Following an announcement in October that the program was at risk of termination, the NMU ROTC program was notified on Thursday, Nov. 7 that it would be temporarily removed from the Army’s elimination list.

The decision to remove NMU from the list comes after NMU was told in mid-October that it – along with 13 other ROTC programs nationwide – would be cut by the Army due in part to low enrollment and officer commission rates. The Army is now allowing the 13 programs to operate for one more year so that they may be monitored for enrollment and commission rates.

In a press release prepared by the NMU communications and marketing department, NMU President David Haynes acknowledged the support and efforts of members of the state legislature as being an important part of saving the NMU ROTC program.

“Northern Michigan University sincerely thanks U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow and U.S. Congressman Dan Benishek, their staff members, as well as State Senator Tom Casperson, Representative John Kivela and the full Michigan Legislature for all of the support they’ve provided over the past month in helping us to appeal the elimination of our ROTC program,” Haynes said. “They stepped up immediately to back our U.S. Army and Michigan National Guard cadets. They helped us get the message across that NMU is a place that trains extremely high-caliber officers at a very affordable price.”

According to the same press release, an Army decision regarding closures will be made following the monitoring of the 13 programs previously chosen for elimination.

NMU’s 44-year old ROTC program has graduated over 400 cadets since its inception, with 65 currently enrolled in the program.