Predecessor's Stern Approach Had Alienated Some Alumni
By Raymond McCaffrey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Rear Adm. Jeffrey L. Fowler takes over as the U.S. Naval Academy superintendent at a time of great challenges at Annapolis, the most pressing of which is training future Navy and Marine officers during a time of war.
Fowler, who took the helm Friday, also must grapple with concerns faced by many college administrators, including a glaring need to upgrade campus facilities such as the academy library and improving minority recruitment, in particular of African Americans.
In addition, Fowler will inherit the policies of his controversial predecessor, Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, who required midshipmen to take routine tests to support a tough new alcohol policy and to take classes as part of an effort to prevent sexual harassment and assault.
Supporters and critics of Rempt seem to agree that his successor, a onetime submarine commander, has impeccable credentials. They differ on whether Fowler should follow the course taken by Rempt.
"I certainly believe that the academy is on a good course and that steady ahead would be good advice," said J. Bonnie Newman, head of the academy board of visitors, an advisory committee that includes members of Congress. "The problem is that one never knows what's going to be around the next corner."
Rempt's tenure will undoubtedly be defined by two high-profile sexual-assault cases involving Navy football players in 2006. Critics -- some of whom are academy alumni -- say that Rempt went too far in cases such as that of former Navy star quarterback Lamar S. Owens Jr.
They have assailed the superintendent online and threatened to withhold contributions. Rempt expelled Owens, who was cleared of raping a female midshipman but convicted of related misconduct charges that included having sex in a dorm.
Before the Owens case went to trial, Rempt drew criticism for sending e-mails to the school community that a Navy judge said insinuated that Owens was guilty. Ultimately, Rempt withstood allegations of unlawful command influence in that case as well as the trial of another Navy football player, Kenny Ray Morrison, who was sentenced to two years of confinement and dismissal from the Navy for sexually assaulting a female midshipman at a District hotel last year. Morrison's attorney alleged that the jury was stacked with senior officers. An officer on the jury later testified that the panel had not been impartial, but the judge declined to overturn the verdict.
Victims' rights advocates say that charges of unlawful command influence are among the familiar tactics used by defense lawyers, who often also seek to impugn the accuser.
"It's an effort to silence the victim, and it's an effort to silence those who would bring forward charges," said Anita Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the Miles Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists in military cases involving allegations of sexual assault, domestic violence or child abuse.
It's unclear what Fowler would do if he were confronted with a high-profile sexual-assault case as Rempt was -- and whether he would pursue it as publicly as his predecessor did.
"He has not arrived at a cushy assignment," said Newman, the board chairman who is also interim president of the University of New Hampshire. "This is a challenging assignment.
"Leadership isn't easy. I think you've got to make tough calls when you are a leader and certainly when you are superintendent of the Naval Academy."
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