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UMUC - European Division - Mason G Daly - Graduation Speech - Blunt Items and Gentle Bravery - 1965
No full textEurope;Hoffmann, RosemaryGraduation Speech Dr. Mason G. Daly
Director, European Division
University of Maryland
BLUNT ITEMS AND GENTLE BRAVERY
Graduation speakers, it has always seemed to me, are (one) too long winded, and (two) afraid to be blunt about the advice they hand out. It matters a lot that they are too long winded because they trap and torture• a group of graduates who are understandably ready to jump right out of their skins with relief and joy. It matters a great deal less that their advice is not blunt enough to be heeded because it is a rare group of graduates which is really changed by any speaker who might happen along in this graduation ritual.
But your school officials want me to say something that may keep you inside your skins for the next few minutes. I'll try to be brief, and I intend to be blunt.
I will start by admitting that I actually represent all the adults here today who are just a little reluctant to grant that you are once and for all, for better or for worse, at the close of adolescence. In actual fact, we know that most of you left adolescence behind several years ago; most of us are startled at how early you seem to gain some semblance of maturity, even if we hate to admit it publicly. I'll admit that I have a nine year old teenaged daughter right now on my hands. If present trends can't be headed off, the whole count-down of what is pre-teen and teen-age and adolescent and grown up will have to be changed. Whatever the countdown should be, however, we adults tonight insist that we confer upon you, here and now, a kind of adult-hood when we confer that diploma. A kind of intellectual as well as chronological maturity has been arrived at, and reluctantly but inevitably we adults have to recognize it; it can't be postponed one day more. In a sense, then, this speech from me is our last gasp of delay -and, well, you can't expect us to give it up, can you?
Let’s be blunt, then, in this last gasp from this adult representing these adults. Blunt item: you graduates have achieved these diplomas by some hard work, sure, but not a single one of you paid your own freight. But then, why should you? Society, the Air Force, your parents, invest in many things, and one thing in which they never over-invest is intellectual training. You are in debt to society, and I suppose to the Air Force and to your parents, but this is one debt that will be paid off-not always by each individual, but by this generation, by this whole class. Another blunt item: that sheepskin won't get or hold a job for you, my young friends. It doesn't guarantee personal profit to you. It isn't the sheepskin it used to be when your dad or mother graduated, when I got it. Although it probably stands for better education than many of ours did, it has in this society been downgraded in its' assurances of success. Even while it became enriched and became more available to more of your fellow citizens, it became less an end in itself - in fact became no end at all compared to what it once was. But this is not to be regretted or despaired over. A college diploma is no more unattainable to the average American citizen with reasonable intelligence and reasonable ambition than the high school diploma was to my generation of Americans. That diploma, while not so much the end in itself that it was, then, is a far more certain stepping stone.
Blunt item: you have finished this phase of your education in a time of wild uncertainty, unrest, unprecedented change. Anyone, without half trying, can be mighty bleak or cynical, even despairing -and some of your generation is getting pretty far out of it all. You can play it cool, but you have no right to abdicate hope at this time. You are of the at least partially educated brood of the most powerful nation on earth. You are citizens of a country that is fat while much of the world is lean or hungry or starving. Sure, there are alarms and excursions and panic buttons and there will be times when you will want to say -"Let someone else make the hard decisions as to what our policy and our purpose should be. Just let me have a little corner in suburbia and the golf course or a little corner in a military housing area, also with golf course." Whole nations live and die without having any opportunity to be decisive upon the history of our time when it is written. Whole generations live and die without being anything to the course of history. Not so with America; not so with your generation . It is this America and it is your generation, however you live or die, which will determine human history on this tormented globe. There may be suburban homes and golf courses, but there will be no abdication.
Blunt item: you are approaching the age of full citizenship, with that diploma tucked under your arm, at a time when the greatest stain on our society is being washed in public -with the whole world looking on. It took us a long time to realize that you don't keep a man in the ditch without staying down there in the ditch with him. We learned it the hard way; and although much ugliness is still before us, the back of segregation is broken and a whole new era is before you new citizens of America. You have had a chance, in the education you have already had -an education denied millions of Americans your age, both black and white -to pick up a few ideas about the dignity and the freedom of the individual, about his right to be different, about his right to be wrong, about his right to be black, about his rights under the law. You are going to have the agony of living with underdeveloped citizens who will have the same franchise you have until we all together, but you especially, get them ready for the full citizenship they just now are gaining. It isn't going to be an easy time. It isn't going to be heaven. But it is not going to be the hell that one-tenth of our population has known in the recent past.
Blunt item: President Johnson is always talking about the Great Society we are forging, but apart from the political catchword that it is also, his Great Society is a long way off, and yet it is right at hand. In that Society our deep racial tensions are on the surface now and being dealt with. That Society, great or not, is going to be made up (while you are young and productive and taxpaying) of millions of elderly citizens. Now, these elderly citizens, without your concern, are not likely to have golden years at the end, but rather will have barren, horrible years. I will become, my young friends, and so will your parents become, your greatest responsibilities and your greatest, most tormenting problem as we age and age and populate the nation with a staggering percentage of old, rather useless, but altogether human and deserving beings. And, you know, you will live to be still older citizens than your parents and I can ever dream of being The Society, great or not, is one that will have violence and crime in its midst so long as you and I permit so much of its citizenry to be underprivileged and undereducated. Two and a half million crimes are committed in our fat and frustrating land each year. The Society, great as it may become, is riddled with anxiety about job displacement, resulting from automation. Half, perhaps two- thirds of you will start out in jobs, even spend half your working lifetime in jobs, which will altogether disappear from human endeavor before you finish this life. All of you are apt to spend more time as retired people than you ever spend as workers. But the anxiety which pervades the Society you are entering is that you will spend more working years as unemployed or unemployable than you spend as workers. The Society, great or not, is one that will have produced more than seven and one-half million dropouts from high school in the 1960's, thus marring our society and our future in a dreadful and wasteful way. And don't be too proud that you were smart enough, or prodded along enough, to stay on to the finish. Some pride is warranted, yes, but you have not experienced the hopelessness, boredom, and despair that others your age have lived in this Society. You have had your break; now see to it that this dreadful waste does not increase in the 70's; see to it that it is eliminated.
