After the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called for more service members to teach at the military academies, senators closely questioned the schools’ superintendents about their civilian faculty at a hearing this week. 

Air Force Academy Superintendent Tony Bauernfeind, the leaders of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., faced questions during a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel hearing about how many civilians they employ, whether they offer tenure and if they have the authority to fire tenured faculty.

The military academy leaders also faced questions about how they implemented President Donald Trump’s recent executive order calling for the end to diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government. 

The pointed questions at the hearing followed Hegseth’s statement during his confirmation hearing in January about civilians pushing “woke” ideas at the academies. 

“We need more uniformed members going back into West Point, the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy, as a tour-to-teach, with their wisdom of what they have learned in uniform, instead of just more civilian professors that came from the same left-wing, woke universities that they left, and then try to push that into service academies,” Hegseth said. 

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The superintendents told the senators that the civilian faculty bring important expertise to their institutions, particularly in technical fields. 

“The civilian faculty bring a depth of knowledge within disciplines that we are able to use for the benefit of the education of our cadets,” said Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland.

At West Point, civilians make up 26% of the faculty and uniformed members make up 74%, he said. More than half of the civilian professors work in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics fields, also known as STEM fields. 

The Air Force Academy employs a faculty composed of 40% civilians, and at the Naval Academy, it’s close to a 50-50 split, the superintendents said.  

Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, who leads Annapolis, defended both the mix of civilian and uniformed instructors and current hiring and tenure practices. All three institutions offer tenure, which helps with recruiting top teaching talent, she said. All three can fire tenured professors, they said. 

“We have a proven formula that works,” she said.

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Subcommittee chairman Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., asked the superintendents if the Senate should weigh in on civilian hires in the same way they confirm military promotions. Tuberville was recently appointed to the Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors. 

Bauernfeind said he is comfortable with the current process that does not require confirmation, but he would be open to a Senate review.  

“If our elected leaders want to have a voice in that I am also very comfortable working with our elected leaders to detail a process,” he said. 

Lawmakers also asked the academy leaders about ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. 

Gilland said two classes have ended at West Point, a history class called Race, Ethnicity and Nation and an English course called Power and Difference out of the 600 classes offered.  

The Naval Academy ended Gender Matters, a leadership course, and an English class on gender and sexuality studies, Davids said. The school also modified 18 other classes, of its 870, to come into compliance. 

Bauernfeind said the Air Force’s 735 classes are still under review, but only three could be suspended. He did not name them, since he has not made a decision on ending them.

While the senators steered clear of political comments on the DEI orders, they offered opposing views, particularly on their value in an academic setting.

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-N.Y., said he hoped the military’s history would be passed on to cadets and midshipmen. 

“The military has an extraordinary and proud record of leading our nation on desegregation. …  We should be teaching that history so that our military can be not only proud but continue to lead the nation.”  

On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said he was concerned about diversity, equity and inclusion efforts or “critical race theory” leading to anti-Americanism in service academies. 

“We want our military service academies focused on warfighting, lethality patriotism,” Sullivan said. 

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