Top military schools have faced a swift backlash after using underground means to discuss books and topics banned by the Trump administration.
Cadets and staff at the US Naval Academy have been creating non-governmental emails to chat about the banned ideas, including the likes of critical race theory.
The president has cracked down on what made up the curriculum at the school, with faculty saying they run their research through an AI tool screen their findings.
Words that are flagged include ‘barrier’, ‘Black’, ‘allyship’, ‘cultural differences’ and ‘The Gulf of Mexico‘.
Professors have been told to teach that ‘America and its founding documents remains the most powerful force for good in human history’ after a memo Pete Hegseth.
One unnamed professor told the Washington Post: ‘We at the Naval Academy are here to prepare young officers to command.
‘They need to know what we have learned from our study of politics and history and literature and languages.
‘We are failing them and we are failing in our jobs if we suppress some things we know are true and we parrot other things we know are false.’
Trump has cracked down on what made up the curriculum at the school, with faculty telling the outlet they now had to run their research through an AI tool. He is seen here at West Point Military Academy on Saturday
Cadets at the Naval Academy, seen here on Friday, are reportedly creating non-governmental email addresses to discuss the banned ideas
They also said that students are feeling conflicted about the possibility of being deployed under the current White House.
One professor said they had advised cadets to serve until they receive an order that they feel might be illegal.
He told them if that point comes to ‘reject it rather than compromise yourself’.
Graham Parsons, a former professor of philosophy at West Point Military Academy, left his position earlier this month in protest over the changes to the curriculum.
He said that the entire US armed forces have been left up in arms over Trump’s reversal of DEI initiatives and social justice programs.
Parsons told the outlet: ‘It’s a feeling of real whiplash. We used to raise the possibility in the military and beyond, there are still real structural problems with racism and sexism. That would not fly now.’
He stood down from his post after writing a scathing opinion piece for The New York Times.
In it, he said: ‘I cannot tolerate these changes, which prevent me from doing my job responsibly. I am ashamed to be associated with the academy in its current form.’
One professor said they had advised cadets to serve until they receive an order that they feel might be illegal
Trump salutes alongside Lieutenant General Steven W. Gilland during commencement ceremonies at West Point on Saturday
Trump was at West Point Academy on Saturday to give a commencement speech in which he vowed to ditch DEI programs and support for transgender service people.
He said: ‘We´re getting rid of distractions and we’re focusing our military on its core mission: crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before.
He later said that ‘the job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows or transform foreign cultures,’ a reference to drag shows on military bases that President Joe Biden’s administration halted after Republican criticism.
Trump said the cadets were graduating at a ‘defining moment’ in Army history as he accused political leaders in the past of sending soldiers into ‘nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us.’
He said he was clearing the military of transgender ideas, ‘critical race theory’ and types of training he called divisive and political.
Past administrations, he said, ‘subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects and political causes while leaving our borders undefended and depleting our arsenals to fight other countries wars.’
