(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa’s Army R-O-T-C program has won a reprieve from a shut down order. The Pentagon announced in July that the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at U-N-would be deactivated after the 2026 spring semester — part of a nationwide plan to reduce the military’s civilian workforce by 12 percent. U-N-I has been notified the plan has been revised and R-O-T-C 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 R-O-T-C program.

Major Jess Haugaard of the Iowa National Guard, UNI President Mark Nook and Brenda Bass, Dean of the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, sign memorandum of understanding supporting UNI’s Army ROTC program on Sept. 9, 2025. (UNI photo)

R-O-T-C 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 R-O-T-C program has operated for the past 15 years. The R-O-T-C program at the University of Dubuque was closed down in 1991, but reactivated in 2004.