Those are some blunt items concerning our Society, which does have some promise, through you, of becoming more than a political slogan, does have-a chance of becoming the Great Society.
My last gasp before your adulthood is conferred must include two or three other blunt items.
Another: we may have orbited men for days and days in space and had them taking space walks. We may have an enormous stake in the vast adventures of outer space. But I should not have to remind you that the most important space in the world is within the three pounds of the human brain. It is in that "inner space" that much of man's salvation will have to be worked out. There is so much that is unexplored in the nature of man and what it is in that skull of his that has caused generations and millenniums to be blighted because he has not learned how to live peacefully on this earth and how to enjoy the life he has. Our nation, you, must not, therefore; lose the sense of perspective over the exotic vistas of the stars. We must not become "space happy" and "earth sad." There are three billion of us spinning on this planet, and spawning on this planet at a rate that will surely destroy us in a few more generations unless we get things sorted out in that brain, in those instincts we have. There is no "salvation" for us on the moon or on Venus or Mars. We must work out our salvation here on earth -through this most fantastic of instruments – the human mind.
Blunt item: You will have to learn to live with the many fears that plague mankind, and those many fears are by no means imaginary. We have many times already in your short lives seen how slim the thread is that holds that nuclear sword of Damocles. We have seen, in your short lives, hundreds of millions of people in the emerging nations tremble in fear toward a tomorrow as bleak, or worse than, the misery of their today or their yesterday. Their fears are our fears. Their misery is our misery. It is not generosity which tells us that we must help these peoples conquer poverty, illiteracy, disease, and malnutrition it is selfishness, for if we do not, mankind will fall prey to chaos and all hope for all of us will be lost. We must above all help to instill hope, and the record is already clear that it is the younger generation of America, with its Peace Corps and its vast energies and generous spirit, which best transmits the hope there is. And the best hope of all comes with our realization that we can do all of this for others, must do all of this, even while we set our own house in order, even while we do what has to be done for the forgot ten man who lives in fear and hopelessness in our own country .
Last blunt item: This world has gotten far beyond being taking for granted, and so every belief, every dogma, every "truth" is up for re-examination. Every few years we abandon the world we knew, we move into a new age with new dreads and new hopes. No man with a decent mind, with one of those diplomas, can ever stop saying in this world, "show me," "how do you know?” "have you tried it?" "have you seen it happen?" "what makes it impossible?" You young graduates have always been audacious enough (sometimes rudely) to challenge your parents and their beliefs and their ways of living, and although you have come away bruised from some of these encounters, you almost instinctively took delight in questioning and arguing, you almost instinctively knew that you would catch up with this older generation and leave us behind. Too bad you didn't sometimes handle that instinct more kindly, but thank goodness for the instinct. The audacious challenge of each generation, of the new graduates with their fresh intellects, will always be at the heart of human progress.
We know that science once declared that no object heavier than air could ever be air-borne. Fortunately, the Wright brothers said "show us!" We know that objects like the Dead Sea scrolls must be translated and dated in time, even if the scriptures and the faith of centuries are damaged.
We know that "truths" are too often "half truths" or "untruths." We know that this world insists that we speculate and explore into the unknown.
We know of a Tennessee high school teacher who, in this century, was brave enough to insist that Darwin had a theory that must be given attention, especially in a classroom of youngsters who cried, "show me!"
He know that we must one day, somehow, check Einstein's "twin paradox" which hypothesizes that a twin brother who takes off on a long space journey in which he travels at a sizeable fraction of the speed of light would return to find his earth-bound twin brother either older than he or little more than a dim recollection in the memory of his descendants.
"Show me" how we know this. "Show me” that the earth is flat, that man can't fly, that the sound barrier is unbreakable, that Einstein is right.
"Show me" that we can't overcome the sins of our fathers who brought slavery to our shores. "Show me" that my nation must remain a spectacle before the world, systematically insulting the sensibilities of the colored tenth of its population.
The "show me" attitudes of you graduates of today has a Cal Tech admissions dean admitting that the freshmen of ten years ago would fail miserably in competition with you.
Blunt, but wonderful item, isn't it, that you have the right and the responsibility and the instinct to challenge all that the world knows and stands for.
To live with this right, my young friends, is very high adventure, a cause for great bravery. I want to ask for GENTLE BRAVERY – not just bravery. Gentle bravery.
Brave enough to seek all answers and know you will never find them a ll. Gentle enough to insist on the search without arrogance.
Brave enough to speak up in dissent. Gentle enough to be understood even when the majority is against you.
Brave enough to face the unknown. Gentle enough to strive patiently for enlightenment.
