Upstaging the Goat

Traditionally, the loudest cheer of West Point's graduation ceremonies goes to the "goat," the cadet who finishes at the bottom of his class. As No. 835 in a class of 835, Goat Jesse Owens won a creditable round of applause at Michie Stadium last week. But the biggest hand--an extravagant two-minute ovation--went to No. 757 in the class: William Andersen, chairman of the cadet-run Honor Committee that enforces the Military Academy's honor code. Said Brigadier General Walter F. Ulmer Jr., commandant of cadets: "There was a message there for somebody."

Andersen was a zealous upholder of the code (which states that "a cadet will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate anyone who does" and which demands expulsion as the sole penalty). With West Point in the midst of the worst cheating scandal in its 174 years, the seniors who won their second lieutenants' bars last week were endorsing a strict construction of the code.

The second classmen (juniors) were considerably cooler. In a class of 875, four had already resigned after being charged with cheating on an electrical-engineering exam in March; 48 had been found guilty by honor committees and were appealing (of these, two have now been found guilty and one acquitted); 82 more were charged with cheating last week by panels of officers and cadets.

In the midst of the inquiries, Second Classman Timothy Ringgold brought suit in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to halt them. It was Ringgold who remarked, during a meeting with Army Under Secretary Norman Augustine after the engineering-exam scandal had surfaced, that cheating was "widespread" at the Point. He is now under investigation for having "tolerated" misconduct by fellow cadets.

Federal Judge Richard Owen refused to halt the hearings. He agreed to consider convening a three-judge panel to rule on the code's constitutionality, but he left little doubt about his own view. "It does seem to me," said he, "that the U.S. Military Academy is entitled to have its cadets not lie, steal or cheat."

Army Secretary Martin Hoffmann, who spoke at commencement, gave the code a more ringing vote of confidence, then promptly qualified it. He described the code as a "timeless" statement of principles. But, he said after the ceremonies, "if conditions warrant, we'll make changes."

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