Students should be made to understand that it is their duty to give to their country and to the world the best and fullest possible measure of service, for both country and world will need more than they will get of that high type of service which only men and women of the best education and training can give. Patriotism and desire to serve humanity may require of these young men and women the exercise of that very high type of self-restraint which will keep them to their tasks of preparation until the time comes when they can render service which cannot be rendered by others.
On the other hand, these same colleges and schools must contribute out of themselves that important vocational service so necessary in time of war, and the gathering at this meeting of agricultural and household-arts teachers, of farm-bureau men and county agents, of representatives from granges and women's clubs, of bankers, and of publicists was after all typical of the other half of the university or school contribution.
At this meeting of the Regents the following resolutions were adopted on the recommendation of the administrators of schools and colleges who were in conference with the Regents. These resolutions are given in full because they express significantly the point of view of the 36 colleges and 964 secondary schools in New York State.
1. Realizing that one of the most urgent needs of the country in the present crisis will be the training of officers for military service, and that it is the peculiar duty of colleges and universities to contribute in supplying this need, we recommend that the several colleges and universities in the state establish one or more units of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, as provided in general order No. 49, including courses leading at the same time to a commission and to a college degree.
2. In order that the extraordinary burdens and sacrifices of war may be shared in just proportion by all the nation, and that the calamitous experiences of the past under the voluntary system may be avoided, it is our judgment that in the raising of the necessary military forces the principle of universal obligation to service be applied by a process of selective conscription.