Brave enough to shatter cities with atomic thoughts, shatter creeds with new revelations. Gentle enough to live with any fellow man
UMUC - European Division - Mason G Daly - Dr. Don E. Totten
No full textEurope;Hoffmann, RosemaryDr. Don E. Totten
First letter to Mr. Don Edward Totten to Chicago, dated 11 July 1950 (in March he had finished his MA at Chicago: in May he had married Christine Schmidt-Rohr)
“I have written to Colonel Schroeder, asking that a request for travel orders be issued for you from Westover Field to Rhein/ Main. All requests must originate Stateside, and upon request of same we shall cable back priority. I should like to point out that at the present time all flights are cancelled over the Atlantic, and at this very moment we are still looking for five professors from our campus who were due to arrive last Friday.”
Signed Ray Ehrensberger
in November 1962
“The staff joins in asserting that you serve as an inspiration to all of us -an inspiration because of your untiring dedication to the job at hand, to scholarship, and to high standards in every thing involving faculty and staff. We also wish to thank you for our no-so-incidental increase in the awareness of the wonder of Geography.”
***************
He is The Master of the TWX -more TWX mileage than all Marylanders put together. It is rumored that General O'Meara is relieved to see him leave.
The Master of TDY -topped only by the Dean among Marylanders, and you may be sure Don's routes and purposes were more direct and to the point than . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Once he registered 185 days of TDY in a 24 month period.
The Master of house full of women -including Christine Margaret, Margaret Christine, Julia Ruth, and Katherine Claire
The Master of Maps
-by Abraham Ortelius, (?) Dutch engraver. (1527-1598)
-copper engraving done in 1580
-two Significant things. Orteliu was one of the early mapmakers . The AtIas this is from was published in color – the colors are the original old colors, as published. It is asserted that most prints were printed black on white, then hand-colored or painted.
There 's no BOQ in Col-o-rad-doo
Maryland my Maryland
It's just the same in CIarion, too
Maryland my Maryland
You've had it good, you know the facts
You left the ship, you scairdy rats,
And MAN! When you pay that income tax
Oh, Maryland my Marylan
UMUC - Asian Division - Mason G Daly - Greetings - 1959 University of Maryland Commencement -Tokyo
No full textAsia;Hoffmann, Rosemary1959 University of Maryland
Commencement
Tokyo, Japan
Dr. Mason G. Daly, Director
* GREETINGS *
No other American university has ever enjoyed the opportunity to convene in formal convocation nine thousand miles from home, in a foreign land, associated with men and women of letters arising from another culture. The University of Maryland is here, in full panoply of academic convocation in the very heart of Tokyo, Japan, a few yards from the Imperial palace. This surely dramatizes the proximity and interdependence of the United States and nations of the Orient.
This is a true convocation, traditional, correct. It is invested with all of the significance a university can place in the dramatic moment of endorsing those who have fulfilled degree requirement's and are therefore ready to be formally charged with the rights and responsibilities that go with membership in the family of letters.
We are here today because America's alliances take its citizens to far places, and because America has asserted that its citizens in uniform are neither separate nor unique. The man flying aircraft based on the Kanto plain of Japan, pulling sentry duty on the jagged scar of demarkation in Korea, patrolling the troubled water between two Chinas, securing island fortresses in positions of containment, and readiness - that man must have access to the system of education from which his culture and his country spring.
These graduating seniors have shouldered impressive responsibilities, personal and professional, for many years. And yet they are like many tens of thousands of adult Americans everywhere in the United States who insist that higher learning is not limited by age, by offspring or job; adults who insist that higher education is as much the right and responsibility of the mature man and woman as it is the more fortunate youth who proceeds without interruption from secondary to university classroom. Our universities have learned to keep their doors opened wide at night, on weekends, around the clock, if need be; universities and their professors now freely go into centers of population, into bank buildings, city halls, Church basements, at hours and places determined in part by the student. The great military Pentagon building in Washington D. C., becomes at 5 o'clock each evening a hall of learning, accommodating five universities, of which Maryland is one. And so it is that every airfield, army post, navy shipyard within the United States and throughout the world where Americans are stationed, may house a segment of a university. Something is being taught. There may be only one course in European History or in Mandarin Chinese for fifteen students on an island radar station, or there may a twenty five courses for several hundred regular students to choose from, as at Tachikawa, Seoul, or Sukiran.
As we proceed in this ceremony today please understand that the Far East Division of the University of Maryland may be host at an unusual commencement event, geographically speaking; it is not however, engaged in an unusual educational venture.
The men and the one woman honored here today are a representative segment of our Far East student body of many thousands scattered around Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Guam. The faculty on the stage here are a senior, continuous segment from among two hundred lecturers, including a score of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese scholars who instruct in our classrooms.
Among this audience are those civilian and military educators who serve all phases of education on the United States military installations in the Far East and cooperate with us to provide university training for their personnel. We wish to single out the civilian education advisors and directors for a special word of thanks on this occasion. Without their interest, cooperation, and professional advise our students could not enjoy a coordinated educational venture such as ours.
We are appreciative of and honored by the presence of high ranking military commanders today, leaders who show a sustained personal interest in the education of their men generally and an individual pride in the achievement of each graduate honored today.
And in this audience we are delighted to see so many Japanese educators and leaders, come to observe us honor our Ambassador to Japan and to make academic tribute to one of the great Japanese of today. The whole world is benefiting from Japan's tradition of higher learning, its tradition of national literacy, of developed research, of artistic and scientific development. To be associated with you on this day, in this way, will always be a memorable moment in the history of the University of Maryland.
