AFA wants more help recruiting minorities

The Air Force Academy is facing a crisis in recruiting minority cadets, and officials say blacks in Congress are hurting their efforts.

The class of 2011 will not meet goals for admitting blacks and Hispanics despite an emphasis on minority recruiting, Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni told the academy Board of Visitors on Friday.

“The sad part is the minority representatives in Congress are not predisposed to (help) military academies,” Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said during the board’s meeting.

“They are not influencing qualified candidates they know of to attend military academies,” Wynne told the board, a federally appointed oversight group that makes recommendations to the Department of Defense and the president. “We are seeking to get them to see military academies as really good educational opportunities.”

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., agreed.

“It’s sinful,” said Allard, who sits on the board.

Each member of Congress can nominate up to 10 people for an open slot, and can have five appointees attending an academy at one time.

Two things are compounding the minority recruiting crisis, Regni told the board.

First, Regni said, the Defense Department wants to strip military academies of their ability to favor minority recruits in granting waivers to academic entrance requirements.

Second, he warned that a recent audit, which has not been released, will recommend slashing 100 slots from the Air Force Academy’s Preparatory School, nearly cutting it in half.

The prep school is a mix of former enlisted airmen and high school recruits, including many minorities and athletes who need help meeting the academic rigors of the academy.

About 240 prep school students go through an 11-month program each year and, in the end, four out of five earn academy appointments.

Regni said it is crucial the academy keep its full enrollment at the prep school for those borderline candidates.

“We need a directive to keep the prep school with its emphasis on minorities,” he said. “This is for people who need an extra year of focus.”

Regni said his staff has worked hard to recruit minorities, including children from minority military families.

Despite those efforts, just 4 percent of the 4,000 cadets at the academy are black. About 2 percent are American Indian, 6 percent are Hispanic and 9 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander. About 18 percent of the cadets are women.

Regni said those percentages will not change significantly for the incoming class of 1,300.

He said the new class, based on commitments received as of Friday, will include about 1,060 cadets directly out of high school. Of those, fewer than 30 will be black. Final numbers will not be available until June.

Regni expects to add another 40 or 50 by admitting blacks from the prep school.

The board had told Regni last year to make diversity recruitment a “strategic planning priority” and Charles Garcia, the chairman, clearly was disappointed at the news.

“We need to do more,” Garcia said.

Regni explained that of the 9,200 initial applicants for the class of 2011, only 920 were black high school seniors.

Of that group, only about 700 completed the application process. Academic deficiencies knocked out 500 of those. The final cut knocked out all but a few dozen.

“And everybody in the country is after that pool,” Regni said, saying the academy is competing with every major university for those students.