In Response to “Trouble on the Coast”

A good friend of mine recently sent me a link to the article in the College Voice which referred to the incident with a Coast Guard cadet on the night of the Connecticut College rave.  I was extremely alarmed by what I read, and as an alum who is no longer on campus I was absolutely shocked that members of my college community were involved in such a disturbing confrontation.

I was a diver on the Connecticut College Swimming and Diving team for all of my four years at Conn.  Because the Coast Guard pool does not have a separate diving well and we do, the Coast Guard divers come and practice at our pool two hours a day, five days a week for almost four months.  Because of this proximity, I have had the absolute pleasure of getting to know the men and women divers from Coast Guard and they are some of the most extraordinary individuals that I have ever met.  They endure an incredibly grueling four years at the Coast Guard (both physically and mentally), all so that they can get an education and go on to serve our country.  But aside from the military aspect of their lives, they are just as human as anyone else and I often found myself forgetting what different lives they lead just across the street.  For instance, first year cadets are forbidden from having a facebook account, watching youtube or movies and they and second years cannot wear civilian clothes within 75 miles of the Academy.  Their rigorous days start at 6:20am and leave virtually no time for relaxation until 7-8pm when they can start their homework and preparations for the next day.

Conn students unfortunately see an extreme subset of the Coast Guard cadets, ones that come over with the stereotype of just wanting to “hook-up” with drunk Conn girls.  I have seen them many times, often travelling in numbers or at dances with their hats on the head of their dance partners.  What is important to note is out of the men and women that I practiced with every day, none have ever come onto Conn’s campus arbitrarily.  The only times they did come over were when they were expressly invited to a room of one of their Conn teammates, or to hang out on the green on a sunny weekend afternoon.  There is a lot of misconception as to what many of the cadets are truly like because they are restricted to their base most of the time and it is not practical for us to go over and see them except under special circumstances.

I think it is imperative that Conn students be given the chance to better understand the lives of the Coast Guard cadets, and for them to better understand us.  The extreme stereotype that they often see is of a bunch of snotty rich kids who throw vicious taunts and insults at them and undermine the work that they do.  A cadet who made a bad decision should not be used as a representation of the entire Coast Guard student body, just as a Conn student who has made a mistake should not be used to represent ours.  We should try to work together with both administrations to promote events that facilitate discussions that would allow us to get to know one another better, a forum to interact that is not at a heated hockey match or drunkenly on a sidewalk late on a Saturday evening.  Events involving both schools could strengthen relations between the schools and increase understanding between the two student bodies.

The Coast Guard Academy houses our closest neighbors, and the cadets there present an amazing opportunity to learn from a diverse group of people with many different perspectives.  I know that my interactions with them have provided me with invaluable knowledge, broadened my horizons and have made me extraordinarily grateful that I didn’t have to go through what they do at my own school.  These misinformed stereotypes are not helping anyone, and until we clear the air and actually have a mature dialogue, the tension between the two schools will never dissipate and will most likely lead to even more destructive and dangerous situations.