* This opinion piece was submitted to MLAA by the author, a member of the Kings Point Community *
Last week a letter signed by a number of current USMMA midshipman opposing the current “Sea Year pause” circulated around the Kings Point campus and throughout the maritime industry. In contrast to the opinions of midshipmen at USMMA who wrote and signed that letter, I have to state that the USMMA is a troubled institution that faces many challenges in the twenty-first century.
As someone in a position to know, I can say there is indeed a toxic culture at USMMA. To be sure, it has improved, but one need not work very hard to establish prevalent attitudes of racism, sexism, and homophobia in the student body. Furthermore, unenlightened attitudes regarding equity and inclusion prevail even in the faculty. Midshipman X’s letter of September 27 has established that the Academy has not addressed SASH issues adequately. It is disappointing that midshipmen have subordinated the health and well-being of their peers to their career goals. In this regard, they mirror the troubling trend in the maritime industry and even at the state maritime academies to sweep SASH allegations under the rug.
USMMA remains a backward-looking institution that struggles to make itself relevant in the twenty-first century. Repeated reports have pointed out its shortcomings, including crumbling infrastructure, alarming accreditation reports that point to curricular deficiencies, and a steady flow of IG reports indicating poor management practices. A simple statistic underscores these troubles: In the last twenty years, all five Superintendents have left involuntarily, including Admiral Buono, if I read the Congressional letter of October 29 correctly.
The problem may be in the structure of the institution. Retired military officers or industry leaders simply do not possess the skill sets to administer an institution of higher learning. Admiral Buono wears his uniform well, and he certainly cares for the institution and its midshipmen. However, as Midshipman X revealed, Buono’s values are those of the last millenia.
Buono is not the source of the problems; he is merely a symptom of a greater institutional malaise. Based on conversations with USMMA faculty and staff, there seem to be questions regarding progress in modernizing campus facilities and addressing accreditation concerns. Furthermore, the website gCaptain noted that USMMA received Middle States accreditation in 2017 only after a warning that identified combatting sexual harassment and assault, particularly during Sea Year, as a major concern. This Middle States report can be found here.
In sum, Sea Year and SASH is not the only problem at Kings Point. The institution is crying for reform, which can only come from Congress due to its status as a federal academy. In many ways, USMMA is an admirable institution, and my sincere hope is that Congress can correct its several shortcomings to secure its future in the twenty-first century.
—Call Me “Ishmael”
6 Comments
Ishmael
I read your Op-Ed with interest. I will offer the following:
1) The curriculum at USMMA needs the refresh. Forcing students to cram a four year baccalaureate degree into three years is a recipe for too much stress, poor knowledge retention, and a poor academic variety that hinders a midshipman’s ability to grow and understand societal challenges and norms. This is not unique to Kingspoint. Every State Academy deals with the same challenges of STCW requirements. Kings point is far worse due to the Sea year component of the program. The State academies get a little more breathing room due to the schoolship sea day credits.
2) The crowded curriculum creates a narrow minded graduate. Before every alumni gets insulted… I challenge you to look in the mirror and see a broadly educated individual who has been exposed to a wide concepts other than those tangentially associated with the maritime industry!
3) All other Service Academies have broader curriculum driven by the needs of their services. They recognized long ago, leadership requires more than understanding rules of the road or med speed diesels. If we want to build leaders we need to rethink how we train them. To build that capacity we need to rethink the program in totality.
4) I think it’s a difficult task for those in the middle of a bad situation to really understand the root cause of the issues. Just like it’s not easy for a person that has a substance abuse issue to solve their addiction. It usually requires an intervention!! Then it requires a support network to prevent relapse. So maybe having some independent experts take a fresh look at the whole ecosystem with an eye towards building better leaders ( an intervention) is needed. Then we all need to realize our biases and past shared experiences prevent us from having an objective viewpoint. Let’s all take a pause and summon the courage to honestly look internally. That introspection may reveal our system is hopelessly broken and desperately in need of reform.
I am sure I will be roundly criticized but so be it. I have taken that hard look in the mirror and after much soul searching it pains me to say, we could all been better formed and prepared for the future with fundamental changes to or school. We should not be most proud of our shared misery at KP. That may feed the macho persona we all develop. Maybe just maybe that is a major part of our problem. I hope we have the courage to remove our institutional blinders and see there may be a better way to form the industry’s future leaders..
I am absolutely with James here. Educational reform is essential.
As a public university college student, I’ve found my general education classes so be the most valuable of my college courses. I do not know who I would be today had I not been given the opportunity/required to take the classes I did. There are so many amazing general education classes to be taken I can’t even begin to imagine how someone WOULDN’T want to indulge in this opportunity to become a critical thinker in history, culture, philosophy, psychology, communications… I could go on. These classes have expanded my world view tremendously. A key factor in my ability to be an active introspective participant in my own life. I believe it is a disservice to these young men and women to send them out to be leaders without this enriching foundation.
To say these education requirements are a liberal saturated waste of time shows the lack of competency and understanding of what these courses really are. It’s academic research, it’s you and your peers having critical conversations about where our world is headed. To one who might say, "but that’s not what I’m doing", I’d say, "no, it’s what we are all doing. Every single one of us, every day."
I know a handful of former Kings Pointers. Kind young men, but there are gaps in awareness (blind spots you could say) that could be easily filled by a mere few general education classes. I almost even hesitate to say what I have just said because it could come across as condescending to the former and current USMMA male students. As a female, you are trained from a young age to never ever make men feel uncomfortable. If you have to though, it’s essential to be as gentle as possible. So let me just say, so many of ya’ll pride yourself on being macho yet, you should be macho enough to think about the women in your life, then look in the mirror as James said and ask yourself, "have I been coddled by the women in my life? Have I been shielded from a lot of what truly happens around me?"
