Reserve Officers Association

Protect Students Called to Active Duty
Resolution No. 10-23

WHEREAS, more than 750,000 National Guard and Reserve personnel have been called to active duty at least once (some multiple times) since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001;

WHEREAS, approximately 10% (74,000) of those who have been called to active duty were (at the time of mobilization) students at institutions of higher learning; and

WHEREAS, many members of the active duty are also continuing their education to improve their professional training and increase the opportunities to promote; and

WHEREAS, neither the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), nor the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), nor any other federal statute protects student’s right to resume his or her educational program that was interrupted by a call to active duty; and

WHEREAS, 11 states have enacted such protections at the state level, but there are no such protections in the other 39 states or in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa; and

WHEREAS, students who are military members of the Active or Reserve Components need and deserve assurance that their educational goals will not be dashed (only postponed) if they are called to the colors;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Reserve Officers Association of the United States, chartered by Congress, urge the Congress to enact legislation protecting the rights of students who are recalled to active duty from the Active and Reserve Components.

Adopted by ROA National Convention, 10 February 2010
Source: Updated by ROA Headquarters (SW) and amended by the convention delegates.  
Renewed as 07-16 by the National Convention 30 June 2007
Renewed as 04-27 by the National Convention 12 June 2004

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