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2 white cadets harassed black classmate, Coast Guard Academy says

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- The U.S. Coast Guard Academy says an investigator has recommended discipline against two white cadets for harassing a black classmate. The investigation was prompted by an October incident in which a cadet played a racially offensive song in the black cadet's room.

Superintendent Rear Adm. James Rendon did not name the song played by the white cadet, but he said it romanticizes "a world in which the South won the Civil War" and is widely considered offensive. He said the black cadet took his classmate's actions as offensive and intimidating.    

After leaving to tell a peer counselor, the black cadet returned to find the background screen on his computer had been changed to show the Mississippi state flag, which includes the Confederate battle flag

The encounter between the two cadets came only hours after the commandant of cadets met with the entire student body to discuss a springtime incident that involved the display of the Confederate flag.  

The Connecticut-based academy said Wednesday two investigations by the Coast Guard found the white cadets harassed their classmate. An investigator recommended the students be charged with violations of the Regulations of the Corps of Cadets, but it's unclear what discipline that would entail. 

Rendon has said he was angered by the episode. 

About 1,000 cadets are enrolled at the academy in New London. Cadets graduate with a commitment to serve five years in the Coast Guard.  

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