Kiggans, Colleagues Send Letter Questioning U.S. Naval Academy on Partisan Guest Lecturer

WASHINGTON, DC: Last week, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) led 16 of her colleagues in sending a letter to Vice Admiral Yvette M. Davids, the Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, to inquire about the academy’s process for inviting guest lecturers to speak to midshipmen.

The lawmakers sent the letter after it was discovered the Naval Academy had invited a guest lecturer who, when announcing her upcoming lecture, made unsubstantiated and politicized claims about former President Donald Trump. The majority of signers are veterans of the United States Armed Forces and together total more than 260 years in service to the United States.

“Dr. Ben-Ghiat is entitled to her opinions about former President Trump and our great nation’s Constitution ensures she has the right to voice them,” wrote the lawmakers. “However, the United States Naval Academy – a federal service academy – is not the appropriate venue for speakers like this as Department of Defense Directive No. 1344.10 bans active members of the military, including administrators and teachers at the academy, from engaging in ‘partisan political activities.’”

“Our military service academies, as publicly funded and government-operated institutions, are intended to train future military leaders to serve the United States with honor and distinction, regardless of who holds the position of Commander in Chief,” continued the lawmakers. “The partisan politics that Dr. Ben-Ghiat espouses has absolutely no place in our military…”

On Friday, October 4, just days after it became public Dr. Ben-Ghiat had been selected by the U.S. Naval Academy for its prestigious Bancroft Lecture, an annual discussion with visiting history professors, Members of Congress were notified that the lecture had been cancelled. Dr. Ben-Ghiat’s selection for the Bancroft Lecture, and its subsequent cancellation following significant pushback, raised serious concerns among Members of Congress regarding the Academy’s process for choosing guest speakers.

The letter was cosigned by Congressmen Jack Bergman (MI-01), Mike Garcia (CA-27), Sam Graves (MO-06), Mark Green (TN-07), Clay Higgins (LA-03), Ronny Jackson (TX-13), Nick LaLota (NY-01), Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), Rich McCormick (GA-06), Cory Mills (FL-07), August Pfluger (TX-11), Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14), Derrick Van Orden (WI-03), Michael Waltz (FL-06), Brad Wenstrup (OH-02), and Brandon Williams (NY-22).

You can read the full letter here or below.

Dear VADM Davids,

We write to you regarding our concern over the United States Naval Academy’s (USNA) previous decision to select Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a partisan historian at New York University, as the speaker of its Bancroft Lecture this academic year. While we are pleased to hear that the USNA cancelled her appearance and postponed the lecture series, we still have questions as to why a partisan individual like Dr. Ben-Ghiat was selected in the first place.

Prior to the cancellation of her appearance, Dr. Ben-Ghiat stated that she was planning to “speak about what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule.” While on the surface this lecture would seem to be academically significant for our naval midshipmen, Dr. Ben-Ghiat’s own statements provided clear concern that she would have used this highly-respected platform to make unsubstantiated politicized claims against one of the presidential nominees just 25 days before the 2024 election.

In the same social media post where Dr. Ben-Ghiat announced her upcoming lecture at the USNA, she repeatedly painted former President Donald Trump as an authoritarian. In one such example, Ben-Ghiat falsely claimed that what motivates the former President is his “authoritarian character, desire to destroy democratic values and ideals, and loyalty to autocrats” such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.

Dr. Ben-Ghiat is entitled to her opinions about former President Trump and our great nation’s Constitution ensures she has the right to voice them. However, the United States Naval Academy – a federal service academy – is not the appropriate venue for speakers like this as Department of Defense Directive No. 1344.10 bans active members of the military, including administrators and teachers at the academy, from engaging in “partisan political activities.”

Our military service academies, as publicly funded and government-operated institutions, are intended to train future military leaders to serve the United States with honor and distinction, regardless of who holds the position of Commander in Chief. The partisan politics that Dr. Ben-Ghiat espouses has absolutely no place in our military, and we applaud your decision to cancel her appearance.

While we support your decision, we have the following questions regarding the initial decision to select Dr. Ben-Ghiat as a speaker:

1. What was the process for vetting speakers for this academic year’s Bancroft Lecture?
2. Were there alternative speakers considered for this event who could provide a less partisan perspective on this topic?
3. What steps will the USNA take to ensure that future speakers at the Bancroft Lecture series reflect the Academy’s commitment to impartiality and intellectual rigor, particularly on politically sensitive topics?
4. How does the USNA define “academic freedom” within the context of its obligations to remain politically neutral, and how is that standard applied when selecting speakers for official events?

Thank you for your attention to this issue and we look forward to your response.

###