Harassment at Naval Academy

In response to “Southland Woman Tells of Her Annapolis Ordeal,” Part A, May 23:

I am outraged by the story of the female midshipman at the Naval Academy at Annapolis who was handcuffed to a urinal and taunted by her peers as they snapped pictures. Naval Academy administrators assigned demerits and loss of leave time to the perpetrators, while explaining the humiliation as “good-natured high jinks.” (On May 29 Naval Academy officials banned hazing or harassment of female midshipmen.) The young woman resigned her Naval commission.

This issue strikes at the heart of what it means to educate young men and women at our service academies to lead their country in the years ahead. These students are learning to work with the military and civilian sectors in many countries around the globe, and to negotiate with representatives of many cultures, some quite alien to their experience.

Yet, our service academies have a long tradition of administration-sanctioned hazing. I fail to understand how allowing students to abuse their classmates, or, conversely, the willingness to subject oneself to such sadism, develops teamwork, respect for diversity or healthy self-discipline. If this is the kind of treatment meted out to classmates by those future officers, one can guess what their treatment will be of women whom they perceive as “the enemy” in future conflicts.

Perhaps Navy officials can explain to the women of this country what they found so “good-natured” about this incident.

SHIRLEY FREDRICKS

Santa Monica