The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, will be “taking steps to close all agency Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders,” according to an internal email.
The email, sent by Vice Adm. Yvette Davids and obtained by Fox News, acknowledges President Donald Trump’s executive order ending DEI.
“Concerns have been raised that some of these programs may have been modified in a way that obscures their DEIA objectives,” the email added. Davids asked that if staff are “aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies” to report “all facts and circumstances.”
The U.S. Military Academy has also prohibited organizations based on ethnicity and gender. “These clubs are not authorized to continue informal activities using Government time, resources, or facilities,” the directive reportedly read.
A 2024 report from Arizona State University’s Center for American Institutions found that education and training within the U.S. military included widespread DEI initiatives.
“The U.S. Armed Forces should not be a laboratory for social experimentation, especially one based on Critical Race Theory, a contentious and abstract social theory,” the report said. “Yet, as this Commission Report on Civic Education in the Military shows in great detail, Critical Race Theory is promoted within Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training throughout the military from the Pentagon through the ranks and in our service academies.”
Military academics have offices for diversity and inclusion, the report described, which “coordinate training, support ‘affinity groups’ based on gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity, and promote celebrations based on those identities.”
The Naval Academy also incorporated DEI systems, requiring “faculty candidates to submit diversity statements describing how applicants will contribute to the Academy’s diversity and inclusion mission.”
