Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report. 20 August Picture of the Week

Transcription

1 Page1 Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report 20 August 2014 The Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report is an internal report on all activities conducted within the Departments, Centers & Staff. The Report is provided to the Dean for situation awareness, throughout the organization for shared situation awareness, and to select external organizations for outreach and communication. Portions of the Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report are further staffed in a report to the Superintendent. POC for the report is MS Lesley Beckstrom at Picture of the Week Cadets Derek Swanson, Kevin Whitham, and Gabriel Beck (L to R) stand in front of the Dutch Parliament Building in Den Haag, Netherlands.

2 Page2 The Core Interdisciplinary Team (CIT) is awarded the annual William E. Bennett Award for extraordinary contributions to Citizens Science: From 31 July through 04 August, five West Point faculty and one class of 2014 USMA graduate attended the annual SENCER Summer Institute at the University of North Carolina Asheville in Asheville, NC. The Summer Institute is designed to impart key skills necessary to design, implement, and assess interdisciplinary efforts to help solve these complex problems. The participants were: COL Jerry Kobylski (Math) COL Diane Ryan (BS&L) LTC Ted Kaiser (C&LS) MAJ Ashlie Christian (Math) MAJ Seth Cottrell (PANE) 2LT Elizabeth Olcese (Class of 2014) During the Institute, the Core Interdisciplinary Team received the 2014 William E. Bennett Award for Extraordinary Contributions to Citizen Science ( ). This award is given annually at the Summer Institute to an individual and / or team whose SENCER and other related activities have made exemplary and extraordinary contributions to citizen science. MAJs Christian and Cottrell, and LTC Kaiser led a 90-minute working group titled Overcoming Challenges of an Interdisciplinary Curriculum; Is the Bang Worth the Buck. During the working group, they discussed how West Point has developed and implemented an interdisciplinary program focusing on the first plebe and yearling curriculum along with capstone interdisciplinary projects. COL Kobylski led a 60 minute accreditation session titled "How Can Our SENCER Efforts Better Support Today and Tomorrow s Challenging and Changing Assessment Landscape? COLs Kobylski and Ryan, along with 2014 Math graduate 2LT Liz Olcese gave a 90 minute plenary session titled Interdisciplinary learning, Assessment, Accreditation, and SENCER courses: How do they all fit together? This session described how the focus on energy strengthens disciplinary learning while promoting a capacity to address challenging and unscripted problems, as well as shared some preliminary direct and indirect assessment evidence from this year-long effort. 2LT Olcese presented results from her operations research capstone project and recently published paper in which she developed an interdisciplinary rubric to be used in assessment. COL Jerry Kobylski and COL Diane Ryan accepting the William E. Bennett Award. MAJ Ashlie Christian and MAJ Seth Cottrell briefing the plebe and yearling interdisciplinary curriculum.

3 Page3 LTC Ted Kaiser discussing the Academy s Core Interdisciplinary Effort. 2LT Liz Olcese presenting her research results and the Interdisciplinary Rubric she developed. Network Science Center For the latest information from the Network Science Center visit our blog The Central Node: Paper published in Network Science Dr. Jocelyn Bell had an article, Subgroup Centrality Measures, published in the Network Science Journal. Centrality measures are traditionally used to detect important nodes in a network. In many real world networks, nodes are divided by their attributes into subgroups. This paper details new methods for locating significant subgroup nodes in both the local and global sense. In a social network of both sexes, for instance, which women are most influential over other women, and which women are most influential over the men? In this paper we examine natural generalizations of widely used centrality measures, allowing for such a division into local and global influence.

4 Page4 Department of History From 30 May to 12 June, the Department of History and the Department of English and Philosophy conducted an AIAD staff ride, World War I in Memory and Literature in France and Belgium. Following preparatory studies during the spring semester, fifteen cadets participated along with COL Mike Stoneham, LTC Jason Musteen, LTC Dave Siry, MAJ Deb Daley, and 2LT Niki Boyda in an in-depth examination of the conflict as well as the literature and poetry it generated. Through the study of history and literature, the cadets gained a greater appreciation for the conduct of the war, the individual experience of warfare, and the individual and national memories that emerged from the war. Battlefield studies included the 1 st and 2 nd Battles of the Marne, Verdun, Loos, the Somme, the Ypres Salient, Passchendaele, the 1918 German offensives, Château-Thierry, and Belleau Wood. At each location, cadets presented historical analysis and examined literature and poetry from soldier-authors such as Robert Graves, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Ernst Jünger, Henri Barbusse, Herbert McBride, Alan Seeger, and others. To conclude the study, the cadets will prepare academic papers for presentation at the West Point conference, Literature, Memory and the First World War to be held in September. Cadets discuss memory of war at the grave of Rudyard Kipling s son, Jack.

