Message to the Kings Point Community Regarding Safety on Campus and During Sea Year (from the President of the USMMA Class of 2012)

This public statement by James Patrick O’Connor was originally posted to the USMMA Alumni Facebook page on July 13, 2016 during the 1st “Sea Year Stand Down.”

Dear Kings Point Community,

Pick a Kings Pointer friend, whoever comes to mind first. Now you’re with them on their first sea year, ghost of Christmas past style, when he or she was 18 or 19 years old. You see this friend of yours sleeping in bed on their first ship and there’s a figure above about to rape him or her. Now as you watch this unfolding you are holding your MMD and diploma in your hand and if you throw it into a fire it would stop this from happening. Every one of you would do it.

MARAD is doing something (deeds) to try and stop this scene from playing out. It happens. Why are we so eager to criticize a serious response to a serious problem? Do you not think it’s a serious problem? What number of rapes per year makes the cut? Would you trust the numbers even if you knew them? What percentage of people do you think actually report assaults or harassment? If the cost of the way we send students to sea to obtain their licenses is that there is a ‘little bit of rape’ every once in a while or a beating or hazing, do we still want to be a part of that knowing we could have done things better?

The vast majority of people make it through sea year and USMMA unharmed. I did. I had great adventures for which I am deeply grateful, I wouldn't trade my experience for any other college and I love Kings Point. I’m also 6’1, 190lbs and a fool’s target. Unfortunately not everyone is as lucky as me and I'm astounded at the willful ignorance, dismissiveness and cynicism by some surrounding this conversation. It's certainly not the majority but we all know there are crazy and predatory people out at sea and abroad and even at school and anyone of any size can be drugged or gotten very drunk with the intent to take advantage.

Do you think that a male dominated industry as isolated as the merchant marine, where there is a ship with limited potential sexual partners in the middle of the ocean with reliably a few very strange, unpleasant or sometimes downright psychotic, un-monitored sailors isn’t an environment likely to facilitate sexual assault? The ship is your work, your home, your whole world. There is no 911, an email with a safety word can’t immediately save someone, there is no onsite HR, one can’t jump off and swim home and the targets are any combination of young, naïve, low ranking, isolated, outnumbered and vulnerable. The merchant marine is a unique environment that calls for unique, tailored protections for midshipmen and I’m glad this subject is being discussed openly.

The ATRs and Kings Point staff and shipping companies are great people who do an excellent job managing a feat as complex as sea year. They know what they are doing and care and deserve our support too. Times like these require an open mind, teamwork and unity to intelligently analyze a system for flaws and improve things as best we can. Safer sea years are possible. Perhaps yours was fine but stop and think about the people whose sea years were not fine, whose stories you may not know about.

Why aren’t we angrier at ourselves for our failure to speak up for and defend these students? I am personally aware of at least 7 separate sexual assault stories from my time at Kings Point both at sea and on campus. Is seven too many for you? I had to increase the number four times as I wrote this and remembered yet another or as I spoke with a few friends who shared their stories. Some were very violent and all were disturbing and in one instance a friend’s bruises were visible in uniform. One individual received a class 1 restriction after the ordeal and was bullied into a retraction. The offender went on to rape someone else at school. He wasn't kicked out for his actions either. This guy, wherever he is today, hasn't been prosecuted. Those 7 were just the ones that I heard of and most occurred on campus.

The pool has silently been growing larger and it’s larger than any of us will ever really know. Most people, especially men, don’t report and a lot gets swept under the rug. There are sometimes false claims and accusations and that adds an extra layer of complexity and difficulty that must be approached with great judiciousness but do you want the real survivors who did report, or the next ones to feel guilty or alone or to feel like the cause of the sea year suspension for having spoken up? Will you brush aside their traumatic experiences as an isolated incident, an inconvenience? Should they not rejoice that someone did something to help? Should we not support them? Too easily do we hastily dismiss this as a political stunt, coddling and administrative incompetence. If you don't treat the matters at hand seriously you are providing a disincentive for victims to come forward, enabling the bad guys and the cycle of silence, taboo and shame will continue.

Have we learned nothing from the Catholic Church scandals, from the recent case at Stanford or about how humans in general psychologically process and respond to this sensitive topic? Has anyone seen Spotlight (best picture this year)? Maybe there was something horrible that happened to a midshipman recently that prompted this. Would MARAD disclose the gritty details to justify their actions or would they do all in their power to protect the individual(s) from further pain and preserve their trust and privacy? So much of the discourse I've seen online too easily comes across as engaging in denial and shameful, roundabout victim blaming. I don't take an official stance on the sea year stand down as I acknowledge that I don't have the full picture but I will offer my help to address and solve the concerns raised in lieu of knee-jerk indignation and outrage.

We live in a time when none of us should be able to ignore the presence of predators and evil-doers out there due in large part to mass media coverage, but we still do. Our culture maintains a strong taboo, digs its head into the sand and turns a blind eye to rape. We can’t sugar coat it and pretend it’s not a big deal, it will just happen anyways, that it’s none of our business or that it doesn’t exist. It's not even the only problem being addressed. Our alma mater is a US Federal Academy and it must be a shining example of how things should be done for the world. Why not meet MARAD and USMMA halfway and join in the effort to make USMMA better rather than complain? MARAD is having a town hall meeting today to discuss, in an open forum, the safety concerns at hand. Maybe they care more than you think. Regardless of motives or quarrels, this is an opportunity to speak about real problems. Offer them your experiences, stories (good and bad) and constructive advice. Use your ingenuity to suggest better mechanisms for keeping the students safe.

• Can we provide optional panic buttons or safe rooms for midshipmen at sea?

