It’s no secret the Biden presidency has “reimagined” the U. S. government into a remaining- aircraft social experiment. From employing enlisted drag queens to boost recruitment to using taxpayer funds to host LGBT “pride” events on military installations, America’s supreme fighting force has prioritized promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion ( DEI ) racism over addressing the biggest challenges hampering U. S. military readiness.
A recently published book reveals how the government’s services academies are also infected by this leftist ideology. In Saving Our Service Academies: My Battle with, and for, the US Naval Academy to Make Thinking Soldiers, author and professor Bruce Fleming records the spread of DEI throughout the U. S. Naval Academy ( USNA ) and shows how the university’s doughnut- cutting government is crippling liberty among the university’s midshipmen.
Fleming spent more than 30 years teaching at the establishment, where he previously served on the USNA Admissions Board, which evaluates candidates and decides which are finally accepted into the organization. He allegedly discovered while he was a member of the board that the academy, like many civilian colleges, takes into account race applicants throughout the application process and accepts non-white applicants who do n’t meet the school’s academic standards. Despite widespread allegations, a majority Navy commander was notified of the committee’s briefing that” a] pplicants who self-identified as members of a civilization the Academy wished to pleasure.”
” The decisions are easy. You accept lower scores and quit talking about your requirements if you want individuals who appear certain ways but typically perform worse than others. Or you choose a school that you meet these requirements and stop criticizing their appearance, Fleming writes. The Naval Academy” tries to circle the group by allowing the majority of its class to adopt lower criteria while also bragging about its norms.”
Next month, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6- 3 determination that the use of competition- based admissions, or “affirmative actions”, by institutions of higher education is illegal. That choice did not, however, tackle the use of such laws by U. S. military schools. In September and October, students for good enrollment filed complaints against West Point and the Naval Academy for their race-based admissions policies, respectively. The plaintiff in the preceding SCOTUS decision is Students for Fair Admissions.
Fleming adds that students who speak out against the school’s DEI-focused promotion system are punished because of the USNA’s obsession with race throughout his book.
According to Fleming,” What I saw at Annapolis was that nonracist white midshipmen became resentful once they realized that leadership positions were given to less competent midshipmen based on skin color, and that they themselves were punished for not being with the program, which heightened their resentment,” according to Fleming. By favoring a less qualified individual with the desired skin color, it is true that” all promotions or preferences are individual, and broadly reflective diversity” is purchased at the individual level. If they are equally competent or more competent, the problem disappears”.
” The military shows all the problems of any top- down totalitarian state, and its members can be court- martialed for resisting”, he adds.
Fleming frequently questioned the decision-making of the academy throughout his career and wrote several opinion pieces criticizing its shortcomings. For instance, he wrote an article for The Federalist in 2017 blaming “upper-class students at service academies have lost faith in the system, because it’s based on lies.” According to Fleming,” students realize they are cast members in a military Disneyland run for the benefit of the brass and the tourists, not the taxpayers who pay their way and want better-than-average officers.”
Fleming’s public criticisms generated ire from the academy’s bureaucratic leadership. He was fired from the institution in 2018 after five students filed allegations of classroom mismanagement. The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, which in July 2019 ordered Fleming’s reinstatement to the academy, effectively refuted the allegations and filed an appeal.
Judge Mark Syska ruled in his case that the midshipman who “filed the longest complaint” had” credibility issues” and that his complaint was “greatly exaggerated — to the point where it is difficult to credit on certain points,” according to the Navy Times. Additionally, Syska added that” the students who filed the complaints did not generally take offense or have any actual issue with the appellant.”
” Moreover, much of the charged conduct, as noted by the investigating panel, did not appear to be actual misconduct in the context of free- wheeling classroom discussions”, Syska wrote.
Fleming has not been permitted to return to the classroom, despite being ultimately reinstated by the academy. The school has placed him on a “forced sabbatical”, according to the “Eyes on Annapolis” podcast, which interviewed Fleming in February.
In concluding his book, Fleming calls on military institutions such as the USNA and West Point to” ]d ] ial back the hype” and” stop lying about what]they ] are”. He specifically demands that these universities stop spreading lies about their biases regarding student selection and “quality of the students” while maintaining the impression that they are enduring institutions deserving of praise and adoration.
Our service academies are “beautiful places and, under these circumstances, duty, honor, and country could once again be primary. Sadly, in places like Annapolis as they currently exist, they no longer are”, Fleming writes. ” I want them back”.
The Federalist staff writer Shawn Fleetwood graduated from the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
