As a new academic year begins, troubles continue to plague two of the nation’s prestigious military academies already embroiled in sexual assault scandals. Last weekend, police cited three US Air Force Academy cadets for underage drinking with two high school girls in a Colorado Springs hotel. On Monday, an arrest affidavit was released for David Phillip Hawkins, 21, a senior cadet charged with raping a nearly unconscious, drunken woman in his pickup truck. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for September 26. This Thursday, junior cadet Robert C. Graham II will face a court-martial for allegedly using and distributing Ecstasy and a similar hallucinogenic drug, the Associated Press reported. Graham faces academy dismissal and a maximum 25-year prison sentence should he be convicted.
Meanwhile two midshipmen at the US Naval Academy have resigned, under allegations of raping two female classmates last year. Todd Thurston, 20, and Eric Bailey, 23, are accused of serving alcohol to minors and raping one woman and two women, respectively in their dormitory. Their attorney, William Ferris, told the AP the Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt has recommended acceptance of their resignations.
LEARN MORE Read an article about the continuing problems at the Air Force Academy in Ms. Magazine
