no to rotc essay

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Mandatory ROTC? Think hard first

The House of Representatives is poised to pass a bill reviving the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) after the May elections. The Senate is still deliberating on its version of the measure at committee level.

This bill could give new meaning to the May 2019 elections for the youth. It is a bill that directly impinges on the interest of the youth, especially those aged 16 and 17 who have yet to take Grades 11 and 12.

If the Duterte-endorsed senatorial candidates win in the elections, this bill will certainly pass. If the opposition senatorial candidates win, the proposed revival of ROTC will fail. The reason is simple — it is Mr. Duterte who has urged Congress to pass the measure, threatening to issue an executive order to the same effect if they fail to do so.

If the bill passes this year, and it takes another year to formulate the new ROTC Program of Instruction and set up the training system (facilities, instructors, resource materials), the first batch of Grade 11 students who will take the course will be those in September 2020 or September 2022.

How can the proposed mandatory ROTC be hardwired to deliver on its purpose to “instill patriotism, love of country, moral and spiritual values, and respect for human rights and adherence to the Constitution,” and avoid past evils, such as corruption and murder (Cadet Officer Mark Chua case, 2001)? Passing another law is not enough. Learning from the lessons from ROTC and similar civic training and development programs is the best way. Consider these lessons:

Lesson 1. Generate acceptance, ownership and support by key stakeholders.

In a democracy, it makes sense to consult the people who will be most directly and heavily affected by a new proposal. Hold consultations with the youth, the military and the civic orientation and engagement institutions. Consult the relevant literature, experience of other countries and experts.

Lesson 2. Resuscitate corroded civic institutions and strengthen recently created ones.

People have forgotten about these powerful civic orientation and engagement institutions that have been hijacked, neglected and weaponized for private purposes, among them the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, the Sangguniang Kabataan, the Red Cross. We must strengthen and nurture these institutions that provide the resources, opportunities and capabilities for the youth to engage in community problem-solving, not only family or personal problem-solving.

Review the performance of similar institutions that have yet to mature in the performance of their functions due to lack of support for institutional development — the National Service Training Program, the National Service Reserve Corps, the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency. Review these institutions together as a system. If necessary, scrap and build structures, but do not layer redundant systems one on top of the other.

Lesson 3. Look forward, not just back. Conjure the envisioned outcome and impact of the proposed ROTC law, 10 years or 20 years down the road. What is the best scenario? What is the worst scenario? What is the preferred scenario? How do these compare with a “do nothing” (no mandatory ROTC) scenario?

Let us have more informed discussion and debates about the kind of citizen civic-military orientation and engagement the country requires. To insist on imposing half-baked mandatory ROTC proposals is to play god with the time, energy, trust, resources and lives of our youth, with no cogent arguments to convince them of the wisdom of our decisions. Contrary to the intention of the proposed law, poorly designed mandatory ROTC will tend to turn the youth against the government, and kill in them whatever urge for selfless service to community and country they may be capable of.

It is a pity that the youth affected by the mandatory ROTC are too young to vote on the issue in the May 2019 elections.

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Why is ROTC not mandatory anymore? A look into the brutal history

Content warning: violence

With Sara Duterte-Carpio now gaining the official title as vice president-elect, campaign plans and promises have surfaced back into the spotlight. And with her new role as the upcoming Department of Education (DepED) chief, one particular part is getting exposure from the Twitter space to students’ heads: the potential return of mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corp or ROTC.

Back in January, the current Davao City mayor expressed her plans to implement mandatory military service for all Filipinos upon turning 18. While Duterte-Carpio mentioned that ROTC “has no connections to DepEd” and that her goals weren’t limited to the previously mandated ROTC service—and instead, something more widescale—the mayor’s father, President Rodrigo Duterte, has been staunch in his belief in making the program compulsory.

In 2019, Duterte certified the urgency of Senate Bill No. 2232 , which mandated basic ROTC for Grade 11 and 12 students. He said that it would invigorate a “sense of nationalism and patriotism” back into the curriculum.

Before 2002, ROTC service was a norm for college students. Now, young folks can opt for alternative ways to serve the community, as part of the National Service Training Program (NSTP).

But, wait. Why was mandatory ROTC banned in the first place?

A tale of corruption, bribery, and abuses

At the center of it all is the murder of Mark Welson Chua, a 19-year-old engineering sophomore and ROTC cadet at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). Prior to his death, Chua, alongside student Romulo Yumul, revealed alleged anomalies in the university’s ROTC program in the Varsitarian .

Originally published on Feb. 21, 2001, the article disclosed that the students had filed a complaint against the program with the Department of National Defense (DND), resulting in the dismissal of UST-ROTC commandant Maj. Demy Tejares and other officials.

The complaints included the “questionable collection” of registration and exam fees, as well as payments for materials like ROTC manuals, with administrators allegedly threatening punishments for those who didn’t have these.

The article also shed light on reported cases of bribery. Students allegedly paid P1,500 or more per semester to be exempt from the course.

The cadets had complained about “inefficient” instruction too, saying that only a few students received lectures while others spent their time under the sun. They also cited discrepancies in their grades, which, students said, didn’t match with the records in the registrar’s office.

Furthermore, The Varsitarian retold the “gravest complaint,” which involved a gun pointing incident between a former cadet officer and a staff administrator, with the latter allegedly bringing out a .45 caliber pistol from his car, then slapped another cadet officer.

The murder of a student

A month after The Varsitarian’s article was published, the student cadet Chua went missing. His father stated that he received a call from men saying that his son was kidnapped and were asking for a P3 million ransom. According to a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the suspects had called them again, with the father replying that they didn’t have that amount of money. The person on the other end of the line had reportedly said, “No money, no son,” and hung up.

It was a few days after the incident that an article from the newspaper’s Metro section dated March 19, 2001 reported the decomposing body of an unidentified man fished out of the Pasig River. The body was wrapped in carpet, his face covered in duct tape, with his hands and legs bound. Based on its state, the police estimated that it was a person in his 40s.

In the same section’s March 24 edition, police had already identified it as Chua, dropping the angle that he was taken by a kidnap-for-ransom gang. Chua’s father himself believed that the calls were a “ruse to confuse the investigators,” and said that his son had already received death threats before. The reports also mentioned that the family and Chua’s friends were convinced that he was abducted and murdered because of his expos.

“This is a clear case of revenge,” Chua’s father quoted the investigators in Inquirer’s March 28 report. “A kidnapper’s priority is ransom, not the victim’s death.”

On Apr. 4, the newspaper reported that witnesses had come forward, saying that they saw “soldier-like” men with crew-cut hair throwing “something rolled up” into the river. Weeks later, the National Bureau of Investigation announced the arrest of potential suspects based on the witnesses’ testimonies.

Three years after, a Manila court in 2004 sentenced ROTC cadet Arnulfo Aparri Jr. to death, but he was given life imprisonment instead upon the death penalty’s abolishment in 2006. Eduardo Tabrilla pleaded guilty to homicide, while some suspects still remain at large.

Student activist groups from UST led a national day of protest against the program months after the incident, chanting “Thomasian cadets no more.” Other students from different universities across Manila and Mindanao joined in on the ROTC boycott, as stated in the news.