5 Page5 Walking the trenches at the Newfoundland Memorial on the Somme Battlefield. Cadets and officers of the WWI Staff Ride at the Island of Ireland Peace Memorial.

6 Page6 On 11 June 2014, 23 cadets from the Department of History s World War I and World War II staff rides occupied the position of honor in a French national ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In the ceremony, presided over by the Minister of Veteran s Affairs (Kadir Arif), former military governor of Paris (General Bruno Dary), and current military governor of Paris (Lieutenant General Hervé Charpentier), the cadets were the guests of the Fondation Leclerc. The foundation consists of World War II veterans of the French 2 nd Armored Division who liberated Paris as a part of George Patton s 3 rd Army. History major Zach Blankenbeker and English majors Pete Kenna and Zach Matson had the honor of laying a wreath on the tomb, while History major Caison Best held the Flag of the Eternal Flame throughout the ceremony. The ceremony served as a culminating event for the Department of History s WWI and Normandy Staff Rides. For the 15 cadets completing the World War I staff ride, they were able to pay their respects to the Unknown French Soldier of World War I as a representative of the millions who died in the war. For the 8 cadets completing the Normandy staff ride, participating in the ceremony with liberators of Paris was a fitting way to conclude the liberation of France that began in Normandy on 6 June Cadets Zach Blankenbeker, Zach Matson, and Pete Kenna laying a wreath at the French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

7 Page7 Cadets and Officers of the WWI and Normandy staff rides with the French Minister of Veteran s Affairs and the Military Governor of Paris Cadet Caison Best holding the Flag of the Eternal Flame at the Arc de Triomphe.

8 Page8 Professor Cliff Rogers recently published Carolingian Cavalry in Battle: The Evidence Reconsidered, in Crusading and Warfare in the Middle Ages: Realities and Representations. Essays in Honour of John France, ed. Simon John and Nicolas Morton (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014), On 19 August 2014, Dr. David Frey participated in an inter-agency, multi-national dialogue on Water, Energy and Security Studies hosted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University s Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS). Organized by Raymond Gilpin, the Dean of ACSS, the dialogue featured African scholars, scientists and policymakers and focused on the nexus between water, climate, governance and human security. Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Completed Events Follow BS&L on Facebook: Sciences-Leadership/

9 Page9 National Security Agency (NSA) AIAD Cadets Scott Marriner and Dominic Savoldelliare with 2LT Joseph Dooley (Class of 2014) are pictured above while visiting New Mexico Tech and the Institute for Complex Additive System Analysis as part of the National Security Agency AIAD. CDT Kiana Frick briefs AIAD Capstone at East-West Institute NYC On 06 AUG, CDT Kiana Frick ( 16), briefed her capstone at the completion of her AIAD with the East- West Institute (EWI) in NYC. Kiana, given an independent project, analyzed a real time problem set and offered her recommendations to GEN (Ret) Moseley, 18 th Chief of Staff, USAF; COL (Ret) James Creighton, EWI Chief Operating Officer; David Firestein, EWI VP of Strategic Trust-Building Imitative and Former US Diplomat to China and Russia; MAJ Christina Fanitzi, West Point Negotiations Project OIC. Kiana s work set the stage and enabled East-West Institute to make decisions regarding the wayforward in pertinent real-world mediations. The East-West Institute is an international not-for-profit, non-partisan "think and do" tank focusing on international conflict resolution through a variety of means, including track 1.5 and 2 diplomacy (conducted with the direct involvement of official actors), hosting international conferences, and authoring publications on international security issues. The West Point Negotiation Project is a USMA faculty effort to improve the ability of military leaders to negotiate and is an activity within BS&L's West Point Leadership Center. POC: MAJ Christina Fanitzi, BSL, x3295.

