Naval Academy

This report examines how the U.S. Naval Academy has been treating women and minorities. Performance indicators show that women have not fared as well as men with regard to class standings; academic, physical education, and military grades; outcomes of the conduct and honor systems; and attrition rates. Minority students have not fared as well as white students on these same indicators. In addition, a GAO survey of midshipmen revealed perceptions that women and minorities generally received treatment equal to that of men and whites. However, a higher percentage of men than women perceived that women were treated better, and a higher percentage of women than men perceived that they were treated worse. The situation was similar with minorities. Although the Academy has taken a number of steps to better address the assimilation of women and minorities, it does not have a comprehensive database to analyze student performance indicators to identify significant gender or racial disparities. The Academy has not documented the implementation of earlier equal opportunity recommendations.

GAO found that: (1) although women cadets have had higher Scholastic Aptitude Test and Academy success predictor scores than men cadets, women on average have lower grade point averages as freshmen and sophomores and lower class standings as seniors; (2) freshmen women have higher conviction rates for serious conduct offenses; (3) minorities generally have lower Scholastic Aptitude Test and Academy success predictor scores, lower grades, and lower class standings than whites; (4) minority students have higher conviction rates for conduct offenses than whites; (5) the majority of midshipmen believe that women and minorities generally receive the same treatment as men and whites by faculty members and disciplinary boards; (6) half of the men and one-third of the women believe that women receive better treatment by the Academic Board; (7) white and minority respondents believe that minorities receive better treatment by the Academic Board; and (8) the Academy has increased female and minority representation among Academy faculty and brigade officers, established a support program for academically at-risk midshipmen and an equal opportunity program that includes an annual climate assessment, and placed minority and women graduates in every community in the naval service.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone: