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Naval Academy gets mixed reviews on sexual abuse
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Related Topics: Annapolis
“This academy has been working hard on this issue,” said U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski during a recent meeting of the Board of Visitors, the federal oversight body of the academy.
The following Friday, the academy announced rape and indecent-assault charges against Midshipman 2nd Class Mark Calvanico and child pornography charges against Midshipman 1st Class Michael Pollard.
Mikulski, through a spokeswoman, said she would not comment on pending legal charges.
Two reports by the General Accountability Office and the Department of Defense issued during the past six months paint contrasting pictures of how the academy is handling sexual assaults.
The Defense Department report gave the academy praise for its efforts, while the GAO report was more critical and noted how reporting mechanisms between agencies and academies varied. The differing results are due to varying definitions used by government agencies, which is being addressed by the GAO, academy officials said.
Meanwhile, the varying reports could hamper the academy’s efforts to draw in female students, Mikulski said.
“Nothing is perfect at any institution,” she said.
“I think the academy has done an outstanding job despite the negative PR,” said Craig Duchossois, chairman of the Board of Visitors.
This year, the academy started a program to raise awareness of gender issues, deter sexual assaults and make midshipmen more comfortable in reporting abuses.
Navy doctor could get prison sentence cut
Former Navy Cmdr. Kevin Ronan may serve only half of his nearly four-year jail sentence for videotaping Naval Academy midshipmen having sex at his home.
“If he behaves himself and gets into no trouble, 22 of the 46 months of his confinement period will be suspended,” said Guy Schein, spokesman for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
Ronan was found guilty by a court-martial in November. But Vice Adm. Adam Robinson Jr., the Navy’s surgeon general and the officer convening the court-martial, has the final say in the verdict.
Midshipmen staying with Ronan at his Annapolis home in 2006 accused him of planting a hidden video camera and filming them having sex or masturbating.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
jflanagan@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
1:05 PM MST on Sun., Aug. 17, 2008 re: "Midshipmen parents say meal prayer OK at Naval Academy"
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Examiner Reader said:
I am an air combat veteran of the WW11 and Korean wars and I have learned that men die when they rely upon spiritual help, when they need to rely on real issues at hand. Keep our training to face real issues and keep divine intervention in non lethal areas.
3 agree | 1 disagree
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KLF said:
Our country was founded and deeply rooted on the principles of God Almighty. Why are so many people trying to remove God from the very fabric of which this country was founded? How can a person know his or her way without God providing a lamp to their and a light to their path. Prayer should most definitely stay!
3 agree | 4 disagree
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Indie said:
THERE'S NO ARGUMENT!!! PRAYER OUT OF GOV'T FUNDED SCHOOLS!!! IT'S OUR CONSTITUTION!!! The Academy will lose this suit and waste lots of money for violating the country's constitution. It's so simple!! Prayer out of schools and honor America's liberties and be thankful! There are plenty of opportunities to pray for the midshipmen without offending anyone and violating our constitution.... PERIOD
7 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Next they'll sue to sit during the National Anthem or Pledge of Allegiance, I suppose. Imagine that.
8 agree | 10 disagree
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Greg said:
The majority of so called Christians in this country don't even belong to a church, but they want the right to complain when someone wants to take God out of some saying or a public place. These same people don't have enough room in their Christain lives to make it to church on Sunday. Start making God a part of your life before condemning others for not making him part of theirs. I don't like the fact that I have to defend my religion (Catholic) from the attacks of modern society, however it makes me even madder when others who only beleive when it suits them, so they can raise cain over someone elses actions. Walk the walk if you are going to talk the talk.
12 agree | 6 disagree
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Rick, Nevada said:
Another example of the Jews hatred of White Christians. When they took over the Soviet Union they made Christianity illegal and that is what we are seeing right now.
5 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Being a former Marine I would have to say kick those idiots out of the academy. If your going to school for free you don't have the right to complain about how the school is run. If you don't like what the academy does, then go to a forign country and join their academy.
7 agree | 9 disagree
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11 said:
Ahh I ment Christians lol.
5 agree | 6 disagree
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11 said:
The ADL radicals continue their attack on Chritians in America. Why some Chritians support Israel or the ADL, I will never know. Its really has become time for us Christians to stop sideing with these hateful racist Jewish ADL types.
10 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Um, it's the Anti-Defamation League, not the Anti-Deformation League.
6 agree | 7 disagree
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Alexander--Vienna, VA said:
Being an Anglica-Christian who keeps his faith mainly to himself, I think those malcontent middies at the USN should not have taken their complaint to the most virulent and subversive Marxist organization on Earth! Instead, they should have gone directly to their brigade commanders or the Academy's superintendent. Who will the ACLU target next, the Army and Air Force Academies? Destroy the liberal left now before we lose our religious freedoms; irrespective of which ones Americans practice.
8 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
if you don't want to pray than sit there and be quiet. show some respect for others and thank God(even if you don't believe) you are in a country where you can choose. If you feign the action, how can the God you do not believe in punish you????
8 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The ACLU's involved. That means something unamerican is being pushed for. If these kids don't want to pray then they don't have to. If they don't like others praying then that's too bad for them. If they hate it that much they should leave the academy.
6 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
solid, but you shouldn't have got beat in your back yard by the New York Times on a Naval Academy story.
5 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I hate the race card that people pull every chance they get. If you can not pass the tests or just uneducated you need not apply to the Naval Academy. It's not about race because there are plenty of whites that can't make it either. Stop dumming down the U.S. because a handful of minoity's can't make the grade. I was in the Marine Corps and I knew plenty of minority's that went to the Naval Academy and excelled in everything they had done. Just because we have some uneducated minority's that don't mean they all are uneducated. Oh by the way I'm white and did not go to the Naval Academy.
8 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I think this article is completely wrong. The folks at the Naval Academy do an outstanding job at recruitment. The problem they face is competition with private and state universities that are all to happy to offer bright and talented minority youth an academic scholarship without the military service commitment.
12 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Maybe if they offer them double pay checks or give them automatic credit on courses they did not take will increase the minority. I thought we were pass this stuff but I guess not. The Academy has become a joke among colleges everywhere.
7 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Who cares if a minority can't get into the academy, how about just quilified people get in. Why does everything have to be black,white and hispanic? If you quilifiy than good on you, if your stupid than apply for community college. Stop wasting tax payers money on stupid stuff.
9 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
you mean the object to obeying orders from officers in command? prehaps they should review their oath. if not, try community college and the boy scouts.
55 agree | 62 disagree
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USNA Alum [Ancient Mariner] said:
Re: "Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars. Highly paid gov't PR stunt-men is all they are" I never ceases to amaze me how willing individuals who know nothing about a subject are so anxious to prove it !
90 agree | 75 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars. Highly paid gov't PR stunt-men is all they are.
135 agree | 137 disagree
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