In a May 1 Philippine Daily Inquirer article, then-Education Secretary Raul Roco said that he and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Diomedio Villanueva vowed to work on mandatory ROTC’s abolition, with Roco pushing this through a Senate bill. He cited Chua’s death, according to the report. But still, more than 20 years later, their family is still seeking “full justice.”

Republic Act 9163—or the NSTP Act of 2001 —was signed into law on Jan. 23, 2002. This gave college students a choice to do alternative courses to serve the country—which included livelihood projects, internships in government offices, literacy programs, and community services.

Read more: Should mandatory military service happen? Here are the concerns surrounding it The Safe School Reopening Bill has just been filed. What’s in it? What are the presidentiables’ plans and promises for education? (A guide)

Art by Yel Sayo

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No to mandatory ROTC; no to state terrorism, bossism on campus

WHEN President Duterte announced his intention to strengthen the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) during his first State of the Nation Address last July 25, many interpreted it as a call for the revival of the mandatory ROTC program for college students.

“The reservists will be mobilized for information campaign against drug use and the dissemination of information regarding drug rehabilitation programs being offered by the government,” President Duterte said. “Let us also strengthen our ROTC Program to instill love of country and good citizenship.”

As a result, newbie Senator Sherwin Gatchalian and the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) are pushing for the restoration of mandatory ROTC. In addition, there’s the pending House Bill No. 2338, which seeks to make ROTC a pre-requisite for graduation in all college programs as well as vocational and technical courses.

Ched Chair Patricia Licuanan said the commission would create working group to review the existing ROTC program and recommend options to strengthen it.

Licuanan still has two years as Ched chair based on her 2014 appointment by the former Malacanang incumbent and for an educator who had come from the private education sector, she seems overeager to keep her post by sidling up to the new government, never mind basic and bottomline principles, just as she did with the previous one that pressed through with the K to 12 despite the lack of safety nets for those who would be affected by it, especially higher-education institution (HEI) teachers. So much for Licuanan’s sycophancy and lack of nobless oblige.

In any case, Duterte has all the wrong reasons for restoring mandatory ROTC. If he wanted the ROTC to help in his anti-drug information campaign, he could do that with already existing structures in the HEI’s. ROTC as it stands now is one of the three options under the National Service Training Program (NSTP) for HEI students. Couldn’t the anti-drug campaign be disseminated and promoted not only in the optional ROTC but also in the more popular literacy and civic welfare programs?

Going by the results of the anti-drug campaign—hundreds and now thousands of alleged drug pushers killed en mass in what are suspected to be summary executions of small fry while drug lords and their protectors in the police, military and government are given official warning and even pleadings and thus the big guns are generally treated with kid gloves—then the Duterte administration does not need a mandatory ROTC to help it in its charade. Huwag naman sanang masyadong garapalan!

The President should be reminded that it was because of the same example of state terror and corruption that led to the abolition of mandatory ROTC. It should not be forgotten that the ROTC became an avenue for irregularities, including hazing, physical abuse, extortions and corruption. These unsconscionable practices led to the killing of UST ROTC cadet Mark Welson Chua in 2001. It was Chua who filed a complaint with the Department of Defense over irregularities in the ROTC; his complaint was reported by the Varsitarian and opened a can of worms in the festering program. Shortly afterward, Chua’s body was found floating on the Pasig River—his head wrapped with a silver packaging tape, his hands tied with shoestring and his legs bound by a packaging tape.

The perpetrators? His fellow ROTC cadet officers who were sons of officers from the police and military. His killers have been convicted in absentia; they’re still on the loose a dozen years after their sentencing. One could only wonder why the police, military and the defense establishment have not brought them to justice up to now!

The 2001 incident sparked campus unrest and caused colleges and universities to push for the abolition of the mandatory ROTC. It was in fact UST—via its rector at that time, Fr. Tamerlane Lana, OP—that initially called for the abolition of compulsory ROTC and rallied the University Belt consortium in calling on Congress to act. As a result, Republic Act No. 9163, otherwise known as the National Service Training Program Act of 2001, was passed, which made ROTC an optional one-year program.

We had thought that the move to restore mandatory ROTC had something to do with the need to strengthen external defense as a result of Chinese bullying and territorial aggressiveness in the West Philippine Sea. But Duterte and his pretender foreign secretary, Perfecto Yasay, are known to kowtow to Beijing.

In any case, Duterte and his lackeys in Congress and sycophants in Ched should be reminded that even as an optional program, ROTC has added tens of thousands to the reservist pool of the armed forces; there are enough warm and young bodies to conscript in case of a sudden war with the nation’s enemies. But that of course is merely false comfort when one considers that reservists may have been poorly trained and lacked discipline. Look at the road-rage incident that resulted in the killing in Quiapo of an unarmed biker in cold blood by an army reservist!

President Duterte must realize that the ROTC program is not the only avenue to foster nationalism, patriotism and good citizenship.

The kind of military training, which historically has fostered the culture of “political patronage, violence, sexism and machismo,” as one lawmaker puts it, does not cultivate love of nation and service to others; it engenders twisted, even murderous, values as shown by the hateful history of the ROTC.

To revive compulsory ROTC would restore one dark legacy of Ferdinand Marcos’s martial law—state bossism and terrorism on campus.

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[OPINION] Restoring mandatory ROTC

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, Rodrigo Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. never completed the Reserve Officers Training Course (ROTC), now being extolled as a critical program to cultivate among the Filipino youth the values exemplified by pre-eminent national heroes. There was no such course in the generation of Rizal and Bonifacio, but it was prescribed as a requirement to graduate from college for students in the time of Duterte and Marcos Jr. until 2002.

Duterte believes it would instill “perseverance, discipline, excellence, leadership, loyalty, and patriotism” among the young Filipinos and “invigorate their sense of nationalism and patriotism necessary in defending the State and further promote their vital role in nation-building.” In his first SONA, Marcos Jr. brings back ROTC to “motivate, train, organize, and mobilize the students for national defense preparedness, including disaster preparedness and capacity building for risk-related situations.” Both presidents now want mandatory ROTC restored for the same age cohort (16-18 years) of Filipinos.

Marcos Jr. never completed a college degree in the Philippines or in any country where ROTC was a compulsory subject. Duterte got his degree from Lyceum University but evaded the ROTC requirement. At a forum in Davao that included diplomats, Duterte described how, for P1,500, he bribed a tuberculosis patient in San Lazaro Hospital to take an X-ray test under his name and submitted the result to the school as proof that he was not subject to the ROTC obligation.

Drilling on the dissonance between the rhetorical praise for ROTC and the effort taken to avoid it would be a waste of time. First, Duterte bullet-proofed himself against public shaming by cheerfully and proactively confessing to his moral weaknesses. Politicians also seem to be less sensitive to public shaming, when able to deploy social media trolls in their defense. But, secondly, beyond the character or motivations of their advocates, the issue of compulsory ROTC deserves to be decided on its merits.

At a time of global geopolitical tension and a hot war in Ukraine, there are legitimate reasons for a mandatory ROTC program. The advocates in the country include legislators, bureaucrats, and over 50% of a survey commissioned by Sen. Gatchalian. The apparent consensus prompts some questions. Do the advocates agree on the primary objective that ROTC should accomplish? Surely, the goal must shape the conceptual design of the program and the mechanics of its implementation.

