Probe of Naval Academy Incident Urged

An Alabama senator called Thursday for a Pentagon investigation into the resignation of a woman U.S. Naval Academy midshipman who was handcuffed to a men’s room urinal and taunted by male classmates.

Gwen Marie Dreyer of Encinitas resigned from the Naval Academy last month after she became dissatisfied with the investigation of the Dec. 8 incident at the once all-male academy in Annapolis, Md.

Sen. Richard Shelby, D-Ala., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Navy Secretary Lawrence Garrett III, asking them to personally investigate the circumstances surrounding Dreyer’s resignation.

“Those responsible for the sexual harassment were only given demerits and a loss of leave time, while the victim has felt it necessary to resign from the Navy,” Shelby wrote.

“I have also been led to believe that the victim was intimidated by classmates who warned her not to testify at a disciplinary hearing,” he said.

Shelby said he found the incident “reprehensible,” and he urged the Pentagon officials to “make all efforts to determine whether there is an institutional bias against women in our military academies.”

“I hope that this is just an isolated incident, that it is not reflective of a deep-seated bias against women in our military,” he said.

Midshipmen 2nd Class John Hindinger and Tom Rosson were punished with demerits and loss of leave time as a result of the incident. Six other midshipmen received written warnings for lesser roles in the incident.

The academy ruled that the incident wasn’t premeditated and therefore could not be considered hazing, which can lead to dismissal.

Virgil L. Hill Jr., the academy superintendent, described the incident as “a good-natured exchange” that “got out of hand.” He said it escalated from a snowball fight that had taken place minutes before.

Dreyer was pulled from her dormitory room and dragged to the bathroom by male midshipmen. She was eventually freed from the urinal after her roommates shoved their way into the crowd and pleaded for the keys to the handcuffs.

About 10% of the 3,000 midshipmen at the academy are women.