Opinion

Rape plagues Air Academy

Tom Carpenter
Opinion Columnist

It seems the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs no longer simply graduates officers and gentlemen, they also produce a staggering number of rapists ? an absolutely incredible number of rapists, if the statistics are remotely accurate. 

According to the Air Force Academy's official statistics, 99 rapes and sexual assaults were reported to academy officials in the past seven years ? and that only represents the tip of the iceberg, according to the seven women who agreed to speak to television reporters from the news show 20/20. 

The women said they know of many other assaults that went unreported because victims believed their careers would be ruined if the rapes were reported.

The Air Force Academy has become a bastion for sexual predators who demonstrate no fear of capture. These monsters parading as cadets are supposed to represent America's finest, the cream of the crop, not serial rapists.

One female cadet at the academy told the reporters that she knew of 20 assaults that occurred in one semester. What is going on at the academy, and who is in charge? Who's accountable?

If female students at UH reported 99 rapes and sexual assaults in the past seven years, President Arthur K. Smith's head would be on a platter, the campus police force would be fired and female students would leave the school by the thousands. UH would be bankrupted by the massive costs of litigation and settlement.

It seems the Air Force Academy doesn't play by the same set of rules as other colleges and universities.

Of the 99 reported rapes and sexual assaults in the past seven years, the academy's Office of Special Investigations pursued 20 of the cases. One case made it to a court martial, and that case ended in an acquittal.

Rape has become a time-honored tradition at the Air Force Academy, if the academy's efforts to end the horrendous acts are any measure.

How deplorable is the situation? According complaints filed by two female cadets who alleged they were raped by upperclassmen, those who reported being raped were given demerits for engaging in sex on the academy property. Now that's what I support for victims.

In 1993, more than 40 percent of the female cadets at the academy, 200 women, knew of another young woman who was raped or sexually assaulted on school grounds.

The academy issued reforms that year in an attempt to curb the astronomical number of sexual assaults taking place on the academy grounds, but the measures obviously didn't address the problem well enough.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper told Robert Weller of The Associated Press: "I'm not going to sit here and say that I am going to fire the current leadership out there. I don't think the problem started with the current generation of leadership."

I've got news for Jumper: Not only should he fire every officer in the chain of command at the academy, but he should also resign in disgrace. Any institution that allows wholesale rape to occur for years and does nothing about the crimes should be closely evaluated.

Congress has called for an independent inquiry into the allegations.

Too many people in powerful positions seem to believe that old country sage Clayton Williams, who once ran for governor of Texas and said during his campaign: "Rape is like the rain; if it's inevitable, kick back and enjoy it."

By that revolting logic, the female cadets at the Air Force Academy are having a great time.

Carpenter, a College of Education student, can be via dccampus@mail.uh.edu.