After 41 years, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will close its Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program as a result of the Army closing 13 programs across the country.

University officials received a letter Thursday from Thomas Lamont, assistant secretary of the Army, who told the university the closure will occur at the end of the 2014-15 academic year.

Chancellor Joe Gow said the decision was swift and surprising.

“It was pretty quick,” Gow said. “Our university is about shared governance and [we] have conversations, but [the Army] operates in a different manner. They make a decision and they do it.”

As a participant in the commissioning ceremonies and an occasional running partner for the cadets, Gow said he is confused by the decision, especially when the program is the state’s biggest producer of army nurses. 

“I’m not entirely sure why our program,” Gow said. “I think it’s been an outstanding program.”

According to Gow, juniors and seniors in the program will be allowed to finish their training before the closure, but freshman and sophomores will have to drop out of the ROTC program, enroll in a nearby ROTC program, or transfer schools if they wish to continue ROTC.

In addition to serving UW-La Crosse students, the ROTC program also served neighboring students from Viterbo University, St. Mary’s University and Winona State University, according to Gow.

Other universities included in the nationwide closure of ROTC programs include the University of South Dakota, Northern Michigan University and North Dakota State University, among others, according to an Army statement.

Gow said UW System officials have been in contact with the offices of U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Sen. Ron Johnson to see if there are any options.

Gow added he hopes Minnesota legislators get involved as well, since two other universities involved in the program are from Minnesota.

Kind said he is troubled by the closure of the program.

“I’m troubled by the recent announcement that the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is closing their longstanding ROTC program that has been a valuable and enriching piece of UW-L culture,” Kind said in an email to The Badger Herald. “I strongly support the efforts of young people who seek a career with our military while still attending college. I hope to work with UW-La Crosse to assist with their efforts to save the program.”

Kind said he plans to send a letter to the Secretary of the U.S. Army to ask about the process leading to the decision.

Programs like ROTC are essential to campuses like UW-La Crosse, even though funding often gets in the way, Gow said.

“These things do go in cycles,” Gow said. “The Army expanded after 9/11, and then had the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now there’s this contraction, maybe related to sequestration and pretty big cuts in the military budget.”

Gow said he is unsure what the future holds, but would love for the program to be reinstated in the future.

As of press time, Baldwin’s and Johnson’s offices said they had no comment on the program closure.

Calls and emails to Battalion Commander LTC James Hill were not returned.