I would also like to make reference to this setting, because the Kudan Kaikan occupies an historic place of unusual interest to an academic gathering. During the Tokugawa period of Japanese history, the period in which Japan withdrew from the outside world, there was a building here known as the Bansho Torishirabe Sho, approximately translated it means Barbarian Books Investigation Office. Here western publications which otherwise could not be seen in Japan were scrutinized and evaluated for possible translation and careful dissemination during that period of intense Japanese xenophobia. The country was closed to the west, but right here there was one significant, official source of contact and intellectual observation.
The Far East Division of the University of Maryland is proud to be host to this assemblage on this historic spot for this significant event. We welcome all of you to this commencement and invite you to join us in the reception immediately following this ceremony
UMUC - Asian Division - Mason G Daly - Far East Commencement Greetings - March 24 1958 - Tokyo
No full textAsia;Hoffmann, RosemaryGreetings
Commencement Ceremony, Dr. Mason G. Daly, Director [Far East] Division, University of [Maryland] Overseas Division, Tokyo, Japan, March 24, 1958
The commission to extend greetings to this assemblage on behalf of the Far East Division of the University of Maryland Overseas Program, happily falls to me. We all know this division in Maryland’s world wide educational venture is the youngster, the new one; but those of us in it do not feel of another generation, we know we are quite dry behind the ears, we may have gotten started ten years late, but that does not mean we are a decade behind. We are, in fact, feeling very important today, sure that we have emphatically made our mark, confident that we deserve a full measure of attention. We are insistent that the size of our graduating class is not small, but startlingly large, and we have been insistent that the event getting underway here today must measure up to the significant number of significant men who are being honored.
This audience has assembled, I am sure, out of shared interest and effort, out of pride, and out of curiosity. Many of you are men and women who have worked directly with us and our students in your education services, you have invested time and energy in unmeasured quantity, and you have come to see an especially dramatic result of your cooperative effort. Others of you who have shared in the effort have perhaps come to collect some of the psychic pay that a teacher takes as part of his reward. You are the large number of lecturers who have bolstered our teaching staff and helped make this program possible. There are many commanding officers, from Generals and Admirals to company and wing commanders, there are fellow students, and there are the wives and children of these graduating men, all here in large number, all taking pride in their relationship with these men. And, there are many others present who are not immediately involved or closely acquainted with the graduating group or with dignitaries appearing here.
Many of you are Japanese who have come to observe this American ceremony taking place in your midst. Your press, radio and television are here and they will bring this event to the attention of still more people in the Orient.
You are all welcome, indeed. You are going to observe a traditional ceremony with is also unique. It is traditional in that it is being conducted in the same spirit and with the same procedures that hundreds of commencement are staged annually in the United States. I tis unique in locale, it is unique in the personnel of its graduating class (at least in terms of their age level and accumulated off-spring), and it is certainly a unique representation of an advance in university educational philosophy, a philosophy with now permits, even expect, a university to reach mature and deserving students wherever in the world they may be.
We were asked one day this fall, and not too facetiously, when we expected to set up classes on the far side of the moon. I suppose the replay must be: as soon as the requirement exists, and as soon as the conditions up there are correct (those conditions may have to include a big boost in the oxygen supply when college professors report in for action). I won’t dare anyone present to say that Maryland on the Moon is too wild a dream. However, it will be enough today to contemplate the significance of this American event in this place, to contemplate the significance of this American even this this place, to contemplate the fact that these graduates represent a Maryland student body of many thousands here in the Far East, many more thousands in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Atlantic area, the State of Maryland, Washington D.C., and the Pentagon. We bid you all welcome to our commencement and to the reception which will follow
UMUC - European Division - Mason G Daly - Peggy Lott Citation - September 29 1959
No full textEurope;Hoffmann, RosemaryPeggy Lott
The certainty of immortality among rules girls we have known was assured for Peggy Ann Culbertson Lott by the tenure of only one year in the top slot with the Far East Division, As three-headed monsters go, we found her surprisingly attractive, and always in absolute control of her several senses.
We defied a hallowed law of the State of Maryland when we hired her and her spouse: the law against flagrant nepotism, the dangerous type of nepotism, the husband-wife sort. Within minutes we regretted our overt confidence and the long practiced over-confidence of the Lotts who proved suddenly so fully fecund. We were alarmed to find the period of the Far East academic year and the period of gestation coincide so uncomfortably. But as we saw Mrs. Lott swell with pride and maternity as March and the graduating seniors approached, we knew that fecundity and nepotism were not necessarily disastrous. She repealed the state law for all time in the overseas divisions.
Mrs. Lott set a high standard of performance for herself. She became adept at evaluating under excruciating pressure. She one day evaluated a nurse, a nameless OSI agent from the third floor of 722 who appeared with a gunny sack over his head, and three colonels who h ad gone to 96 military schools over a period of 50 years. She did all of that in n less than one hour and was interrupted only six times in that hour by telephone calls from Mr. David. She developed a sense of patience almost inhuman, under which some of us have seen many lesser rules girls crack completely. For example, we remember seeing the smallest suggestion of a smile one day while she checked in Andersen Air Base registration three weeks after the term was over, and that registration was only short $900.
