YOUNG OP-ED: U.S. Service Academies Must End Race-Based Admissions

The following column by Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) was originally published in National Review.

Dating back to 1802 when the United States Military Academy was founded in West Point, N.Y., Congress has chartered the U.S. service academies to graduate officers who are capable of serving in leadership roles to protect and defend our nation.

I can tell you from personal experience, as a proud graduate of the Naval Academy, just how competitive and limited admission to the service academies is. There are 4,400 total spots available in each academy, and no more than 1,350 students are admitted each year.

The application process itself is not easy. Nominees are put forward by members of Congress, as well as the president, vice president, and senior military officers.

Generations of service academy graduates have been citizens of incredible distinction and accomplishment: presidents and admirals, Medal of Honor recipients, and Noble Prize winners. Those who would take up the profession of arms, and join their ranks, must clear a high hurdle.

But in recent years, other considerations have begun to displace rigor and merit. Government agency directives and presidential executive orders have mandated increased diversity across the federal workforce.

As part of this initiative, the Department of Defense promotes “equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion” in the service academies, which it oversees.

Today, too often our service academies are using those metrics as a way to maximize the diversity of those admitted, not their merit.

This is discrimination. It is in conflict with our Constitution. And it undermines military readiness at a time of rising threats to America’s safety from strategic competitors, rogue states, and terrorists.

As the new Trump administration takes office next year, our service academies should end the use of race-based admissions.

Race and ethnicity are irrelevant to military success. There is no evidence that an enlisted member or officer’s race or ethnicity affects his or her ability to follow orders or lead peers.

Battlefield success is, however, determined by commitment to a shared mission. Racial preferences in admissions erode the cohesion necessary for that commitment.

Last year, in two separate rulings, the Supreme Court held that race-based preferences in college admissions are unconstitutional.

In the Court’s opinion, the law is “unmistakably clear” that educational opportunities “must be available to all on equal terms” across state-administered and private post-secondary education.

The Court did not address service academies in its ruling because they were not a party to the case.

But even so, in an amicus brief, West Point argued that using race-based admissions is vital to our military because of the diverse set of leaders it supposedly creates.

This is preposterous.

Effective, respected, and country-first and mission-centered leaders are most critical to our military’s ability to fight and win wars — not the arbitrary and ideologically captured idea of “diversity.”

Going forward, the standard of the Court’s ruling should apply to all post-secondary schools, including service academies. There should be no daylight between the legality of racial preferences at our service academies and our private and public colleges.

Equal protection under the law should be applied consistently. Otherwise, it is meaningless and does not safeguard against discrimination.

Ending racial preferences at America’s service academies will strengthen our armed forces and restore trust in the institutions that prepare Americans to serve in them. America’s fighting force should be silent on considerations of race, like the Constitution it defends.

U.S. senator Todd Young (R., Ind.) is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.