Establishment

Source Credit

(a) For the purpose of preparing selected students for commissioned service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force, the Secretary of each military department, under regulations prescribed by the President, may establish and maintain a Senior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, organized into one or more units, at any accredited civilian educational institution authorized to grant baccalaureate degrees, and at any school essentially military that does not confer baccalaureate degrees, upon the request of the authorities at that institution.
(b) No unit may be established or maintained at an institution unless—
(1) the senior commissioned officer of the armed force concerned who is assigned to the program at that institution is given the academic rank of professor;
(2) the institution fulfills the terms of its agreement with the Secretary of the military department concerned; and
(3) the institution adopts, as a part of its curriculum, a four-year course of military instruction or a two-year course of advanced training of military instruction, or both, which the Secretary of the military department concerned prescribes and conducts.
(c) At those institutions where a unit of the program is established membership of students in the program shall be elective or compulsory as provided by State law or the authorities of the institution concerned.
(d) The President shall cause to be established and maintained in each State at least one unit of the program if—
(1) a unit is requested by an educational institution in the State;
(2) such request is approved by the Governor of the State in which the institution requesting the unit is located; and
(3) the Secretary of the military department concerned determines that there will be not less than 40 students enrolled in such unit and that the provisions of this section are otherwise satisfied.

History

(Added Pub. L. 88–647, title II, §201(1), Oct. 13, 1964, 78 Stat. 1065; amended Pub. L. 95–79, title VI, §602, July 30, 1977, 91 Stat. 332; Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title IX, §924(b)(3)(BB), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3822.)

Editorial Notes

Editorial Notes

Amendments
2021—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 116–283 substituted "Marine Corps, or Space Force" for "or Marine Corps".
1977—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 95–79 added subsec. (d).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Military Training for Female Undergraduates at Military Colleges; Regulations
Pub. L. 95–485, title VIII, §809, Oct. 20, 1978, 92 Stat. 1623, directed the Secretary of Defense to require that any college or university designated as a military college provide that qualified female undergraduate students be eligible to participate in military training at such college or university, and prohibited the Secretary from requiring such college or university to require female undergraduate students enrolled in such college or university to participate in military training, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 98–525, title XIV, §§1403(b), 1404, Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2621, eff. Oct. 1, 1985. See section 2009 of this title.

Executive Documents

Delegation of Functions
Functions of President under subsec. (a) of this section delegated to Secretary of Defense, see section 1(10) of Ex. Ord. No. 11390, Jan. 22, 1968, 33 F.R. 841, set out as a note under section 301 of Title 3, The President.