Respondents are asked to agree or disagree. One question asks if VMI cadets “socialize and hang out in groups that are racially integrated.” The first flaw in this question is imprecision. Respondents are, in effect, invited to supply their own definitions.ĭamned if you do, damned if you don’t. As commonly used in other campus surveys, “sexual assault” can range from offenses that anyone would characterize as an assault, such as rape or sodomy, to unwanted touching. The questionnaire asks respondents if they have been “sexually assaulted” at VMI without providing a definition of what constitutes a sexual assault. One question asks if “VMI leaders genuinely care about increasing the demographic diversity of the Institute.” Another asks respondents to agree or disagree with the statement, “VMI faculty care about getting the views and perspective of all types of cadets.” How would students or alumni know what VMI leaders care about, or whether that care is genuine? Mind reading is not a class taught at VMI. Allegations of racism might provide leads for Barnes & Thornburg to investigate but are worthless as evidence.
While the survey asks respondents if they have personally experienced racism or witnessed racism, it also asks if they have “heard” reports of racism. Some would like to restore sanctions, not loosen them. Some criticize the administration’s recent decision to cease announcing the name of honor offenders during drumming out ceremonies. Traditionalists might support “reform” of the Honor Code, but not for reasons cited by the Post.
VMI ALUMNI POSTVIEW ACCESS CODE
The Honor Code has come under attack from The Washington Post for, among other features, its single sanction of expulsion and its drumming-out ceremony. For example, the questionnaire asks if respondents support or oppose “reforming the Honor Court” system. Several questions lend themselves to misinterpretation that will render any responses suspect. One question opens with this phrase: “Recent measures taken by VMI leadership to address issues of race and equity…” To most Americans, “equity” means something like “fairness” or “equal treatment.” In CRT-speak, the term amounts to “equality of outcome.” The use of this vocabulary is a clear tip-off of the investigators’ ideological leanings. The survey contains a loaded term that has specific meaning to adherents of Critical Race Theory (CRT), which asserts that racism is endemic in American society.
VMI ALUMNI POSTVIEW ACCESS PROFESSIONAL
Professional survey designers no doubt could find others. Here follow the flaws and limitations that struck me. Outsiders need to be allowed to access the data to verify the investigators’ conclusions.
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To maintain credibility, the report needs to release the entire survey result, including cross-tabs. Given the way the questionnaire was constructed, the investigators could well find data to support whatever conclusions it wants.īarnes & Thornburg is scheduled to issue a final report in June. After reviewing the VMI racism survey, I can see why alumni are alarmed. Having had some experience years ago as publisher of Virginia Business magazine in composing readership surveys, I know how important it is to word questions carefully. Not only are traditions surrounding the academy’s controversial Confederate heritage at stake, but so, too, are such core VMI institutions as the adversarial rat line and the single-sanction honor code.Ī copy of the questionnaire was dropped on my doorstep late one night last week, and I have been examining it closely since then.
As part of its contract with the Northam administration, Barnes & Thornburg will issue recommendations to address the investigation’s findings. The stated goal is to “better understand the environment and culture of VMI as an institution.”īut many VMI alumni are wondering if the real purpose is to generate data to support a predetermined conclusion: that VMI is a hotbed of racism. As part of its “equity audit” at the Virginia Military Institute, the Barnes & Thornburg law firm is conducting a survey of VMI cadets, alumni, professors and staff to gauge perceptions of racism at the military academy.
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