AFA ethics need repair, study says

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 12, 2005 | by PAM ZUBECK THE GAZETTE

The Air Force Academy faces an ethics crisis and its character development programs should be overhauled before a new scandal emerges, a study paid for by the academy concludes.

Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute of Ethics recommends that Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Rosa Jr. decide quickly what programs to adopt and install them before the freshman class arrives in June.

Rosa, briefed on the findings in December, told the academy Board of Visitors in Washington, D.C., on Friday that he's seen improve- ments in the culture.

"We've made progress. You can see it in how they look, act and treat each other," he told the board that oversees the academy and reports to the president.

The academy's character development leadership will "go line by line (through the study) and assess what it says and what it means to us" starting Monday, academy spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox said Friday. They then will determine "where we need to go next."

The $82,000 review, conducted in September and October, was ordered as "part of the culture (problems) we're studying and dealing with," he said.

The institute concluded that cadets don't take the honor code seriously, are cynical about the value of ethics, lack a realistic grasp of what's expected of them and break rules so often that another scandal is waiting to happen.

The honor code calls for cadets not to lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those who do.

The Jan. 20 report said prohibited conduct -- academic cheating, intoxication on and off academy grounds, leaving the academy without permission and sex in dormitories -- occurs "with enough frequency and impunity to indicate a serious likelihood that future incidents will subject the (academy) to public embarrassment and criticism."

The institute recently applied for another academy contract, this one to assess religious bias and develop guidelines for religious expression.

Its character development review calling the academy's ethics training fragmented and inconsistent, with too much emphasis on honor code technicalities and procedure.

Many cadets, the study found, have a "gamesmanship" mentality toward values training and are surprised or resent how the academy's rules differ from a traditional college's. That cynicism stems from confusion over honorcode violations evoking more severe discipline than conduct infractions.

Although expulsion is expected for those breaking the honor code, only 18 percent of violators in 2002-03 and 20 percent last year were booted.

While the number of discipline cases rose from 155 in 2002-03 to 184 last year, the cases in which cadets were found guilty of violations fell from 48 percent to 36 percent last year.

The study said the academy puts too much emphasis on what cadets are not to do, in sexual misconduct training, for example, that it "tends to diminish rather than enhance the grandeur of the honor code and the Air Force values."

The institute identified three potential problem areas: alcohol abuse, sex in dorms and leaving academy grounds without permission.

"In many cases, the use of alcohol was talked about as a 'necessity' given the pressures of academy life," the study said, and substance abuse courses condemn underage drinking largely on legal grounds and lack warnings of the dangers and downsides of "adult" drinking.

Many cadets reported getting drunk off academy grounds, which the institute said creates risks that cadets will make bad judgments.

"If an (off grounds) cadet gets in trouble while drunk, the negative fallout to the academy is likely to be severe," the study said.

The study sets out 15 recommendations, among them revamping basic training, creating a list of core values, assuring cadets know what's expected before they enroll, developing a tool to measure character training impact and integrating character training in all aspects of cadet life.

Intense scrutiny of the academy began in 2003 when dozens of women alleged that it mishandled sexual assault cases. Air Force officials found the scandal was a symptom of issues that span honor, respect and loyalty to the Air Force.