After 70 years, Cal Poly ROTC will no longer be producing officers into the Army with the elimination of the program come the end of the 2026/27 academic year.
“Cal Poly will no longer be a feeder school into the United States military and that's breaking a very long tradition," said Morgan Boyd, San Luis Obispo County Veteran Services Officer.
It's a tradition that began in the 1950s, having now commissioned over 1,400 officers, according to Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier.
Joseph Dzvonik, who now works with Santa Barbara County, is a former Cal Poly Military Science Department Chair who headed up the ROTC program. He says it’s a sad day for Cal Poly and its cadets.
“The Army will roll along, it'll be fine. But it's just sad to see this go," Dzvonik said.
In a statement to KSBY News, U.S. Army Cadet Command explained that the decision to eliminate Cal Poly and nine other university ROTC programs across the county was made to reduce the civilian workforce within the Department of Defense and those ten universities were chosen because of “...the number of Army officers commissioned annually from that campus, the institution's enrollment, retention and graduation trends and the unit's geographical location."
“The Cal Poly ROTC program is one of the smallest in the country, certainly one of the smallest in California," Dzvonik said.
Boyd served in the military, attended Cal Poly and was a member of another university’s ROTC program. He says the decision is devastating for future officers.
“There's definitely kids out there right now who are planning to attend Cal Poly and join ROTC and that dream, something they may have been working on for four years, is now gone for them," Boyd stated.
However, Dzvonik says that for the remaining cadets still in the program, which is set to end at the end of the 2026/27 school year, there should be pride knowing they were the last.
“There's disappointment but yet pride to have been there and be a part of it and understand that you're maybe part of the last legacy of officers that could say they were commissioned at Cal Poly," he said.
U.S. Army Cadet Command stated that, nationwide, “There are less than 15 contracted freshman and sophomore cadets across the country currently assigned to an inactivating ROTC unit that will be affected by this realignment.”
Over the next two years, contracted juniors and seniors will be able to finish their program. Meanwhile, contracted freshmen and sophomores will be given options to either continue their journey to become an Army officer at another university offering ROTC or walk away from the program with no penalties.
