Cadet: ROTC committee biased

Eric Krangel thinks he's been duped. The College sophomore was one of three students chosen by the Nominations and Elections Committee to serve on the Committee to Review the ROTC Arrangement at Penn. But Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson did not choose him for the committee. Instead, Lazerson said, one name was chosen randomly from the NEC list. "We got the names from NEC and they were ranked," Lazerson said. "We simply took the first names off the list. I had no idea what anybody stood for." Krangel, an Reserve Officer Training Corps army cadet, called the selection process unfair. "By taking one person at random, you don't necessarily get the depths of views that are represented on campus," he said last week. "The students who are most affected [by the committee's decision] are cadets in the ROTC program itself." "It's simply wrong that the committee would meet and decide the fate of the ROTC without having any ROTC student representatives." The committee was formed earlier this month with the charge of presenting "a range of arrangements with the ROTC" for the University. The ongoing debate stems from President Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military, which essentially instructs homosexuals not to admit to their sexual orientation. This policy, critics charge, is in direct conflict with the University's Non-Discrimination Policy. Statistics Professor John DeCani, chairperson of the ROTC committee, said last week that although the committee has met once already, he still does not know the political positions of its members. "I can't tell at this stage who is pro- and who is anti-ROTC," he said. "I hope the thing isn't that polarized." He would not comment on what he would do if Krangel's allegations prove to be true, except to say that he would deal with the problem if it arose. Lazerson said he has no plans to alter the makeup of the committee in any way.