On Diversity as Strength

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Reminder: LTC Heffington’s letter  and  Superintendent’s responses: The Academy leadership says, in response to LTC Heffington’s concerns about a degraded Academy, of the cadets: They are the most diverse group in the history of West Point and we are stronger for it. This is something of a non-sequitur to the issues of conduct and performance in … Read more

On Maintaining the Honor Code

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Reminder: LTC Heffington’s letter  and  LTG Caslen’s letter The Cadet Honor Code is one of the most cherished institutions at West Point. It states “A Cadet will not Lie, Cheat, Steal, or tolerate those who do.” Heffington states that The cadet honor code has become a laughingstock. Cadets know they will not be separated for violating … Read more

On Admissions Excellence

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Reminder: LTC Heffington’s letter  and  Supe’s letter LTC Heffington says that The Superintendent refuses to enforce admissions standards or the cadet Honor Code, while the Academy responds Our current Corps of Cadets is comprised of the finest young men and women we have ever gathered here at the Academy as evidenced by their performance in the … Read more

Corps Squad Athletes and Test Scores

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Reminder: LTC Heffington’s letter  and  LTG Caslen’s letters LTC Heffington made a specific, and fortunately for us, easily and empirically test-able claim that: Every fall, the Superintendent addresses the staff and faculty and lies. He repeatedly states that “We are going to have winning sports teams without compromising our standards,” and everyone in Robinson Auditorium knows … Read more

STAP Claim

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LTC Heffington claimed, as in the first post of this series, that STAP (Summer Term Academic Program) is also now an accepted summer detail assignment, so retaking a course during the summer translates into even more summer leave for the deficient cadet. This (“also now an accepted…”) implies that it has become commonplace where before … Read more

About the Data

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A few words about the data: We mentioned having the anonymized class profiles for the classes of 2000-2020. We obtained these through proper request channels to the US Military Academy, and received the files in Excel, one file per class, for each of classes 2000-2020.  The files had no explanation for an number of codes, … Read more

Why We’re Here

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In late 2017, LTC (USA, Ret) Robert Heffington, a former professor at the United States Military Academy, wrote an open letter to the Academy community. In it, and stating his loyalty to the ideals of West Point, he proceeded to air a number of grievances against what he perceived the Academy has become, (and partially … Read more