The US Air Force Academy Board is “happy” with the results of the USAFA climate survey (PDF), despite a lackluster 15% response rate from the cadet wing

As noted last year when the survey was being conducted, a new agency performed a new survey, which essentially eliminates any ability to track trends from prior years.  There were some interesting questions and responses, however: 

• Cadets continue their long-standing tradition of believing cadet athletes get preferential treatment.
• Of the 650 cadets who took the survey, the largest single group by a wide margin (more than 25%), identified as Catholic.  However, the categories of “no answer, no religious preference, atheist, no religion, and agnostic” comprised nearly another quarter of respondents.  There was one Rastafarian.
• By contrast, the largest group response in the staff version of the survey for religion was “I do not wish to answer.”
• In the answer to what results in “negative treatment,” religion was #11, below even “other” and “political views.”
• In the answer to what preferential treatment is based on, religion was at #13, well below “country of origin,” race, and intercollegiate status.
• 47% of cadets agreed with the statement “USAFA has gone too far in removing references to religious beliefs.”  (28% disagreed.) The faculty and staff surveys were almost evenly split in agree/disagree (43/41, 35/34, respectively).
• Only 10% of cadets — but 25% of faculty — agreed with the statement “I am reluctant to express my religion because I am unsure of what is acceptable at USAFA.”  (The question is awkwardly worded because it contains two separate statements.)
• The largest percentage of cadets — 14% — experienced “unwanted attempts to convert [them] to a religion or denomination” from a “cadet without authority over me.”  (6% one time, 5% two to three times, 3% more than three times.)
• On the topic of religious expression/tolerance, the top comments had a common theme among cadets, staff, and faculty: “Emphasis on political correctness is not warranted.”
• Other comments indicated “religious expression is suppressed” but the overall atmosphere was one of “tolerance.”

While the survey was technically anonymous, it seems the survey administrators were able to compare responses to the individual cadet’s personal data in CAMIS (Cadet Administrative Management Information System).  For example, they noted that 17 cadets declared themselves agnostics in the survey, yet CAMIS indicates no self-declared agnostics even took the survey.  Similarly, while 98 cadets who took the survey have CAMIS records indicating “no religious preference,” their survey responses included:

• 11 Agnostics
• 6 Atheists
• 9 Catholics
• 2 Jews
• 14 Protestant or non-denominational Christians

The discrepancy could be the result of administrative record errors, changes in religious beliefs, intentional obfuscation, or something else.

Like most compilations of statistics, the numbers can probably support any position one hopes to make.  In addition, the voluntary survey may suffer from self-selection bias.  That is, as every cadet will tell you, surveys take time, and those most likely to take it were those motivated to say something — either religious cadets who felt harassed in a politically correct environment or cadets inspired by external critics to make their “persecution” known.  Given the low response rate and benign results, it seems even the self-selecting group who took the survey weren’t concerned about issues of religion.

In the end, there appears to be a lack of support (again) for Michael Weinstein’s assertions of religious coercion run wild at USAFA.  After all, if any number of the 100 “underground” cadets (from 2010) who feel they have to pretend to be Christian to succeed took the survey, it would presumably have altered the results.  It seems Weinstein failed to guide their responses well enough.

For an institution of 4,000 18 to 25 year olds in training to become military leaders while simultaneously living as college students, the results of the survey seem fairly benign.  The most often cited statistic involves the frequency of underage drinking, something not altogether unheard of at academic institutions across the country.