‘Added burden to students,’ groups warn Marcos on mandatory ROTC

Take DepEd, which will need to help the DND to oversee program. What does it want mandatory ROTC to accomplish? The usual responses often include fostering among the youth love of country, the spirit of patriotism, and the willingness to meet their responsibilities as citizens. One might argue for an alternative approach that immerses students at an early age in narratives that make real to them their connections to the land and the people whose destiny they share. Educators have been calling for strengthening the courses in history to achieve through civic education at an earlier age what ROTC would try to do through military training at age 16.

Our grandchildren grew up and were educated in Singapore. Although not Singaporean citizens, their excitement, at ages six or seven, as the August 9 independence day approached was visible and loud. Preparing to celebrate “Singapore’s birthday,” they would bring their books to show us the little dot that was Singapore on the map and sing the national anthem.

But, granting that DepEd is better placed to pursue ROTC civic objectives, is this the task that should command its attention at this time? DepEd does need to invest in reinforcing its ongoing civic education component and make improvements as best it can, just as the crew must continue sailing a boat that is shipping water, though it requires bailing to remain afloat. Does another compulsory course help its decongestion program when already facing more urgent, basic tasks? On top of preparations for resuming face-to-face instruction, DepEd must worry about addressing the “learning poverty” crisis that World Bank has just flagged. Children cannot appreciate civic education lessons if they are unable to read the texts that teach them.

Mandatory ROTC? Fix K to 12 program first, netizens say

The DND/AFP support for mandatory ROTC triggers some knee-jerk reactions. But even at the peak of the revulsion against ROTC in 2001, with the killing of Mark Welson Chua for blowing the whistle on corruption in the University of Santo Tomas ROTC organization, only a minority opposed the program on ideological grounds as inherently dangerous in promoting a fascist mindset. The universities that had pressed for ROTC reform were calling for its proper implementation, precisely to prevent the kind of corruption, like paying for passing ROTC grades, that led to Chua’s murder.

That said, DND must still clarify what it wants out of the ROTC, which it could have and can still pursue under NSTP. With the numbers enrolled in mandatory ROTC, DND could not deploy enough officers to sustain effective leadership of the program at the school level. A revolving door replacement of ROTC commandants on an almost semestral basis made it difficult to enforce accountability for program performance. A smaller cohort of trainees, presumably less resistant to the voluntary NSTP/ROTC program, should have been more manageable.

A recent review suggested that the NSTP/ROTC component graduated enough trainees to meet the required First Category Reserves level of 1% of the population. Making ROTC mandatory expands the demand on AFP resources for the training of raw recruits to a number not critical to its mission. DND faces arguably more urgent, basic issues. Congress has long delayed resolving, for instance, the issue of retirement pension for DND/AFP, which is escalating to unsustainable proportions. The most critical threat to the country is not internal communist insurgency but its internationally recognized sovereign rights in the South China Sea, to which its modernization program is key.

Expanding the ROTC is a legitimate objective. But, like DepEd, DND must determine the trade-offs and mobilize resources from the national government for its priorities. Personnel quantity or quality? Manpower or modernization? – Rappler.com

Edilberto de Jesus is a Senior Research Fellow of the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government.

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10 Tips for a Successful Army ROTC National Scholarship Application

Each year between October through March is the ROTC National Scholarship season where high school seniors apply for ROTC scholarships through the GoArmy website . The Eastern Washington University Army ROTC office helps dozens of applicants each year navigate the ROTC scholarship process. Based on this experience we have some tips we recommend to all ROTC National Scholarship applicants to maximize their opportunity to be awarded an ROTC scholarship.

1. Submit Your Application Early : The first scholarship board usually meets in October, the second board in January, and the third board in March. Getting your application completed before the first board will increase your chances of receiving a scholarship because the application will be seen three times. Additionally the first board is where a lot of four year scholarships are awarded from as well. If you really want a four year scholarship get your application complete prior to the first board. Key things that need to be done to have the scholarship ready for the first board is to upload your high school transcripts, upload your SAT or ACT scores, complete the physical fitness test, and conduct an interview. Here at Eastern we can complete both the fitness test and interview for you. Contact us at [email protected] to schedule.

2. List 5 or More Schools on Your Application : Applicants need to be realistic when putting down universities on their application. Putting down only Harvard and MIT on the ROTC application, but only having an 1150 on the SAT means you are probably not getting a scholarship for those universities. However, if you list Harvard & MIT plus three or more other schools you could likely get admitted to with an 1150 SAT score will increase your chance of receiving a scholarship to a school other than Harvard or MIT. A scholarship to your third of fourth school is better than no scholarship at all. Each university’s ROTC office has a Recruiting Officer called a “ROO” that can assist with learning what the admissions requirements are for each university.

3. Find Out What Type of ROTC Program You Are Applying to : Something to keep in mind is that not all ROTC programs are created equal. If you are planning to attend a university that has a host ROTC program you are likely going to have more military cadre and resources to better prepare you for the challenges ahead in ROTC. Other universities have ROTC programs that are extension or satellite campuses. Extension programs may require their students to drive to the host program to take courses. If going to an extension program find out how far you have to drive to do physical training and ROTC classes. The amount of driving to do ROTC may influence your decision to attend that school. Satellite campuses may have very limited cadre, as little as two full time ROTC instructors. If going to a satellite campus find out how many instructors they have assigned. At EWU Army ROTC we are a fully staffed host program with a proven track record of getting Cadets ready to succeed in both ROTC and the Army.

4. Visit Multiple ROTC Programs : The best way to figure out if an ROTC program is right for you is to visit it. If possible try to visit multiple ROTC programs to compare and contrast them. This will also help you determine if you are attending a host, extension, or satellite program. If attending a host program make an appointment with the ROO and ask to meet with the Professor of Military Science (PMS) who is usually a Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the ROTC battalion. Ask about how well the program scores at Advanced Camp? How many first branch choices did the MS-IV class receive? Ask about where they train at? How many Cadets are on scholarship? How does the program perform at Ranger Challenge competitions? This should give you an idea of how well the ROTC program is performing. Also bring your parents to the ROTC program to meet the ROO and PMS. At EWU Army ROTC, our ROO and PMS always makes time to visit with parents. We want you and your parents to be as comfortable as possible with your decision to dedicate four years of your life being part of our ROTC program.

5. Ask What Other Scholarships Are Available : Even if you do not receive an ROTC National Scholarship talk to the ROTC program you are interested in about other scholarship options. They should be able to inform you about ROTC campus based scholarships, Minuteman Scholarships , and Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty (GRFD) Scholarships. Some schools also have various academic and alumni scholarships that Cadets can apply for as well. For example at EWU we have four Cadets on a fraternity sponsored Randy Van Turner ROTC Scholarship and another on the Chertok Memorial Scholarship which is an academic scholarship awarded through the College of Social Sciences.

6. Train to Take Your Fitness Test: Applicants that are not in the best of shape should spend a month training to improve their fitness prior to taking the fitness test. ROTC scholarships are highly competitive and running a seven minute mile could be the difference between receiving a 4 year or 3 year scholarship. If possible try and take the scholarship fitness test while visiting the ROTC program you are most interested in. Fitness is a very important attribute of being an Army officer and preparing for the test and doing well on it will make a good first impression with the ROTC Cadre.

