President Donald Trump is slated to be the commencement speaker for this year’s U.S. Military Academy graduates on Saturday amid the administration’s crackdown on diversity initiatives and removal of key military leaders.
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have called for major changes to military academies since assuming office as part of the administration’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and these changes could take center stage in Trump’s speech.
In February, shortly after Hegseth was confirmed by the Senate, West Point disbanded several student clubs, including the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, the Latin Cultural Club and the Native American Heritage Forum.
The changes were made “in accordance with recent Presidential Executive Orders, Department of Defense guidance, and the Department of the Army guidance,” according to a memo obtained by ABC News.
Also in February, Trump, who avoided being drafted during the Vietnam War due to what he claimed were bone spurs, dismissed the leadership of all military academies, claiming without evidence that the schools were “infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues.”
This winter, 381 books, many of which were written by Black authors or discussed the history of racism, were removed from U.S. Naval Academy libraries because of an order issued in a Pentagon memo.
The memo mandated military services were to submit and remove book titles from the libraries of their military educational institutions that touch on diversity, race and gender issues using the Pentagon’s specific search terms.
All but 20 of the books that were initially removed were returned this week, according to the school.
Former West Point teachers and other military members have criticized Trump and Hegseth for the orders, contending that such programs did not inhibit the values, training and education of the academies.
“These were brazen demands to indoctrinate, not educate,” Graham Parsons, a West Point professor wrote in a May 8 guest essay in the New York Times.
“Whatever you think about various controversial ideas — Mr. Hegseth’s memo cited critical race theory and gender ideology — students should engage with them and debate their merits rather than be told they are too dangerous even to be contemplated,” he added.
Two protests are planned during the ceremony, one outside West Point’s gate and another on the Hudson River involving people on boats, according to organizers.
Trump last spoke to the school in 2020, and his appearance drew questions about his health. He was seen slowly walking down a ramp and appeared to have trouble drinking water from a glass while speaking.
The president, who has frequently criticized the health of his Democratic opponents, brushed off the criticism in a post on Twitter, now X.
“The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” he wrote, despite the weather being sunny during the ceremony.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.“
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