Bruce Fleming has had a long — and tumultuous — career as a professor of English at the US Naval Academy.

In 2009 he wrote an Op-Ed claiming the USNA inappropriately lowers its standards to increase its racial diversity, a claim he has made elsewhere.  He claims he was denied a “standard” pay raise as a result.  He filed a complaint which has now been settled “to the satisfaction of both parties,” according to the Academy.

Fleming has criticized the existence of the military institutions, complaining they create mediocre officers and “promulgate” a “conservative worldview” that includes “religion.”  Despite such complaints, he seems content to take a paycheck from the Navy to teach there, as he has for more than 20 years.

Media articles written by faculty members criticizing their military Academy employers seem oddly commonplace, perhaps because most military institutions do not permit their military members to make such public criticisms.  In addition, when was the last time you saw an article written by a faculty member publicly praising the Academies for their character training, defense of religious freedom, and development of military leaders who almost immediately go to war?  Some have been written, but they fade in the local scene.

It seems its in vogue to criticize the military Academies, rather than support them.