We could go on about her immortality, but we all know the essence of her great strength and charm and ability. We expect further great things of her as a mother, wife, and Pennsylvania citizen
Problem of underreported sexual assault in the military
No full textThere is a disproportionately high rate of sexual assault committed against women currently serving in the United States military. Sexual assault within the military is defined as any sexual felony or attempt to engage in a sexual act against the will of another person (Department of Defense, 2008). In the last few decades, women have increased their numbers considerably within all branches of the military. However, they continue to be forced to contend with a primarily male-dominated environment and population. This has resulted in a conflicted system that legally treats both sexes as equals, but in practice continues to be biased against women. The very real threats of social isolation, loss of status, and ostracism from fellow comrades also cause the majority of sexual offenses against females to go unheard and without prosecution. Accordingly, underreported sexual offenses against female soldiers remain prevalent due to stigmas associated with reporting sexual misconduct and a perceived lack of protection under military justice.Running head: THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT 1
The Problem of Underreported Sexual Assault in the Military
Ezra M. Solomon
Introduction
There is a disproportionately high rate of sexual assault committed against women currently serving in the United States military. Sexual assault within the military is defined as any sexual felony or attempt to engage in a sexual act against the will of another person (Department of Defense, 2008). In the last few decades, women have increased their numbers considerably within all branches of the military. However, they continue to be forced to contend with a primarily male-dominated environment and population. This has resulted in a conflicted system that legally treats both sexes as equals, but in practice continues to be biased against women. The very real threats of social isolation, loss of status, and ostracism from fellow comrades also cause the majority of sexual offenses against females to go unheard and without prosecution. Accordingly, underreported sexual offenses against female soldiers remain prevalent due to stigmas associated with reporting sexual misconduct and a perceived lack of protection under military justice.
Why Female Service Members Underreport Sexual Assault: A Complicated Issue
Problems with reporting sexual misconduct and the less politically correct term rape have existed for many years in the United States military. Our society has a strong belief in not tattling that begins in the early school years and is strongly reinforced in military training and command procedures. The principle of teamwork is also an inherent component of military culture and reporting another soldier for misconduct can be viewed in a very negative light (Elias, 2008). THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 2
To make matters more complicated, a significant proportion of sexual offenses endured by female service members are committed by immediate commanding officers and other superior officers. In these cases, the action of reporting sexual misconduct can carry a potentially career-threatening risk for the victim of sexual assault. In addition, commanding officers do not want to lose personnel under their command and may therefore be less willing to follow up on unofficial reports of sexual misconduct. As a result, women are often subtly (and sometimes strongly) reminded it is their word against that of another service member.
The insular world of the military poses another barrier to reporting sexual trauma. Women are undertaking more combat and support roles in the military and are being assigned to Afghanistan and other areas which are considered to be war zones. Battlefield conditions create stressful situations that often make it difficult for commanders to follow-up and collect data on criminal complaints in the field. Adequate military resources for dealing with sexual trauma may also be lacking, both in locations such as Afghanistan and Iraq and locations closer to home. For example, Veterans Affairs (V. A.) medical facilities are resistant to providing additional staffing for sexual assaults because there is a limited supply of adequately trained staff and the “staffing requirements for health care workers who can handle military sexual trauma would force the VA to take a ‘cookie-cutter’ approach” (Kennedy, 2008, p. 1) towards caring for wounded veterans. There also exist gender-specific barriers surrounding the V. A., not just for providing adequate services for women, but getting women to use the V.A. services.
During a Senate Veterans Committee in May 2008, Senator Patty Murray, who was propositioning a new bill for providing better care for female combat veterans at the time, found support from four veterans care groups. One of these groups was the Disabled American Veterans, otherwise known as the D.A.V. (Kennedy, 2008). The representative of the D.A.V. THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 3
agreed that research showed many women do not feel comfortable receiving sexual trauma-related treatment from V. A. facilities and simply avoid doing so, largely due to a belief that the V. A. primarily provides services for male veterans. Furthermore, women are frequently given grounds to believe that they receive a different level of care in the VA medical facilities. The result is that “women do not use VA health care at the same rates as men, in part because VA historically has catered to the needs of male combat veterans” (Kennedy, 2008, p. 1).
Unfortunately, military reporting and evidence procedures are not as thorough as their civilian counterparts, and investigators often have less training in the area of sexual assault (Department of Defense, 2008). For example, there is a significant perception among female service members that reporting an assault is difficult and the situation is worsened by the lack of follow up and a low conviction rate in criminal cases (Elias, 2008). In 2006, “there were 2,974 [recorded] cases of rape and sexual assault across the services and, of those, only 292 cases resulted in a military trial” (CBS News, 2009, p. 2). The trend continued in 2007 with even fewer prosecutions (CBS News, 2009).
In fact, concern over a lack of follow up in military procedure and a fear of retribution are two of the major reasons most sexual assaults go unreported (Elias, 2008). As many as 80% of all rapes go unreported due to barriers created by the reporting process and related social stigmas associated with reporting on a comrade or superior officer (Coleman, 2008). Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is also a prevalent trend amongst victims after being sexually assaulted to avoid both treatment and reporting the incident to the proper authorities. The result has been that the military has allowed victims of sexual offenses to seek treatment anonymously starting in 2005 (Elias, 2008). THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 4
Since 2005, military personnel have been given the option of making what is known as a
restricted report when reporting an incident of sexual assault. “Unrestricted reporting triggers the
chain of command, making health care information and other details part of a record available to
military law enforcement. Restricted reporting enables a victim to get the counseling and health
care services they need to recover from sexual assault without alerting the chain of command”
(Slaughter, 2008, p. 2). A restricted report allows the victim to remain anonymous and neither
their immediate command nor the authorities will be notified of the assault. However, victims
who choose to file a restricted report may also undergo a voluntary medical examination for
evidence in case they change their mind at a later date and wish to pursue a criminal
investigation into the incident. The following graph demonstrates a three year trend of the
distribution of restricted and unrestricted reports made between 2006 and 2008.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Number of
Reports Made
2006 2007 2008
Year
Division of Unrestricted and Restricted Reports
of Sexual Assaults for 2006 - 2008
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 5
(Department of Defense, 2007, 2008, 2009, p. 11).
Note: 2005 data was not included because 2006 represents the first full year where the option of restricted reporting was available to sexual assault victims. Prior to 2005, all reports were unrestricted in nature.
Unsurprisingly, efforts to address the problem of assault and underreporting have largely been driven by Congress and external forces rather than by military personnel. Congress has instigated change by tying yearly funding requests and the enforcing of reporting procedures together, and the Department of Defense is now required to maintain the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. The SAPRO office serves as “the single point of accountability for the Department of Defense’s sexual assault policy” (Department of Defense, 2008, p. 2), and is responsible for ensuring that all levels of the military have up-to-date procedures for addressing sexual assault (Slaughter, 2008). In recent years, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the leaders of all four branches of the military have also responded to external criticism about the high prevalence of sexual assault and have begun working to change reporting and treatment procedures (Elias, 2008). However, a recent large-scale survey of female veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2001 and 2007 highlights a key problem: most sexual assaults continue to remain unreported to the appropriate military outlets.
In addition, annual statistics collected by the Department of Defense on reported sexual offenses within the military often do not paint the whole picture. Data is often lost, cases are back-logged, and evidence gathering procedures are often difficult if not impossible to enforce under the battlefield conditions (DOD, 2008). Disturbingly, women who are assaulted and report the incident off of a military base may even have to pay for their own rape kits under existing health insurer TRICARE regulations. “Currently, forensic examinations are not covered for beneficiaries in civilian health care facilities through TRICARE medical plans because TRICARE "may cost share only medically or psychologically necessary services or supplies” THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 6
(Coleman, 2008, p. 2). Rape kits are currently considered to be tools for evidence gathering rather than medically necessary for treatment (Coleman, 2008). According to congressional efforts to reform procedures addressing sexual assault within the military, a possible solution to the problems causing women to seek treatment off-base is to change military law addressing sexual offenses so that it is more reflective of civilian law procedures (Slaughter, 2008).
The Need for Change
Historically as well as presently, the US military has failed to maintain a good record for adequately cracking down on the perpetrators of sexual offenses, leading to a loss of faith in military justice amongst assault victims. Part of the problem is that standardized reporting and recording procedures have been difficult to enforce, which makes publicly released statistics less accurate (Slaughter, 2008). However, recent changes in military reporting and record-keeping procedures will have a direct impact on addressing sexual assaults and rapes in the military. The Department of Defense has improved reporting procedures and has recently been acknowledging the problem of rape and assault in the military (Slaughter, 2008).
Victims of sexual assault need greater protection under the law and prosecution of sexual offenses should focus on punishing the perpetrator rather than the victim for making the report. There is a prevalent perception amongst assault victims that if reported, perpetrators are not likely to be convicted or even sufficiently punished for their crime and the victim may suffer more repercussions as a result (Elias, 2008). Many valuable female officers and soldiers choose to leave the military due to disheartenment in military justice and the social and mental trauma which can surround incidences of sexual assault (Elias, 2008). The stress and trauma associated with being the victim of an assault and reporting the crime can also trigger mental illness and THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 7
stress disorders, which maintain a significantly higher rate amongst sexual assault victims than other members of the military (Street, Stafford, Mahan, Hendricks, 2008).
An anonymous survey was conducted by the Department of Defense to evaluate common reasons why a person of the military would choose not to report incidents after experiencing sexual misconduct. Below is a table showing the percentages of reasons most frequently noted by male and female service members for why they chose not to make a report after indicating that they experienced unwanted sexual contact. Unwanted sexual contact in this usage includes unwanted physical sexual harassment in addition to overt assault. The difference in percentage between male and female respondents is also provided within the table. Reason selected out of those available for choosing not to make a report Female Male Change in percentage between sexes
Felt uncomfortable making a report
58%
51%
-7
Thought they would be labeled a troublemaker
56%
41%
-15
Did not want anyone to know about the incident
56%
47%
-9
Did not think anything could be done
53%
44%
-9
Feared retaliation
50%
38%
-12
Not important enough to report
48%
60%
+12
Thought they would not be believed
41%
35%
-6
Thought reporting [and follow-up] would take too much time and/or effort
36%
46%
+10
Did not report because they did not know how
18%
26%
+8 Total percentage of those anonymously surveyed who opted not to report unwanted sexual contact 79% 78% -1
(Agency Group 09, 2009, p. 1)
The table above demonstrates some of the attitudes towards reporting assaults in the military despite focusing on the general relaying of how those surveyed felt about reporting after THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 8
experiencing both mild and more serious forms of sexual misconduct. A notable portion of respondents reported negative feelings associated with making a report which ranged from feeling uncomfortable to considering the prospect that they might be socially labeled a troublemaker. Another large percentage of respondents felt it was not important enough to report, or thought they would not be believed if they reported the sexual misconduct. Male and female responses varied in some areas, but both sexes overwhelmingly decided not to report unwanted sexual contact. This attitude seems to be prevalent in the military today where commanding officers hold sway over lower ranking service members and the two most realistic options available to female service members include 1) reporting anonymously and 2) not reporting to protect their career, social status, and livelihood.
