lives, were not allowed to leave campus on the weekends and were required to be in bed by 10 p.m.
However, cadets were not guaranteed commission upon graduation.
In 1916, the current ROTC program was formed under the 1916 National Defense Act. Before the ROTC program was established, each university was allowed to determine its own programs and methods for training cadets, without uniformity among schools.
At this time, Auburn required cadets to enroll in only two years of military training, although they could choose to complete an advanced four-year program. Even students who chose to complete the four-year program were not commissioned and were free upon graduation.
During World War II, the entire education model of Auburn University changed to better prepare students for war. The school saw an increase in military tactics classes and daily physical fitness classes.
Additionally, the University chose to increase women’s fitness classes. At this time, ROTC also chose to lower its commission age from 21-18. In total, the University provided 34,895 trainees to the war effort. After the war, the mandatory ROTC program remained in place until 1969.
The late 1960s saw a disbandment of mandatory ROTC programs at land grant universities. In 1967, Auburn University conducted a self-study report, known as Project ‘67, considering the possibility of an elective ROTC program.
The mandatory program was disbanded in January 1969, making Auburn University one of the last land grant colleges to do so.
“The model that the Army is currently using shows that it is trying to go away from having a large quantity of soldiers to a much higher quality,” said Daniel McCall, 2012 Auburn ROTC alumni, who wrote a thesis on Auburn’s military history. “Back when ROTC was mandatory, it was based on trying to get a large quantity of soldiers to fight. It used to be, when you look at the Civil War, or World War I or World War II, that the Army had to mobilize on such an incredible level.”
Today, Auburn still offers an ROTC program, though it is voluntary. Students may participate in a basic two-year training course, or a commissioned four-year course.
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