NIU students with National Guard or reserve enlistments can withdraw from classes and receive a refund if called to active duty.

However, this is not a mandatory procedure authorized by federal law, such as job protection offered employees, said NIU Legal Counsel George Shur.

NIU President John La Tourette approved policies allowing students to get refunds for fees, room and board on a pro-rata basis if they are called to active duty during the semester, Shur said. These students also are entitled to a full tuition refund and book buy-backs.

NIU Associate Provost Lou Jean Moyer said a call-up will be handled like any special withdrawal through the college offices. She said students must produce copies of their notices in person or in writing. Tuition, fees and board will be handled by the Office of Student Affairs.

But, Shur said, working men and women across the country who are not temporarily employed are entitled to the “right of return,” according to federal laws passed to protect the jobs of reservists for as long as two years. He said these laws have been in place since World War II.

Sgt. Jack Chouinard, a former army recruiting station commander in DeKalb, said during the time of the draft there was an educational deferment that allowed members of the National Guard and reserves to remain in school during a military call-up. But now that the U.S. has an all-volunteer army, this deferment is no longer available.

He also said no northern Illinois reserve units have been called to active duty yet.

“As far as I’m concerned the idea of the military is to serve your country,” said NIU political science major Bonnie Bradlee, a lieutenant with NIU’s ROTC. “When the country calls you, you go.”

She said Reserve Officer Training Corps students who do not belong to a National Guard or reserve unit can remain in school but anyone with a contractual obligation with the armed forces must fulfill it.

Bradlee said the American public must remember the U.S. military is in Saudi Arabia at that government’s request and is serving a stabilizing position in the Persian Gulf.