Tommy Tuberville Accuses U.S. Military Academies Of Teaching 'Critical Race Theory'

3/28/2025

During his opening remarks of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the status of military service academies on Wednesday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (D-AL) accused U.S. Military Academies of teaching critical race theory to cadets.

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Transcript

00:00I'd like to call this committee hearing in session.

00:05Armed Service Subcommittee on Personnel meets this afternoon to conduct oversight and receive

00:11testimony on the status of the military service academies.

00:15Thank you for being here.

00:16The last time this body conducted a hearing on this topic with these witnesses or with

00:22any witnesses with the academies was more than 30 years ago.

00:26We're fortunate to have these three distinguished officers here today.

00:30Lieutenant General Stephen Gillen, U.S. Military Academy, Vice Admiral Yvette Davids of the

00:35Naval Academy, and Lieutenant General Tony Barenfine, it's going to be a long day.

00:46As this is the first meeting of the Personnel Subcommittee in 119th Congress, let me begin

00:50by saying I look forward to working with you, Ranking Member Warren, thank you for being

00:54here.

00:55We continue the bipartisan tradition of the Armed Services Committee in developing the

00:59National Defense Authorization Act.

01:02Nothing is more bipartisan than supporting our men and women in uniform and their families.

01:07This subcommittee has a long history of prioritizing the well-being and morale of our service members,

01:13and I'm eager to continue that work as new chairman.

01:16The military service academies are foundational to the successes of the military officer court.

01:23In many ways, the service academies establish the culture of their respected service.

01:28Moreover, the academics occupy an important position, or the academies occupy an important

01:34position in our society.

01:35They are perhaps the last universities in the country that focus on building character

01:40and improving the morality of their student body.

01:44The American people often perceive the academies as being emblematic of the entire U.S. military,

01:51for better or for worse.

01:53Over the last several years, the academies have lost sight in some areas of the fundamental

01:57reason for their existence, which is the commission of officers with the education required by

02:05the respective military branches.

02:07All three academies have been sued for engaging in race-based affirmative action that is now

02:13prohibitive at every other university in the country.

02:17We have repeatedly heard over the last several years that our diversity is our strength.

02:21It is not.

02:22Diversity can be an awesome advantage, but our unity of effort and shared benefits in

02:27our Constitution and common values are our strength.

02:31Diversity for the sake of diversity alone weakens us.

02:33A professor at the Air Force Academy proudly authored a Washington Post op-ed proclaiming

02:39that she teaches critical race theory to cadets.

02:42Both West Point and the Air Force Academy establish diversity and inclusion minors,

02:47which can be trendy in other university settings, but were so unpopular with cadets that when

02:54they were abruptly canceled by President Trump, hardly anyone noticed.

02:58More importantly, any effort to teach our future leaders to judge or sort people by

03:02immutable characteristics like race runs counter to the Constitution and is devastating to

03:11good order and discipline.

03:13Last fall, the Naval Academy appropriately canceled a lecture after it was revealed that

03:18the speaker planned to use the opportunity to make a partisan political speech, but one

03:22must ask, why was this speaker invited in the first place?

03:26The academics must always remember, or the academies must always remember that they were

03:31created in the first place.

03:33The American people devote tremendous resources to maintaining all of these institutions.

03:39If the academics are not entirely focused on building officers' character and to lead

03:45our nation's sons and daughters in combat, then what is the purpose?

03:49I hope our witnesses will address these criticisms, but also tell us about the great things that

03:55are happening every day at the academies.

03:58The vast majority of the cadets and midshipmen, faculty, and staff at the service academies

04:02are properly focused on the only mission that matters, which is defending our Constitution

04:08and the American people.

04:09I thank the witness for appearing here today, and I look forward to their testimony.

Tommy Tuberville Accuses U.S. Military Academies Of Teaching 'Critical Race Theory'

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