Article One

COMMITTEE for
COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT

Who We Are

Articles

Articles: Military Service: Women

Coast Guard Academy Vows to Fight Attacks

Associated Press

July 14, 2006

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The first female commandant of cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy pledged a tough stance against campus sexual violence following a court-martial in which cadets testified that such issues were not taken seriously.
Such attacks are "just reprehensible and I do not want to graduate a cadet into the Coast Guard as a junior officer who is a perpetrator of sexual assault," Capt. Judith Keene said in an interview at her new office.

Keene, who was among the first women to graduate from the academy, takes over as the military equivalent of the dean of students at a tumultuous time. She replaces Capt. Douglas Wisniewski, who left for a position in Washington this year when his term as commandant expired.

A senior cadet was convicted of sexual assault and extortion last month in the school's first student court-martial. Witnesses discussed heavy drinking and carousing and a culture in which some female cadets were hesitant to come forward with assault allegations.

That case, along with a former cadet's allegations that the academy mishandled her assault claim and a mother's concerns that her daughter's rape allegation was not adequately addressed, led some in Congress to request a review of the school's policies.

Keene, who was named to the position before any of these issues surfaced, said that although the school's policies are solid, the academy needs to send a consistent message to cadets that sexual assault won't be tolerated.

"They'll not only be hearing it from me and my staff," she said. "I expect them to hear it in their classes. I expect them to hear it from their coaches. I expect them to hear it when they're down in medical."

She said her administration will work hard to be approachable for women who have been assaulted.

With about 950 cadets, the school is the smallest U.S. service academy. Women represent about 30 percent of cadets, compared with less than 20 percent at the Air Force and Naval Academies and about 15 percent at West Point.

This archive consists of a topically organized selection of articles culled by members of the Counter-Recruitment List Serve from printed publications and web sites. The archive is not complete. We have chosen material relevant to the work of Eugene, Oregon’s Committee for Countering Military Recruitment that we think may be of use to others individuals and groups with similar goals.

Because our web site is public, personal comments about the articles and (frequent) corrections of reporters’ errors are also not included. If an article interests you, we encourage you to return to the Counter-Recruitment List Serve and put the article’s headline into the search line, which should bring up (often wise and useful) commentary and corrections. If you do not belong to the List Serve, it can be found at counter-recruitment@yahoogroups.com

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the articles on this site are posted without profit to those who have expressed prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposed.