After several semesters of resolutions, Bradley’s ROTC students were able to qualify for early class registration for the spring semester.
Senior industrial engineering major Chris Spadafora and senior industrial engineering major Aditya Sreekumar, members of ROTC, proposed an ROTC early registration resolution at a Student Senate general assembly meeting Oct. 6, 2014, with hopes to allow students time to fit classes into their ROTC schedules. Student Senate passed the proposal the next week, sending it on to the Provost’s Office.
“Early registration ensures ROTC cadets are able to de-conflict their schedules and enroll in their required military science courses without interfering with their academic programs,” Levi Rognholt, captain of ROTC, said. “Additionally, ROTC cadets are required to attend physical fitness training and leadership labs … [ROTC students] need to be able to find several hours a week when they can all be available for ROTC training.”
After getting it passed through a joint meeting with interim President Liberty’s cabinet Nov. 3, Student Senate was able to help provide early registration for ROTC, which took place Nov. 4, the day after the resolution passed.
Student Body President Sarah Handler said Student Senate had been pushing for ROTC early registration for quite some time.
“This started more than a year ago, and last year a resolution was passed to have priority registration for ROTC,” Handler said. “It passed Student Senate, but it was never enacted by the dean’s council.”
An ROTC senator approached Handler at the start of the semester to again try to get early registration passed for them. Student Senate worked with ROTC and had the cadets write letters to the provost expressing why they needed priority registration. Those letters were delivered to the provost at the joint cabinet meeting last week.
“The joint cabinet meeting with President Liberty’s cabinet and my cabinet is something new that we are doing this year,” Handler said. “We did bring up ROTC priority registration during that meeting, and a bunch of my cabinet members expressed why this is important, and the president’s cabinet seemed very receptive, so I absolutely think that helped get this measure enacted.”
Rognholt said the 11 students in ROTC were able to register early after the measure passed.
ROTC students are not the only ones at Bradley who qualify for early registration. Student athletes, Honors Program students and anyone who falls under the Americans with Disabilities Act were also able to register early.