10 Page10 FBI Crisis Negotiation Course On August 2014, BS&L's West Point Negotiation Project hosted the FBI s Crisis Negotiation Unit in an educational course for approximately 32 participants, including 20 cadets, 8 Officers, 4 NCOs, and 2 Civilians. Participating leaders came from BSL, BTD, Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations, New York Police Department (NYPPD), USCC, and the West Point Provost Marshall s Office. During the course, cadets learned the importance of negotiation in crisis situations, were introduced to a framework for active listening, analyzed real FBI footage of 1993 Waco Crisis and the 2014 Dothan Kidnapping to apply concepts learned, and practiced negotiating in a series of role-playing exercises, including a team competition. Cadets observed members of The Department of Foreign Language (DFL) conduct practical exercises in the use of an interpreter in negotiations, which they later applied in practice during a hostage role-play, mirrored after the event s following the Boston Marathon bombing. Supervisory Special Agents (SA) Mark Flores and Michael Yansick, of the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit served as primary trainers who shared with cadets how they used negotiation to meet the FBI s mission to successful mitigate situations without undue, and excessive, force. Cadets also heard from 5 Supervisory SAs from the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit-New York Office and Orange County Behavioral Health Professionals on frameworks to identify suicidal behavior. Participants received 40-hour training certificates to apply to their permanent records. The West Point Negotiation Project is a USMA faculty effort to improve the ability of military leaders to negotiate and is an activity within BS&L's West Point Leadership Center. POC: MAJ Christina Fanitzi, BSL, x3295.

11 Page11 West Point Negotiation Project teach Navy SEALs AUG, BS&L's West Point Negotiation Project ran a 1.5 day training seminar for 22 Navy SEALs, special warfare combatant craft crewmen, and Marine Reconnaissance leaders enrolled in the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Platoon Leaders Course, at Naval Amphibious Base (Coronado, CA). The mobile training team included MAJ Christina Fanitzi (BSL), Michael Kalikow (Vantage Partners), CDT David Grossman (H3, 16), and CDT Zachary Panto (F1, 16). During the workshop, leaders (E-7 through O3) were introduced to negotiation as a leader competency, learned how to analyze negotiation situations, and practiced managing difficult negotiation counterparts. Cadets and faculty visited the Navy Basic Underwater Demolition School (BUDS) Complex and completed the BUDS Obstacle Course. The Project has run training for SEALs two times annually, since 2011, and recently expanded to serve as the primary negotiations training team for all four NSW Platoon Leader s Courses, annually. The West Point Negotiation Project is a USMA faculty effort to improve the ability of military leaders to negotiate and is an activity within BS&L's West Point Leadership Center. POC: MAJ Christina Fanitzi, BSL, x3295. CDT Lewis Black presents Your Community, Leadership, and You to students at the Raffles Institution, Singapore As a part of a Minerva research grant to Dr. Luke Gerdes, CDT Black participated in network science research being conducted at Raffles Institution (RI) and he was invited to give a talk to over 250 RI students. Following a lively introduction by LTC Matt Clark, CDT Lewis Black gave a talk on his personal leadership journey to date to the student leaders of RI in Singapore. RI is a prestigious college preparatory school in Singapore that has educated several important Singaporean leaders, including Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore. CDT Black gave an inspiring talk on the need for continual self improvement, the importance of leading ethically, and the value of service in our lives. As part of this AIAD, CDT Black also participated in meetings with senior leaders in the Singapore Armed Forces with Dr. Gerdes and LTC Clark. Specifically, they met with the Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute on the topic of leader development and with the Defense Psychology Department on the topics of critical thinking and research methods. POC: LTC Matt Clark, ext

12 Page12 Dr. Mike Matthews presents at the American Psychological Association On 8 August 2014, Dr. Mike Matthews and Dr. Dennis Kelly (USMA office of Institutional Research) presented a poster entitled "Comprehensive Soldier Fitness and Resilience Skills as Predictors of Performance at West Point" at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Washington, DC. POC: Dr. Matthews, Michael.d.matthews.civ@mail.mil. Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering

