(6 of 9)
After the incident was publicized, Ringgold was cleared by academy authorities. Ringgold then sought out General Ulmer and asked just why he had been acquitted. Ulmer explained that he had not referred to any specific case in his conversation with Augustine, nor was there any evidence to back up what he had said. According to Ulmer, the outspoken Ringgold then told him the authorities were looking in the wrong place for culprits. Asked Ulmer: "Are you telling me that you have firsthand knowledge of cadets who have violated the honor code apart from what we know?" "Yes, sir," said Ringgold. Ulmer promptly advised him that he would have to go before an honor code review board once again. Ulmer later explained that he was "morally obligated" to turn Ringgold in after the cadet had volunteered the information. Ringgold's case is still pending.
Even as they search for reasons for the mass violations of the honor code, academy officials are convinced there is no basic flaw in the nature of the cadets who are attracted to West Point. Indeed the quality of the cadet corps is impressive, as is the incoming class of 900 men—and for the first time, nearly 100 women—that will attend Beast Barracks this summer.
The typical cadet in the class of 1976, which is graduating this week, had a B+ average in high school. He was a letterman in some sport (33.8% captained a team) and scored 554 on the verbal scholastic aptitude test and 624 on the mathematics test—not up to the average scores of Harvard or Yale, but well within the reach of such excellent schools as the University of Michigan or Georgia Tech. All of the cadets were nominated for a place in the class by authorized officials, notably U.S. Senators and Congressmen. Many had wanted to enter West Point since early in their high school days or even before, and 13.4% had fathers who were career military officers.
The attrition rate at West Point is roughly comparable to that at Ivy League schools: last year's graduating class lost 36% of its members along the way. If they follow the general pattern, some 70% of the class will eventually get an advanced degree. Most West Pointers now stay in the service for 20 years before re-entering civilian life (they are required to serve for at least five years after graduating). The cadets get a solid education in mathematics and engineering, though the liberal arts curriculum has been broadened in recent years. Understandably, the cadets who are more at home with the mysteries of hydraulics still far outnumber those with a taste for the imagery of T.S. Eliot.
The pace at the Point can be brutal. Reveille at 6:10 a.m., duties or study at 6:40 a.m., classes from 7:50 a.m. until 11:55 a.m., and on through the day at double time until taps at 11 p.m. For many exhausted cadets, the major recreation is sleeping. There is still some hazing at the Point, such as forcing plebes to know the number of lights in Cullun Hall (340) and the capacity of Luck Reservoir ("Seventy-eight million gallons, sir, when the water is flowing over the spillway"). But the sadistic practices of the past have been abolished—doing deep knee bends over the point of a bayonet or forcing a cadet to run up five floors of the barracks, don a new uniform and get back down in 21/2 minutes.