The Army will close its Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs at 13 colleges and universities because of financial constraints. While one of the universities released a letter from the Army announcing the cuts on Wednesday, the reductions were ordered last month, before the government shutdown. The programs will close or realign by the end of the 2014-15 school year, according to an Army memo. “This action is not a reflection of either the quality of your program or the outstanding cadets you have produced,” Thomas R. Lamont, assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, wrote in a letter to the chancellor of Arkansas State University, one of the institutions.

Other colleges and universities whose programs will be closed are Georgia Regents, East Tennessee State, Morehead State, North Dakota State, Northern Michigan and Tennessee Technological Universities; and the Universities of California at Santa Barbara, North Alabama, South Dakota, Southern Mississippi, Tennessee at Martin and Wisconsin at La Crosse, A spokesman for Georgia Regents University said the university had not received official word about changes to the program.

Arkansas State University will fight to reverse the decision to close its 77-year-old ROTC program, which currently serves 122 participants, Chancellor Tim Hudson said in a press release. So will the University of Southern Mississippi and University of Tennessee at Martin, officials said. A statement from William G. Kale, president of the University of North Alabama, said the university was "shocked to learn of this decision, which was made without consultation and came without warning."