Why the Dean even needs to remind service academy professors not to make negative judgements on a recent US military operation, shows the problem with left-leaning academics teaching future US military officers.
By Mary Shinn | Colorado Springs Gazette
Last week, in the wake of the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the Air Force Academy’s acting dean sent out guidance urging department heads to ask their instructors not to make absolute statements about whether the operation was legal or illegal.
The text of Acting Dean Steven Hasstedt’s email said he anticipated instructors would have conversations with cadets about recent events and he asked heads of department to remind instructors that they should not make absolute statements.
“Please ask your folks to avoid taking or mimicking the many absolute “right/wrong” or “legal/illegal” declarations that are pervasive in our current media environment,” the email to the department heads said.
In response to Gazette questions, the academy said in a statement the email was not intended to diminish academic discussions but to ensure discussions about Operation Absolute Resolve would be grounded in the facts presented by the White House and Department of Defense to prevent inaccurate characterizations of the mission.
“The basis of the Dean’s email was a reminder that it’s vital to be prepared to discuss current events to develop future military leaders, similar to his time as a cadet in 1989-1990 when cadets returned from winter break with questions for faculty concerning Operation Just Cause,” the statement said.
The former deputy director of the academy’s academic law department, Rachel VanLandingham, said she would have advised Hasstedt, her former classmate, to be more nuanced in his direction because, as applied to the legal professors, his statement tells those staff members not to do their jobs.
“A fundamental component of teaching the law is to ask students to apply the law — a particular rule — to a particular context, such as Venezuela. There are right and wrong answers, and at times they are quite black and white,” said VanLandingham, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and a professor at the Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.
“To tell professors not to teach the accurate application of law to facts is telling law professors not to teach, but to preach.”
First published in the Colorado Springs Gazette
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