Air Force Academy 'cheater' fighting back
Los Angeles Times
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Andrea Prasse, U.S. Air Force Academy Class of 2002, was one of just two women graduating with a degree in aeronautical engineering. Her grades were exemplary, her record unblemished. Fresh-faced and physically fit, she had been singularly focused since age 12 on learning to fly an A-10 Warthog attack plane in combat.
But along the way, a male classmate seemed to become singularly focused on Prasse. He stalked her for nearly a year, she said, demanding to know where she was going, whom she was with. She said he showed up at her dorm room uninvited, and she took to shoving towels under the door so he wouldn't know her light was on.
When she complained, she said, her superiors refused to intervene. Soon after, the cadet whom she had reported charged her with violating the academy's honor code by lying on a class project.
Eight days before graduation, Prasse, 22, was recommended for expulsion, her degree withheld.
Prasse is one of dozens of current and former cadets who in the past decade have reported crimes ranging from harassment to rape. They say their cases have been met with retribution or indifference by their commanding officers.
"My daughter asked for help, and they ignored her all the way up the chain of command," Carol Prasse said.
Air Force Secretary James Roche has defended the decision to handle allegations of sexual misconduct at the academy internally rather than to bring in outside investigators; Air Force officials, he said, are fully capable of conducting the probe.
Roche also revealed that some of the alleged victims were civilians. Officials now are investigating 56 reports of rape and sexual assault, he said.
All Prasse may have to show for the four years of rigor that put her in the top third of her class is an FBI file that flags her as a "person of questionable character," Carol Prasse said.
Since 1996, 99 reports of sexual assault have been received by the academy's hotline. But no cadet has been court-martialed for sexually assaulting another cadet, officials confirmed.
Now a team from the Pentagon is conducting an on-site investigation. Air Force officials are already instituting reforms, including creating gender-separate dorms.
The women at the academy are accomplished athletes and scholars recommended for admission by a member of Congress. They receive a free education valued at $350,000 in exchange for a service commitment of at least five years.
The academy has accepted women since 1976 and 18 percent of the cadets are female. Deference to command is sacrosanct; upperclassmen hold rank and underlings are expected to follow orders without question.
"As a young freshman, you have to take what's given to you. And it's always a test to see how much you can take. If something bad does happen, the answer is always, 'No, sir, I'm OK,' " said Susan Archibald, a former academy professor and alumna who says she was raped by an Air Force priest she had turned to for counseling as a cadet. She is suing the Air Force.
Cadets, like all enlisted people, are subject to the control of the armed services. Constitutional rights are limited; by law, they cannot sue the government. There is no expectation of confidentiality. When a cadet reports a sexual assault, the women say, her conduct is often called into question by superiors.
The pressure is enormous to let it go, cadets and experts agree.
Counselors at a civilian rape crisis center in Colorado Springs say disturbing tales have been coming out of the academy for 15 years, including those of 38 female cadets who sought help after they said they had been raped.
"The problem is they use secrecy to avoid a scandal," Archibald said. "The more sensitive and embarrassing the case, the less likely it is to be prosecuted."
While academy officials conceded that no cadet has been court-martialed on allegations of sexual assault, they said eight male cadets accused of sexual misconduct since 1996 have been expelled "for other reasons" and discharged from the Air Force. Disciplinary action against a ninth is pending.
In Andrea Prasse's case, at least three members of Congress from her home state of Wisconsin have urged the Air Force to release her degree and to honorably discharge her from the Air Force.
"This kid had a great record eight days prior to graduation; not a blemish," said Tom Schreibel, chief of staff for Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis.
It was then that the young man turned the tables, accusing her of an honor code violation, said Lester Pines, an attorney who represented her after the honor board hearing.
The charge centered on a project for an engine design class. Prasse was accused of saying she had drawn a single, 1-inch-long segment of a design when she had actually cut and pasted it from another group's work. She says she acknowledged from the start that she had cut and pasted, which was allowed under the rules. Her teacher supported her account, Pines said.
The board — made up of seven cadets and no commissioned officers — considered only the allegation of cheating; her charge of harassment was never investigated. So, as with many cases at the academy where sexual misconduct or harassment is alleged, it remains her word against his.
When the honor board announced its finding — guilty of lying — Prasse collapsed on the floor and began to vomit.
Now, at her parents' home near Milwaukee, she waits for her lawyers to negotiate her case.
Last month, Lt. Gen. John R. Dallager, the academy superintendent, offered to allow Prasse to return on a six-month "honor probation" to complete training, graduate and be commissioned as a second lieutenant. He called it "the best and most fair decision for Cadet Prasse, the academy and the Air Force."
Given her classmates' hostility — several chat room missives on the cadet Web site read like threats — Prasse says she is not eager to go back.
