THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 4, 1995 TAG: 9504040465
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
More than a third of the women cadets at the nation's military academies say they have encountered ``unwelcome, deliberate physical contact of a sexual nature,'' according to a congressional report.
The report Monday by the General Accounting Office updates a January 1994 version that detailed sweeping harassment of women in the academies, as well as an attitude among male recruits that females don't belong in the armed services.
The latest study added a question that was modeled on the Department of Defense definition of sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination involving ``unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature'' that could affect a person's job, pay or career; interfere with an individual's performance; or create an ``intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.''
The GAO surveyed female recruits at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.; the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.; and the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo., during the 1993-94 academic year.
Similar to its previous findings, the most common forms of sexual harassment were verbal comments and visualdisplays, such as offensive posters or signs and graffiti.
But in response to the added question, between 36 percent and 42 percent of the women at each school reported being exposed at least once or twice to ``unwelcome, deliberate physical contact of a sexual nature,'' which was defined in the report as groping, patting, fondling, kissing or hugging.
Between 39 percent and 42 percent said the contact affected their performance or rendered the environment intimidating, hostile or offensive.
And between 60 percent and 72 percent of the women reported some exposure to repeated unwelcome verbal comments related to their gender, and said that the remarks sometimes created an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.
Meanwhile, less than one-fourth of the academy women - between 11 percent and 22 percent - reported that the sexual advances they encountered were tied to some aspect of their budding military careers.
Among male recruits, only 11 percent reported suffering some form of recurring sexual harassment. Overall, they perceived an improvement in the atmosphere for reporting sexual harassment, the report said.
The proportion of women at the Naval and Air Force academies who reported experiencing at least one of 10 forms of sexual harassment also was 20 percentage points higher at each school than when the GAO surveyed students in 1990-91.
The GAO issued the January 1994 report, which was a survey of the 1990-91 school year, as part of a series of reports originally requested by Sens. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., and John Glenn, D-Ohio. The latest report compared results of the 1990-91 survey with results from the 1993-94 year.
KEYWORDS: STUDY MILITARY ACADEMIES SEXUAL HARRASSMENT by CNB