Academies taking attitude surveys

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 20, 2004 | by PAM ZUBECK THE GAZETTE

[CORRECTION: The latest survey of Air Force, Army and Navy academies by the Defense Department isn't the first to seek the pulse on issues at all academies. In 1993, the General Accounting Office surveyed students about treatment of women and minorities. In 1994 and 1995, the GAO polled students about sexual harassment. Correction ran 4/21/2004.]

Students at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies began filling out identical attitude surveys Monday for the first time in history.

This will allow the academies to compare perceptions about how they treat women and about other issues.

The surveys are mandated under a federal law proposed by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and enacted last year by Congress during the Air Force Academy's sex-assault scandal.

"We're glad the process is moving forward, as was envisioned," said Allard spokeswoman Angela de Rocha.

Allard also congratulated defense officials for following up on "this important investigation."

Allard's office received complaints from about 60 women who said the academy ignored their sex-assault reports and punished them for coming forward.

The survey will gauge the academies' atmosphere for women, check attitudes about sexual assault and harassment, and get feedback on "values," a Pentagon official said.

The Defense Department wrote the survey and is administering and tabulating it.

Air Force Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said, "It will give us, for the first time, hopefully, some valid statistical data we can compare among the three schools. This also will give us another data point...to see the progress we're making."

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy at Annapolis and the Air Force Academy -- all under the Defense Department -- are included.

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy, which reports to the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, under the Transportation Department, aren't included in the congressional mandate.

Whitaker said female cadets, who make up about 17 percent of the about 4,000-cadet wing, will be surveyed along with about 1,100 male cadets chosen randomly. Only some males were surveyed "to conserve resources and reduce disruption at the academy," a defense official said.

Those involved will be given access codes, allowing each to fill out one survey online this week and next.

Results, due in late summer, will go to the academies' boards of visitors, Congress and the service secretaries.

Findings will allow the Air Force Academy to chart its progress in altering a climate that previous polls have said was hostile to women.

The Defense Department Inspector General's Office surveyed Air Force Academy female cadets last May and found 18 percent were assaulted while at the academy, but only one in five reported it.

Although the survey doesn't pose the same questions, it is similar and will allow comparisons to be made, the defense official said.

The Defense survey is different from the academy's cadet survey given last August, which found one in five male cadets -- all born well after the academy began accepting females in 1976 -- thought women don't belong at the school.

Although the academy had surveyed cadets on sexual assault and harassment issues, some academy officials deemed the polls invalid because phony answers were being given. As a result, results weren't always reported to top officers.

A congressional panel that examined the scandal last year disputed a contention that past surveys were invalid and accused Dean of Faculty Brig. Gen. David Wagie of "mission failure." The panel noted he oversaw the surveys, which the panel showed a hostile environment for women.

The Army and naval academies could not be reached for comment.

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