13 Page13 Cadets Derek Swanson, Kevin Whitham, and Gabriel Beck (L to R) stand in front of the Dutch Parliament Building in Den Haag, Netherlands. West Point Cadets in Residence at NATO Civil-Military Cooperation Centre of Excellence in Den Haag, Netherlands For Cadets Gabriel Beck, Derek Swanson, and Kevin Whitham, there was much to learn this summer at the NATO Civil-Military Centre of Excellence in Den Haag, Netherlands. The Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations AIAD gave the cadets an opportunity to experience, enjoy, and excel during their stay from July 20 th through August 9 th. Amidst a demanding curriculum there had been little time in their West Point training to learn about NATO and its Centres of Excellence. For the young American officer candidates, the opportunity to learn from and interact with senior members of other nations armed services was an unparalleled opportunity; it exposed them to strategic environment that demonstrated the challenge of unilateralism and the increasing importance of interoperability. Their time at the CCOE was a chance to ask questions and gain understanding of NATO, member countries, the mechanisms and decorum of international military environments, as well as NATO CIMIC doctrine. Their case study research into several of the CCOE s main projects allowed them to see the great value in diverse nations, organizations, and interests coming together to share knowledge, harmonize ideas, and create unified and coherent doctrine and training. POC is Mr. John Melkon at john.melkon@usma.edu. From left to right, Nicole Rountree, Davis Fleming, Cadet Ryan Gibeley, and Cadet Pat Bastianelli High School and College Interns Pass Off Research Project to Cadets Nicole Rountree, a third-year college student studying biochemistry at SUNY Geneseo, and Davis Fleming, a rising senior at O Neill High School with plans to take AP Environmental Science, devoted time this summer to assist the GENE Department with research related to Microbial Fuel Cells. The project analyzes the use of wastewater treatment byproducts as a fuel source for

14 Page14 microorganisms that then generate an electric current. Nicole and Davis selflessly volunteered their time as these positions were unpaid but they did take away experience in lab procedures under the tutelage of Kim Quell, Lab Technician for GENE, a reward that you cannot put a price on. They also assisted in passing off the research to Cadets Ryan Gibeley and Pat Bastianelli who will be working on the project as an independent study this semester. POC for this message is CPT Matty Haith at matty.haith@usma.edu. Department Hail Fun and Sun at Round Pond On 14 August, the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering brought together faculty, staff, and our families for the annual hail picnic. We enjoyed perfect weather at Round Pond, where families played badminton and volleyball, rode paddle boats, and even ate macaroni and cheese from a solar oven! Nine new officers were welcomed into the department, and we also formally welcomed four new babies to G&EnE families. LTC Mindy Kimball serves mac-n-cheese from a solar oven to CPT Dave Zgonc during the G&EnE Hail. Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 1. West Point Exoskeleton Capstone Team is Awarded the 2014 Scott R. Clark Innovation Award: Team T-REX (Tendon-assistive Rigid EXoskeleton), made up of cadets and faculty

15 Page15 from Civil & Mechanical Engineering was awarded the 2014 Scott R. Clark Innovation Award, which acknowledges a project that demonstrates an innovative approach to solving a problem of direct application to the Army. The team was made up of CDTs (now 2LTs) Ryan Polston, Meagan Latimar, Brandon Zwank, Adam Hamner, and Zachary Reichert, as well as faculty advisors Dr. Becky Zifchock and MAJ Amber Walker. Charged with designing a device that would assist the soldier in carrying that load, the 2014 West Point Exoskeleton Team looked to smart materials to take a novel approach. Rather than a traditional exoskeleton which transfers load to the ground, the team designed a small, lightweight device that spans the ankle joint to provide energetic assistance during the propulsive plantarflexion phase of gait. The energetic assistance is provided by Flexinol, a thermal-reactive nickel-titanium alloy that is only microns thick. With improved metabolic efficiency the soldier can travel further, faster, and with decreased fatigue and injury susceptibility. In addition to their recognition by the Clark Innovation Award, the team s work was also featured in the July August 2014 issue of Popular Mechanics: 936f96eb6c3d%40sessionmgr114&vid=4&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3 d#db=edsgao&an=edsgcl &anchor=toc and on their website: POCs are Dr. Becky Zifchock: rebecca.zifchock@usma.edu, and MAJ Amber Walker: amber.walker@usma.edu

16 Page16 2. LTC Craig Quadrato selected as 2014 High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) Interconnector Award Winner. LTC Craig Quadrato has been selected as the 2014 winner of the HPCMP Interconnector Award. This award recognizes outstanding individuals who supported DoD research through the use of High Performance Computing during FY The HPC Modernization Program office hosted the awards ceremony via VTC/phone on 14 August 2014, during which John West, Director of the HPCMP, announced LTC Quadrato as the winner and COL Joe Hanus, Civil Engineering Division Director, presented Craig with his award. POC is COL Daisie Boettner, COL Joe Hanus presents LTC Craig Quadrato with the HPCMP Interconnector Award Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering Completed Events

