Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy Nominates & Endorses Former MARAD Chief Counsel DENISE RUCKER KREPP to the Newly-Forming USMMA Advisory Council
Denise Rucker Krepp
Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy, Ltd.
May 20, 2022
VIA E-MAIL to: maradpressoffice@dot.gov
Attn: Ann C. Phillips
Maritime Administrator & Commandant, U.S. Maritime Service
Re: Nomination and Endorsement of Denise Krepp to USMMA Advisory Council
Commandant Phillips,
Today, on behalf of our organization, and via the procedures outlined in the Federal Register concerning nominations of members to the United States Merchant Marine Academy Advisory Council (the “Council”), I nominated former U.S. Maritime Administration Chief Counsel Denise Rucker Krepp to become a member of the newly-forming Advisory Council.
Denise is a former officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, and an expert in sexual harassment and sexual assault, especially in the military and quasi-military context.
She also possesses zero financial or reputational ties to the corrupt U.S. maritime industry power structure, and is beholden to no one.
Denise has one category of interest, which is preventing USMMA students from being sexually assaulted, both at sea and on campus.
We believe the Advisory Council needs at least one member who is dedicated to speaking for all of the many victims of the USMMA and the Sea Year program, and dedicated to speaking up for all of the future victims.
We understand that people don’t want to hear the victims’ stories and we understand that these stories of rapes, druggings, sexual abuse, and torture will make the other members of the Council uncomfortable, but we don’t care if they are uncomfortable.
We want that Advisory Council to be uncomfortable, and we want someone on the Council who will speak for those victims and who will make the other members listen to their horror stories.
We are nominating and endorsing Denise Krepp because we believe that if appointed the Council, she will be that voice of the victims.
Denise is one of a very small number of people who have openly, publicly, and aggressively fought for the victims of the USMMA. All of those people have their battle scars, and Denise is no exception. Another person in that small club is Thomas M. Grasso, Esq., a graduate of the USMMA and an attorney who has represented numerous USMMA students who were victims of sexual assault at the Academy and at sea. Mr. Grasso has also nominated and endorsed Denise Krepp for a seat on the Council.
As you will soon learn, the Academy’s history of sexual assault and its systematic coverups of those crimes is very dark and very gruesome, and many people have been harmed. We believe it is inevitable that this history will be exposed.
When that day of truth comes (and we don’t think it’s very far off) you will find yourself desperately searching for a bridge between our organization, Thomas Grasso, and others who are fighting for and representing the many victims of the USMMA and MARAD.
Denise can also be that bridge, and she is someone that you work with.
We have no doubt that you will be told by many of those career MARAD and DOT employees who will be “advising” you that nominating Denise is a horrible idea. But maybe they’re all wrong, and maybe they’ve been wrong about almost everything for a very long time…and maybe that’s why there are so many victims?
It’s time for bold action and new ways of thinking. Please don’t be afraid of people who tell the truth and speak truth to power. Especially those who aren’t afraid to speak truth to your power. Instead, embrace them.
Acta Non Verba,
J. Ryan Melogy
Founder
Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy