Getting to the Left of Sharp: Lessons Learned from West Point’s Effort to Combat Sexual Harassment and Assault

On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which ended the practice of segregating the military services by race. That same year, the Army allowed women to join the services on an equal basis with men. Both of these steps preceded (and perhaps helped precipitate) the larger societal changes that allowed fully equal treatment of all types of American citizens in military service. And just over 2 years ago, Congress repealed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, allowing for gays and lesbians to take their place openly in the military.West Point fully integrated women nearly 40 years ago, with the class of 1980. Since that time, our procedures and policies for successful gender integration have grown and evolved. While we have a long way to go, one of the hallmarks of a profession is its continued efforts to improve. To that end, this book shares a few of the lessons West Point has learned on the prevention of sexual harassment and assault. We share five “Principles” for leaders and commanders, as well as associated “Tips” for implementation: Principle 1: Leaders identify and break chains of circumstance; Principle 2: Education is preferable to litigation; Principle 3: What’s electronic is public; Principle 4: Don’t ignore pornography; and, Principle 5: Unit climate is the commander’s responsibility. We argue that senior commanders should hold junior commanders responsible for their unit climates when evidence exists that bad unit climates have led to sexual assault or harassment incidents. To that end, commanders should personally lead some of this training, and not be afraid to treat all unit functions as opportunities to promote positive cultures.