Student Army Training Corps records

The Student Army Training Corps (SATC) was started by the United States War Departments Committee on Education and Special Training in February of 1918 in the hopes of encouraging college enrollment and training needed officers. Institutions with at least one hundred male students were eligible and all participants were voluntary. The training was to begin July 18, 1918, and last for sixty days. Participants were to live, study, and train on campus since they were considered military. Though voluntary participants received the rank of private and joining the program did not preclude one from enlistment. The program officially began on October 1, 1918, with 525 colleges and universities and over 200,000 students participating, but the Armistice on November 11 put an end to the program. It officially ended in December 1918. All members received an honorable discharge. Thirty-four students from Washington College enlisted.