Perhaps the most important avenue for change in the military is to proactively train both male and female service members and their commanding officers that sexual assault will not be tolerated either on the base or in the battlefield. The existing system penalizes a disturbingly high rate of rapists with only a “reduction in rank or reduced pay” (CBS News, 2009, p. 2) and the victim often either lacks support or frequently expects to lack support from their superior officers when they report an assault. There is a critical need for trained personnel who can counsel and treat sexual assault survivors, and this lack of trained personnel is an indicator that the military is only beginning to address the rape epidemic in its ranks (Kenney, 2008). Female service members need to be shown that it is acceptable to report sexual misconduct and the systems in place for addressing assault must be made more accessible to females because they should not fear reprisal for reporting a crime. However, perhaps the primary incentive to address the crisis of underreporting sexual assault within the military is simply the reality that women represent a vital population of the Armed Forces and deserve to be treated with equality and respect. THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 9
Conclusion
In recent years, women have become a recognized and valuable source of trained personnel in the military. Yet, female officers and soldiers continue to experience a much higher rate of sexual assault within the military than their male counterparts (Elias, 2008). The lack of perceived protection under military law for victims of sexual offenses, as well as the social stigmas surrounding the task of reporting a sexual offense, has also helped create a situation where sexual offenses are underreported to military authorities (Department of Defense, 2008). The issue is at long last attracting government attention and steps towards military reform are beginning to be taken; nonetheless, faith in the ability of military law to deal with the problem will be hard to restore amongst victims of sexual crimes due to decades of sweeping the issue of sexual assault under the rug. Government recognition of the unique issues faced by women in the military is slowly occurring, but a long road of trial and error involving military procedure lies ahead before the US military can minimize the silent loss of disheartened women who depart from the military feeling betrayed by military law.
THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 10
References
Agency Group 09. (2009). Defense Department Releases Sexual Assault Statistics. FDCH Regulatory Intelligence Database. Retrieved from Business Source Complete Database.
CBS News. (2009). Sexual Assault Permeates U.S. Armed Forces. Retrieved from
http://wbztv.com/national/Sexual.Assault.military.2.961666.html
Coleman, P. (2008). Raped in the Military? You’ll have to pay for your own Forensic Exam Kit. Veterans Today. Retrieved from http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3957
Department of Defense. (2007). Department of Defense CY06 Report on Sexual Assault in the Military. United States Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. Retrieved from http://www.sapr.mil/contents/references/2007%20Annual%20Report.pdf
Department of Defense. (2008). Department of Defense FY07 Report on Sexual Assault in the Military. United States Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. Retrieved from http://www.sapr.mil/contents/references/2007%20Annual%20Report.pdf
Department of Defense. (2009). Department of Defense FY08 Report on Sexual Assault in the Military. United States Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. Retrieved from http://www.sapr.mil/contents/references/2007%20Annual%20Report.pdf
Elias, M. (2008). 15% of female veterans tell of sexual trauma. USA Today. 10/28/2008 Issue, pg. 06d. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database.
Kenney, K. (2008). Lawmaker Urges Better Treatment of Women Vets. Airforcetimes Online. THE PROBLEM OF UNDERREPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY 11
Retrieved from
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/05/military_womenveterans_052108w/
Slaughter, L. (2008). Sexual Assault in the Military. FDCH Congressional Testimony. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database.
Street, A., Stafford, J., Mahan, C., & Hendricks, A. (2008). Sexual harassment and assault experienced by reservists during military service: prevalence and health correlates. Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, 45(3), 409-419. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database
Managing generational workplace conflict: Exploring Morton Deutsch's theory of cooperation and competition for impactful alternatives to conflict resolution
No full textPurpose: to understand the key implications of a multigenerational workforce and factors that determine how four generations are distinguishably different, to identify how generational differences in life experiences, values, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions create constructive and destructive workplace conflict, and to provide insights from Morton Deutsch’s theory of cooperation and competition for an understanding of generational conflict and impactful alternatives to conflict resolution.
Scope: Understanding generational workplace conflict and exploring conflict management resolutions.Managing Generational Workplace Conflict: Exploring Morton Deutsch’s Theory of Cooperation and Competition for Impactful Alternatives to Conflict Resolution
Priscilla Ann Lewis
Dissertation Advisors: Dr. Winters and Dr. Hadary
SOARS, 2013 Purpose and Scope of Research
Purpose:
•
Understand the key implications of a multigenerational workforce and factors that determine how four generations are distinguishably different
•
Identify how generational differences in life experiences, values, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions create constructive and destructive workplace conflict
•
Provide insights from Morton Deutsch’s theory of cooperation and competition for an understanding of generational conflict and impactful alternatives to conflict resolution
Scope:
•
Understanding generational workplace conflict and exploring conflict management resolutions.Personal Reasons for Research Topic
•
As a Federal Manager, generational conflict exist as four generations interact in the workforce. The research sheds light on how to leverage generational differences by uncovering complex relationships and assumptions fundamental to conflict utilization.
•
Often times, we as management practitioners and scholars simply focus on the work to be done without understanding that differences among generations affects every aspect of work.
•
Identifying generational opportunities and challenges helps organizations create a more productive and cohesive work environment.Importance to Management Practice
•
Organizations need to leverage conflict to stimulate the creativity that benefits organizational growth.
•
Managers, who learn to appreciate different generations and to implement different policies with an understanding of diverse generational workforces will create a productive environment that employees can flourish, feel valued, and where talents can be appreciated.Line of Argument
1.
Conflicts are bound to occur when different generations interact with different beliefs, values and attitudes and do not have an understanding of each other.
2.
Managers need to understand different generational characteristics and workforce profiles to minimize generational conflict for organizational success.
3.
By using a cooperative problem-solving orientation managers can expand the range of constructively alternatives to conflict.Most Important Theoretical Frameworks
•
Generational Cohort Theory – (Mannheim, 1952)
•
Dual Concern Theory – (Pruitt, 1983; Rahim and Bonoma, 1979; Deutsch, 1994; Rahim; 2002; De Dreu, Dierendonck and Dijkstra, 2004)
•
Theory of Role of Goal Interdependence – (Deutsch, 1973)
•
Theory of Cooperation and Competition; Crude Theory of Social Relations – (Deutsch, 1949a, 1949b, 1969, 1973, 1985, 1990, 1994, 2002)Research Questions
•
RQ1: Are generations distinguishably different as a function of unique historical events, age location, and social experiences?
•
RQ2: How have generational differences contributed to conflict in the workplace? How can managers leverage generational differences for organizational success?
•
RQ3: Does Morton Deutsch’s understanding of conflict provide insight toward alternative solutions to generational conflict?Research Propositions
•
P1: Generational cohorts are distinguishably different as a function of historical events, age locations, and social experiences sharing a collective memory.
•
P2: Generational cohorts form generational differences in values, beliefs, attitudes, life experiences and perceptions creating different work philosophies and generational conflict.
•
P3: Managers need to understand different generational characteristics.
•
P4: Conflict is either competitive or cooperative depending on how each generation perceives the nature of the situation.
•
P5: Relationships based on openness, trust and mutual assistance leads the individual to the belief that goals are cooperatively linked and thus for the greater good.
•
P6: Different generations who can establish a cooperative, problem-solving relationship with other generations can expand the range of constructive alternatives to conflict.Primary Practitioner Scenario
Morton Deutsch’s Theory of Cooperation and Competition As Applied to Generational Conflict
•
Each generation has its own distinct differences in expectations, practices, language, norms, values, etc. which may lead to misunderstandings, misperceptions, and stereotypes that affect the ability to communicate and interact.
•
For example, a Traditionalist may be offended by Generation Ys’ lack of respect for authority, where a Generation Y may feel disrespected if a Traditionalist or Baby Boomer does not include him in the process and respect his opinion.
•
To this point, Morton Deutsch, the father of conflict resolution, would emphasize that to resolve conflict requires an cooperative problem solving orientation where participants are better able to communicate, build relationships, embrace knowledge, skills and resources of each other.Main Literature Themes & Authors
•
T1: Historical Generational Cohort Perspective - Eyerman and Turner (1998); Parry and Urwin (2011); Wyld (1996)
•
T2: Generational Characteristics and Workforce Profiles - Lyon, Legg and Toulson (2005/2006); Sedrak and Cahill (2011)
•
T3: Identifying Generational Workforce Challenges and Opportunities - Carver and Candela (2008); Glass (2007)
•
T4: Generational Conflict: Constructive, Destructive, Employee Perception and Conflict Stimulation -Deutsch (1969); Pinkley and Northcraft (1994); De Dreu, Dierendonck & Dijkstra (2004)
•
T5: Managing Generational Conflict -Amason (1996); Deutsch (2002); Tjosvold (2008)
•
T6: Conflict Utilization – Impactful Alternatives - Deutsch (1990, 1994)Warrants
•
Data: For both managers and non-managers, a lack of understanding generational conflict leads to job dissatisfaction, declines in productivity, increased turnover, derailed careers, and higher payroll and training cost.
•Warrant: There is a dual nature of conflict and resultant generational conflict behavior can either be constructive or destructive depending on the context of the situation.
•Claim 1: Cooperative goal participants have a greater chance at conflict resolution.
•Claim 2: Morton Deutsch’s theory of cooperation and competition can be used for impactful alternatives for conflict resolution.Conceptual Framework
GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
DESTRUCTIVE/ COMPETITIVE/ AFFECTIVE CONFLICT
PRODUCTIVE/ COOPERATIVE/ COGNITIVE CONFLICT
CONFLICT UTILIZATION
TRADITIONALIST
(1925-1945)
BABY BOOMERS (1946-1964)
GENERATION X
(1965-1980)
GENERATION Y (1981-1994)
A HEURISTIC MODEL OF THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN GENERATIONS, CONFLICT AND CONFLICT UTILIZATION
High Concern for Self
High Concern for Self
High Concern for Others
Low Concern for Others Conclusions
1.
Generational Differences in culture, life experiences, beliefs, values, and attitudes can perpetuate misperceptions, misunderstandings, and the ability to communicate and interact.
2.
Generational Diversity that results in workplace conflict can offer an opportunity to leverage differences and recognize that talents and contributions are ageless.
3.
Resolving conflict by using a third-party cooperative problem-solving orientation or by educating people to manage conflict can expand the range of constructive alternatives to conflict
