ASUSU approves financial support for veteran’s memorial
Members of Utah State University’s Air Force ROTC program got the support they asked for Tuesday night.
The Associated Students of Utah State University approved $1,000 in support to the ROTC to help advertise a November unveiling of the veteran’s memorial, currently under construction on the south side of the Spectrum.
Brad Bingham and Michael Watts, cadets with the Air Force ROTC, made a slideshow presentation to the executive council on the history of the military and the military at USU.
The presentation detailed the thousands of ROTC graduates USU had during World Wars I and II.
“We were named the West Point of the West,” Bingham said. “At one time until about the late 1950s, there were over 2000 cadets here.
“Many of them are still donating today.”
Bingham said the ROTC was looking for a way to return something to the veterans in the community. He said a few cadets have gotten together for the past few years and formed the Arnold Air Society.
“That society is to give community service to veterans,” he said. “This school doesn’t have anything to represent the military history here. It doesn’t have anything to show what our [ROTC] alumni have done.”
Bingham said the group met to decide what could be done to honor the veterans and decided to build a memorial.
“At that time we thought it was going to be a nice plaque on the wall, but we got together with the American Legion and said, ‘hey, this can be more.'”
The ROTC and the American Legion teamed up to find donors to build a full-scale veteran’s memorial. It will be dedicated on Nov. 11 with a 21-gun artillery salute, a F-16 flyover and Apache helicopters on the premises.
The request for financial support was nearly unanimously approved by the Capital and Support Committee; only one member of that body abstained. ASUSU also offered near unanimous support – only one member abstained there as well.
Many council members and guests to the meeting spoke about the value of the memorial.
“If you take a quick glance at the obituaries, most of the people in there have been USU students and served in the military,” said Leticia Neal, a senior studying anthropology and history. “It’s not like we’re just giving [money] to some outside organization.”
Shay Matthews, a junior mechanical engineering major in attendance at the meeting, also voiced support over ASUSU’s decision.
“I am not a big proponent of spending money,” he said. “I have tried for the past hour since the cadets gave their presentation to come up with a valid reason why ASUSU should not support it.
“I couldn’t come up with one.”
Graduate Studies Vice President Stephanie Kukic said she was against the bill at first, but had changed her mind.
“I think at first there are certain organizations on campus, when one organization throws an activity it feels like if you’re not part of that group, you’re not able to attend,” she said. “I didn’t understand this was for a campus-wide dedication and not just members of the military.”
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Senator Gabe White also voiced support for the funding.
“I think this is something we should have done weeks ago. It’s something that I believe in very strongly,” he said. “I just think it’s a worthy use of funding.”
– str@cc.usu.edu