REVIEW DETAILS CONCERNS WITH U.S. MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY
Says school lacks diversity; facilities, curriculum outdated
A congressionally ordered review of the federal sailors academy concluded the school was beset with problems ranging from aging facilities, a striking lack of diversity, and a curriculum that was failing to keep up with the needs of an evolving shipping industry.
The National Academy of Public Administration said that widespread problems at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy had festered for years, with school leaders lacking the wherewithal to solve them. The school, the group said, had “lost its way.”
“The findings and recommendations of this report address long-standing issues that put the safety and health of the midshipmen and the entire USMMA community in peril,” wrote Teresa Gerton, the public administration academy’s chief executive.
Unlike the nation’s service academies that train military officers and are part of the Defense Department, the Merchant Marine school is part of the Department of Transportation. The review’s authors issued 67 recommendations and said it was up to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to launch a task force and overhaul the King’s Point, N.Y., school.
The findings are likely to only intensify scrutiny of the academy, which has been embroiled in a reckoning over sexual assault after a midshipman came forward in the fall and described being raped while training on a commercial ship. The new report, based on an investigation carried out between May 2020 and October 2021, says the school is doing too little to protect students from assaults and stamp out sexual harassment on campus and at sea, but makes clear its problems are far more widespread and affect almost every aspect of life there.
The Transportation Department said it has already taken steps to start modernizing facilities at the academy and to revamp sexual assault protections. The department said it was establishing the task force recommended by the reviewers.
The school is less well known than other academies like West Point, but it occupies a prominent role in the shipping industry and has a tightknit alumni community. The school trains students who earn a commercial shipping license and a military commission in addition to their academic degree, and feeds an industry that plays a key role in national defense.
But the review called into question whether the academy was an effective training ground for future leaders, saying that much of its curriculum was focused on preparing midshipmen for junior jobs. A grueling schedule that includes 11-month academic years and almost a full year at sea leaves students with little opportunity to develop their interests, the review found — and contributes to intense stress and poor mental health.
“While USMMA is producing licensed merchant mariners, it is not meeting many other requirements and expectations for a federal agency and federal service academy, and it is not adequately planning and prepared for the future,” said Judith Youngman, the chairwoman of the review panel and emeritus professor of political science at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
The academy’s facilities are also out of date, the review found. Midshipmen interviewed by the investigators said old buildings — with pipes dripping in classrooms and mold in dorm rooms — were a distraction, felt unsafe and put off prospective students. The report says the school needs “substantial investment.”
The review also found that the academy was struggling to attract a diverse student body, faring worse at recruiting women and non-White students than the military academies. Seventy-nine percent of students are White, compared to 54 eprcent of the nation’s college-aged population.