You’re Fired!

More than 70 cadets were accused of cheating on a math exam in the largest cheating scandal to roil the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in nearly half a century.

Fifty Nine cadets have already admitted to cheating on the remotely administered calculus final exam. Most of them were immediately enrolled in a rehabilitation program and will be on probation for the remainder of their time at the academy. Some cadets have already resigned, while others face hearings that could result in expulsion.

I am a junior now, but when I was applying for High School at the Delaware Military Academy, the admission process included an interview. I remember one conversation from that interview in particular. The School required all students to wear the School uniform, which looks a lot like the actual U.S. military personnel uniform but with no stripes. If I were to don their school uniform and go off-school premises, the average person might identify me as someone who serves in the military. I was advised that as my actions in that uniform would reflect the character of the American Armed Forces, I would be expected to conduct myself in a manner that reflected the honor of the men and women who serve in the military.

Now, that was just for High School. What about West Point - America’s oldest and premier military academy whose notable graduates have included American Presidents, heads of state, astronauts, Medal of Honor recipients, and Rhodes Scholars.

The words, “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do” are ingrained as the very cornerstone of West Point Academy. Cadets are expected to live by these very same words, that they have admitted to violating in such an egregious manner. In doing so, they have desecrated what West Point stands for.

While I understand why some are only "disappointed" in the cadets for cheating as it could simply be attributed to "remote learning", they forget that this is not about "remote learning"; it is instead about a "lapse in judgment" at an institute that prides itself for just that. This is about what is right, and what is clearly not - not at West Point. If these cadets lacked the integrity to not cheat on a mere calculus exam, how can we expect them to act with integrity in a life and death situation? Will they be willing to sell their comrades off for their lives, or a mere ration of food? The rehabilitation program may help align the identified cadets' priorities appropriately, but does this set the wrong precedent wherein such grave mistakes are forgotten after a rap on the knuckles and such behavior becomes "acceptable", something you can get away with, with only mild and temporary consequences? And if acceptable at West Point, why hold the students at the Naval Academy, Annapolis to any higher standard, where "inconsistencies" have been identified in their Physics exam. A Google search for the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs also springs up several scandals around cheating, assault and hazing.

Is it time to revise these institutions' goals and the Honor Code to more transparently reflect what they stand for, today?

West Point graduates are entrusted with our safety, our democracy and what we stand for as a Nation.

Honor is meant to be an “inviolable concept.” Character and integrity are meant to be “unimpeachable”. This violation of the very principles that West Point was founded on deserves strict and just consequences, and cannot be simply treated as an academic breach of conduct. Someone else might say that possessing a nominal amount of marijuana could be a "temporary lapse in judgement" , they might not be under the influence or have hampered national security, yet this infraction would go on their permanent criminal record. As a tax paying family funding the involved cadets' education, I have to ask why is West Point investing money, time and resources for their "rehabilitation"? Simply put, the cadets should not be allowed back to the Academy in 2021. It is about time, West Point opened up those cadets' slots to more deserving candidates. It is also about time that cadets learn what really matters as they find their way in the outside world.