7. Prepare for Your Interview: The interview for the ROTC National Scholarship is very important since it is worth 200 points. Additionally the interviewer who is usually a Professor of Military Science, will write an assessment of you that will be read by the scholarship board. Making a good first impression is critical, show up on time and come dressed for success. Don’t wear torn up jeans and t-shirts to an ROTC interview. Business dress for both males and females is very appropriate for a scholarship interview. Don’t be taking calls or answering texts on your phone during the interview. Yes I have seen this happen! Be prepared to answer simple questions like, “Tell me a little about yourself”. Remember you are selling yourself to the PMS to write the best assessment possible of you to the scholarship board. Be well prepared to answer questions and think on your feet. Finally be prepared to ask the interviewer some questions at the end of the interview. This further demonstrates how prepared you were for the interview.

8. Spend Time Writing a Quality Essay: On the ROTC application you will have the opportunity to write a little bit about yourself. Make sure to spend the time to write a quality essay, personal statement, and achievements. You especially should highlight why you want to be an Army officer. Make sure you use proper grammar and don’t have misspellings. Writing is an important skill for Army officers to have, so show the board you can write a quality narrative. In the narrative make sure to highlight aspects about you that will make you stand out from the crowd. Mentions things like if you ranked nationally in some event, how many hours you were per week at your job, any awards you have received, volunteer service, etc.

9. Play a Sport: Points are awarded on the ROTC scholarship application for sports played. Remember that Cadets in ROTC are scholar athletes, just like members of the university’s sports teams. The Army wants its officers to be athletic. If you know you plan to apply in the future for an ROTC Scholarship than find a sport to play in high school, preferably two of them. Having all-conference and all-state sports honors on an ROTC application will really help the application stand apart from the crowd.

10. Get Involved in Organizations: On the scholarship interview there are points that can be awarded for being involved in school and community activities. For example being elected to student government and being a member of the National Honor Society are worth points. Being involved in Scouting or Civil Air Patrol are examples on community organizations that points can be awarded for. Volunteering for local organizations are other great things to include on the application and mention during interviews.

Following these tips will help you be competitive for an ROTC scholarship. However, these tips cannot overcome poor performance in the classroom. Keeping a high GPA and scoring well on the SAT or ACT are very important for being competitive for an ROTC scholarship. The Army is looking for Scholar, Athlete, Leaders so try to work towards meeting all three of these criteria in your application. Good luck to everyone pursuing an ROTC scholarship and feel free to leave a comment or email us at [email protected] with any questions.

2 thoughts on “10 Tips for a Successful Army ROTC National Scholarship Application”

ROTC scholarship application question

This is the summer after my Junior year, I’m supposed to be starting the application right? The reason why I ask this, is the on the deadline section the boards still say 2018-2019.

2.For the school year it says 2020-2021, what does this refer to?

I’m basically looking for conformation I didn’t screw up the start of the application by being too early. Again, I’m going to my senior year starting in august, and I graduate 2020.

The 2020-2021 scholarship season is for current high school seniors that submitted ROTC applications. The 2020-2021 scholarship season is about to be over. Since you are a junior currently your first year in college would be the 2021-2022 academic year and thus this is the timeframe you will be competing for a scholarship for.

This summer you can start putting your application together. Make sure to take your ACT or SAT early to have time to take a retest if needed. This is something I have seen issues with applicants before with. Once you are good with your ACT or SAT, you will need to contact your nearest ROTC department to conduct the fitness test and interview. If you live in the Spokane region we can easily take care of this for you.

Please let me know if you have any other questions. Go Eags!

Here’s Why ROTC Is No Longer Mandatory in the Philippines

Posted on May 13, 2022
5 minute read
Kyzia Maramara

May 13, 2022 • Kyzia Maramara

Many Filipinos are speculating about what changes the upcoming administration will implement once in office. One of the hot topics is mandatory military service, something presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio said months ago that she will push for once elected. But why are Filipinos against it? Why was mandatory ROTC abolished two decades ago?

Sara Duterte wants mandatory military service

Back in January 2022, then-Davao Mayor Duterte-Carpio said it was one of the things she would push should she win the election.

“Gagamitin ko ang aking opisina —Office of the Vice President—para kausapin ang ating Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate to make military service for all 18 years old, male and female, mandatory in our country,” said Duterte-Carpio.

She wants those over 18 years old to undergo Reserve Officer Training Corps, not as a weekend or once a month college subject.

Netizens Have the Funniest Responses to Sara Duterte’s Mandatory Military Service Proposal (But They Also Made Valid Points) Netizens Have the Funniest Responses to Sara Duterte’s Mandatory Military Service Proposal (But They Also Made Valid Points) Alex Alvarez | Jan 20, 2022

President Rodrigo Duterte has long since pushed for it too

BREAKING: President Duterte certifies as urgent the bill making ROTC mandatory for Grades 11 and 12 | @AC_Nicholls pic.twitter.com/yuNXpKFRGu — CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) June 3, 2019

Duterte-Carpio is only echoing what her father has always wanted since he became president in 2016. President Rodrigo Duterte once called on lawmakers to pass the bill about ROTC revival for Grades 11 and 12 . According to him, it was to “invigorate their sense of nationalism and patriotism necessary in defending the State and further promote their vital role in nation-building.” (In 2017, he himself admitted to faking a medical certificate to get out of military training .)

However, the bill for mandatory ROTC has remained untouched over the years.

Why is ROTC no longer mandatory anyway?

Back in 2001, a University of Sto. Tomas student named Mark Welson Chua was murdered for exposing the alleged corruption within his ROTC unit. Chua wrote a tell-all expose in February 2001 with the university’s official student publication, The Varsitarian . The piece was entitled “Struggle Against the System.” Chua, along with fellow cadet Romulo Yumul, filed a formal complaint exposing the corruption, extortion, and bribery within the UST-ROTC unit.

It resulted in the removal of UST-ROTC Commandant Major Demy Tejares along with other Department of Military Science and Tactics officials.

The death of Mark Welson Chua

20 years ago, Mark Welson Chua was murdered by his own fellow cadet officers in the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC). Chua exposed practices of corruption, bribery and extortion in the ROTC unit of UST in 2001. pic.twitter.com/e9ZSXE3zMM — The Varsitarian (@varsitarianust) March 17, 2021

On the evening of March 15, Chua was set to meet his father and uncle at a restaurant in Makati. He never arrived. Instead, his father received a call around 4 AM on March 16 from someone claiming that they had his son. The “kidnappers” demanded P3 million in ransom. The elder Chua refused to pay. Two days later, on March 18, the 19-year-old cadet’s body was found taped, bound, decomposing, and floating in the Pasig River.

Did Chua get justice?

In 2004, Arnulfo Aparri Jr. was found guilty of murdering Chua. He was also an ROTC cadet. Aparri was sentenced to death via lethal injection and was also ordered to pay the Chua family a P50,000 indemnity. However, in 2006, when the death penalty was abolished, his sentence was changed to life imprisonment without parole.

