United States Military Academy at West Point

USMA has Diversity Outreach Officers, who are dedicated state representatives that support minority applicants. Diversity applicants can also participate in the Minority Visitation Program.

Regarding its admission strategies, West Point states that "cultural and socio-economic backgrounds are given appropriate consideration while evaluating all applicants" and that the academy "makes a concerted effort to inform minorities of admissions opportunities, reaching many that might not otherwise apply for admission."

The USMA's 2020-2025 Diversity and Inclusion Plan includes the goal of a "diverse and inclusive environment" in recruiting. The USMA aims to recruit based on the "current and projected demographics of our nation."

On May 9, 2025, the Military Times reported that despite the Supreme Court upholding the practice of affirmative action in U.S. military academies, "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has barred the U.S. military service academies from considering race, gender or ethnicity in their admissions processes." Additionally, the academies have "until the end of the 2026 admissions cycle to comply."

West Point cadets are trained in critical race theory, with material used for cadet training referencing “Modern Day Slavery,” “Racial Inequality and Slavery,” “Whiteness” as “Race Privilege,” “How White Networks Exclude Black Men from Blue-Collar Jobs,” “Queer Theory,” and “Critical Race Theory” among other DEI related topics. Over 600 pages of documents were turned over by the Department of Defense to Judicial Watch including course outlines, course slides, and emails revealing the degree of CRT instruction at West Point.

Cadets at West Point are required to attend at least one mandatory seminar on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” Some seminars included slides on “White Power at West Point” and “Understanding Whiteness and White Rage.”

According to documents obtained by Judicial Watch, West Point had a presentation that discussed "whiteness," which had a slide that said, "In order to understand racial inequality and slavery, it is first necessary to address whiteness." It is unclear whether these presentations were mandatory for all cadets.

Judicial Watch reported that another presentation had a text box which read, "‘Race and the Invisible Hand’ How White Networks Exclude Black Men from Blue-Collar Jobs." The same presentation asked students to, "Use CRT to support your answer."

Another presentation has a slide titled, “Critical Race Theory and Policy," which described CRT has having these characteristics: "Racism is ordinary. Race is socially constructed. White Americans have primarily benefited from civil rights legislation."

The academy's mandatory "Equal Opportunity Program" presentation has a slide on "Unconscious Bias."

The Diversity Forum at West Point "[educates] the Corps of Cadets and our Higher leadership on Diversity Literacy" and provides "education, training, outreach, and advocacy for diversity, equity and inclusion issues for key stakeholders on campus."

Rep. Michael Waltz obtained evidence of critical race theory curriculum being taught to cadets at West Point.

The syllabus for the class, The Politics of Race, Gender, and Sexuality, assigns the text “Critical Race Theory: An Introduction” by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic. The class has a “focus on feminist theory, critical race theory, and queer theory.”

The Academic Program Goals for graduates include analyzing "the history, diversity, complexity, and interaction of cultures," making "meaningful connections and distinctions among diverse experiences and concepts," and conveying "meaningful information to diverse audiences using appropriate forms and media."

The superintendent of West Point suspended a "policy that limited or prevented cadets found in violation of the academy’s honor code from representing the academy in public, including athletes at sports events." This was due to the fact that it has "resulted in an inequitable application of consequences and developmental opportunities for select groups of cadets," according to the American Conservative.

USMA offers a minor in Diversity and Inclusion Studies. The five-course minor includes the following requirements - 2 of 3 of PL377: Social Inequality, EN352: Power and Difference, and SS392: The Politics of Race, Gender, and Sexuality. 1 of 4 of HI391: World Religions, HI461: Sex and Civilizations, HI463: Race, Ethnicity, Nation, and HI398: Society and Culture in American History.

The United States Military Academy at West Point has the Excel Scholars Program intended to work towards “this mission through promoting diversity of the cadet leadership participant pool, identification of promising cadets from historically underrepresented groups, encouragement of ongoing excellence in the academic, military, and physical dimensions of the West Point Leader Development System (WPLDS), and the nurturing of the talent to compete for post-graduate scholarship opportunities.”

The EXCEL Scholars Program at West Point is a "diversity initiative focused on promoting the personal and professional excellence of high-performing cadets from historically underrepresented groups and preparing them to compete for key leadership positions and acceptance into the Graduate Scholars Program, Technical Scholars Program, or Pre-Medical School Scholars Program."

The mission of the Center for Leadership and Diversity in STEM at West Point is to "increase the recruitment and retention of African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, females, and other under-resourced populations in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics." The academy states that "it recognizes the urgent need to do more to increase diversity and innovation in the STEM workforce."

The University has a Diversity and Inclusion Endowment Fund, which ensures that "vital diversity and inclusion programs and Margin of Excellence initiatives continue to thrive, even during uncertain funding scenarios." The fund covers several programs and events such as the LEADS program, the Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Conference, and the Women's Leadership Conference.

There are several funding opportunities related to Diversity and Inclusion such as DEI initiatives, which require a $2.4 million endowment. The overall funding needed for the various programs totals over $7.5 million.

The USMA supports fourteen "Diversity Clubs" on campus through collaboration and occasional funding "for trips and other initiatives."

The academy added an office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity in 2014. The ODIEO "identifies and advocates diversity and inclusion awareness opportunities and implements diversity training and education programs that develop socio-cultural competencies to meet the multicultural demand of the Army’s workforce."

