I heard the “witch hunt” fears from plenty of fellow midshipmen. A lot of “I can’t fry her, because she’ll assert sexual harassment” and whatnot. Frankly, even under Rempt, that thought was a load of crap, if you try to carry yourself professionally and honorably. (I don’t want this to being taken as impugning your son’s character, just as a disagreement with his assessment). That says nothign about the possibly inequal justice of sexual assault cases at USNA.

I’ll probably be accused of being a kool-aid drinker for saying this, but Liz, I think you have misrepresented the USAFA sexual assault cases. Punishment for the misconduct was actively being used as a means of silencing the reporting of sexual assault cases. Admittedly, military sexual assault, especiall of the date rape variety, is phenomenally complicated issue, as you point out. Offer immunity, and you will take heat for inequal punishment; however, the limited reporting options available before the USAFA event led to a situation where the number of assaults being reported (much less prosecuted, and across the board, not just AF) was far, far lower than anonymous surveys demonstrated. We can get in a circular argument about the definition of sexual assault all day, especially in a situation where both parties drink heavily, and consent becomes a very tricky legal position, an argument I don’t really feel like having.