The California Maritime Training Ship ‘Golden Bear’ (Photo: CSU Maritime Academy)
By Stas Margaronis
In This Report:
- How Some Maritime Schools Address Harassment
- CMA Commandant Suspended After Speaking Out Against Racism and Sexism
- CMA Taking Steps To Address Harassment
- CMA’s Cropper Addresses Hate Speech
- CMA Changes Encourage Cautious Optimism
- Sophie Scopazzi Challenges The CMA System
- Commandant Lombardo: A Role Model?
- Conclusion
The California State University Maritime Academy, formerly known as California Maritime Academy (CMA), at Vallejo, CA, shocked many maritime professionals when it suspended a senior official for speaking out against racist and sexist threats on campus.
How Some Maritime Schools Address Harassment
The Cal Maritime incident occurred at the same time as:
- A female U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Midshipmen, Midshipmen X, anonymously reported that she was raped during the ‘Sea Year’ training program on a U.S. flagged ship.[1] The program and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point New York, were the subject of repeated warnings about the need for better controls and safety. On October 12th 2021, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, requested a response from Maritime Administrator Lucinda Lessley regarding incidents posted on the Maritime Legal Aid website (maritimelegalaid.com) related to sexual harassment: ”I write to express my grave concern over the allegations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment made by midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (“USMMA”) and the response by you and others at the Department of Transportation (“DOT”). Through the Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (“MLAA”) … victims’ stories of shipboard sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape have bravely shared their personal stories in blog posts on the group’s website … The despicable accounts put forth by brave young women and men just starting promising careers in the maritime industry are frightening and unacceptable. Many of these allegations involve a repeated pattern of crimes and intimidations committed by people in positions of power and responsibility on merchant ships, and include alleged poor oversight or policy failures of USMMA officials and Coast Guard investigators.”[2] The disclosure by ‘Midshipmen X’ prompted other women to come forward and reveal that they had also been raped at sea or at their maritime schools. At CMA, a student set up a website for women and men to report sexual harassment. One U.S. Merchant Marine Academy respondent to the Midshipmen X incident wrote: “Retired military officers or industry leaders simply do not possess the skill sets to administer an institution of higher learning.”[3] The suspension of the ‘Sea Year’ program has since resumed, according to Acting U.S. Maritime Administrator Lucinda Lessley with: “a multipart plan to provide safety for all cadets and indeed for all mariners on commercial vessels.”[4]
- The State University of New York Maritime College commissioned a report to help the school address harassment issues. The report entitled “External Regimental Review Final Report’ dated February 24th, 2022 found that: “During the interviews with the Cadets, the ERRC (External Regimental Review Committee) heard many times that sexual harassment and racial harassment does not receive the proper treatment from either the Regiment or the administration, and people aren’t held accountable for their behavior.” [5]
- A December, 2021 review of bullying and harassment was authored by Cecilia Österman and Magnus Boström at Kalmar Maritime Academy in Sweden. It is entitled: ‘Workplace bullying and harassment at sea: A structured literature review:” The review found the following reports:” In Nielsen…, about 8% of all seafarers reported that they had been exposed to at least one bullying behaviour per week during the last six months period. Similarly, in Malinauskiene … and Jonutyte… 10% of the seafarers reported occasional bullying and 4% severe bullying. Forsell… et al. reported that about 22% of all men and 45% of all women seafarers had been exposed to offensive actions or harassment during the past 12 months. However, women engine crew reported an even higher exposure (58%). Women also report a greater risk of being exposed to sexual harassment. In the earliest included study from 1995, Newell et al. showed that 33% of women officers and 44% of enlisted women in the U.S. Navy reported experiences of sexual harassment during the 12-month reporting period. In later studies, about 17% of women seafarers reported that sexual harassment is currently an issue for them, and 1% of cadets have experienced sexual assault during their time on board.”[6]
- In December, 2021 the U.S. Coast Guard warned in ‘Reporting Sexual Assaults on U.S. Vessels’ that sexual assault on U.S. vessels is a crime and should be reported: “While the law requires the master or individual in charge of a U.S. documented vessel to make that report, too often sexual assaults go unreported. To overcome this challenge, the Coast Guard encourages all victims and witnesses of sexual assaults onboard U.S. vessels to report directly to the Coast Guard. Reports can be made via phone to the National Command Center at 202-372-2100, which is available 24/7 to field reports that initiate investigations.”[7]
G-Captain, a maritime news service widely read by professional mariners, has taken a leadership role in reporting about sexual and racial harassment issues at U.S. Maritime schools.
CMA Commandant Suspended After Speaking Out Against Racism and Sexism
The CMA suspension was disclosed by G-Captain on December 27th, 2021:
“After a student’s racially and sexually threatening texts to another cadet went public, one of Cal Maritime’s faculty commandants forwarded the messages to the student body, loudly condemning the vile behavior and exhorting students and staff to treat each other with respect. She was suspended less than a day later, and less than a week before she was to rotate out prior to deployment with the U.S. Army.