Eduardo Tabrilla, another suspect, pleaded guilty to homicide in 2006. According to The Varsitarian, two other suspects named Paul Tan and Michael Rainard Manangbao remain at large.

Amelita Chua, the victim’s mother, seeks justice for the brutal murder of her son to this day.

The NSTP Act of 2001

After Chua’s case gripped the country in fear and anger, the Republic Act 9163 , or the National Service Training Program Act (NSTP) of 2001 was signed on January 23, 2002. It allowed college students choose between ROTC, Literacy Training Service (LTS), and Civil Welfare Training Service (CWTS) as part of their required NSTP.

No talks about making ROTC mandatory (for now)

Presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier announced that Duterte-Carpio will serve as the Department of Education secretary once both of them are elected. This led many to believe that her first priority might be to make ROTC mandatory. However, on May 13, 2022, Christina Frasco, Duterte-Carpio’s spokesperson, clarified that there were no discussions yet on the matter.

“While VP-elect Sara looks forward to fulfilling her role as DepEd Secretary, she is respectful of the transition process, and therefore all policy discussions will be had post-proclamation,” said Frasco.

Netizens are dismayed

Whether or not there have been discussions about the topic, Filipino netizens are already dismayed about it being brought up at all.

“DepEd is not a way to build an army,” one tweet read. “While it’s good (some of its parts) to have ROTC, don’t make it mandatory.”

Another lamented: “Please no to ROTC. You are exposing the youth to injustices, hazing, military traumas and abuse. Again, we are not South Korea, we are not Taiwan, and we are not Israel. If things were different maybe ROTC would be acceptable, but under this regime, we give a definite no.”

Yet another netizen was convinced that mandatory military training was a waste of years and time. “People really thought that the mandatory ROTC will help the youth to be well-disciplined, I beg to disagree. Hazing, abuse, unlawful violence, extortion, and injustices are rampant in ROTC.”

One netizen questioned the “establish patriotism” goal of bringing back ROTC and reasoned that a stronger Philippine history class would be better.

“If they really want the youth to imprint patriotism why not compulsory Philippine History class? Remember the reason why we’re f**ked up now is because a lot of people lack knowledge on that aspect.”

Another netizen pointed out that the K-12 curriculum is already too much, so adding two years of mandatory ROTC would only cause more distress.

What do you think of mandatory military training? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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I did rotc. To be honest it was such a waste of time and energy.

NROTC Essay Questions

Thread starter wannabeplebe
Start date Jul 20, 2017

wannabeplebe

Jul 20, 2017

On the NROTC application, under the Essays tab, there are about 4 main fields to fill in. The first being the essay about why you want to be an officer, etc. and that allows for 2500 characters. However, the two following - one about living abroad and the other about diversity in your family situation, both allow for 2500 characters also. I was curious about how much they want for these two essays (other than no more than 2500 characters). Are they meant to be actual well-formed essays with introductions, conclusions, etc. as is the first? I answered both questions, detailing what they specifically asked in the questions but not much more and I'm at about 500-600 for each. Is there a point where being concise works against you or do they just allow the same character count as the main essay in case someone has a very in-depth problem/situation they must describe?

Jul 21, 2017

Bumping this because I'm very close to submitting my application but would like to get this cleared up first. Any help much appreciated!!

AFROTC parent, former ANC in USAR

Jul 22, 2017

I don't think anyone here can help with this - anyone on the admissions board can't ethically tell you what you are looking for, and the rest of us have no clue what content they want, or if the character count matters. Since the essays are tweaked periodically, what worked four years ago - or even last year - for a winning applicant may have no bearing today. Proofread, proofread, proofread, and don't trust spellcheck - 'fare' and 'fair' are both legitimate words with multiple meanings, so be sure you are using the correct one. Good luck!

Keep in mind, beside the content of your answer, they are also looking at your ability to write and express yourself, including grammar.

cuckleCake1783

wannabeplebe said: On the NROTC application, under the Essays tab, there are about 4 main fields to fill in. The first being the essay about why you want to be an officer, etc. and that allows for 2500 characters. However, the two following - one about living abroad and the other about diversity in your family situation, both allow for 2500 characters also. I was curious about how much they want for these two essays (other than no more than 2500 characters). Are they meant to be actual well-formed essays with introductions, conclusions, etc. as is the first? I answered both questions, detailing what they specifically asked in the questions but not much more and I'm at about 500-600 for each. Is there a point where being concise works against you or do they just allow the same character count as the main essay in case someone has a very in-depth problem/situation they must describe? Click to expand...

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ROTC Essays

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NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

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Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

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“That wouldn’t be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience. But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it’s devastating both for its journalism and its business model,” Berliner wrote. He also wrote that “race and identity became paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace,” while claiming that the network lacked viewpoint diversity.

His essay set off a firestorm on the right, with Trump blasting the network and Fox News devoting extensive coverage to the criticism, along with calls for ending government funding for NPR.

In his essay, Berliner wrote that “defunding isn’t the answer,” but that its journalism needed to change from within. The network’s funding has been a target of conservatives numerous times in the past, but lawmakers ultimately have supported public radio.

Berliner shared his suspension notice with Folkenflik, who wrote that it was for failure to seek approval for outside work, as well as for releasing proprietary information about audience demographics.

Katherine Maher, who recently became CEO of the network, published a note to staff last week that appeared to take issue with Berliner’s essay, writing that there was “a criticism of our people on the basis of who we are.”

“Asking a question about whether we’re living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions,” Maher wrote. “Questioning whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.”

Maher herself has become a target on the right, with some figures citing her past social media posts, including one from 2020 that referred to Trump as a “deranged racist sociopath.” At the time, she was CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation. In a statement to The New York Times , Maher said that “in America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen.” “What matters is NPR’s work and my commitment as its C.E.O.: public service, editorial independence and the mission to serve all of the American public,” she said.

An NPR spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. The network told The Times that Maher is not involved in editorial decisions.

Some of Berliner’s colleagues have been vocal in their own criticism of his essay. Eric Deggans, the network’s TV critic and media analyst, wrote that Berliner “set up staffers of color as scapegoats.” He also noted that Berliner “didn’t seek comment from NPR before publishing. Didn’t mention many things which could detract from his conclusions.”

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The Most Famous Golfer at the Masters Is Black. Why Aren’t There More Players Like Him?

Tiger Woods, alone and seen from a distance, stands on a fairway with a mass of trees behind him.

By Peter May

Mr. May is a former sportswriter for The Times and The Boston Globe and the author of “Changing the Course: How Charlie Sifford and Stanley Mosk Integrated the PGA.”

When the Masters Tournament commenced on Thursday, featuring 89 competitors, there was exactly one Black golfer in the field: the one we all know, Tiger Woods. Beyond that, the field for the 88th Masters didn’t look all that different from the previous 87.

This is not what Charles Sifford envisioned when he and Stanley Mosk, the attorney general of California, fought to integrate the Professional Golfers’ Association of America. Sifford, who is often referred to as the Jackie Robinson of golf, became the first Black P.G.A. member in 1964 after a decades-long fight to join the organization that had, for much of its history, stated in its charter that it would admit only golfers “of the Caucasian race.”

