Responding to a “disturbing and unacceptable” current rise in reported sexual assaults and sexual harassment on the nation’s main service academies, a brand new Pentagon report Thursday referred to as for stronger management, higher coaching and modifications to such conventional practices such because the hazing of incoming cadets and plebes.
The examine launched Thursday warns that the present system contributes to a poisonous atmosphere that may enhance the incidence of gender-related assault and different types of misconduct.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the examine earlier this 12 months after a survey confirmed a pointy rise in reported sexual assaults and sexual harassment through the 2021-2022 faculty 12 months on the West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
More current numbers “suggest that the occurrence of these crimes is trending upward,” Mr. Austin stated in a memo this week to senior army leaders. “This is disturbing and unacceptable [and] it endangers our teammates and degrades our readiness.”
In 2021, some 21% of girls and 4.4% of males stated that they had skilled “unwanted sexual contact” at a army service academy. The determine is far greater than the typical all through the Department of Defense: 8.4% for ladies and 1.5% for males, the researchers stated.
“The training environment and overall climate at the academies are undermining their ability to prevent harmful behavior,” Elizabeth Foster, govt director of the Pentagon’s Office of Force Resiliency stated Thursday. “Unless some of these more structural and foundational issues are addressed within the training environment, these problems are going to persist.”
Each of the service academies makes use of some type of a “4th-Class System” the place second or third-year cadets or midshipmen are the first trainers for the incoming freshmen, generally known as “new cadets” or plebes. But the Pentagon researchers stated the older college students don’t have the maturity or expertise to behave as appropriate mentors.
“The peer leadership structure is actually creating unhealthy power dynamics that lead to hazing that further exacerbates this risk,” stated Andra Tharp, senior prevention advisor for the Defense Department’s Office of Force Resiliency.
The service academies have plenty of packages designed to assist cadets and midshipmen, equivalent to in-house army, household life counselors and affinity teams. But they don’t essentially handle the underlying difficulty, Ms. Tharp stated.
“You can be doing a lot of good activities, but if they are implemented in unhealthy or toxic climates, it will degrade the effectiveness of those efforts,” she stated. “If they’re doing all these good things, why are the [sexual assault] rates increasing?”
Freshmen on the Air Force Academy aren’t even known as “cadets” and are routinely subjected to hazing from the older college students. While defenders of the standard method say the system helps create a category bond from shared adversity, that view isn’t shared by all, Ms. Tharp stated.
Many college students “carry these negative experiences and unhealthy norms about how you treat others through their time at the service academy and into the force,” she stated.
Midshipmen at Annapolis instructed the researchers they didn’t know what to do once they grew to become a peer chief. They handled the incoming freshmen the identical method that they had been handled throughout their plebe 12 months. Some West Point cadets who had expertise with the Army outdoors the service academy stated they would favor extra seasoned mentors somewhat than a cadet who could also be solely a 12 months or two older.
The active-duty army officers assigned to the person cadet or midshipmen models had been usually seen extra as disciplinarians somewhat than mentors, the Pentagon researchers stated.
“They didn’t know when or how to prioritize a cadet or midshipman’s well-being over discipline,” Ms. Tharp stated.
While the service academy peer techniques could have been efficient up to now, they’ve resulted in a local weather of cynicism and mistrust. The rise of social media, a brand new platform for bullying and harassment, has solely exacerbated the issue in some methods, the researchers stated.
The peer system “was driving the behavior of the cadets and midshipmen. It must be corrected,” Ms. Tharp stated.
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