Sgt. 1st Class Carissa Lombardo, Cal Maritime’s commandant of maritime policy and management, was suspended with pay after forwarding a racially and sexually abusive text thread to students on campus in an email that vociferously condemned the abuse and questioned why students weren’t demanding more of their peers.
“I ask again… WHERE ARE YOU? Where are you Cadets?” she asked in the letter, which also contained the incendiary messages themselves. “If you’re going to stand against hate, then stand up against ALL types of hate!”
In the letter, she also addresses the failure of the school to intervene.
“Where are you Faculty? Where are you Staff? Where are you Senior Leadership? NOBODY has publicly addressed this. WHO is standing up for this female Cadet? WHO is standing up for ANY Cadet who has been targeted thru anonymous means? “[8]
CMA Taking Steps To Address Harassment
A source at CMA, who asked not to be identified, said that Cal Maritime is taking steps to address the problems that surfaced in 2021:
“Last semester was traumatic, but I feel we’ve turned the corner. We now have a full-time Title IX person on campus and three deputy assistants so significantly expanding that program.”
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title IX states:” No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”[9]
The U.S. Department of Education plans to issue its proposed Title IX regulation governing how colleges and K-12 schools should investigate and punish sexual violence in May, and not in April as it said previously.Catherine Lhamon, who leads the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, said in December the agency intended to make public this month its draft rule on Title IX, the cornerstone federal law banning sex-based discrimination and sexual misconduct in educational settings. A department spokesperson told Higher Ed Dive that to ensure the agency “is able to devote thoughtful and appropriate attention to these issues,” its new timeline to release the draft rule is next month. Please see the full story here: https://www.highereddive.com/news/education-department-plans-to-issue-title-ix-proposal-in-may-not-april-as/622833/
CMA’s Cropper Addresses Hate Speech
On November 15th, 2021 CMA President Rear Admiral (ret) Tom Cropper issued a statement addressing the issue of language and veiled death threats:
“We too, here at our academy, have had violations of our values – on board our training ship and landside. These deplorable incidents have spurred strong campus concern for our culture, concerns I share.”
Cropper described threatening language as ‘troubling’ but also an expression of freedom of speech: “The most recent incident is especially troubling because, while it occurred within constitutionally-protected free speech which I will defend for everyone at our academy, it was disrespectful and denigrating to the very people who are part of our maritime campus community – human beings who are qualified, were selected, and who belong here.”
Cropper says he supports diversity:
“In particular, I was extremely discouraged to read a text conversation between our cadets with words expressed that are offensive, spiteful and highly disappointing. … I fully support and stand with the members of our community who identify as nonbinary, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. LGBTQ cadets, faculty and staff belong here, which means the academy values them as full members and gains strength from them.”[10]
To some people, Cropper gave the impression that hate speech and veiled death threats were expressions of freedom of speech that he would defend. These were concepts that not everyone agreed with at CMA.
The source said: “ it was inconsistent with what a lot of people thought should be done. That left a lot of us scratching our heads. The language speaks for itself, it’s horrible. “
CMA Changes Encourage Cautious Optimism
Nevertheless, the source is: “cautiously optimistic. There are new women in senior leadership positions.”
There will be new controls in place to insure against harassment of students on campus and during the CMA training cruise:
“ I think there is going to be a heightened tension to everything on this cruise, especially when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, Title IX issues. We’re doing more Title IX training for everybody. There’s going to be a Title IX officer on the ship. I’m confident that this cruise is going to be a better cruise. We also have an interim captain sailing who is new. I think people are cautiously optimistic about that as well. We are also going to be calling for more training for the officers who come on the ship as well and the visiting officers. It’s about changing the culture and that takes time. “
There are also a number of promising innovations going on:
1) A new energy and sustainability officer on campus who has spearheaded a lot of development, for example, for plugged in vehicles: “There are more spaces for plugged in vehicles then plugged in vehicles, right now.”
2) Cal Maritime is the only maritime academy providing a dynamic positioning course that is approved by the Nautical Institute.
Sophie Scopazzi Challenges The CMA System
In an interview, Sophie Scopazzi, a transgender California Maritime student, says she was one of the targets of hate speech messages. Scopazzi said she was a recipient: “These messages were from members of the campus community specifically talking about transgender individuals, specifically using slurs about transwomen. I since had veiled threats sent after inviting people who had sexual harassment incidents to share their experiences on the website I made. (CSUMStudentVoice.org)”
In January, Scopazzi helped win changes to CMA grooming standards that were approved by President Cropper and read in part: “… no element of the proposed new standards is more restrictive than those previously in place; restrictions were removed and a greater latitude for individual expression was incorporated, without compromising overall visual consistency of the uniform.”[11]
Scopazzi will be graduating next year and hopes to work on a tanker. She said CMA has not taken strong enough action against racism and sexism.
