NU cadets attend senior military institute conference

By Natasha Waggoner
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

On Feb. 14-17, two members of the Norwich University Corps of Cadets took part in a military leadership conference at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia.

According to Ernest L. Cage, a senior psychology sociology major at Virginia Tech and Cadet Public Affairs Officer for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, the primary focus of the conference was to talk about and attempt to come up with solutions to the problems that military schools have in common.

William E. Passalacqua, Director of Operations, Leadership, and Training, represented university faculty for Norwich at the conference.

"It was a worthwhile conference," according to Passalacqua. "The opportunity to go to conferences and meet with other schools and discuss issues and share common problems provides a great venue for students and staff and faculty who attend."

According to Col. Ed Schwabe, one of the conference coordinators this year, "In the last six years we have re-focused the topics to include the kinds of problems and issues which the various Corps organizations have in common."

This year's conference was entitled, "Focusing on issues in common among the various corps organizations from the institutional and cadet perspective."

In attendance were representatives from the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership, the Citadel, the Virginia Military Institute, North Georgia Academy, Texas A&M, the Coast Guard Academy, the U.S. Maritime Academy, the Air Force Academy, and the US Military Academy.

The US Naval Academy was unable to send a delegation to the conference this year due to a scheduling conflict in their training schedule.

The conference itinerary listed among this year's topics the use of sophomore cadets in the training of freshmen recruits, honor code sanctions short of dismissal, cadet peer evaluations, and discrimination against freshman cadet athletes.

According to Passalacqua, the biggest issue for Norwich that was discussed at the conference was that of sophomore responsibilities in the training of freshmen.

"We've tackled that question over and over again throughout the years," Passalacqua said. "It's still an issue today, and I think it is of particular importance to us."

For Jacob Sotiriadis, 21, a junior international studies major from Hampstead, New Hampshire, the important topic was that of the class system.

"Most military universities have a strict class system that's enforced by members of each class, which is something that's lacking at Norwich," Sotiriadis said. "I think that the conference was kind of an eye opener, at least for me, to see how different schools did that and how they enforced their systems."

One of the issues plaguing the university right now is that of what the university is really about, according to Sotiriadis.

"Do we want to make Norwich a university that's based around the Corps of Cadets, which is what the university was based on, or are we going to become a university with a Corps of Cadets?" Sotiriadis said. "I think that's a pivotal issue, and I hope that's not the case."

Sotiriadis said he was disappointed in the lack of knowledge about Norwich displayed by the other schools' representatives. He indicated that he believes there is an important marketing issue that needs to be addressed by the school.

"It's imperative for us to get our name out there," Sotiriadis said. "We need to make sure that we differentiate ourselves from the other schools in saying why is Norwich different, why is Norwich superior, and why should someone come to Norwich over another military university such as VMI or the Citadel."

According to Passalacqua, the conference went very well. The two junior cadets were excellent representatives of the Norwich Cadet Corps.

"It was a great opportunity for all the cadets to get together from the various military universities and discuss common issues that each Corps of Cadets was facing," Sotiriadis said. "I personally learned a lot from it. I learned that there are a lot of similarities between the different military universities, as well as significant differences."

Despite the differences between all the schools and the various problems they face, according to Cage, in the end, all military school share the same mission: to produce leaders.

"Cadets and faculty members arrive at the conference thinking that there are great differences between the participating schools," Schwabe said. "By the time they leave, they recognize that we all confront many of the same problems and that we can benefit from the experience of other schools in learning how to tackle them in new and more innovative ways."

According to Sotiriadis, Norwich should host a similar conference, as it is a "great experience" and a good way to get out of the "negative cloud that tends to blanket" Norwich.

"Instead of focusing on problems, we were talking about solutions and talking to people about positive reinforcement, and it was just a positive atmosphere that I noticed," Sotiriadis said. "It was just nice to get out of that negative mindset."

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