West Point Rugby Team Punished for ‘Derogatory’ Emails About Women

If only the military took sexual assault as seriously as West Point apparently takes rape culture: the academy recently disbanded its men’s rugby team and punished 60 cadets after administrators found a “derogatory email chain” that illustrated “a culture of disrespect towards women.”

“…cadets on the team were found to have violated the Cadet Disciplinary Code for Unsatisfactory behavior, Error in Judgment, Failure to Perform a Duty, and a violation of the General Article for actions which tend to reflect discredit on the Corps of Cadets and the United States Army,” West Point spokesman Frances DeMaro said in a statement earlier this week.

An officer at the military academy in West Point, N.Y. spent a month investigating the team’s emails and overall culture. The investigation didn’t uncover any actual sexual assault, but the cadets still had to complete an “intense” respect rehabilitation program mandating self-assessments, reflective journals (really wish we could read those) and role-model interviews.

“The intent of the program,” according to DeMaro’s statement, “was not only to punish the offenders, but to address the cultural issues with their actions.”