Fewer than 15% of students nominated by members of Congress for national military academies since the mid-1990s have been Black and Hispanic, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center.
The report, Gatekeepers to Opportunity: Racial Disparities in Congressional Nominations to the Military Service Academies, analyzed nearly 25 years of nominations to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York; the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Competition is fierce for slots in the academies, and a nomination is required for a student to be considered for admission.