This is excellent news. President Obama announced yesterday that he had appointed Susan Hayman, KP ’80, to the Congressional Board of Visitors. You can read the announcement and her bio as provided in the announcement, here. She is a vice president at Foss, and her bio on the Foss website is here. Interesting tidbit there — she was called to active duty in the Navy in 2002, twenty-two years after graduating.
While it looks like Hayman would have been an excellent choice for the BOV at any time, her appointment at this time of turmoil for the Academy is particularly important. With the the sea year stand down cancellation and related SA/SH blood libel against the commercial maritime industry, having a recognized leader from that industry — who happens to also be female, an alumnus, and to have been involved in sea year at at time when female cadets were still a rarity in the industry — can only help bring much needed experience and knowledge to the table.
Sure would be nice to have an email for Ms. Hayman….. We could express our misgivings of the KP “Leadership” directly to her.
In other news, I’ve given my blessing to my Midshipman on exploring a transfer to a State Maritime School. The topic was initiated by my Mid.
Any update from USMMAAF on applications this year? Up, down in quantity? Quality up/down? The more news the “leadership” generates about killing Sea Year, the harder it will be to recruit quality students.
Andy: Just a suggestion: using the term “blood libel” is considered very poor form. And it’s largely considered anti-semitic. At best; it’s super-hyperbole; kind of like saying my parking ticket is akin to the Holocaust.
Jade, I disagree.A blood libel is a malicious false statement designed to undermine the people it is attacking. It refers to false statements about Jews, claiming that they murder Christian children for use in Jewish rituals. Thus, someone who makes that false claim is anti-Semitic. Someone who refers to a blood libel understands that it is a false statement and understand the gravitas of the false statement. I certainly don’t think Benjamin Netanyahu is anti-Semitic. See here and here.
I don’t use the term lightly; but, I think it is particularly apt in this setting.