• Are there rape kits on ships?

• Can we set a precedent of severe consequences for midshipman abuse by crew members?

• Can we use Military Sealift Command ships with their secret clearance qualified, thoroughly background checked crew members, that can accommodate large groups of students and teachers who can moderate and supervise? (I think this is already partially underway).

• Can we develop a system for midshipmen to anonymously review their crew members so that aggressive trends and behaviors can be tracked, troublesome mariners identified and blacklisted if need be and risks mitigated?

• Can we encourage alumni to share their stories of assault with the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator at school perhaps through email so the school can be better informed about how to avoid placing present and future students in harm’s way.

  Let's share ideas and get things done. Remember when any stranger could walk in and out of the barracks at any time? It was a 2012 classmate of mine who was instrumental in insisting that something be done about that and now, through the group effort of many can-do people, there are locks at all entrances and exits.

• Why weren’t there locks on all of the midshipmen bedroom doors at Kings Point when I attended?

• Why was it laughable how frequently the master code to everyone’s door that did lock was common knowledge?

• Do we like the student and school culture of slut shaming, of rape victim blaming and disbelief ('so and so wasn't actually raped/just wants attention') or that we referred to females as either KP bitches or KP whores (the only two options)?

• Are we comfortable with the handful of personalities who have held positions of power at Kings Point over the years who ‘lead’ through dogmatic and manipulative intimidation? Were they trustworthy?

• Do we like that a company officer, while he was there, possessively called female students his ‘cookies’ in his cookie jar?

• Are we ok with there allegedly having been a security guard at school who was rumored to have flashed his genitals to women on multiple occasions?

• Do we like that OOD bunk check is performed by senior students who are routinely entrusted with the keys to the rooms of their mixed gender, younger Kings Pointer subordinates at night while they sleep?

• Would the status quo policies hold up in court in a class action? Are there common sense, easy, doable ways to make the students safer? Can things be done smarter or better?

These are tough questions but I'm asking them.

Individually these things may not have seemed too big a deal at the time while at school, especially if none of this impacted you directly, but put it all together and it does start to look like things can be improved. It’s always easier to complain and YES sea year is very, very important and an incredible experience all KP’ers should have. The survival of Kings Point matters. Accreditation matters.

I want Sea Year back fast, too. Student safety, however, is PARAMOUNT and our words and actions in response to this temporary measure do not convincingly communicate that it is our number one concern.

Sending a class out there in peace time knowing that one or two students could reasonably be expected to drown would never, ever be allowed to happen. It is needless. Should rape and assault be treated any differently? The cure is worse than the disease? Tell that to the people who have been assaulted. A video interview of Kings Point women advocating for the reinstatement of sea year, none of whom have or choose to discuss experiences of sexual assault is less worthless than the eye witness account of a blind man. I’ve seen every iteration of these arguments and rationalizations.

They can get over it.
They should have been tougher or smarter.
They should have had the guts to fight.
They didn’t belong out there in the first place.
They should have reported it.
They shouldn’t have drank.
They should have known better.
They should be adults by now.
They’re probably just lying to get their way.
They should be exposed to reality.
They shouldn’t have dressed that way.
How should I know or care if I don’t hear about these assaults?
It didn’t/wouldn’t happen to me or to my son or daughter.
It’s not my problem.
It will take too long.
Only women get raped.
They knew the risks.
They were asking for it.
We shouldn’t baby people.
We don’t know the numbers exactly.
It’s just politics.
MARAD is out to get us and shut the school down and this is a cover up.
When I was a cadet I survived.
I kinda sorta think it happens just as much everywhere else.
I’m informed.
We can’t ever solve this problem fully.
My kid should graduate on time with a license and the potential rape of someone else I don’t really know doesn’t matter quite as much.
I know better.
They don’t exist.

They speak one message: The crowd is more important than the few silent victims so carry on, it’s not that big of a deal or doesn't even exist and fix as we go as is most convenient for the majority. The risk to the few is worth the reward for the many. We've always done things this way. Stuff happens.

This is about the character of our school. I look at my US Coast Guard license that I worked hard for and it feels cheapened by those who have advocated and chosen to make statements that inherently dismiss and marginalize the serious trauma Kings Point and other mariner sexual assault victims suffer. The same people who perfunctorily prioritize the license and the school’s identity, legacy and survival over the well-being and safety of their fellow classmates, Kings Pointers and fellow man. I know that Kings Point means a lot to us all and that we care about its direction and the students currently enrolled but I don’t hear nearly enough talk about actionable improvements and solutions folks or, in many cases, acknowledgement that problems even exist.

I do believe we all are trying to do what’s best for USMMA, but leave yourself open to the possibility that this is a more prevalent and more serious problem than you may know, that people suffer these crimes largely in silence and that your uninformed assertions undermine the deserved justice, safety and dignity of each person who attends Kings Point. I respect your passion and your hard work deeply and I hope sea year is reinstated successfully soon as well. It’s great that so many people care but if we are more outraged about a temporary sea year suspension than we are about hazing, harassment and rape, I'm calling you all out: We are having the wrong conversation.

I’m glad that this didn’t happen during my year but if it could have prevented a single sexual assault I’d be ok with it in the long run. You shouldn’t have to know a survivor to see this problem through his or her eyes, to care and to put his or her needs and the needs of the next prospective victim first. You wouldn't believe some of their stories. They are reading the words you write. Be a true Kings Pointer, have their backs and recognize, acknowledge and respect their incredible bravery in bringing their horror stories and this problem to light. Let's work together on this and keep each other safe out there. Kings Point is our family. Protect your family.

James Patrick O’Connor II
2012 Class President, USMMA
Acta Non Verba