University of Virginia Library

Steve Wells

Silence At The Point

On June 6, James J. Pelosi
was graduated from the United
States Military Academy,
receiving a commission as a
second lieutenant in the Army.

Taken at face value, there is
nothing unusual in that
accomplishment, just as there
is nothing which would make
the gawkish-looking cadet
stand out in a crowd.

Yet, as the national media
has informed us during the past
few weeks, there is something
which both figuratively and
literally set Pelosi apart from
the other 978 men in his class
at West Point.

Back in November of 1971,
a 44-member Honor
Committee, supported by a
referendum of the corps,
imposed a seldom used form of
social ostracism called "The
Silence" on Pelosi, after its
original conviction of the Long
Island cadet for an alleged
honor violation had been
overturned by a board of
officers.

Pelosi had been charged
with continuing to work on an
exam after the instructor had
said to stop – construed as
cheating by the rigid robots the
Point produces. He and several
witnesses testified as to his
innocence, yet the Committee
"requested" his resignation
from the Academy.

Pelosi appealed his case to
the board of officers, which
dismissed the charges against
him when it learned that a
high-ranking officer had sent a
note to the Committee telling
it to hurry up and convict
Pelosi because there was no
doubt as to his guilt.

Total Outcast

Pelosi was reinstated, and
the Honor Committee
promptly imposed "The
Silence," which reduced the
cadet's social status to that of a
total outcast. He roomed alone,
ate alone, and was deprived of
any sort of social of even
casual conversation.

But that is not all. He was
the subject of malicious
catcalls. He had rocks thrown
at him. His mail was torn into
pieces. He was threatened with
physical assault if he wore his
class ring. His possessions were
vandalized.

All by fellow cadets.

***

While it would be
presumptuous to pass on the
original guilt or innocence of
Pelosi, several thoughts about
his case come to mind, none of
which say much for the type of
man or lifestyle the Point
spawns.

To begin with, the offense
itself hardly seems
reprehensible. If an Honor
System is going to be
that nit-picking, that rigid, it
would appear to have no room
for human imprecision or
misjudgment and thus should
be abolished.

Secondly, is any honor
violation so dastardly that such
inhumane treatment as
silencing is warranted? That
Pelosi lost 26 pounds in the
first month or two of his
punishment is a point of fact;
what mental suffering he
endured or what long-range
effects his year and a half of
ostracism might have on him is
conjectural.

But, above all, the entire
episode makes us question, not
Pelosi's integrity, but the
integrity of the Academy in
general.

What in the hell is an officer
(of all people) doing writing a
note trying to influence the
Honor Committee? And what
is the Honor Committee doing
tolerating – and perhaps
allowing itself to be influenced
by – such outside, unsolicited
advice? It strikes me that the
officer's actions were much
more dishonorable than
Pelosi's alleged infraction.

And, finally, while military
academies are famous breeding-grounds
for self-righteous
behavior, that displayed by the
West Point cadets during
Pelosi's ostracism is both
ludicrous and disturbing.

Rumor Was Out

Most of the 3,800 cadets at
the Academy didn't even know
Pelosi, yet participated in the
silencing because The System
told them to. Rumor was out
that Pelosi was a rotten guy,
and that's all the mindless
machines needed to convict
him.

Okay, joining the
bandwagon is human nature;
call it innocence by
association. But abusing
another person (remember the
torn mail and vandalism) are
simply not forgivable, nor
excusable, especially when the
perpetrators are college-age
men.

Again, the acts of
retribution are more
reprehensible than the original
alleged violation.

Examine Own Consciences

As Pelosi suggested in a
New York Times interview,
"Maybe people around here
can start examining their own
consciences instead of always
watching everyone else's."

For the entire episode is a
flagrant example of people so
caught up in their own
self-righteousness and
adherence to principle that
they never take a barometer
reading of their own integrity;
of men who hunt witches, and
in the hunt put themselves
above the law.

And we wonder how
Watergates can happen.