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Bush nominates new Air Force Academy leader

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 18:28 CDT

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Tuesday nominated Lt. Gen. John Regni to become superintendent of the Air Force Academy, which has been rocked by sexual abuse and religious insensitivity scandals in recent years.

Regni, who earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the academy in 1973, has served since July 2004 as commander of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, the Air Force's other major academic institution.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Regni will replace Lt. Gen. John Rosa, 53, who plans to retire to become president of The Citadel, his alma mater.

Rosa took over as head of the Colorado Springs school, which produces junior officers, in July 2003 and has worked to address sexual harassment and religious intolerance at the academy.

His official retirement date has not yet been announced.

The academy has undergone many changes during Rosa's tenure, after a major sexual abuse scandal in January 2003 revealed a pattern of sexual assaults against female cadets and little effort to punish those responsible.

This year, it came under fire again amid reports of inappropriate proselytizing by evangelical Christians.

An Air Force task force in June concluded the academy had failed to accommodate minority beliefs but found no evidence of overt religious discrimination. It did urge the Air Force to issue guidelines on appropriate religious expression.

The Air Force responded on Monday, cautioning commanders and civilian leaders against promoting any particular faith, or even "the idea of religion over nonreligion," in official communications or at functions like meetings or sports events.

The guidelines discourage public prayers at official Air Force events or meetings other than worship services, but they allow for "a brief nonsectarian prayer" at special promotion ceremonies or a "moment of silence for personal reflection."

One outspoken critic, Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate from Albuquerque, described the guidelines as "dead on arrival" because they did not address many of the underlying issues related to evangelizing at the academy.

The guidelines try to balance the U.S. Constitutional requirement of free religious expression with limits on government endorsement of religion.

Source: REUTERS

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