West Point Disbands Clubs for Women and Minorities After Trump Orders
The New York Times
The military academy ordered the closure of a dozen clubs for students affiliated with its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office.
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has ordered 12 officially sanctioned clubs for women and ethnic or racial groups to shut down immediately, in a drive to comply with the Trump administration’s directives on diversity, equity and inclusion, the academy said on Wednesday.
In a memo dated Tuesday, the academy’s deputy commandant, Chad R. Foster, said that the clubs were being disbanded “in accordance with recent presidential executive orders, department of defense guidance and department of the Army guidance.”
The dozen clubs that are being disbanded right away include the Corbin Forum, a group to promote female leaders, founded in 1976 when women were first admitted to West Point; the Latin Cultural Club; the National Society of Black Engineers Club; the Vietnamese-American Cadet Association; Spectrum, for L.G.B.T.Q. cadets; and the Society of Women Engineers Club. The academy is also reviewing other groups on campus, the memo said.
All of the clubs named in the memo were ordered to “unpublish, deactivate, archive or otherwise remove all public-facing content.”
On Wednesday, the National Society of Black Engineers Club home page had an error message on it saying “Oops!” in large letters.
The memo said the directive canceled all trips, meetings, events and other activities associated with the clubs, which were no longer authorized to conduct informal activities using government time, resources or facilities.
