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KINGS POINT, N.Y. (AP) — Concerns about alleged sex abuse and harassment of U.S. Merchant Marine cadets training aboard commercial vessels are disputed in a new report issued by an alumni task force.
The New York-based military academy earlier this year ordered a halt to placing cadets on the vessels as part of the academy's Sea Year training program, citing concerns of abuse.
"Our findings strongly rebut the administration's assertion that Sea Year is an unsafe and licentious environment where assaults are frequent and reporting is non-existent," said in an interim report issued by the alumni task force Thursday. "To the contrary, according to our research, the opposite is true. Of midshipmen surveyed, 100 percent disagreed with the decision to suspend Sea Year."
Government sex abuse surveys, interviews with midshipmen returning from Sea Year and feedback from faculty fueled Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx's decision last June to order the stand-down. Cadets have since been earning credits aboard government vessels, but critics call that a weak substitute for the vigorous training on industry vessels.
The academy is conducting its own review of the situation, but has yet to release its findings. A Transportation Department spokeswoman did not immediately comment on the task force report.
"Our research involving current and recently graduated USMMA students found that the Sea Year experience was considered 'the most important part' of their education," the task force said. "The bottom line is that we heard over and over, from female and male midshipmen, alumni — including recent graduates — and faculty members, that at-sea culture did not present an unsafe environment."
The leaders of four maritime unions also have criticized the decision to remove cadets from commercial vessels.
Kings Point is one of five military service academies in the United States, and the only one under the direction of the Department of Transportation. Graduates receive bachelor's degrees in marine engineering or marine transportation and a merchant marine officer's license, putting them in high demand by the industry.
In return for their taxpayer-financed education, graduates are required to spend five years in the maritime industry and eight years in the U.S. Naval Reserve. About 25 percent satisfy their obligation with a five-year active duty military commission.
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