Federal Service Academies and Title IX The Education Amendments of 1972 included Title IX, which protects both men and women from sex discrimination at any educational institution that accepts federal funding (Winslow, 2010). The five Federal Service Academies (FSAs), the Coast Guard Academy, the Merchant Marine Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy and the Military Academy at West Point are exempt from Title IX (New, 2014). When Title IX was passed in 1972 women were not admitted to any of the FSAs and were not admitted until 1975 (New, 2014). Since 1975, the federal government has threatened or pulled funding from education institutions that do not abide by Title IX, but the FSAs continue to disregard Title IX even though they run almost exclusively on federal funding (Johnson, Carter, Caslen, Helis, & Stosz, 2015). With students and politicians calling for a crack down on sexual assault, many are questioning how these service academies are still receiving federal funds (New, 2014). The FSAs have been scrutinized in the past two decades for lack of reporting sexual assaults on campus (New, 2014). The Pentagon reported that 53 sexual assaults were reported at the FSAs from 2012-2013, but some surveys show that this number may be significantly higher (Kreep, 2014). While the Pentagon released …show more content…
The Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military is a great resource to help guide conversations. Current conversations involving FSAs and sexual assault include discussions around gender-responsive culture, alcohol policies, and improvements to sexual assault prevention training. I have to remember that many victims do not have a voice because of the top-down and command structure of the military. I should encourage more victims to report and show data that supports a change to current policy and