Surveys signaled academy’s problems
WASHINGTON (AP) – Air Force Academy cadets reported on annual surveys that they lost faith in the academy’s ability to handle rape and sexual assault cases. Many said they knew cadets who were assaulted, then punished for reporting it. Numerous cadets said they had friends who were raped, or they were assaulted themselves and were either not believed or blamed for the attacks.
“She was treated as an offender and not a victim,” the cadet wrote in the anonymous survey. “I lost complete faith in the system and felt scared for her safety as well as anyone else in that situation. It has a lot to do with the ADMINISTRATION getting in the way of treatment and justice, in my personal opinion.”
For five years, academy generals had access to the cadet surveys, in which dozens of cadets reported being sexually assaulted or raped, but generals ignored the warnings, said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. He called the oversight inexcusable.
“Each of these annual surveys going back to 1998 clearly indicates a pervasive problem with sexual assault at the academy,” Allard said.
Air Force Secretary James Roche said most of the surveys were not professionally conducted, were statistically inaccurate and, in some cases, contained contradictory information.
“You put it all together, but you still don’t know what you’ve got,” said Roche.
The Air Force and Defense Department are investigating the academy’s handling of 20 rape cases and 36 cases of sexual assault. Female cadets have complained that they were reprimanded or ostracized for reporting the attacks.
Last week, Roche announced the five top officers at the academy – including the superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Dallager, and its commandant, Brig. Gen. S. Taco Gilbert III – were being reassigned but defended their conduct, blaming the academy’s problems on a climate that existed before they took over.
Senators were angered by Roche’s explanation. On Tuesday, Roche said he would ask the Board of Visitors, the equivalent of the academy’s regents, which is meeting next month, to appoint an independent panel to investigate.
He also said the Air Force’s internal investigation would be expanded to look at whether Dallager, Gilbert or their immediate predecessors ignored warning signs or discouraged the reporting of attacks.
Roche said the surveys, which covered the period from 1998 to 2003, excluding 1999, didn’t give the commandant or superintendent a clear indication that there were problems.
The numbers of cadets who reported sexual assaults in the surveys ranged from 17 in 2000 – when few cadets took the survey – to 167 in 2001, when more than half the 4,000 cadets participated. In 2002, 80 cadets, 56 of them women, reported sexual assaults.
The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. John P. Jumper, said cadets were told they had to finish the online surveys before they could go on spring break, and many filled them out haphazardly.
This year, the statistical analysis was replaced with short-answer questions.
“I was rooming with a sexual assault victim at the time of an assault. The way she was treated by senior leadership at the Academy, specifically the Commandant, was appalling,” one cadet wrote.
At least one victim defended the academy’s programs, particularly the cadet-staffed counseling program, Cadets Advocating Sexual Integrity and Education.
“Although it seems the sexual integrity here at USAFA is not as good as it should be and there have been many complaints about how things are handled, I believe that USAFA has done its very best to treat victims to the best of their ability,” she said. “I am a victim of sexual assault and CASIE’s help was invaluable. … I thank all those involved.”
Rep. Heather Wilson, a 1980 graduate of the academy, praised many of the changes Roche announced last week. Others, she said, such as segregating incoming male and female cadets for orientation, could be counterproductive, and an independent review could help avoid mistakes.