17 Page17 Reorgy Picnic: On 15 August, the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering held their annual Reorganization Week Family Picnic where all new instructors were hailed. The picnic was at Barth Hall, Buckner, which is a perfect spot to spend a relaxing afternoon with your family and friends and get reacquainted after the summer separation. Triathlon: During August, the West Point Triathlon Team hosted the 10 th Annual Toughkids Triathlon and 25 th Annual West Point Triathlon at Camp Buckner. Over 1100 athletes from across the Northeast participated in the two-day event which featured 3 children s races and an adult race. The proceeds from the event go to support the West Point team s training and competition throughout the year. This year the race and the season are dedicated to CDT Alex Werden who was a rising yearling on the team. During past the summer, Alex was diagnosed with a rare form of juvenile cancer. He has taken a medical leave from the academy while he undergoes therapy back home in Chapel Hill, NC. The team placed purple ribbons on all the race bibs for awareness and the OIC of the team, LTC Ken Allen, addressed all the participants prior to the start of the race letting them know the significance of the ribbon stickers and how the team would be a man down this year until Alex gets back. In addition to the able-bodied participants, we were honored to have 3 challenged athletes complete the race two of which were wounded warriors. The adult race was organized by the Race Director, MAJ Brian Montgomery and supported by the New York Highway Patrol, USMA DES and Fire Department, Ike Hall Restaurant, team Red White and Blue, West Point Crew and Marathon teams, and numerous cadet volunteers from across the corps. Without the volunteers, the event would not have been successful. Event photos below.

18 Page18

19 Page19

20 Page20 Department of Law Civil Rights Staff Ride Cadets and Faculty Meet Legendary Civil Rights Attorney Fred Gray in Tuskegee, Alabama The 2014 West Point Civil Rights Staff Ride: Teaching Diversity, Commemorating Freedom Summer and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 The West Point Civil Rights Staff Ride was focused on the events of 50-years ago which shaped the nation and moved us closer to true equality. This intensive AIAD program combined interdisciplinary study in the classroom with a two-week staff ride through the Deep South to understand diversity and immerse cadets in the culture of the Civil Rights Movement of the post-wwii era. Cadets were competitively chosen and went through a rigorous week of classes in the law, politics and history of the Movement. All rising Yearlings, Cadets Lance Baggett, Michelle Golonka, Jazzmyn Miller, Adam Reynolds, Nathan Townsend, and Leah Tonetti were well versed in those subjects by the date of departure for the trip south. The Staff Ride was sponsored by the West Point Center for the Rule of Law and the Department of Law, as well as the Departments of History, Social Sciences, English & Philosophy, and Behavioral Science & Leadership. Truly interdisciplinary, the participating faculty included period literature, music and culinary appreciation to supplement cadets recognition of the importance of diversity.

21 Page21 Escorting cadets on this exciting journey were Maj. Andrew Forney from History, Dr. Rachel Yon from SOSH, and Dr. Robert J. Goldstein from the Department of Law who led the Staff Ride. Each day of the journey was filled with encounters with storied veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, their children and grandchildren. In Richmond, VA they were met at the State Capitol by Judge John Charles Thomas, the first African- American on the VA State Supreme Court, and federal Judge Roger Gregory of the 4 th Circuit Court of Appeals. The judges led a lively discussion which prepared cadets for their meetings, and posed questions that would resonate as the group travelled to the Deep South. Judge Gregory raised the issue of whether it might be useful in the current day to focus on the equal part of the mandate of separate but equal in the case of Plessey v. Ferguson. On the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond Cadets Miller, Baggett, and Tonetti, Townsend, Golonka, and Reynolds pose with the Hon. John Charles Thomas (left), and the Hon. Roger Gregory (right). In Farmville, VA they visited the Robert Russa Moton High School, where student Barbara Johns made history leading her classmates on a boycott of their clearly inferior segregated school. There cadets spoke with Ms. Johns high school classmate Rev. Samuel Williams who participated in the walk-out. The Reverend had been there as the students met with the attorneys who would take their case ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court, to be decided as the Brown v. Board of Education case. Cadets learned that the late Barbara Johns was the niece of civil rights activist Rev. Vernon Johns, preacher at Montgomery, Alabama s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Barbara Johns activism was no mere happenstance. In Atlanta, GA cadets were guests at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and visited his childhood home. There they learned that his favorite game as

