127A-23. Commissions for commandants and officers at qualified educational institutions.

The Governor of North Carolina is authorized to appoint and commission, as staff officers of the North Carolina unorganized militia, the officers of any university, college, academy or other educational institution which qualifies as provided in this section. Any university, college, academy or other educational institution shall be qualified under this section when the institution has been regularly incorporated under and by virtue of the laws of North Carolina; the institution, as a part of its courses of study, regularly teaches military science and tactics; the Department of Defense at Washington, D.C., has detailed an officer of the Armed Forces of the United States as professor or assistant professor of military science and tactics; the institution has been designated as qualified by the secretary of the appropriate service and has been made a unit of the Senior or Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or the institution, not having a unit of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, has been approved and authorized by the Secretary of Defense to participate in the National Defense Cadet Corps Training Program or other military training programs under Title 10, United States Code, sections 3540 and 4651.

Any qualified institution desiring the appointment of officers in the North Carolina unorganized militia shall make application to the Governor setting forth all requisite facts as to its qualifications, the names of the persons to be commissioned, the rank desired for each, and the person's position at the institution. The application shall be signed by the chancellor, president, superintendent or other presiding official, under the seal of the institution. Upon receipt of the application, the Governor may appoint and commission the officers of a qualified institution as follows: the chancellor, president, superintendent or other presiding official, as colonel; the vice-president, principal or other officer second in authority, as major; the professors and members of the faculty, as captains. The persons so commissioned shall have no connection with the North Carolina National Guard or other military forces of the State, nor shall they exercise any military authority other than in the discharge of their duties at their respective institutions. The commissions issued under this section may be terminated at the will of the Governor.