By Victoria Manning | Restoration News
The U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors (USNA BOV) September meeting in D.C. produced mixed results.
A step in the right direction is hiring Marine Corps Lieutenant General Michael Borgschulte to be Superintendent. He impressed with his emphasis on preparing leaders for warfighting.
A failure was the Dean of Admissions, Bruce Latta, who fumbled through his presentation and failed to answer direct questions of BOV members.
The Restoration of America Foundation (ROAF) is a watchdog providing transparency of the nation’s military academies’ oversight boards. In a letter to the USNA Board, ROAF Founder and CEO Doug Truax laid out his vision of issues USNA must address to develop the best leaders for the Navy and Marine Corps.
Truax, a veteran and West Point graduate, emphasizes the need to eliminate social justice and political agendas and put the focus back on warfighting. High on the priority list is ensuring fairness and merit-based admissions and performance standards.
A Seasoned Marine Warfighter in Charge
The BOV meeting began on a positive note. The chair, Marine veteran Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), pointed out that for the first time in the 10 years he has served on the USNA BOV, the defense secretary requested a meeting with all service academy boards of visitors.
Borgschulte, the first Marine Superintendent of the academy, was only in the position a few weeks at the time of the BOV meeting. He attended the Naval Academy Prep School and graduated from USNA where he also played football. The General emphasized the need for transparency with the BOV and encouraged them to visit the academy.
The Superintendent underscored high standards, discipline, and a focus on warfighting. He highlighted his career as a Cobra attack helicopter pilot and said, “I have lost Marines in combat so it’s important to me to know they are ready for war.” Borgschulte also said he realizes how dangerous our world is from his time working in the Pentagon. He wants to be sure “we are developing leaders ready to fight on day one.”
Gen. Borgschulte’s focus on warfighting and readiness bring a welcome change from the previous administration’s focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Yet, many of the staff who pushed DEI under previous administrations still remain.
Woke Staff Influencing Admissions
USNA Dean of Admissions Bruce Latta
While most of the meeting was encouraging, the presentation given by Dean of Admissions Bruce Latta was very disappointing. Latta has been in the position for over 20 years, including when USNA was sued in 2023 for using race-based admissions practices.
Latta told the BOV that race, ethnicity and sex were never considered in determining qualification for admissions. That assertion contradicts Latta’s court deposition and evidence in the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) case against USNA.
In SFFA Latta said,
If USNA was prohibited from considering race or ethnicity (across all minority groups) as one of many nondeterminative factors, I expect that USNA’s class of admitted midshipmen would become less diverse, as it was before USNA began applying its current policies.
BOV member Earl Ehrhart, a Trump appointee, questioned Latta asking, “You testified under oath that enjoining [prohibiting] race-based admissions practices would harm the Navy. Have you changed your mind?”
Earhart continued his questioning when Latta did not answer, asking, “How do you reconcile the conflict between your sworn testimony in SFFA and what you just presented to this Board?”
Latta still didn’t answer the question.
Was Latta lying to the court or lying to the BOV?
Court documents obtained by Restoration News show USNA did not use SAT scores in admissions for classes of 2025-2028.
Latta’s presentation claimed SAT scores were not used for those classes due to limited availability because of COVID. While that may have been a factor for the class of 2025, SAT testing availability was not impacted by COVID for the classes of 2026-2028.
Latta said the admissions office sets the standards by which USNA candidates are selected and determines who is offered an appointment.
When questioned on who determines the formula used for candidate selection—called a Whole Person Multiple—Latta responded that admissions staff determine the weighting of each category.
That answer did not please Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), a retired Navy SEAL appointed to the BOV by President Trump. He believes the admissions department had too much power, replying to Latta, “You can set the playing field the way you want.” Van Orden also suggested that the BOV may want to consider putting a member on the admissions board.
Another board member commented, “for way too long we’ve had no visibility into how this process works.” The Superintendent responded that he understood and shared the same concern and that they would have further discussions on the topic in a closed session.
USNA Must Clean House
In 2021, USNA leadership signed on to and promoted a “Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan.” This plan signed by Dean Latta and others still employed at USNA laid out the objective not only to increase minority representation at the school but also to indoctrinate students and staff in DEI practices.
The plan blatantly gave advantages to midshipmen based on their race such as how to “intentionally promote diversity in service assignments.”
Some of the divisive items in the plan:
- “Promote membership in affinity groups.”
- “Increase the visibility of current midshipmen and alumni from underrepresented populations by including them in recruiting activities and marketing materials.”
- Review processes “for objectivity and influence of bias and unintended disadvantage to underrepresented populations.”
- “Intentionally strive to increase diversity and representation in academic staff recruitment and recruitment of qualified uniform personnel.”
- “Develop a confidential process for reporting bias incidents.”
- Increase access to “underrepresented populations.”
- “Identify scoring factors that are directly influenced by school resources and familial obligations such as extracurricular activates [sic] and standardize [sic] test scores and make recommendations for adjustments.”
The plan even discussed getting Congressional representatives to nominate “underrepresented minorities”—a clear intention to admit students based on race.
One of the Regional Directors of Admissions, Noah Fenstermacher, has no military experience—yet he’s one of the top people in charge of candidate selections. Fenstermacher wrote a book describing the need for diversity efforts on campus and claims there is an opportunity gap and racial inequities that must be addressed.
While the BOV is asking great questions and seems to be asserting more oversight than in the past, the Superintendent must thoroughly examine all staff positions. Not only to determine if they are pushing DEI, but also whether the positions are necessary to perform the functions of the academy.
USNA and all service academies must focus on preparing warfighters to lead the military and eliminate all past social justice and political agendas.
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Victoria Manning is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in education freedom, immigration, and military issues. She is the author of Behind the Wall of Government Schools. Victoria served 8 years as an elected school board member and has a master’s degree in law. She also brings the perspective of a military spouse and mother to her reporting. Email Victoria HERE
First published on Restoration News
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