This doesn’t make sense
By James Matheson | Baltimore Sun
The U.S. Naval Academy will not be forced to remove instructional materials and library books featuring “gender ideology” as it is not affected by orders to do so at schools overseen by the Department of Defense, the academy said in a statement.
Department of Defense Education Activity, which oversees 161 schools across 11 countries and educates more than 67,000 military-connected students, ordered its schools to relocate books that feature “gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology” last month.
The schools were also told that educational resources on these subjects “shall not be utilized for instruction.”
The U.S. Department of the Navy oversees the Naval Academy. DoDEA is responsible for pre-K through 12th grade educational programs for the families of military personnel on behalf of the Department of Defense.
As such, the order was not directed at the academy, according to the organization.
A spokesperson for the academy did not comment beyond noting that it has not been directed to remove any such materials.
The Trump administration has been sharply critical of organizations, private companies and educational institutions that incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into their training, curriculum and messaging. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hammered home the point during his first Pentagon town hall last month.
“I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is, ‘Our diversity is our strength.’ I think our strength is our unity,” Hegseth said. “Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race.”
President Donald Trump ordered the “immediate dismissal” of the boards of visitors for the U.S. service academies, including the Naval Academy last month, citing the need to purge “Woke Leftist Ideologues.”
On Jan. 31, Hegseth issued guidance prohibiting the use of official resources to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months, including National African American/Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Pride Month.
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point announced it was shutting down 12 cultural and gender-focused affinity groups for cadets last month in accordance with an executive order terminating all DEI programs, mandates, policies, preferences and activities in the federal government.
The Naval Academy has not announced a shutdown of any clubs but said it is committed to implementing all executive orders in alignment with the Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy. The Navy is reviewing all clubs and extracurricular activities.
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat representing Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, and 25 colleagues wrote a letter last week to Hegseth demanding he reverse his efforts to remove equity and gender-related materials from Defense Department schools.
Among the materials reportedly removed are a picture book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg titled “No Truth Without Ruth,” a chapter about “sexuality and gender” used in Advanced Placement psychology, and a reading of “A Nation of Immigrants” in a social studies lesson for fourth graders.
Vice President JD Vance’s book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” was also targeted for a compliance review, according to Raskin’s letter.
“Restricting access to these materials because of their ‘potential’ relation to ‘gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics’ is naked censorship completely at odds with the Trump Administration’s own professed devotion to free speech,” Raskin’s letter read. “You are clearly violating the First Amendment rights of DoD families.”
DoDEA also directed its schools to remove lessons related to immigration, gender and sexuality last month.
“These Orwellian book purges seriously restrict the spectrum of knowledge and literature available to military families,” Raskin wrote. “The stories DoDEA seeks to silence — including the story of our nation’s current Vice President — are the diverse and complex stories of the history and culture of the people of our country. You have no right to erase them.”
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