According to several present and former midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, “woke” ideology has begun to infiltrate the institution in recent years, and its advancement has accelerated during the tenure of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Fox News Digital reported on Friday.
USMMA is an incredibly exclusive institution that is the sole military academy permitted to carry a battle standard due to its 142 casualties during World War II. It is administered by the Department of Transportation and aims to train leaders “who are inspired to serve the national security, marine transportation, and economic needs of the United States,” according to its website.
In January, the academy gained media attention for the debate over “Christ on the Water,” an iconic painting portraying Jesus Christ walking on water towards merchant mariners who were lost at sea. The artwork was created by Hunter Wood, a merchant mariner whose own experiences influenced his artistic creations, and has adorned the Elliot M. See conference room in the administrative Wiley Hall for 76 years.
“Aboard the fragile lifeboats, the men [in World War II] placed their faith in a Power greater than theirs, interpreted here by Hunter Wood in perhaps his most ambitious work,” notes a description of the painting by the USMMA from the 1970s, according to the Fox News report.
Following a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the academy covered the painting with a white curtain. In a letter to USMMA Superintendent Vice Adm. Joanna M. Nunan on January 10, MRFF President and Founder Michael Weinstein argued that displaying the painting violated the First Amendment’s prohibition on establishing religion, the report continued.
It should be noted that midshipmen and women who attend the academy are not required to be religious, let alone pledge faith to the Christian religion, so the MRFF’s claim is preposterous on its face.
Following the academy’s decision to cover the painting and subsequent petitions and letters from various figures, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, the school disclosed that it will reveal the massive artwork. However, it will be relocated to the academy’s chapel, which, according to multiple sources who spoke with Fox News Digital, is susceptible to flooding.
A midshipman from the academy, who requested anonymity and spoke to Fox News Digital, expressed that Nunan is well-equipped for her role and he is uncertain about her involvement in the Jesus painting controversy. However, he revealed that many of his colleagues are dissatisfied with the matter because “there are bigger problems going on with the school.”
Fox News added:
The Jesus painting situation is a symptom of woke-ism that is “absolutely” infiltrating the USMMA, said John Guettlein, a 2022 graduate of the academy who spoke to Fox News Digital from a fishing vessel off the coast of Alaska.
Guettlein pinpointed the school’s COVID-19 vaccine policies as the start of the trend, which he claimed drew pushback from many of the midshipmen when the school began cracking down on the unvaccinated in 2021.
“It was basically [get the vaccine] or get kicked out of the academy, and for an entire year, they were picking off one by one,” he said.
The midshipman further mentioned that initially, around 140 midshipmen declined to take the vaccine, but the number dwindled down to only four students in his graduating class due to the risk of expulsion and having to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarship funds.
According to Guettlein, many of his friends, including freshmen, chose to leave because they didn’t want to attend a school that employed such threats. He added that he and other seniors were better equipped to handle the vaccine requirement because they had already spent a significant amount of time at sea and had “a lot more on the line,” Fox News added.
Several midshipmen who are presently studying at the academy shared concerns about potential retaliation that could harm their professional careers and lead to their blacklisting, and therefore requested anonymity when speaking to Fox News Digital. Nonetheless, they endorsed Guettlein’s argument that the academy has become more politicized in recent years.
“There was a lot less woke stuff around campus, and then it’s just slowly crept in,” a midshipman who has been at the school since 2021 told the outlet, noting how the main passageway of the school was adorned with a mural promoting LGBTQ ideology.
One current senior midshipman told the outlet that he was “really excited” to attend the academy because it seemed like it was “totally immune from anything political.” However, he added that a lot has changed since he has been in attendance.
“We had no discussions on race; we had no discussions on diversity, equity and inclusion,” the midshipman said of when his USMMA career began in 2019. “It was just us as merchant mariners getting together very well, and we have our own very individualistic culture.”
