USM’s Army ROTC program to close

The University of Southern Mississippi’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program will be one of 13 nationwide to close at the end of the 2014-15 academic year. USM officials were baffled by the official Army announcement in a September letter to President Rodney Bennett, and plan to reverse the decision. Other southeast regional universities scheduled to lose their AROTC programs are the University of Tennessee at Martin, University of North Alabama, East Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University and Georgia Regents (Augusta State) University. USM was the state’s only Army ROTC to receive a closure notice. There are five other ROTC programs in Mississippi: Jackson State University, University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Mississippi Valley State University and Alcorn State University. Source: Hattiesburg American, Oct. 4, 2013; U.S. Army, Oct. 2, 2013.