Sifford blazed a trail for talented Black golfers such as Lee Elder, Calvin Peete, Jim Dent, Jim Thorpe and, of course, Woods. But 60 years later, their stories of success are still exceptions. The P.G.A. remains woefully inaccessible to Black golfers and has made only marginal and inadequate efforts to diversify its ranks. According to Golf Digest, fewer than 1 percent of the P.G.A.’s 29,000 members are Black. The P.G.A.’s tournaments and its professional golf shops need to take concrete steps to look more like the America they purport to represent.

In 2014 the P.G.A. identified diversity and inclusion as “foundational principles” but, in practical terms, that has meant little more than the occasional golf camp or clinic at a public course in a Black neighborhood. The P.G.A. recently partnered with the Advocates Professional Golf Association, which was founded in 2010 to diversify the game, and together they will host 18 tournaments this year. But the P.G.A. must do more to lead the way in action and by example, promoting inclusion at every level. Until private country clubs, elite prep schools and Division I golf programs actively recruit and train Black golfers, Sifford’s legacy will remain unfulfilled, and the game will continue to be dominated by white players.

For the decades that Sifford and other Black golfers fought to become P.G.A. members, they dealt with bigotry, death threats and countless humiliations while simply trying to play golf with and against the best players of the era. Because the P.G.A. had explicitly codified racial discrimination in its bylaws, Black golfers not only couldn’t compete as PGA Tour members; they also couldn’t find jobs in P.G.A.-affiliated pro shops — which, until the 1950s, had been the traditional route golfers took to join the P.G.A. The P.G.A. continually thwarted the efforts of Black golfers, abetted by star players who failed to speak up for inclusion.

The battle to integrate professional golf stalled until Mosk, enraged by Sifford’s exclusion from the P.G.A., threatened to sue the association to prevent it from holding its segregated tournaments in California. Several other state attorneys joined Mosk in the fight, and their resolve forced the P.G.A. to eliminate the Caucasians-only clause. The removal of what Mosk called “this obnoxious restriction” paved the way for Sifford to become a full-time member.

But Sifford’s breakthrough did not open the gates to Black players. Fifteen years after Robinson broke baseball’s color line, Black players represented over 10 percent of Major League Baseball rosters. Yet decades after Sifford’s breakthrough there were still only a few of Black golfers on the pro tour. The Masters waited an unforgivable 41 years from its inception before inviting a Black player to participate, when Elder broke the color barrier in 1975. Even after Sifford won two PGA Tour events, the Masters refused to invite him to its tournament. Sifford never set foot on the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club.

Little has changed. The 2022 Masters featured just three Black players , which was a record high for the tournament. There were no Black golfers last year in the United States Open, and this year’s Masters features only Woods — who has publicly credited Sifford with making his career possible, calling him “the grandpa I never had,” and named his son Charlie in Sifford’s honor. But Woods, who is 48 and oft injured, can no longer play a full schedule, which means there are only two Black golfers today who play professionally with any regularity. One is Cameron Champ, a three-time PGA Tour winner. The other, Harold Varner III, is no longer a member of the P.G.A., having joined the Saudi-backed LIV tour.

There are currently efforts to promote diversity in golf, such as the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption at the Genesis Invitational, which sets aside a spot in the tournament for a golfer of color every year. Why not introduce such an exemption at every P.G.A. tournament? The P.G.A. should also be funding more programs to develop young Black golfers, as well as interest in golf among Black athletes. This year, the basketball star Stephen Curry — who funded the revival of the golf program at the historically Black Howard University — will be honored at the World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony with the Charlie Sifford Award for advancing diversity in golf. The P.G.A. should follow Curry’s lead.

Sifford lived long enough to see significant change in the world. He saw Woods become the dominant player in golf. He saw other sports integrated in ways that once seemed unthinkable, including baseball in 1947 and, later, tennis with the rise of Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson and the emergence of Venus and Serena Williams. In 2004, Sifford became the first Black person inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and, in 2014, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.

But when Sifford died in 2015 at age 92, he had yet to see a truly integrated P.G.A. Were he alive today, he’d still be waiting.

Peter May is a former sportswriter for The Times and The Boston Globe and the author of “Changing the Course: How Charlie Sifford and Stanley Mosk Integrated the PGA.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Opinion | An NPR editor is now a former NPR editor after his resignation

Uri Berliner, an NPR business editor who wrote a scathing essay about his organization in another publication, no longer works at NPR.

This is how I led my newsletter on Tuesday:

When a senior editor at NPR recently wrote a 3,500-word essay for another outlet, blasting where he works and saying that NPR had “lost America’s trust,” my first thought, quite frankly, was, “ … and he still works there?”

We now have an answer to that question. No, Uri Berliner, the business editor who wrote the scathing essay, no longer works at NPR.

But he wasn’t fired. He quit.

On Wednesday, one day after it was learned he was serving a five-day suspension, Berliner released this statement : “I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years. I don’t support calls to defund NPR. I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism. But I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR that I cite in my Free Press essay.”

Berliner is talking about Katherine Maher, a former tech executive who took over as NPR’s CEO in January. In the past, well before she joined NPR, Maher criticized Donald Trump and embraced what could be viewed as progressive causes on social media. It should be noted that the CEO at NPR is not involved in editorial decisions at the network.

Last week, after Berliner’s essay appeared in The Free Press, Maher wrote to staff (in a memo that was then published online ), “Asking a question about whether we’re living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions. Questioning whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.”

After Berliner’s essay appeared, NPR chief news executive Edith Chapin responded by telling staff, “We’re proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories. We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world.”

Berliner’s essay is being embraced and amplified by many on the right, including former President Donald Trump and conservative activist Christopher Rufo. Meanwhile, much of NPR’s staff was outraged by their colleague’s essay.

The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin wrote , “Mr. Berliner’s essay stirred up a hornet’s nest of criticism of NPR and made Mr. Berliner something of a pariah within the network. Several employees told The New York Times that they no longer wished to work with him, and his essay was denounced by Edith Chapin, the network’s top editor.”

Steve Inskeep, co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” wrote on Substack , “This article needed a better editor. I don’t know who, if anyone, edited Uri’s story, but they let him publish an article that discredited itself. … A careful read of the article shows many sweeping statements for which the writer is unable to offer evidence.”

“Morning Edition” host Leila Fadel told The Washington Post’s Elahe Izadi , “Many feel this was a bad faith effort to undermine and endanger our reporters around the country and the world, rather than make us a stronger and more powerful news organization. He wrote what I think was a factually inaccurate take on our work that was filled with omissions to back his arguments.”

Mullin reported that “about 50” NPR employees signed a letter written to Maher and Chapin calling for a public rebuke of the “factual inaccuracies and elisions” in Berliner’s essay.

Then came Berliner’s resignation.

Mullin wrote, “In an interview, Mr. Berliner said his decision to resign from NPR coalesced early this week after an email exchange with Ms. Maher. He said in the interview that he could infer from one of her emails that a memo she had sent to employees last week about workplace integrity was referring to him even though he had not been mentioned by name. In the email, which was sent to Mr. Berliner on Monday, Ms. Maher said her memo ‘stands for itself in reflecting my perspective on our organization.’”

Berliner told Mullin, “Everything completely changed for me on Monday afternoon.”

