Annapolis Professor: US Naval Academy Affirmative Action Scandal

Building the football program takes precedence over building leaders for our military:

Professor Bruce Fleming is not your typical US Naval Academy (USNA) Professor.  He teaches English and he also happens to be a liberal.  I’ve written favorably in my books about his work because he also happens to believe in speaking the truth.  And by speaking the truth about the dirty secrets of affirmative action at the Naval Academy,  he has set off a fire storm.

Fleming wrote a piece last year exposing the fact that the USNA had a “two-tiered” system of admission that was designed to bring more minorities into the academy. (Since access to the full article has expired, reporting on the article is available here.) And he began speaking to academy alumni about the lower standards.  ”We’ll do anything to get non-white students,” he said,  in order to appear more diverse and improve the football team.  According to Fleming, the admissions system is two-tiered because  minority candidates have lower test scores and grades than their counterparts. In short,  Fleming says that the Academy is rejecting better qualified white applicants to admit minority candidates with less impressive credentials.  The USNA has been very aggressive on the affirmative action front in recent years.  In 2009, Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, went so far as to say that  “diversity is the No. 1 priority” at the academy. (Gee, I guess training warriors and officers is now #2).

 But Fleming,  who has served on the academy’s admissions board,  goes even further.   While white applicants are required to secure a nomination by a member of congress or other federal official,  minority candidates are sometimes given what he calls “a pro forma nomination to make it legit.

for full article: http://bigpeace.com/pschweizer/2011/01/27/affirmative-action-scandal-rocks-naval-academy-students-disillusioned-at-lower-admissions-standards-easier-coursework-for-minorities/

Obama addresses the US Naval Academy Graduates as 4th Generation McCain Graduates

     Sen. John McCain quipped to Greta Van Susterenn that his son would be graduating from the United States Naval Academy today, with a higher class ranking than the Senator did. With a father’s pride, he said it would be the 4th generation of McCain’s to graduate from the Academy, and that his son would be going on to pilot training. Obama and John “Jack” McCain IV shook hands, exchanged a brief embrace and a few words as McCain received his diploma.

      Bittersweet the occasion must have been for Senator McCain, as President Barack Obama addressed the USNA Class of 2009. In his remarks, Obama acknowledged the hard work and commitment of the cadets, and their commitment to our great country. He then promised them that he would not “send them to war without cause”. Even in a commencement address, he continues to take jabs at Pres. Bush, insinuating that Pres. Bush had sent soldiers to Iraq without cause, without justification.

     On a personal note, while I did not attend the Naval Academy, I do know several who have, and I have had the opportunity to be on the campus in Annapolis. From the moment you enter the grounds, the sense of tradition, of honor, of country is evident. It cannot be escaped. As I am sure it is at West Point, or at the Air Force or Coast Guard Academies, each cadet carries with them their duties with honor and commitment.

      I say all of that because a remark like “I will not send you to war without a cause” can almost be deemed as insulting to these brave young men and women. They will leave the Chesapeake Bay area, and will be sent around the world, to other learning facilities, to command posts, some to battle in Afghanistan or to our fleet in the Indian Ocean. They will take their orders, and defend our Constitution. Our Constitution that Obama is wrapping himself in, while at the same time trying to rewrite it.

      So to all of the graduates at the Naval Academy, our Nation thanks you for your service, as we do to all of our Armed Forces, and we thank these cadets for bearing with the insults of their Commander-in-Chief, because he just does not quite get it yet!

Story at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_naval_academy