Here is an article from our own gCaptain.
http://gcaptain.com/usmma-canceling-sea-year-out-of-sexual-assault-and-harassment-fears/
wont this disqualify them from sitting for their license?
KP could farm out their cadets to other academy ships for sea time. Heck, as long as the government is paying KP could rent their own ship. Or they could get their very own (which I’m guessing is the real reason for this).
Going down this slippery slope, if it’s unsafe for KP cadets to go out on commercial ships how long till someone says the same about other academies’ commercial shipping too?
Close KP. If their cadets can’t handle it then why is the taxpayer footing the bill?
[QUOTE=Bayrunner;185891]Close KP. If their cadets can’t handle it then why is the taxpayer footing the bill?[/QUOTE]
I’m not saying one single thing!
btw, is this order to protect female cadets or also males from being sexually abused? I shudder at the thought…
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Well, weren’t there reports of gay sex parties with cadets at that admin’s house off campus? Whatever came of that “sexual harassment”?
I wonder if it has crossed the faculty’s minds that their cadets will have to go and work their whole career in the same environment that they consider too unsafe to train in because of sexual harassment? Oh, the humanity!
[QUOTE=Slick Cam;185897]I wonder if it has crossed the faculty’s minds that their cadets will have to go and work their whole career in the same environment that they consider too unsafe to train in because of sexual harassment? Oh, the humanity![/QUOTE]
Since most KPers have no compunctions about wasting taxpayer money by not sailing for a living, I can’t imagine the faculty gives a shit either.
Yeh, I'm referring to the ones that actually make a career of sailing. But your point is well taken.
Anyways, their stance is similar to not sending airline pilots to flight school because the instructors might hit on them…but again thats assuming this is legit and not just window dressing for an ulterior motive such as getting their own training ship.
[QUOTE=Slick Cam;185897]Well, weren’t there reports of gay sex parties with cadets at that admin’s house off campus? Whatever came of that “sexual harassment”?
I wonder if it has crossed the faculty’s minds that their cadets will have to go and work their whole career in the same environment that they consider too unsafe to train in because of sexual harassment? Oh, the humanity![/QUOTE]
If the article is correct, it was a decision made by the administration, not the school’s faculty. The faculty are not empowered to make such a call.
[QUOTE=socalguy;185898]Since most KPers have no compunctions about wasting taxpayer money by not sailing for a living, I can’t imagine the faculty gives a shit either.[/QUOTE]
All the federal academies have a service obligations. Once fulfilled they are free to follow the career path of their choosing. That is how a free society works.
I can’t imagine the faculty not giving a shit.
Since their “service obligation” doesn’t seem to include actually being a merchant mariner maybe it’s time to stop calling themselves a merchant marine academy and then try to defend the school’s existence to a public that doesn’t know how much of their taxes are being squandered by MARAD and the school administration. Let them explain what they do better than the real service academies.
If there are not enough sailing jobs to ever employ all the grads every year as active sailing merchant mariners then maybe it is time to close the school. The American taxpayer doesn’t need to train office weenies to work in shipping companies or walk the bemodeled halls of MARAD. Have the real service academies been complaining about not having enough facilities or students? Do we need another service academy to fill the needs of a downsizing military?
Lest anyone forget, Kings Point was an emergency measure to man the fleet of ships needed to supply WW2 troops. Hey MARAD, the war was over in 1945. It’s time to turn off the lights and sell the property. We don’t need your buggy whips any more.
I can’t imagine the faculty not giving a shit.
Close your eyes, breath deeply and become open to thoughts of fat MARAD paychecks for sitting in a prestigious position in an idyllic setting. Imagine caring enough about the process and the product of your labors to walk away from the farce and the fraud that your position and your efforts perpetuate. Neither faculty nor administration would ever question the hand that signs those checks, much less bite it.
I am not buying “the fear”. I seen KP cadets worked hard on commercial
but never sexually harassed. To me some alumnus is afraid what their "child"
might do. I have seen some harassment in the unlicensed that the union failed
to deal with; I have seen a lot of licensed be framed by unlicensed. I would
think the competitive culture of the academy would prepare a person for the
antics on the ship. My brother is an academy grad and he is a piece of work; no
one is going to get one over on him.
[QUOTE=Steamer;185908]Since their “service obligation” doesn’t seem to include actually being a merchant mariner maybe it’s time to stop calling themselves a merchant marine academy and then try to defend the school’s existence to a public that doesn’t know how much of their taxes are being squandered by MARAD and the school administration. Let them explain what they do better than the real service academies.
If there are not enough sailing jobs to ever employ all the grads every year as active sailing merchant mariners then maybe it is time to close the school. The American taxpayer doesn’t need to train office weenies to work in shipping companies or walk the bemodeled halls of MARAD. Have the real service academies been complaining about not having enough facilities or students? Do we need another service academy to fill the needs of a downsizing military?
Lest anyone forget, Kings Point was an emergency measure to man the fleet of ships needed to supply WW2 troops. Hey MARAD, the war was over in 1945. It’s time to turn off the lights and sell the property. We don’t need your buggy whips any more.