She blames, among others, CMA President Tom Cropper:
“…The people in the group chat were removed from their Corps positions but not from being students at CMA. I went through the Title IX process, filed a complaint against these students. The CSU system upheld their right to freedom of speech which protected their right to say it … terrible hate speech and what not. I absolutely agree that you have a right to say that as an American. What I got out of it was that the CSU (California State University) Chancellor’s Office is okay with hate speech on CSU campuses … Just like our president … President Tom Cropper, took the route of protecting the First Amendment right of students who said those terrible things on our campus. You can’t say everyone belongs here; you need to have standards. I am kind of shocked that the academy is willing to have people like that as representatives when they graduate. The CMA Corps commander and several students were saying some really terrible things. Said to send transgender students to Afghanistan, to use them as cannon fodder.”
She said the racist messages have also discouraged minority students: “There’s a handful of African-American students – we don’t have a lot of minorities in general. And we definitely don’t have a lot of African-American students. The incident Commandant Lombardo spoke out about absolutely scared a lot of minority people that I know.”
Regarding the treatment of women, Scopazzi said:
“As far as the treatment of women at CMA, I don’t think it has gotten better or worse. There are more people talking about these issues so in that sense, it could have gotten better but I also think it’s a little too soon to tell … we have our training cruise this summer so we’ll see how that goes. When you only have less than 20% of the campus who are women and the rest are men, you’re going to have problems, especially in a more conservative leaning campus culture such as CMA . For transpeople, there are only a handful of us, and so it’s really tough and it’s fallen on us to educate people … I don’t feel comfortable telling a woman to come here unless I tell all of the backstories and then they get to make their own decision. They need to come here with their eyes open about what to expect.”
Scopazzi said the harassment of a male student on the CMA training cruise last summer demonstrated the depth of the problems: “… during the last summer training cruise … students took off a cadet’s door and put another one on that had a window in it and they wrote “Gay Peepshow” on the bulkheads among other drawings and words. When I made my website and publicized what’s been going on in general the CSU Chancellor’s Office finally decided to investigate what happened. But my campus leaders only wanted to investigate the second training cruise, not the first to see what happened there.”
Scopazzi said administrators need to take stronger action on hate speech:
“And then my experience with the administration like following the email sent comparing transwomen to castrated dogs (resulted in the administrator who) defended the student saying ‘Oh he’s ignorant, he’s from a family with different views, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’ And they explained hate speech away: ‘Oh people are ignorant.’ I hear that a lot during my time here with administrators.”
She says the problem with CMA administrators begins at the top: “We’re going to need a president whose going to take a stand about these things instead of protecting bad people under the freedom of speech argument. Yes, we have the freedom of speech, but don’t actively support and defend people who say atrocious things.”
She said freedom of speech would not have shielded a student who threated President Cropper: “So if I call President Cropper names, they’re gonna punish me but if a student calls me things, they’re going to say its freedom of speech. President Cropper … doesn’t know how to lead on these issues. So, there are people under him who do know what they should be doing but they also want to keep their jobs. There are people in the administration who care and who try but they feel they cannot speak out the way they would like to. They saw what happened to Commandant Lombardo.”
Commandant Lombardo: A Role Model?
Scopazzi praised the whistle-blowing of Commandant Lombardo and said she is the type of person who ought to be leading CMA:
“Lombardo did what our president should have done. Clearly enumerating, ‘this happened and this is not okay.’ She made it abundantly clear, ‘this is not acceptable.’ Cropper enables the wrong people and makes them feel justified in what they said – bashing transpeople. They can do that in America, but not at a CSU campus … talking about wanting people to be killed. Murders of transpeople have only gotten worse since 2017. Every year more transpeople are getting killed in the United States just for being a trans. The culture is: ‘Shut up, deal with it, and stop making waves.’”
Conclusion
The California State University Maritime Academy and other maritime schools may soon find themselves in more demand as a result of the construction and manning of zero emission vessels, more coastal and inland waterway vessels to support increased exports and the construction and deployment of offshore wind farms requiring support vessels and cable-laying vessels. However, these exciting opportunities cannot be realized by maritime schools and their graduates as long as bullying, harassment and racism obscure the optics of what should be a promising maritime future for the United States.
FOOTNOTES
[1] https://gcaptain.com/usmma-sea-year-training-to-resume-with-mandatory-safety-standards-to-protect-cadets-from-sexual-assault-and-harassment/
[2] https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/10-12-21-USMMA-SASH-letter-to-AA-Lessley-311.pdf
[3] https://www.maritimelegalaid.com/kings-point/kings-point-remains-a-backward-looking-institution
[4] https://ajot.com/insights/full/ai-mards-lessley-says-ports-will-receive-2-billion
[5] https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ERR-PDF.pdf
[6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X21005212?via%3Dihub
[7] https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/MSIB/2021/MSIB-11-21_Sexual_Assault_Reporting_Requirements(17Dec21)%20Final.pdf?ver=4erLhJrYh_9LTHfv8ZmNKA%3d%3d×tamp=1639761522142
[8] https://gcaptain.com/cal-maritime-commandant-suspended-speaking-out-against-sexual-racial-harassment/
[9] https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html
[10] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BrqSSdGBoP8Gm_A1VnaBkKE2MEzteU31/view
[11] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FjICFHBSIDxz9ms4U6-Bml2hBB_ehUHb/view