The Air Force program that eight Pepperdine students are training in is on track after some minor turbulence.
By Joann Groff and Vanessa Martinez
Assistant News Editor and Staff Writer
Eight Air Force ROTC cadets feared for their future in the skies last spring when it was reported that Pepperdine’s cross-town contract with Loyola Marymount University may be terminated.
But according to Paul Long, dean of Admissions and Enrollment Management, the program is back on track after some minor bumps in the road. Long is the point person for the Air Force ROTC program because there are no headquarters on campus. He was instrumental in gaining stability for the program at Pepperdine after governmental involvement in the spring jeopardized the future of ROTC.
Last spring, the government informed selected schools that they were considered federal contractors because Air Force ROTC is a national program, and they needed to restructure the program to allow for more government control.
“Federal programs have ROTC student Jami Lambert prepares to take off
all these requirements in a T-37 trainer jet from Laughlin Air Force Base
and entail a lot of direct in Del Rio, Texas.
compliance to the
government,” Long said. “And that’s fine, there are lots of agencies that have very good relationships with the government on this matter, but we didn’t want to have government control. It threatens our private school status — it goes against our culture.”
Long compared the switch to when a private company becomes a public company, which forces it to comply with standards beyond its own jurisdiction, emphasizing outside control over a private institution. Changes in the way the program was run would have included setting up an office, dealing with massive amounts of paperwork and the eye of the government attending to the details of the program.
Pepperdine negotiators urged the government to excuse them from signing an educational services document with these demands. They insisted that they were educating the students and the government was paying their tuition because of the service Pepperdine was doing in the name of the national program. They were denied, and, in response, Pepperdine threatened to withdraw from its contract with the Air Force ROTC program.
However, the paperwork dilemma was resolved and Pepperdine’s ROTC contract with LMU will continue without the university having to compromise its private status.
Junior Kim King said she appreciates the fact that Pepperdine didn’t back down, but is also glad that everything was resolved.
“It’s a great program, and I’m glad Pepperdine held onto it,” she said.
King plans on becoming a registered dietitian for the military after commissioning a Dietetic Consortium for an internship required of all nutrition majors at Pepperdine.
King and eight other Pepperdine students make up the largest part of the core, which includes 158 cadets. The members of Detachment 040 — the ROTC members at LMU — take classes that teach air history, national security processes and the foundation of the Air Force. Cadets are required to take a leadership laboratory class that emphasizes leadership skills in physical fitness training and basic military drill and ceremonies.
“This is very good,” Long said. “It’s beneficial for students to get help with funding their education … these are good students — you have to be a good student to be a cadet. We are happy it all came back to the way it used to be.”
November 13, 2003