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The program's roots trace back to LSU's founding in 1860 under General William T. Sherman, when the campus functioned as a former military post of the Union Army adjacent to present-day Baton Rouge. In 1884, the General Assembly of Louisiana passed a resolution allocating the full usage of the buildings and grounds of the Pentagon Barracks to LSU, where they were used as dormitories for cadets. Cadets were housed there until 1932. During World War II, LSU was in the top five schools producing officers for the military, after Texas A&M University, the United States Military Academy, and the United States Naval Academy. Amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, the LSU Board of Supervisors converted the ROTC program to voluntary status due to escalating tensions on campus. In 1969, mandatory ROTC for freshmen and sophomores at LSU at large was abolished. The Corps at the time consisted of over 3,000 members, a number which experienced a decline post-1969.