Naval Academy program tackles harassment

Midshipmen Joy Dewey and Joshua Foxton hope to hear familiar epithets when they ask a group of new students at the U.S. Naval Academy to describe promiscuous men and women.

When the plebes respond with "stud," "tramp" and a few graphic offerings, Dewey and Foxton sense that they've attained a comfort level with the group and can springboard into a frank discussion of how language can be used to intimidate and sexually objectify people.

The two midshipmen are pioneers in a new peer-training program at the Naval Academy to prevent sexual harassment, a high-profile problem at the school.

Dewey, who coordinates the group of 32 trainers, said she believes midshipmen are more receptive to the message when it's delivered by their peers.

"It's doing our part to change a group of people — to change the overall culture that our society struggles with," she said.

The program was designed to span a midshipman's four years at the academy and create a more structured approach to raising awareness about sexual misconduct. It began with the incoming class of 2011, which will receive a total of 25 hours of training by the time it leaves the academy.

The three older classes are studying sexual harassment prevention, but they are not getting the peer-training sessions. Cmdr. Ricks Polk, the academy's sexual assault response coordinator, said school officials believed the program would be too difficult to implement immediately to the entire 4,300-member student body.

The program is not without its critics.

Twenty-five hours of training for someone who graduates as a Naval officer is "woefully inadequate," said Anita Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the victim advocacy group Miles Foundation, which focuses on sexual assault in the military. She suggests a minimum of 60 hours per year.

While the new program may demonstrate the academy is trying, much more needs to be done to address what has been a troubling issue in the military for years, Sanchez said.

"We're still moving down the field," she said. "We're not at the 50-yard line yet, even."

But Dewey, who recently attended a conference on sexual assault, believes the military academy is doing more than most colleges to address a ubiquitous societal problem. She credits peer training with creating a better climate for conveying the message that the academy will not tolerate sexual harassment and the inappropriate language that can instigate it.

The initiative focuses on explaining what constitutes rape and the psychological impact of the crime. It also will include discussions about dating, consent, the role alcohol plays in relationships and the legal aspects of sexual assault.

Another component of the first year of training is the role bystanders play in stopping sexual assault. The program stresses that social situations that might seem insignificant at first could develop into something serious.

Midshipman Josef Miller, also a peer trainer, said the program aims to develop naval officers who can recognize and combat sexual harassment.

"It's not to say that the old training wasn't effective," he said. "It's to say that we realize we need to go that extra step, we need to go that extra mile and really effect more positive change."

The academy has had several high-profile sexual misconduct cases in the past year. The school expelled football star Lamar Owens in April after he was acquitted of raping a fellow midshipman but convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer. Also in April, another former football player, Kenny Ray Morrison, was convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow midshipman. Morrison was expelled from the academy and sentenced to two years in the Navy brig.

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