The University of Northern Iowa’s Army ROTC program has won a reprieve from a shut down order.
The Pentagon announced this summer that the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at UNI would be deactivated after the 2026 spring semester, part of a nationwide plan to reduce the military’s civilian workforce by 12%. UNI has been notified the plan has been revised and ROTC cadets will continue to be able to complete all four years of their training on the Cedar Falls campus. However, the unit will become an extension of the University of Iowa’s ROTC program.
ROTC detachments at the University of Dubuque and Buena Vista University in Storm Lake were also notified this summer that they must close down. Buena Vista’s ROTC program has operated for the past 15 years. The ROTC program at the University of Dubuque was closed down in 1991, but reactivated in 2004.