The leading official who presided over the U.S. Naval Academy’s use of racist affirmative action admissions policies is being replaced, the Pentagon announced on Friday.
According to a Defense Department press release, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael J. Borgschulte has been nominated to replace Navy Vice Adm. Yvette Davids as the superintendent of the renowned military school. Davids — who was nominated to her now-former position by President Joe Biden — has since been reassigned to be the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans, Strategy, and Warfighting Development.
If confirmed by the Senate, Borgschulte will become the “first Marine to head the academic institution in its 180-year history,” according to the left-wing Military.com.
The Pentagon’s move to replace Davids as the Navy school’s superintendent comes amid the Trump administration’s efforts to restore meritocracy and lethality to the military.
Under Davids’ leadership, the Naval Academy embraced the use of affirmative action in its admissions processes. A former professor at the school previously told The Federalist how such race- and sex-obsessed policies reportedly resulted in less qualified applicants being accepted into the academy and disunity among midshipmen.
While testifying before a Senate subcommittee in March, Davids claimed, “At no time are race, sex, or ethnicity considered in the qualification of a candidate and there are no associated demographic goals or objectives.” The comment was made despite Biden administration officials defending the school’s use of such policies in federal court several months prior.
Since his return to office, President Donald Trump and his administration have ended the use of affirmative action policies at America’s military academies. The decision has since prompted Students for Fair Admissions and the Justice Department to drop the former’s lawsuit against the Naval Academy over its past embrace of such policies, a move a federal court approved earlier this month.
During her tenure as superintendent, Davids also presided over a controversy involving the school’s annual Bancroft Lecture. Last year, the academy invited Ruth Ben-Ghiat — a radical leftist who’s regularly characterized Trump and other Republicans as authoritarians — to speak at its 2024 Lecture. A Naval Academy representative told The Federalist at the time that event speakers are “selected by a committee of faculty members in the History Department and approved by the provost and superintendent.”
The October event was ultimately postposed — a decision the Naval Academy representative said was “made by leadership” — following reporting on Ben-Ghiat’s scheduled appearance.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood