NEW LONDON, Conn. — The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general says the U.S. Coast Guard Academy has failed to properly investigate and handle allegations of racial harassment, including the use of racial slurs by cadets.
The Inspector General’s Office report identifies 16 allegations of race-based harassment at the academy between 2013 and 2018 and found problems with the Coast Guard’s response to 11 of them.
The complaints investigated by the Inspector General’s Office included episodes in which cadets used racial epithets, posed with a Confederate flag, and watched and laughed at a blackface video in a common area.
The Coast Guard says it has agreed to implement recommended changes, including better training of staff and cadets.