22 Page22 a child was Monopoly. Not so surprising to our cadets who had learned back at West Point that when the rules of Monopoly are unfair, or if you join the game in the middle, your chances of winning are virtually nil. North of Atlanta, in Stone Mountain, GA cadets were invited to the home of Hank Thomas for what was, perhaps, the most inspirational story they heard. At age 19 Mr. Thomas, an African-American, was the youngest Freedom Rider on a bus that was firebombed after leaving Anniston, Alabama. He survived to tell the tale, to serve his country in Vietnam (Ia Drang but that s another story), and become a selfmade millionaire. Back in Atlanta cadets met the Hon. Mike Bowers, USMA 63, the former Georgia Attorney General who talked with them about civil rights law then, and now. Front page news in the Anniston Star which reported on Cadets with Anniston Mayor Vaughn Stewart at the site of the City s bus station. It was here that Freedom Riders were first attacked by an angry mob. Nails were driven into the tires and the bus was battered causing it to break-down just outside the city limits. The Staff Ride s first stop in Alabama was in Anniston. That city, where the Jim Crow era was worse than slavery, has long-suffered with the welldeserved national reputation it earned from the KKK-led bus bombing. They welcomed the cadets with open arms. Mayor Vaughn Stewart himself gave us a guided tour of the bus station; which is currently being renovated into a museum. Pete Conroy of Jacksonville State University took cadets to the future site of Freedom Riders Park, where Hank Thomas bus was firebombed and he lay injured as local hospitals refused its victims medical care. Mr. Conroy had invited the Staff Riders to a barbecue dinner which was held at the decommissioned Fort McClellan with Movement veterans and were treated to an impromptu concert by renowned opera singer K.B. Solomon. Programs such as this, set up by our gracious hosts, elevated the level of discourse of this Staff Ride. Cadets then visited Birmingham, Alabama, nicknamed Bombingham for the violence that occurred there, and were struck by a visit to the 16 th Street Baptist Church where a bomb had taken the lives of four innocent young girls in 1963.

23 Page23 Cadet appreciation for Southern cooking was honed during the trip south. BBQ and chicken & waffles in Atlanta, traditional southern buffet in B ham, they enjoyed the local specialties at each meal, trying many dishes for the first time and all the while holding mealtime discussions of the places and people they met. In Oxford, MS we sat down with civil rights historian and Ole Miss professor Dr. Charles Eagles, most recently author of The Price of Defiance, about James Meredith and the (forced) integration of the University of Mississippi. His was one view that cadets would hear of the integration of Ole Miss, the storied Battle of Oxford. The second version was from Mr. Julian Gilner, an African-American Ole Miss grad, who saw the changes in Oxford, and the prospects for the future, from a very different perspective. Oxford also features Rowan Oak, the home of Nobel laureate William Faulkner. He wrote: "[t]he past is never dead. It's not even past." A thought that was very relevant to cadets struggling with the question of whether the civil rights movement has ended. A memorial to the three slain civil rights workers at the Mt. Zion Church. They are not buried here in part due to the fact that under Jim Crow laws, blacks and whites were not allowed to be buried together. The Staff Ride led through back roads in the area surrounding Philadelphia, MS where 50 years before, during what was termed Freedom Summer, civil rights workers James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were ambushed, then murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Cadets visited the Mt. Zion Church as the three did on June 21, 1964, the day they disappeared, after arriving to investigate the torching of the Church, and cadets then retraced the route to the site where they were brutally executed.

