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Newsday: Obama visit spurs ROTC debate at NY’s Columbia U.

NEW YORK - Barack Obama's opposition to Columbia University's ban on the Reserve Officers' Training Corps has touched off a campus debate. 

A vote on whether students favor ending the 40-year-old ban could come as early as this week. 

The subject arose when Obama and John McCain attended a Columbia community service forum last week. 

ROTC began in 1916 at Columbia and trained about 100,000 Americans to fight in World War II. In the wake of the Vietnam War and student protests, university trustees kicked ROTC off campus in 1969. 

Proponents of the ban today argue that the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy toward gays violates the university's anti-discrimination policy. 

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