Close your eyes, breath deeply and become open to thoughts of fat MARAD paychecks for sitting in a prestigious position in an idyllic setting. Imagine caring enough about the process and the product of your labors to walk away from the farce and the fraud that your position and your efforts perpetuate. Neither faculty nor administration would ever question the hand that signs those checks, much less bite it.[/QUOTE]
Actually, in my day there was certainly a “service obligation” to sail. It may be watered down now with so few jobs available. I know that I was required to sail on US flag vessels for 4 months a year for 6 years or 6 months a year for 4 years, or similar. I didn’t care. I just sailed. I was also the last class that had the option of the “Inactive Reserve” commission, and the first class to have the option for the Ready Reserve commission. Classes subsequent to mine did NOT have the option. And I know the reputation of grads not sailing. Hell, I came ashore when it became too difficult to get quality work and other obligations made coming ashore more attractive. . . but I still have quite a few classmates at sea, or retired, or retired and working as superintendents. . . Is it time to shut it down? Maybe. Without a doubt both the school AND how the industry is structured needs to be changed to better reflect the current state of the maritime industry.
It is sad, really. Sea Year, in my opinion, is what separated KP from the other academies. More real life sailing experience and a shot at real self reliance. So, what are they going to do to stop sexual harassment AFTER graduation? Sigh.
[QUOTE=cmakin;185914]So, what are they going to do to stop sexual harassment AFTER graduation? Sigh.[/QUOTE]
Apparently nothing, which is why they seem to be identifying by implication that the US merchant fleet receiving cadets is a risky workplace, that cannot be trusted and is systematically incapable of preventing sexual harassment (even from its own alumni sailing after graduation). They say it isn’t because of an incident, so they are claiming a hostile workplace by definition exists anywhere they can’t personall supervise it themselves.
Bold move on the part of KP, to basically declare the career of seagoing to be too perilous for sexual harassment. That’ll get the recruits. If it is all simply a move to insist on their own training ship and environment, it reeks of the most insidious politics and should be condemned by MARAD and the ship operators and unions and crews they unjustly blight. They might as well claim it’s too dangerous to send midshipmen to sea on vessels whose safety gear is not maintained by the academy.
looks like KP is going to need a new recruiting video…this time with no references to ships and the SEA in it!
this news just as the US Merchant Marweenie Academy welcomes the next batch of pathetic Cub Scouts to become plebe candidates
[B]WHY DOES THIS FARCE OF A SCHOOL NOT SIMPLY DIE ALREADY?[/B]
HUZZAH!
While the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Maritime Administration (MARAD), and the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) have made consistent efforts to address sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus over the last few years, we’ve grappled with appropriate means of extending these efforts during “Sea Year” when the Midshipmen are off campus training on working U.S. merchant marine vessels. The safety of these young women and men are our highest priority, and the USMMA is standing down having Midshipmen serve on these vessels until it is assured that their training will be carried out in a safe environment.
What a beautiful way to call merchant mariners rapist.
[QUOTE=c.captain;185918]looks like KP is going to need a new recruiting video…this time with no references to ships and the SEA in it!
[/QUOTE]
Just think, it could be like the Sea Org. I don’t think they’ve operated a ship in years.
It is a rather cult-like organization, after all…
Seriously? I’ve seen a lot of sexual harassment in my years. Remember that by today’s standard sexual harassment is more then telling the cadet to get on her knees if she wants a good eval. It’s everything from off-color jokes, talking about the third world hooker you hired, giving a physically less demanding job to a female (or to a male if you’re trying not to show favoritism). Blah blah blah…
Remember, the measure of harassment isn’t if someone is being harassed, it’s if they feel like they are being harassed even if they aren’t. The schools fill students’ heads with this, sends them out into the real world where everything offends their delicate sensitivities and naturally the students go back reporting sexual harassment, hazing and everything else. (Like a cadet who felt ‘harassed’ by Fox News being on TV at chow time.)
Solution? Take them off commercial ships. Most won’t work on ships after graduation anyhow. Maybe use this as a reason for KP to get their own training ship. Who knows. No one can stand up and call ‘bullshit’ without jeopardizing their own jobs so here we are.
Remember…they make leaders (not Mariners).
In my experience, sexual harassment and assault of women in the merchant fleet is very rare. I have only had one serious experience with it. It was the culture of my crews to be protective of me and the other women with whom I have worked on this issue. I never feel safer from this kind of thing than when I am at work. My crew-mates have always had my back. If there were a rapist on any of my crews, I would be more concerned for his safety than for my own. Its not particularly helpful to have administrative controls on something that is already well-controlled by our culture, and in fact it is possible and likely that making rape and sexual harassment into huge administrative issues could damage the culture, and make the workplace more hostile for women mariners.
On the other hand: I have seen the sexual abuse of boys offshore. Its an infuriating, unfair and sickening part of the culture of some international crews that I have worked with. I have seen powerful, wealthy European officers using their status to coerce young Filipino men into having sex with them. Those boys have no recourse at all, and it makes me unspeakably angry and sad to see. This is a problem that needs a solution, not this flavour-of-the-month cadet safety crap.