Fighting Sexual Harassment

Throughout last school year, Harvard’s administrators responded to student protests, lawsuits and Faculty outrage against the school’s protocol for dealing with sexual assault allegations. Within one year of the 200-person Coalition Against Sexual Violence rally on University Hall, a student-faculty investigative panel was recommending sweeping reforms of Harvard’s education and outreach programs. Although Harvard’s effort to deal with sexual assault still needs further support, its efforts seem magnanimous compared to the ignoble and deplorable attempt to cover up and discount sexual assault allegations at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) over the last 10 years—as described in the report of their investigatory panel that was released earlier this week.

The report, which represented the first independent accounting of the pattern of sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy, uncovered a harrowing and grisly reality. “Sexual assault is a part of life at the Academy”—more than 140 allegations of sexual assaults were made at the school from 1993 to 2003. While this statistic is harrowing in and of itself, the further finding by the Department of Defense’s Inspector General that “80.8 percent of the females who said they have been victims of sexual assault did not report the incident” reminds us that the massive underreporting of this issue is still a very real and noxious problem.

In a direct rebuke of the USAFA’s internal inspection, which publicly announced that there was “no systemic acceptance of sexual assault at the Academy,” the independent panel charged that this was merely another attempt to protect Air Force officials when there was a clear, long-standing problem that needed aggressive attention. The report rightly criticized the despicable record that has been ignored by Academy officials. The leadership at the Academy has yet to offer lasting plans to improve the campus environment that is tolerant of these transgressions.

In addition to addressing the inordinate amount of sexual assault cases, the report attacked Air Force officials for propagating a “gender climate” where one in five male cadets don’t believe women belong at the Academy, according to a survey of students. As women comprise a considerable portion of our military—approximately one-fifth—the idea that their male comrades resent their enrollment is appalling.

An institution that invokes an image of discipline and integrity, the USAFA must seize this opportunity to take a firm stance against sexual assault as well as take a serious look at ways to improve acceptance of women on campus. Administrators should be encouraging victims of assault to come forward, rather than encouraging silence in an effort to shield the Academy from reproach or embarrassment. Investigations of assaults must be thorough; accountability and harsh discipline must be at the helm of their policy; and guilty students should be removed from the Academy. Furthermore, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld should take a stand now against sexual assault in the armed forces. The report’s numbers are unabiguous; Rumsfeld’s silence so far is unacceptable.

In the interim, while campus officials strive to ameliorate the system, victims of sexual assault should be strongly urged to report to external authorities—such as the police or District Attorney. This is their only recourse, as they reside in an institution that is more interested in avoiding accountability than in ensuring their well-being.