24 Page24 Cadet Golonka meets with Dr. Robert Parrish Moses, the legendary civil rights leader who was a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In Jackson, MS, under the leadership of our friend and teacher Sara Williams, Staff Riders were invited to the inaugural Medgar Evers Lecture at the old state capitol, now a museum. There cadets heard from civil rights legend Dr. Robert Parris Moses who focused on the need for a constitutional amendment creating a right to education. It was there cadets were able to speak with other storied veterans of the Movement. Cadet Golonka was able to tell Dr. Moses that it was he who inspired her to come on the Staff Ride. Major Forney was able to speak with Myrlie Evers, the widow of Medgar and sponsor of the lecture, about her slain husband s service in the Army. And cadets were able to meet white civil rights leader Rev. Ed King, who along with Dr. Moses, is portrayed in the current Broadway play All the Way about the three crises facing President Johnson (played by Bryan Cranston) in Cadets were able to sit down with their second U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Rhesa Barksdale, USMA 66 who spoke of current day civil rights issues and the then-ongoing primary election for U.S. Senator in Mississippi. The judge also reminisced about his role as manager of the Army Football team that beat Roger Staubach s Navy team in Go Army Beat Navy! From Jackson, the Staff Ride headed further south to New Orleans, LA where cadets were hosted at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center for a lecture on Plessy v. Ferguson by Keith Weldon Medley author of a book about the case entitled We as Freemen. Mr. Homer Plessy, a New Orleans native was not an accidental rider on the whites only car of the train he boarded; he was part of a well-organized plan to get judicial review of Jim Crow laws. After touring the Lower Ninth Ward devastated during hurricane Katrina, cadets enjoyed Southern cooking Creole style at the famous Dookie Chase, meeting 92- year old Mrs. Leah Chase, the Queen of Creole Major Forney speaks with Myrlie Evers, widow of Mississippi NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers who was s ot to death in the driveway of their Jackson, MS

25 Page25 Cuisine herself, and dining at her historic restaurant where civil rights leaders met and strategized over their next moves during the 1960 s. Mrs. Leah Chase told cadets stories of her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. She joked with them about how President Obama incurred her wrath by adding hot sauce to her chowder before tasting it. The following day cadets were invited to visit Uniontown, AL. Uniontown in Perry County is in the heart of the Black Belt, the region named after its rich black topsoil, but which is also overwhelmingly African- American. Although it figured in civil rights history, the Staff Ride was invited to Uniontown to witness a modern day civil rights struggle. Cadets were invited by attorney Mitch Reid, USMA 98, program director for the Alabama Rivers Alliance, to see sites that contained hazardous wastes. Specifically, they were there to see coal ash. And they did. This was coal ash that had spilled into a river in Tennessee and was transported to this impoverished community for permanent disposal. This was an issue involving environmental justice. That evening, cadets were invited to a community meeting and potluck dinner by the Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice. It seems that Uniontown, because of its poverty and lack of political influence or economic clout has been a dumping ground for the toxic by-product of coal-fired power plants. What cadets witnessed that evening was a genuine civil rights meeting trying to solve a real civil rights problem in They were no longer looking back at history, they were in it. The whole experience connected the cadets to the community and answered questions posed earlier during the Staff Ride about the need for an ongoing civil rights movement.

26 Page26 Staff Ride cadets and faculty took a field trip led by Adam Johnstone (in the red cap) of the Alabama Rivers Alliance with Mrs. Esther Calhoun, President of the Black Belt Citizens group and her young son (in the foreground), to view the mountain of coal ash in Uniontown. Cadets spent the night in nearby Selma (which will be a focal point of next year s Staff Ride as it commemorates Bloody Sunday in 1965 and that year s Voting Rights Act), and the next morning retraced the route of the 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery. In Alabama s capital, cadets visited the Southern Poverty Law Center and viewed the memorial to slain civil rights workers. The Staff Ride s last major stop was in Tuskegee, AL. Cadets stayed at the Tuskegee University founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881, where Dr. Robert R. Moton, as president of the Institute created a V.A. Hospital, and where George Washington Carver taught botany and agriculture. There cadets met with attorney Fred Gray, who represented Rosa Parks, Dr. King, and the victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments. In Tuskegee, cadets visited Moton Field where the Tuskegee Airmen trained, fought valiantly in World War II, yet returned home to the land of Jim Crow to play a critical role in the Civil Rights Movement. The long trip home and the balance of the summer gave cadets the perspective on what they had experienced. To them it was eye opening and a unique opportunity to meet and interview veterans of the Civil Rights Movement whose educated opinions help to shape my growing perspective on civil rights today, public education, and poverty. Or as Cadet Townsend put it, To be able to meet with important veterans of the movement made this more than just a sightseeing trip, but a life changing experience.

27 Page27 Cadets observed a modern day civil rights meeting in Uniontown, Alabama after introducing themselves and being welcomed by members of the community and enjoying a potluck dinner.