Richard Nixon was president the last time the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, better known as the ROTC, was allowed on Harvard University’s campus. The program, which provides students with scholarships in return for military training has been absent ever since.

Now, four decades later, they are being welcomed back. In what wasn’t exactly a surprise decision, Harvard is ending its 41-year ban on the program.

Harvard was among several prominent colleges that banned the ROTC amid the movement against the Vietnam War. More recently, the program drew criticism on campuses because of the armed forces’ policy on gay men and lesbians in the military.

The repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy at the end of last year quickly led to speculation that Harvard and other Ivy League colleges would begin to allow the ROTC back on their campuses. Yale, Stanford, and Columbia are all said to be considering following in Harvard’s footsteps and lifting bans of their own.