Actually, it seemed as if everything changed when he wrote his essay for The Free Press.

Remembering a great journalist

Kim Christensen, a former Los Angeles Times investigative reporter who was a part of three Pulitzer Prize-winning projects, has died from cancer. He was 71.

Christensen was a part of two teams that won Pulitzers in the prestigious Public Service category while at the Los Angeles Times in 2011 and The Oregonian in 2001. He helped The Orange County Register win a 1996 Pulitzer for Investigative Reporting.

The Los Angeles Times’ Doug Smith described Christensen as a “dogged reporter beloved by colleagues for his wry humor, collegiality, graceful writing and incisive mind, but above all his humility.”

Tampa Bay Times executive editor Mark Katches told me, “Anyone who worked with him knew that he was incredibly gifted. I worked with Kim at the OC Register and teaming with him as a reporter was among the highlights of my career. He was funny, smart and as talented as they come.”

Katches told me he worked with Christensen on a project that ended with some shady charity players going to prison. Katches added, “He made everything and everyone around him better.”

Check out Smith’s story for more details on Christensen’s life and career.

The Academy Awards were more than a month ago and former President Donald Trump is still riled up over host Jimmy Kimmel. You might recall that Kimmel closed the Oscars ceremony by reading a post that Trump wrote about him. It got a big laugh from the celebrity crowd, especially when Kimmel said, “Well, thank you, President Trump. Thank you for watching, I’m surprised you’re still — isn’t it past your jail time?”

On his late-night show on ABC, Kimmel has continued to roast Trump over his legal issues and did so again Tuesday night. That led Trump to unleash a rant on Truth Social at 8:18 a.m. Wednesday.

Trump called him “Stupid Jimmy Kimmel” and criticized his performance as the Oscars host. Trump then bizarrely wrote, “… he stumbled through announcing the biggest award of all, ‘Picture of the Year.’ It was a CLASSIC CHOKE, one of the biggest ever in show business, and to top it off, he forgot to say the famous and mandatory line, ‘AND THE WINNER IS.’ Instead he stammered around as he opened the envelope.”

Actually, it wasn’t Kimmel who did that. It was actor Al Pacino who didn’t list the nominees and went straight to announcing “Oppenheimer” as Best Picture. Clearly, Trump was confused.

Although again, Kimmel got the last laugh, retweeting Trump’s rant and writing , “In fairness to our former President, many stable geniuses confuse me with Al Pacino….”

Hugh Grant agrees to settlement

Actor Hugh Grant, shown here last December. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

Actor Hugh Grant says he has settled his lawsuit against the U.K. tabloid The Sun for what he calls “an enormous sum of money.” Grant accused The Sun, which is part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, of snooping on him by unlawfully tapping his phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home.

Grant wrote on X that he didn’t want to settle, saying, “I would love to see all the allegations that they deny tested in court. But the rules around civil litigation mean that if I proceed to trial and the court awards me damages that are even a penny less than the settlement offer, I would have to pay the legal costs of both sides. My lawyers tell me that that is exactly what would most likely happen here. Rupert Murdoch’s lawyers are very expensive. So even if every allegation is proven in court, I would still be liable for something approaching £10 million in costs. I’m afraid I am shying at that fence.”

The Associated Press reported , “Grant is among several celebrities, including actress Sienna Miller, soccer star Paul Gascoigne and Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm who have settled claims against the publisher.”

Media tidbits

My Poynter colleague Kelly McBride, who is NPR’s public editor, with “The relentless focus on Gaza.”
The Associated Press’ David Bauder with “Trump trial: Why can’t Americans see or hear what is going on inside the courtroom?”
The New York Times’ Steven Kurutz with “From a Tiny Island in Maine, He Serves Up Fresh Media Gossip.”
Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik with “With his Truth Social stock, Trump may be laughing all the way to the bank — but his investors have reason to weep.”
Bloomberg’s Jamie Tarabay with “A Mansion, Two Dogs and a Wall: Inside The Conflict Between a Utah Billionaire And His Neighbors.”
Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano with “L.A.’s ultimate heartbreak industry isn’t Hollywood. It’s local journalism.”
In an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle, Matt Pearce with “A new bill could help save California journalism. Google wants it dead.”
Noah Eagle, one of the bright young sports broadcasters in the business, has been tapped by NBC to be the play-by-play voice for Team USA men’s and women’s basketball games, as well as the medal round, at this summer’s Paris Olympics. Eagle, 26, is the son of Ian Eagle, a prolific announcer who calls NFL, NBA and college basketball for CBS and Turner Sports. Ian Eagle recently called the men’s Final Four. Noah is already an announcing veteran with his most high-profile work being the play-by-play announcer on NBC’s Big Ten college football broadcasts.
Some of ESPN’s very best — Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Jeremy Fowler — with “’Voted off the island’: Inside Bill Belichick’s failed job hunt.”

More resources for journalists

Webinar today: Covering transgender issues with authority and accuracy .
Applications for Poynter Producer Project close tomorrow!
Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative is a fellowship for public media journalists. Applications due April 22.
Delve more deeply into your editing skills with Poynter ACES Intermediate Certificate in Editing .

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] .

The Poynter Report is our daily media newsletter. To have it delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, sign up here .

How a longtime film critic’s death represents the great dissolve of local film criticism

Bryan VanCampen of The Ithaca Times was an institution in the central New York college town of 32,000. He might have been the last of his kind.

No, Stormy Daniels didn’t ‘exonerate’ Donald Trump

The adult film actor denied she had an affair with Trump in a 2018 statement. She has since recanted that statement.

Opinion | NPR suspends an editor for his essay blasting … NPR

The firestorm caused by Uri Berliner’s critical essay in The Free Press continues to rage

Taylor Swift has not endorsed Joe Biden for president

As of mid-April 2024, Swift has not issued a public endorsement for the 2024 presidential election, despite social posts claiming otherwise

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IMAGES

Abuse of ROTC Program vs Students' Mental Health Free Essay Example
How to Write Compelling Army ROTC Scholarship Essays
ROTC Research Paper.docx
Essay V.2.docx
Army ROTC Essay Examples with Commentary
Petition · No To Mandatory ROTC! · Change.org

