WASHINGTON — The leaders of the military’s service academies on Wednesday defended the value of diversity training and fostering inclusion among cadets, pushing back against Republican lawmakers seeking to end such practices.
The superintendents of the Military Academy, the Naval Academy and Air Force Academy said their diversity and inclusion efforts help build cohesive teams critical to national security and those efforts did not distract from war fighting, as some Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee have argued.
“We must embrace diversity as a strength,” said Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, superintendent of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. “Our cadets have to lead people who don’t look like them, who don’t think like them, who don’t talk like them but ultimately they have to build and lead teams with one common goal to defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Clark told lawmakers that cadets at the academy received 16 hours of diversity, equity and inclusion training across all four years of schooling, compared to more than 1,000 hours of warfighter training. But those numbers did not reassure Republicans who are concerned the military and service academies are overly consumed with pushing a “woke” agenda focused on liberal social justice policies.
“Much of diversity, equity and inclusivity training not only doesn’t work to decrease bias but is actually the weaponization of one ideological position: identify over all else,” said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., the chairman of the committee’s personnel panel.
Republicans have long attacked diversity initiatives in the military and vowed to undo them after taking control of the House this year. A defense policy bill passed last week with almost no Democratic support eliminates all diversity, equity and inclusion offices at the Defense Department and prevents the Pentagon from using affirmative action in admission to the academies.
The hearing on Wednesday follows a Supreme Court decision last month that struck down race-conscious admissions at all colleges and universities except the military academies "in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.”
The academy superintendents said they are still assessing the Supreme Court ruling but have never elevated an applicant due to their race or ethnicity. They said the academies “look at the whole person” when evaluating applicants, including objective criteria such class rank and academic achievement and subjective factors such as an applicant’s personal background.
Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland, superintendent at the Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., said the academy has class composition goals based on the composition of the Army officer corps but “if we don’t meet those goals, then we don’t meet them.” Clark said the Air Force Academy has application goals based on the demographics of the Air Force.
“We look at the nation’s demographics so we can ensure we reach every community,” Clark said.
Vice Adm. Sean Buck, superintendent of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., said he felt “we’d be missing something” if the academy solely considered objective factors such as a grade point average or test scores. An applicant who had to overcome adversity, for example, demonstrates a sense of resiliency that is desirable in the Navy or Marine Corps, he said.
Republican lawmakers said they worried the Supreme Court ruling, along with Democratic policies, would help perpetuate racial divisions at the academies and provide unfair advantages.
“We want equal opportunity for every single American to serve,” said Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla. “The concern of this committee is we have political pressure to tip the scales from a meritocracy in any way, shape or form [to] some ethnic or race factor.”
Democratic lawmakers challenged that view, insisting diversity classes and programs to increase minority enrollment in the services were important and necessary.
The Air Force Academy class of 2027 is only 4% Black, said Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., so “you can’t tell me that our military or service academies spend too much time and too much money or attention on diversity.”