I see all the sexism, racism, homophobia… among specifically male students as ultimately just and outcry of pain from being in a world in which men are conditioned by our society from to fit themselves in restrictive boxes. That is valid, immense pain, but the acting out from that pain is hurting people. Academics is a portal through with young man gain access to the permission to let themselves be freed from their cages.
Sexism is a renown problem at the Academy – not just amongst the regiment, but it is a tremendous problem amongst faculty and staff. Perhaps it would be wise for the institution to be a better example to the regiment. The institution continues to penalize whistleblowers by sidelining them or passing them up for promotions. Why does the Maritime Administration continue to allow this? How much longer can this institution survive with these antiquated values? How many more do overs does the Academy get?
Having read many of the posts to this site all I can say is "Cry me a river"!!! What a bunch of crybabies and wimps! Apparently USMMA doesn’t fulfill all the wishes of these "beautiful dreamers" who envision a world of "gentlemen" seafarers and perpetually smooth seas! Perhaps they should have done more research into the maritime industry prior to entering it. I thoroughly researched the field before entering it and became well aware of the good and the bad. In high school I read plenty maritime related materials, both factual and some historic novels. I am willing to bet that many of these "posters" never read "Two years before the Mast", "Captains Courageous" the Nordhoff & Hall Trilogy and especially "The Sea Wolf" by Jack London. I was well aware that times have changed since the writing of these books but guess what, the nature of the men drawn to this livelihood has changed very little! Testosterone is indifferent to feminist wishes. Having obtained this knowledge I realized the seagoing life would be a refining furnace for me and I was confident I would pass through it and come out a stronger, confident man as a result. I did not expect the environment to change to accommodate my sensibilities. I steeled myself to overcome the drawbacks of the environment but also to enjoy the rewards of a sailing life. To "expertly" prepare me for this adventure I had the blessing of attending USMMA. Looking back, I appreciate the demands of the paramilitary environment that made me more self-reliant and mature. The academics were spot on as far as developing my skills to become a marine engineer as stated in the Academy mission. Thank God for my sea year experience! My initiation into the "real world" as a 19 year young man with the preparation King’s Point gave me was incredible. I was able to handily deal with "the good, the bad and the ugly" in ALL aspects. Thanks to KP, I came through it unscathed and was more than able to accomplish my Sea Project as expected. The KP experience allowed me to accomplish my Chief Engineer Steam and Motor Any Horsepower license and after 10 years of sailing experience I entered and excelled in the power generation industry becoming the manager of several plants in the then ground breaking field of cogeneration. Regarding the issue of "sexism" at the Academy, I had the opportunity to see the historic admission of women as I was a member of the class of 1978. I believe in the simple mantra of "God made men to do the things a woman can’t do and women to do the things a man can’t do". In a nutshell, I saw the bending of requirements and standards (that I thought were inviolable) to accommodate the females. When I sailed for an oil transport company, I sailed with female KP grads and witnessed their shortcomings firsthand. I was especially perturbed when I was ordered to do the work of the third engineer ( I was the second) because she was physically incapable of accomplishing her tasks. Sorry but I am not in with the politically correct crowd that is always cheering and crowing over every single accomplishment of a female mariner. Now they are crying to Big Brother to please remove all threats from their environment. Just what the merchant marine needs, federal police aboard all ships ala flight marshals aboard airplanes. I could go on and on but I have said a lot already. Lastly I will offer this solution to the shipping companies: to eliminate the sexism issues, why not take a page from US Navy experience and set aside one or more ships crewed with an all female staff from captain down to the wiper. I would love to see how it turns out!
My Fellow KP alumnus
I read your post and it is obvious you feel strongly about Women Mariners and their role in our ecosystem. I will fully respect your point of view and not provide any commentary in rebuttal. Others may not be as respectful, so I would brace for some negative feedback.
I will only say your point of view clearly supports the need for more reforms to eliminate any gender biases that are overt or implicit in our industry and in our alumni base, and current kids. It’s not a good look in 2021 for anyone to suggest women are inferior or unable to equally perform in our industry. Too often we get hung up on decades of our proud traditions at KP and lose sight of the perpetuation of the most vile and insulting biases. Your post was meant to rally alumni to the Battle standard and support of our alma mater. For me your post was the most damning piece of evidence so far that KP is in need of serious and transformational change.
Please don’t take this personally. Again not trying to attack you or your views. But you may not want to say those thoughts out loud, never mind commit them to writing on a blog being read by the politicians with oversight of the academy. It’s not very helpful.
KP Stakeholders,
I think there are larger questions to be answered regarding KP, the foremost being "Why?" Why should the US taxpayer continue to fund a broken down campus, from all reports a poor education, and a dangerous Sea Year requirement, all for the benefit of civil maritime industry? Why not turn that money into an ROTC style program at any of a number of high quality state institutes? Is this good money after bad to continue a problematic program? For all who rail against government programs that will not die long after their usefulness and relevance have passed, I give you exhibit A.
I do feel for the female midshipmen and can’t help but think the crew on those ships see a female middie on a Sea Year assignment as "fresh meat". Since there is no ready method to take action against mariners and a multi-billion dollar company and industry to protect the predators, all of those young people are at risk – this is a broken organization with no real way to protect the students. Perhaps more aggressive self-defense classes and the issuance of tasers would help. I am curious about the experiences of female graduates on those same ships though. Do they have similar stories? What keeps them safe?
Besides the tradition of singing sea shanties and getting big tattoos, can anyone please describe the ROI and risk/reward of KP? If not then DOT should close the place down, finally.