Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    Student Housing
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
News

Professor Accuses Naval Academy of Illegal Retaliation Over Affirmative-Action Criticisms

By Peter Schmidt October 7, 2009
Bruce E. Fleming, a professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy, says he was denied a pay raise after criticizing the academy’s admissions policies.
Bruce E. Fleming, a professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy, says he was denied a pay raise after criticizing the academy’s admissions policies.Kim Hairston, The Sun

A professor at the U.S. Naval Academy has filed a federal whistle-blower complaint alleging that the institution improperly denied him a deserved pay increase for publicly accusing it of illegally operating a separate admissions track for minority students.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

A professor at the U.S. Naval Academy has filed a federal whistle-blower complaint alleging that the institution improperly denied him a deserved pay increase for publicly accusing it of illegally operating a separate admissions track for minority students.

Bruce E. Fleming, a professor of English and civilian employee of the Naval Academy, said he filed a formal complaint last month with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistle-blower accusations by federal employees. He alleged in the complaint that top academy officials denied him a merit pay raise to which he was entitled, in retaliation for his public assertions that the institution’s race-conscious admissions policies are so heavy-handed they probably violate federal civil-rights laws.

Although Mr. Fleming has been critical of the academy and its affirmative-action policies for several years, he says its administration became especially angry with him after he published a June 14 column in an Annapolis newspaper, The Capital. In it, he argued that the academy enrolls minority students through a separate, less-demanding admissions process and that as a result, many struggle there.

Academy officials denied his criticisms, but his column, “The Cost of a Diverse Naval Academy,” was widely picked up by military blogs, and the ensuing controversy over it was covered by newspapers such as The Washington Post.

An Expected Raise Denied

Mr. Fleming said his whistle-blower complaint, filed online, names the academy’s academic dean and provost, Andrew T. Phillips, whom he accuses of ignoring the recommendations of the English department’s chairwoman and otherwise taking extraordinary steps to deny him a raise. His complaint also names the academy’s superintendent, Vice Admiral Jeffrey L. Fowler, based on Mr. Fleming’s belief that Mr. Phillips, who was new in the job, would not have acted on his own to take the steps necessary to keep him from getting a pay increase.

In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Fleming said the administration “is clearly trying to scare the faculty into acquiescence—trying to control the spin on what comes out of here—by punishing people who speak out. This violates the most fundamental principles of academic freedom.”

A spokesman for the Naval Academy, Cmdr. Joe Carpenter, on Wednesday issued a statement that said the academy “will cooperate fully in any review of this matter” but has a longstanding policy of refraining “from any public comments regarding ongoing administrative or personnel matters.”

Anne Glass, a spokeswoman for the Office of Special Counsel, said her agency does not discuss pending investigations and will not confirm or deny whether investigations are under way.

Mr. Fleming also has sent the president of the Naval Academy’s Faculty Senate, Anne Marie Drew, and the American Association of University Professors separate letters asking them to investigate his pay-raise denial.

Ms. Drew said Wednesday that she has appointed a committee of senior, civilian faculty members to look into the concerns that Mr. Fleming raised. She declined to provide additional comment on his letter.

Concerns Over Appeals Process

B. Robert Kreiser, an AAUP associate secretary who handles matters related to academic freedom, said his organization is looking into Mr. Fleming’s complaint because it is concerned that the academy did not have in place what it regards as an appropriate mechanism for Mr. Fleming or other faculty members to appeal decisions on pay. The Naval Academy’s policy establishing a system for civilian employees to file grievances calls for those not covered by collective-bargaining units to file them with their supervisors or managers or officials in the academy’s human-resources department, and specifically excludes merit-pay decisions from its definition of what employment matters it covers.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We are not in a position to make a judgment on the merits of his claim,” said Mr. Kreiser of the AAUP. “But it is our position that a faculty member who makes such a claim ought to be able to have such a claim reviewed by a faculty body.”

In his letter to the AAUP, Mr. Fleming called the way the academy handled the question of whether to give him a merit raise this year “an egregious violation of all precedent.”

The college’s policies call for academic departments to give civilian faculty members scores based on their performance, rank them based on their scores, and then, based on their scores and rankings, recommend giving them either an increase of one or two steps on the academy’s pay ladder, or no increase at all.

Based on the recommendations of a committee of English Department faculty members, the chairwoman of that department, Allyson A. Booth, gave Mr. Fleming a good review and recommended him for a two-step increase. Instead, Mr. Fleming’s letter to the AAUP says, Mr. Phillips, the academic dean, treated him as if he had received a bad evaluation from his department and gave him no pay increase at all.

When interviewed on Wednesday, Mr. Fleming, who has written essays critical of the Naval Academy and about his own field for The Chronicle Review, said he is deeply committed to his institution but believes “taxpayers have a right to know how we operate.”

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Scholarship & Research
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
About the Author
Peter Schmidt
Peter Schmidt was a senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education. He covered affirmative action, academic labor, and issues related to academic freedom. He is a co-author of The Merit Myth: How Our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America (The New Press, 2020).
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

UCLA students, researchers and demonstrators rally during a "Kill the Cuts" protest against the Trump administration's funding cuts on research, health and higher education at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles on April 8, 2025.
Scholarship & Research
Trump Proposed Slashing the National Science Foundation’s Budget. A Key Senate Committee Just Refused.
Illustration of a steamroller rolling over a colorful road and leaving gray asphalt in its wake.
Newly Updated
Oregon State U. Will End a Renowned Program That Aimed to Reduce Bias in Hiring
Dr. Gregory Washington, president of George Mason University.
Another probe
George Mason President Discriminated Against White People After George Floyd Protests, Justice Dept. Says
Protesters gather outside the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14, 2025 to protest the Trump administrations cuts at the agency.
An Uncertain Future
The Education Dept. Got a Green Light to Shrink. Here Are 3 Questions About What’s Next.

From The Review

Photo-based illustration with repeated images of a student walking, in the pattern of a graph trending down, then up.
The Review | Opinion
7 Ways Community Colleges Can Boost Enrollment
By Bob Levey
Illustration of an ocean tide shaped like Donald Trump about to wash away sandcastles shaped like a college campus.
The Review | Essay
Why Universities Are So Powerless in Their Fight Against Trump
By Jason Owen-Smith
Photo-based illustration of a closeup of a pencil meshed with a circuit bosrd
The Review | Essay
How Are Students Really Using AI?
By Derek O'Connell

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin