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The choice by the Division of Transportation, which oversees the US Service provider Marine Academy (USMMA), got here simply weeks earlier than college students have been set to embark on their โSea Yrโ voyage, through which college students are sometimes despatched in pairs to work alongside older, predominantly male crew members.
In a letter to college students notifying them that this system has been quickly suspended, college and transportation officers stated the academy and the maritime business have been confronting a โdifficult timeโ and that the choice to halt this system was โone of the vital troublesome weโve got confronted.โ
Simply days earlier, congressional lawmakers expressed concern that college students on the academy have been being put in peril whereas taking part within the Sea Yr program.
Sea Yr was designed to supply college students on the academy, positioned in Kings Level, New York, with worthwhile expertise engaged on business vessels and is likely one of the collegeโs main attracts, with many hoping to go on to develop into engineers and leaders within the transport business.
Officers advised college students on Tuesday that Sea Yr wouldnโt resume till they have been capable of put collectively an in depth plan with new security measures as requested by lawmakers. They stated crusing would not resume till December on the very earliest. The letter didnโt present particulars concerning the modifications however stated that some have been already within the works and being mentioned with each the varsity neighborhood and the maritime business. Lawmakers had additionally known as for the resignation of USMMAโs superintendent Jack Buono, however no management modifications have been introduced and Buono was one of many officers concerned with Tuesdayโs motion.
That is the second time in 5 years that Sea Yr has been halted amid considerations about sexual assault and harassment.
Whereas she stated she was too scared to report the crime on the time, she determined to share her expertise after studying that 9 different feminine college students at the moment enrolled on the academy stated that they had additionally been raped throughout their Sea Yr.
As her story circulated among the many USMMA neighborhood and others within the maritime business, Maersk suspended 5 crew members and each the corporate and the federal authorities have been investigating the reported rape.
She stated this system is a necessary a part of the varsity and that โif something have been achieved by the primary Sea Yr suspension, it was solely that the issues grew worseโ โ saying that broader business modifications are wanted to carry predators accountable and preserve them off ships.
โIt was by no means my purpose to see Sea Yr suspended,โ she wrote. โIf each cadet is faraway from the business, then sure, cadets will not be assaulted on ships. However different mariners will nonetheless be assaulted, latest graduates of the Academy will nonetheless be assaulted, and nothing could have modified.โ
Do youโve gotten an expertise or data to share concerning the US Service provider Marine Academy or the maritime business? E mail us at [email protected].
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