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COMMENTS

Why ROTC Should Not Be Mandatory in Senior High School
Grade: 5. Download. The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. In the work "Senior High School: Why ROTC Should Not Be Mandatory Essay" we will talk about military training for students in High School.
Mandatory ROTC? How about no?
The ROTC program has long been criticized for being an avenue for continuing abuse and violence against student cadets. In our education system, in fact, no other education program holds the most ...
[OPINION] Do we need mandatory ROTC? A look at the numbers
The number of Advance graduates actually increased from 2,900 to 3,200 between SY 2001-02 and 2002-03 and reached 6,400 in 2012-13. Between 2008-13, Basic ROTC and Advance ROTC respectively ...
Mandatory ROTC? Think hard first
Let us have more informed discussion and debates about the kind of citizen civic-military orientation and engagement the country requires. To insist on imposing half-baked mandatory ROTC proposals is to play god with the time, energy, trust, resources and lives of our youth, with no cogent arguments to convince them of the wisdom of our decisions.
Why is ROTC not mandatory anymore? A look into the brutal history
In a May 1 Philippine Daily Inquirer article, then-Education Secretary Raul Roco said that he and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Diomedio Villanueva vowed to work on mandatory ROTC's abolition, with Roco pushing this through a Senate bill. He cited Chua's death, according to the report. But still, more than 20 years later, their family is ...
No to mandatory ROTC; no to state terrorism, bossism on campus
The 2001 incident sparked campus unrest and caused colleges and universities to push for the abolition of the mandatory ROTC. It was in fact UST—via its rector at that time, Fr. Tamerlane Lana, OP—that initially called for the abolition of compulsory ROTC and rallied the University Belt consortium in calling on Congress to act.
r/ROTC on Reddit: As the first national scholarship board approaches
I too was nervous about the essay portion when I applied 3 years ago. Similarly, the summer internship applications for ROTC were due this past Friday. My first essay was aids, so my Master Sergeant gave me feedback/advice to fix my essay (which turned out better I think). I will now give you the tips that he gave me.
Three Vital Steps to Outstanding ROTC Application Essays
What should you do instead? Three Vital Steps to Outstanding ROTC Application Essays: #1. Do your research about the service you are interested in, visit your local ROTC unit and talk to cadre and cadets/midshipmen, visit your local national guard or reserve unit and "shadow" an officer for a few hours, and speak to serving or former officers.
[OPINION] Restoring mandatory ROTC
A recent review suggested that the NSTP/ROTC component graduated enough trainees to meet the required First Category Reserves level of 1% of the population. Making ROTC mandatory expands the ...
10 Tips for a Successful Army ROTC National Scholarship Application
Based on this experience we have some tips we recommend to all ROTC National Scholarship applicants to maximize their opportunity to be awarded an ROTC scholarship. 1. Submit Your Application Early: The first scholarship board usually meets in October, the second board in January, and the third board in March. Getting your application completed ...
Army ROTC Essay Examples with Commentary
Army ROTC Essay #2 Prompt: State below in the space provided how you spend your time in a typical week during the school year. For example, how many extra hours do you spend: at school, during homework, engaged in athletic activities, engaged in extracurricular activities (i.e. clubs), engaged in volunteer work, or other (explain).
Group fears mandatory ROTC will 'worsen mental health crisis' in schools
MANILA BULLETIN / FILE PHOTO. "Mandatory ROTC will worsen the mental health crisis in schools," said National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) National President Jandeil Roperos in a statement issued Sunday, Feb. 5. Roperos also sounded the alarm on the "long-running mental health crisis" in schools noting that the ...
Navy ROTC Essay Examples with Commentary
These winning ROTC essay examples highlight several things. Essay #1 needs to show what effort you put in to learn more about Navy ROTC and the duties and responsibilities of an ensign or lieutenant. Essay #2 is your signature accomplishments to demonstrate why you should be selected for a scholarship over someone else.
NO to Mandatory ROTC Network
NO to Mandatory ROTC Network. 1,532 likes. The network is an alliance of students, teachers, parents, and child rights advocates who oppose the revival of mandatory ROTC in senior high schools.
Here's Why ROTC Is No Longer Mandatory in the Philippines
Why is ROTC no longer mandatory anyway? Back in 2001, a University of Sto. Tomas student named Mark Welson Chua was murdered for exposing the alleged corruption within his ROTC unit. Chua wrote a tell-all expose in February 2001 with the university's official student publication, The Varsitarian. The piece was entitled "Struggle Against the ...
NO TO MANDATORY ROTC!...
League of Filipino Students. · June 2, 2019 ·. NO TO MANDATORY ROTC! Despite its gruesome history of abuses and harassment in various schools and universities, the bill for Mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) training for senior high school students has been approved by the house on May 20, 2019. Under the exploitative and ...
National JROTC Essay Contest
The JROTC Essay Contest is an annual competition designed to give Cadets an opportunity to assimilate lessons learned from JROTC curriculum and communicate their knowledge in writing. Participating in the essay contest exposes Cadets to a key component of 21st Century Education: writing. School Year 2023-24 Information.
ROTC Essay
ROTC Essay. This essay sample was donated by a student to help the academic community. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples. President Rodrigo Duterte has proposed reinstating mandatory military training in the K-12 curriculum. Duterte reportedly wants to make ROTC mandatory again to instill 'discipline' and ...
Argumentative Essay on ROTC
POINT: ROTC is the best way to embed and instill values such as a sense of patriotism and nationalism in the Filipino youth. Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) in the Philippines is one of three components of the National Service Training Program, the civic education and defense preparedness program for Filipino senior high school students.
Petition · No To Mandatory ROTC!
Why this petition matters. Started by No To Mandatory ROTC Network. We, students, teachers, parents, and citizens who care for our youth and the nation, firmly oppose the revival of mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) via its inclusion in the Senior High School curriculum. (1) Added Expenses and Waste of Public Funds.
NROTC Essay Questions
206. Jul 20, 2017. #1. On the NROTC application, under the Essays tab, there are about 4 main fields to fill in. The first being the essay about why you want to be an officer, etc. and that allows for 2500 characters. However, the two following - one about living abroad and the other about diversity in your family situation, both allow for 2500 ...
NO TO MANDATORY ROTC IN SENIOR HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS.docx
culture. Castro said ROTC was abolished in 2002 because of reports of corruption within the program. He added that using minors as part of the reserved component can possibly violate the protocol. He said that passing the bill and adopting the program as policy can probably open into a new challenge. Instead of implementing the program, the government has to face temporary restraining orders ...
Opinion
1948. By J. D. Vance. Mr. Vance, a Republican, is the junior senator from Ohio. President Biden wants the world to believe that the biggest obstacle facing Ukraine is Republicans and our lack of ...
Winning ROTC Essays Examples
Army ROTC Essay Examples with Commentary LTC Robert Kirkland 2024-01-24T01:07:40+00:00 Three Vital Steps to Outstanding ROTC Application Essays Having sat an Army ROTC scholarship board, conducted hundreds of applicant reviews in my role as a PMS and in discussing applicant essay content with my officer colleagues, I wanted to give you my ...
Essay
Tomorrow I will have the opportunity to appear before the same committee and share what we have learned as we battle this ancient hatred at Columbia University. Oct. 7 was a day, like Sept. 11 ...
NPR responds after editor says it has 'lost America's trust' : NPR
NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to ...
How Israel and allied defenses intercepted more than 300 Iranian ...
Israel's military said Sunday that "99%" of projectiles fired by Iran were intercepted by Israel and its partners, with only "a small number" of ballistic missiles reaching Israel. In ...
NPR Temporarily Suspends Editor Who Penned Essay Criticizing ...
April 16, 2024 8:00am. National Public Radio headquarters in Washington, D.C. Getty Images. NPR has put on temporary suspension the editor who penned an essay that criticized the network for ...
Opinion
Tiger Woods said he owes his career to Charlie Sifford, the first Black member of the P.G.A. But the golf world has done far too little to promote Black players.
An NPR editor is now a former NPR editor after his resignation
No, Uri Berliner, the business editor who wrote the scathing essay, no longer works at NPR. But he wasn't fired. He quit. On Wednesday, one day after it was learned he was serving a five-day ...