The Air Force Academy superintendent is proposing to cut civilian faculty positions without hiring uniformed instructors to replace them — a change that could eliminate some majors.
The proposal floated in internal meetings and communications is intended to increase the percentage of military service members among the faculty up to 80% and bring the percentage of civilians down from about 37% to 20%.
The internal communication listed Superintendent Tony Bauernfeind's goals for reducing the staff overall, lowering the civilian representation and reducing the number of faculty members with doctorates to the minimum viable for accreditation. He would like to see changes in place by the coming fall semester, the note said.
The academy currently employs 491 faculty members with 308 (62.7%) uniformed members and 183 (37.3%) civilian members, the communication said. To meet the proposed goals, 105 civilian positions would have to be cut.
"The Dean has communicated that a reduction of our faculty body below 400 members would force us to cut some majors and cease many opportunities for cadets," the communication said.
Some cadets seemed concerned about the prospect of cutting great civilian professors and losing majors on the anonymous social media app Jodel and called on their peers to write their representatives.
"Everyone take five to 10 minutes to write an email to whoever nominated you telling them about the tomfoolery TB ( Tony Bauernfeind) is trying to pull and how it will ruin our education and the value of being at this place. He's really trying to fire some some of the best, smartest teachers here and causing them hella stress," one post said.
The proposal would require the secretary of the Air Force to approve it. The nominee to lead the Air Force, Troy Meink, is still awaiting confirmation. He currently leads the National Reconnaissance Office.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called for more uniformed personnel to teach at the academies during his confirmation hearing.
"We need more uniformed members going back into West Point, the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy, as a tour-to-teach, with their wisdom of what they have learned in uniform, instead of just more civilian professors that came from the same left-wing, woke universities that they left, and then try to push that into service academies," Hegseth said.
Bauernfeind and the other academy superintendents faced questions last week during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel about the mix of civilians they employ.
At the Naval Academy, it's close to a 50-50 split between civilians and military faculty, Superintendent Vice Adm. Yvette Davids said. At West Point, civilians make up 26% of the faculty and uniformed members make up 74%, Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland said.
Gilland noted during the hearing that civilians bring technical expertise to the institution, particularly in science, technology, engineering or mathematics fields.
The three academies educate and train about 20% of the military's officers, said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., at the hearing. Others commission through ROTC programs at universities and colleges or through officer candidate school.
Top military leaders, such as Space Force Chief of Operations Chance Saltzman, graduated from ROTC programs.
Longtime Air Force Academy department head and retired Brig. Gen. Marty France said the Air Force Academy's transition to employing more civilians started around 1990 and it took 35 years to reach 37%.
Civilians can bring a depth of knowledge and research experience in their field, while military faculty can show the linkage between the field of study and military service. Many of the current civilians are veterans, he said.
"They have the best of both worlds," France said.
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