Cadets Say AFA More Tolerant

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Colorado Springs Gazette
January 5, 2007
Survey negative on discipline system, athlete privileges
By Tom Roeder, The Gazette
Cadets disliked an Air Force Academy discipline system that has since been jettisoned and believe religious tolerance is improving at the military school, a survey released Thursday shows.
But more cadets than in the past think athletes receive a free pass, the survey found.
Nearly two-thirds of cadets surveyed said the old discipline system that involved nonjudicial punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, was unevenly applied and 41 percent said it gave unfair breaks to athletes.
The system was replaced last summer, months after the October 2005 survey, with demerits. Leaders defended the old system, saying despite its bad reputation among cadets, it was applied fairly.
Col. Jeff Thompson, director of plans and programs at the academy, said leaders must ensure cadets think that discipline is fair.
“The perception was there,” Thompson said. “It’s our responsibility to address it.”
More than 1,400 of the school’s nearly 4,000 cadets responded. The survey predates the academy’s current leadership, including Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni, essentially leaving them responsible for solutions but not for the problems.
Academy leaders said a variety of issues, including the leadership change, led to the late release of the survey results.
Lt. Col. Vicki Rast, who oversees surveys for the academy, said results in most areas of the survey showed that things are getting better at the school. That includes the academy’s religious climate, which came under fire amid allegations that non-Christian cadets faced discrimination.
In the survey, 95 percent of Christians and 85 percent of non-Christians who responded said the academy supports religious freedom, a slight improvement from the 2004 survey, Rast said.
But leaders say they’re troubled that more than half the cadets think athletes get preferential treatment at the academy. Nearly two-thirds of non-athletes — a 10 percent increase from 2004 — said cadets involved in intercollegiate sports get special privileges, including a free pass on inspections and parade formations.
Thompson said academy bosses are addressing the problem by explaining to cadets that nobody gets special treatment and by continuing to ensure athletes meet the same standards as their classmates.
The survey, conducted online, also allowed cadets to comment on what they liked and disliked at the academy. Academics and leadership training got high marks, while cadets objected to being “treated like powerless children” and decried the “fighter pilot” atmosphere. The academy’s prior leaders were Lt. Gen. John Rosa and Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, both fighter pilots.
While Thompson said leaders will keep talking to cadets to gauge how things are going at the academy, the annual survey is being shelved this year. Regni has complained that cadets have been “over-surveyed” since 2003, when dozens of women reported their claims of sexual assault were mishandled and ignored.
Thompson said the cadet wing will be questioned about the school’s climate every other year.
RESULTS
Some results of the 2005 cadet survey of climate at the Air Force Academy:
RELIGION: 95 percent of Christians and 85 percent of non-Christians who responded said the academy supports religious freedom, a slight improvement over previous surveys.
SPORTS: 62 percent of non-athletes said their classmates on intercollegiate teams got better treatment.
SNITCHING: 51 percent of cadets said they would be ostracized for turning in a buddy who violated school regulations.
DISCIPLINE: 65 percent of cadets said a disciplinary system in use at the academy in 2005 was unfair. The system has been changed.
 
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