Reply #2: It's not all the cadets, but the few bad apples .... [View All]

[MissMarple]

I think we expect no rapes, drunkeness, or abusive behavior from our academies. Given the high standards and the way most of the cadets enter the academies (through senatorial recommendations), I think the incidence should be much less than our "elite" universities like Yale and Harvard, etc.. While statistically that may be the case, what happened at the Air Force Academy is still inexcusable. It lays a shadow on the character of every graduate since women were admitted to the academy.

There had to be a climate demanding compliance from all the cadets, men as well as women. Personally, I don't think the intimidation and violence was directed just towards women. Part of the problem was having the foxes in charge of the henhouse. Senior cadets should not have been given authority over the younger cadets. Adults, officers or otherwise should be in the dorms at all times. A retired marine friend of mine was shocked that the older (not wiser) cadets hold such power over the junior ones.

Supervision is key. I was a personel assistant(resident assistant) in a college dorm my senior year when only seniors could have front door keys, and curfew was enforced, rooms could be checked by the head resident, and it was very difficult to have the conditions that exist in today's coed dorms. Because of the openess, it was hard to do surreptitious things. It was even difficult to bully anyone. And since the PA's weren't of the military persuasion, and more the motherly, responsible type, that eliminated a lot of problems. This obviously was not going on at the academy.

Hopefully, they will get this straightended out.

And, I am not recommending a return to the dorms of the 50' and 60's, except, perhaps, as one of the choices available to incoming students.