Shattering the illusion of compliance.
DEI employees are still running amok in the hallowed halls of the United States Military Academy at West Point (USMA). President Trump and members of his administration have taken the first steps toward eliminating DEI in the military, but there won’t be lasting change until all traces of it are removed from our military’s oldest academy.
In 2024, Congress and watchdog groups started asking questions about why cadets were being taught DEI and CRT ideology in West Point classrooms. Over the next several months, USMA was embroiled in controversy as it faced a barrage of congressional hearings, lawsuits, and FOIA requests. But West Point was able to successfully shield many of its woke policies through disingenuous public relations efforts.
More than six months into the Trump Administration, it is clear that West Point’s “compliance” with President Trump’s Restoring America’s Fighting Force executive order and Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-DEI memo is merely perfunctory, and even deceptive. Their orders are being undermined by the continued presence of woke employees who continue to prop up a leftist regime that has embedded itself at West Point.
Dr. Morten Ender is a full professor of sociology at West Point whose work confirms his allegiance to DEI dogma. Before Congress became wary of DEI in the military, Ender worked as the co-chair of USMA’s Diversity and Inclusion Studies Minor. He was the point of contact for classes such as “Deconstructing Patriotism” and “The Evolution of Cross-dressing in the Military.” He also taught classes entitled “Deviance and Social Control” and “Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity.” Ender’s work has included articles such as “Dinner and Conversation: Transgender Integration at West Point and Beyond” and books like Inclusion in the American Military: A Force for Diversity. It is absurd to believe that a person who so vigorously embraced the politicization of the military will simply give up that crusade in a new role, with a new title.
Since Congress took a harder line on DEI in the military, the DEI minor’s website has disappeared, and Ender’s bio has been cleaned up, removing any trace of his association with DEI. Originally, West Point’s site listed his many accomplishments, including his pro-DEI articles and woke classes.
West Point may try to cover up its history, but it will not fool us.
The continued employment of another woke professor, Lisa Benitez, is also puzzling in light of Secretary Hegseth’s clear directive to stop the inculcation of toxic ideologies like DEI and CRT in the military. The former Chief Diversity Officer of West Point’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity, Benitez’s role has taken several new forms since 2024. In June of last year she was given the title of “Chief Engagement and Retention Officer,” and then became “Equal Employment Manager” only a few months later.
While Benitez no longer has an official presence on the Academy website, her LinkedIn profile still lists her as a West Point employee, and her phone number matches that of the Equal Employment Manager role.
Benitez organized the annual West Point Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Conference. This conference had been a bastion of woke ideology in our nation’s premier military academy, hosting talks on “The Evolution of Diversity” and “Corporate Diversity.” The name of the conference changed this past January to “The Iris and Herman Bulls ’78 Family Legacy of Graduates and Leaders Forum,” and was eventually cancelled due to controversy. But it is clear that the radical ideology it once openly promoted remains.
Colonel Archie Bates III, the Deputy Director of the Behavioral Science and Leadership Department at West Point, attended one of those conferences. In addition to doing academic work on preferential college admissions, he advertises himself as a skilled promoter of DEI and lists his many woke accomplishments. He also co-edited the military’s DEI policy that authorized women for combat arms in 2011. Colonel Bates is currently the Acting Department Head of Behavior Sciences and Leadership at West Point.
Another member of the DEI faculty still in place at West Point is Major Catherine Grizzle, who currently works as an instructor for the Behavioral Science and Leadership Department. Grizzle came up through the ranks when woke leadership was being openly promoted and praised. She has long been a poster child for DEI, becoming only the third female Field Artillery BOLC Gunnery Instructor. Her LinkedIn profile displays her full commitment to DEI, and she is the only West Point faculty member to have DEI listed in her research interests.
Fortunately, at least one faculty member who teaches DEI is leaving voluntarily. USMA history professor Anthony Guerrero, who has been at West Point for over two years, is resigning in protest due to President Trump’s crackdown on DEI. In a New York Times op-ed, Guerrero called Trump’s executive order on military excellence and readiness a “legal command that provides cover for bigotry. It delivers hate in the guise of a national security issue, dressed up in medicalized language.” Not only is Guerrero defending trans ideology, but he is also contradicting a direct order to keep his concerns private.
West Point’s DEI leadership—including figures like Ender, Bates, Grizzle, Benitez, and Guerrero—represents just a fraction of DEI’s ideological entrenchment there. Despite recent efforts to present a façade of reform, West Point remains captive to the same individuals who have been championing divisive policies on race and sex for years. As long as these officials remain in charge, any claims of returning to a pre-DEI, mission-focused ethos ring hollow. The result is an officer corps trained in ideological conformity rather than the lethality, leadership, and warfighting excellence our national defense demands.
While the Trump Administration has taken commendable steps to roll back DEI in the military, those efforts cannot succeed if the very officials who created these policies remain in positions of influence. Lasting reform requires not just policy change—but personnel change.
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