Coast Guard Academy to Congress, "Mind Your Own Business".
WASHINGTON (AP) - Lawmakers upset over how few Blacks attend the U.S. Coast Guard Academy have backed off their proposal to shift for the first time to congressional nominations of cadets, which have been required at the nation's other service academies for decades.
On a voice vote, the House approved a compromise Coast Guard measure late Tuesday that includes $10 billion in authorized spending, and various management reforms, but nothing intended to boost black enrollment at the New London, Conn.-based academy. Black enrollment has been at 5 percent or less in recent years.
The academy provision was in a bill that won overwhelming bipartisan approval in a House vote last year. But it was left out of last spring's Senate-approved version. The compromise bill is expected to receive Senate approval as early as this week.
House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., and the chairman of its Coast Guard subcommittee, Elijah Cummings, D-Md., a leading member of the Congressional Black Caucus, had been outspoken advocates for congressional nominations during hearings.
"Though it is critical that the authorization passes, I am certainly disappointed that there were a number of provisions we had to drop from the House-passed bill in the final revisions," Cummings said in a statement after Tuesday's vote. "Included among the dropped legislation were provisions I authored ... that would have encouraged efforts to support diversity at the Coast Guard Academy."
Advocates of congressional involvement in admissions have argued that with some 40 members of Congress typically in the Congressional Black Caucus, it would be likely that the Coast Guard Academy would have more blacks enrolled if Congress members and senators had a say in nominating qualified candidates.
But even among Black academy graduates, there has been disagreement over whether to take that route.
"I'm starting to see the critical masses that our system needs for us to have a bright future," said Vice Admiral Manson K. Brown, the highest ranking Black in Coast Guard history, who won his latest promotion last May. "I'm using my bully pulpit to help the system."
(DENNIS CONRAD,AP)
On a voice vote, the House approved a compromise Coast Guard measure late Tuesday that includes $10 billion in authorized spending, and various management reforms, but nothing intended to boost black enrollment at the New London, Conn.-based academy. Black enrollment has been at 5 percent or less in recent years.
The academy provision was in a bill that won overwhelming bipartisan approval in a House vote last year. But it was left out of last spring's Senate-approved version. The compromise bill is expected to receive Senate approval as early as this week.
House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., and the chairman of its Coast Guard subcommittee, Elijah Cummings, D-Md., a leading member of the Congressional Black Caucus, had been outspoken advocates for congressional nominations during hearings.
"Though it is critical that the authorization passes, I am certainly disappointed that there were a number of provisions we had to drop from the House-passed bill in the final revisions," Cummings said in a statement after Tuesday's vote. "Included among the dropped legislation were provisions I authored ... that would have encouraged efforts to support diversity at the Coast Guard Academy."
Advocates of congressional involvement in admissions have argued that with some 40 members of Congress typically in the Congressional Black Caucus, it would be likely that the Coast Guard Academy would have more blacks enrolled if Congress members and senators had a say in nominating qualified candidates.
But even among Black academy graduates, there has been disagreement over whether to take that route.
"I'm starting to see the critical masses that our system needs for us to have a bright future," said Vice Admiral Manson K. Brown, the highest ranking Black in Coast Guard history, who won his latest promotion last May. "I'm using my bully pulpit to help the system."
(DENNIS CONRAD,AP)
posted by ichbinalj at 9:52 AM
3 Comments:
I concur that the USCGA needs to align itself with the other Service Academy's assession processes. Creating a more accurate representation of the demographics of the United States is one good reason to do so(the low percentage of minorities represented at the USCGA IS astounding). I would also argue that a more objective means of populating the USCGA is needed to counter the blatant nepotism that has been obvious for decades. I would like to see a breakdown of how many Academy cadets are sons, nephews and grandsons of former USCGA graduates. Further, this nepotism has had the effect of creating a population of Coast Guard officers that are largely from the North East U.S. (a common retirement area for CG officers, who themselves grew up in New England).
"I'm starting to see the critical masses that our system needs for us to have a bright future," ... "I'm using my bully pulpit to help the system."
Good thing we didn't hire this guy for his rhetoric. wtf?
In the 60s-80s when we talked about "managing diversity", we really meant race and gender. Sadly, we still find ourselves well short of optimizing either or both of those elements. Both the enlightened intellectual and the practical project leaders of today see huge value in making certain his or her team is composed of members who bring not only gender and racial diversity but also a wide spectrum of skills and capabilities to the table. We want variations in expertise and age and MATURITY and ideas and CULRURE and any other factors of consequence that could help get the project done well. For too long we have celebrated what we had in common. That's OK, but the fault lies in pretending that we have everything in common. WE SURELY DO NOT and the better leader knows that and acts on that knowledge.
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