Woman Quits Annapolis Over ‘Assault’

A 19-year-old Encinitas woman has resigned as a second-year midshipman, sparking an inquiry into an alleged incident of harassment at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., in which the woman was handcuffed to a pipe above a urinal.

Gwen Dreyer tendered her resignation last week, citing “some very serious human relations problems” at the Naval Academy, which prepares professional officers in the naval service.

Dreyer--a third-generation midshipman at the academy--said she will now intern at General Dynamics in San Diego and pursue mechanical engineering studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The incident that sparked her resignation occurred in December when a snowball fight apparently got out of hand at a co-ed dormitory. Academy officials said that, after one of Dreyer’s snowballs hit a male midshipman in the face, he and another man forced Dreyer into a men’s restroom, where she was handcuffed to the pipe. She was taunted and photographed before her friends pleaded with the midshipmen to give up their keys to the handcuffs.

All the participants in the incident were clothed, and Dreyer was not physically hurt, academy officials said.

The snowball strike “certainly did not justify the action taken by the male members,” said Cmdr. Ed Kujat, an academy spokesman.

Dreyer’s stepmother, Carolyn Dreyer, told reporters:

“We still don’t believe that they understand that it (handcuffing) was in fact an assault--an assault. And it would have been treated that way in any other school, in any other situation.”

She declined further comment, and Gwen Dreyer could not be reached Monday.

The two male midshipmen were punished with demerits and a loss of vacation time by Rear Adm. Virgil Hill Jr., the academy’s superintendent. He called the incident “dehumanizing” and said the offending students “clearly went beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior.”

Hill said the punishments were among the more severe he has meted out during his tenure at the academy.

Kujat, an aide to Hill, said that, because of the incident, the academy will reconvene its Women Midshipmen Study Group to review recommendations made three years ago for better treatment of women at the academy. About 10% of the academy’s 4,500 students are female.

Kujat also said the academy’s Human Relations Council will be replaced with a review board in which officers--and not midshipmen--will first hear of discrimination complaints.

Kujat said the incident seemed to be more a spontaneous reaction to the snowball fight--an act of “oneupsmanship,” and not a premeditated form of hazing.

In her resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Capital, an Annapolis newspaper, Dreyer wrote:

“What disgusts me most about the Academy is to see people who once had tremendous drive and determination feel crushed and therefore satisfied with just getting by.

“I understand that steps are now being taken to correct some very serious human relations problems. However, after what I’ve been through and seen, not only because of what happened to me personally, I have decided to leave.”

Dreyer’s resignation letter also reportedly said that “a portion of the academy leadership has done me an injury” by its handling of the incident, and said she was further troubled that classmates taunted her for reporting it.