The Diversity Forum at West Point "[e]mpower[s] our Minority Communities to enact the change they wish to see in the institution, while ensuring there is a feedback loop within our communities."

On October 2, 2023, the Heritage Foundation published an article titled, "At West Point, Racism Becomes More Important Than Military Readiness," which concluded that the "admissions policy at West Point, one of our premier military academies, is even more blatantly racist than Harvard and UNC."

On August 16, 2023, West Point News reported that its cadets and staff would "join local Army Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets to lead the fifth annual West Point Leadership Ethics and Diversity in a STEM Workshop on Sept. 14 at Highlands High School in San Antonio, Texas." The goals of the workshop are to "provide participants with opportunities to lead diverse groups, practice team building, and STEM skills...."

According to the Military Times, "two federal judges recently rejected legal attempts to halt affirmative action in the military’s service academies." The decision temporarily allows the Military Academies to continue utilizing race-based admissions while the Courts process pending lawsuits.

In a letter to the West Point superintendent from Congressman Mike Waltz, the statesman detailed a panel that cadets were required to go to where "an active duty female colonel described to the Corps how she became ‘woke’ to her white privilege, and felt guilty for the advantages of her race." Waltz documented that "at this same assembly, white police officers were described as murderers with no context or court documents provided to corroborate the anecdotes of police brutality."

In 2023 the USMA hosted a Diversity and Inclusion Conference themed "Shaping Tomorrow’s Defense: The Intersection of Diversity, Innovation and National Defense.” The conference discussed the "best practices on developing inclusive leaders and how to leverage their talents to enhance collaboration, communication, engagement, and innovation within their organizations.”

The Office of Engagement and Retention was created as the "focal point for West Point Diversity and Inclusion outreach initiatives, projects, and plans." In a statement titled "Why Diversity Matters," the Office stated, "It is imperative that the [USMA] leverages all aspects of the nation’s diversity to include gender, ethnicity, religion, education, thought, sexual orientation, and cultural background to create and sustain an inclusive organization that attracts the best the Nation has to offer."

On November 13, 2024, The Washington Examiner published an article titled "West Point effort to hide DEI campaign called out" which reported that the "military’s larger DEI campaign is coming under fire now that President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a Defense secretary who wants to end the efforts." Additionally, the non-profit group Judicial Watch, who has continued a "long campaign to call out and halt" DEI programs in the military, "sued for details about West Point’s shift."

On April 15, 2024, West Point announced that its cadets and staff would "lead the West Point Leadership Ethics And Diversity in STEM Workshop on April 18-20 at United Laboratories in Evanston, Ill."

The West Point USMA Library will "adopt new priorities for the development of our collections to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive" and will "continue a commitment to discuss and engage our staff on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion through a series of staff conversations."

The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science hosts the Jean Bartik Computing Symposium which "seeks to promote fellowship among women and minorities in computing majors at the service academies and provide technical training through interactive workshops to make them competitive for their future careers in service to the nation."

On January 23, 2025, Campus Reform reported that West Point "appears to have ended its 'Diversity and Inclusion Studies' minor." According to former Department of Education Press and current spokesperson from the Defense of Freedom Institute Angela Morabito, the academy's page has been "scrubbed."

On January 30, 2024, Courthouse News reported that the Biden Administration "told the Supreme Court on Tuesday to reject an attempt to halt the use of race in West Point admissions, stating that diversity is a national security imperative." According to U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, "'A lack of diversity in leadership can jeopardize the Army’s ability to win wars'."

On February 5, 2025, the Associated Press reported that West Point has "disbanded a dozen West Point cadet clubs centered on ethnicity, gender, race and sexuality in response to the Trump administration’s push to eliminate diversity programs throughout government." Cadet clubs shut down include the Asian-Pacific Forum Club, Latin Cultural Club, National Society of Black Engineers Club and Society of Women Engineers Club.

The academy created the Diversity Forum. Its Mission Statement reads, "Nested in the West Point Leadership Center, the Diversity Forum provides diverse exposure, unique education opportunities, and empowerment activities for cadets to lead on topics of diversity, inclusion, and equity."

On May 14, 2021, West Point held its annual awards ceremony where staff and faculty members received awards for their efforts towards diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Former West Point cadets told Fox News that they recalled briefings on "white rage" and "extremism."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley defended the study of Critical Race Theory in a June 2021 congressional hearing. Milley said, "So what is wrong with understanding, having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend? And I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, non-commissioned officers of being, quote, ‘woke’ or something else, because we're studying some theories that are out there."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in June 2021, "We do not teach critical race theory, we don’t embrace critical race theory and I think that’s a spurious conversation...We are focused on extremist behaviors, and not ideology, not people’s thoughts, not people’s political orientation."

In an October 2020 document, the USMA describes two core strategic imperatives, one of which is to "build diverse and effective winning teams" through "diversity and inclusiveness in our Army." Team strength is defined solely on its "ability to leverage diversity across the spectrum."

The Academy's Superintendent, LTG Gilland, announced that during the holiday break of 2022, "We will begin a multi-phased process, in accordance with Department of Defense (DoD) directives, to remove, rename or modify assets and real property at the United States Military Academy (USMA) and West Point installation that commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy or those who voluntarily served with the Confederacy." The process would include removing several Robert E. Lee statues at the academy, as well as replacing names on "streets, buildings, and areas throughout West Point currently named for individuals who served in the Confederacy."