Thread: The Cost of A Diverse Naval Academy

Guest Column: The cost of a diverse Naval Academy

By BRUCE FLEMING
Published 06/14/09

The Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced in Annapolis recently that "diversity is the number one priority" at the Naval Academy.

The Naval Academy superintendent, Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler, echoed him. Everyone understands that "diversity" here means nonwhite skins.

Fowler insisted recently that we needed to have Annapolis graduates who "looked like" the Fleet, where enlisted people are about 42 percent nonwhite, largely African American and Hispanic.

The stunning revelation last week was that the Naval Academy had an incoming class that was "more diverse" than ever before: 35 percent minority.

Sounds good, only this comes with a huge price tag. It's taxpayers who bankroll the military. Yet nobody has asked us if we're willing to pay this price. Instead we're being told there is no price to pay at all. If you believe that, you probably also believe in the Tooth Fairy.

A "diverse" class does not mean the Naval Academy recruits violinists, or older students (they can't be 23 on Induction Day), or gay people (who are thrown out) or foreign students (other than the dozen or so sent by client governments).

It means applicants checked a box on their application that says they are Hispanic, African American, Native American, and now, since my time on the Admissions Board of the Academy, where I've taught for 22 years, Asians.

Midshipmen are admitted by two tracks. White applicants out of high school who are not also athletic recruits typically need grades of A and B and minimum SAT scores of 600 on each part for the Board to vote them "qualified." Athletics and leadership also count.

A vote of "qualified" for a white applicant doesn't mean s/he's coming, only that he or she can compete to win the "slate" of up to 10 nominations that (most typically) a Congress(wo)man draws up. That means that nine "qualified" white applicants are rejected. SAT scores below 600 or C grades almost always produce a vote of "not qualified" for white applicants.

Not so for an applicant who self-identifies as one of the minorities who are our "number one priority." For them, another set of rules apply. Their cases are briefed separately to the board, and SAT scores to the mid-500s with quite a few Cs in classes (and no visible athletics or leadership) typically produce a vote of "qualified" for them, with direct admission to Annapolis. They're in, and are given a pro forma nomination to make it legit.

Minority applicants with scores and grades down to the 300s with Cs and Ds (and no particular leadership or athletics) also come, though after a remedial year at our taxpayer-supported remedial school, the Naval Academy Preparatory School.

By using NAPS as a feeder, we've virtually eliminated all competition for "diverse" candidates: in theory they have to get a C average at NAPS to come to USNA, but this is regularly re-negotiated.

All this is probably unconstitutional. That's what the Supreme Court said about the University of Michigan's two-track admissions in 2003.

Once at Annapolis, "diverse" midshipmen are over-represented in our pre-college classes, in lower-track courses, in mandatory tutoring programs and less challenging majors. Many struggle to master basic concepts. (I teach some of these courses.)

Of course, some minority students are stellar, but they're the exception. Despite being dragged toward the finish line, minorities graduate at about a 10 percent lower rate than the whole class, which of course includes them (so the real split is greater).

Don't want to believe me? Have a lawyer sit in on a year's worth of Admissions Board deliberations. Or better still, pray that one of the stellar white students rejected to give a seat to a "diverse" candidate sues us. That's the only way taxpayers will ever fully understand the price to them of "putting diversity first."

The writer is an English professor at the Naval Academy.

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/o ... ademy.html

Diversity = Racism.

But When you act RACIST in order to PUSH for more diversity, now thats WRONG...

diversity always = racism which will = watering down which always = stupidity and which will always = a loss of some type.

The progressive agenda is to push a brown/black world to divide the USA
tear down and remove the Constitution, we are well on our way.

Seems we're grooming Supreme Court candidates in a similar fashion.

Just like the New Haven firefighters, universities, and public schools! Their solution, of course, is always to lower the standards to accomodate those who otherwise would not qualify just to achieve this 'diversity.' Perhaps they should begin restructuring early childhood education!

The exact same thing is happening for college to OCS (Officer Candidate School) recruitment too (Navy). I spent a 36 month tour as an officer recruiter. The minimum qualifying score on the OAR (Officer Apptitude Rating) test is a 40. However, seldom did one of my Caucasian prospects receive consideration unless he or she scored a minimum of 50 and had a 2.8 college GPA. Depending on the program, most required a 3.0 or above for serious consideration. The same standard was not used for minority prospects. Scoring a 40, assuming the prospect met all physical and mental eligibility requirements, meant guaranteed selection for all African-American and Hispanics. Additionally, the college GPA standard was lower (2.5). I actually had a lot of minority selections with a GPA of less than 2.5 (2.1 - 2.4) and OAR test of between 28 and 39. Any prospect that scored below a 40 was required a waiver, but that wasn't normally a problem for minorities.

I'm not sure how it works for enlisted recruiting, but I'd guess that it's much the same.

I recruited during the mid to late eighties. I guess there could have been some changes since then, but I doubt it. I have no problem with diversity, however, I do have a problem with giving folks an advantage based solely on skin color. With that said though, I do understand the military's position on this where officer recruiting is concerned. It's all about providing role models for the enlisted folks, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.