Navy's civilian leader reinstates female midshipman

Secretary Dalton overrules top admiral

January 24, 1997
Web posted at: 8:00 p.m. EST In this story:

Lie or misunderstanding?
'They were doing their duty'
The question of punishment
Related stories and sites

From Correspondent Jamie McIntyre

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Navy's civilian leader has overruled the senior admiral in charge of the U.S. Naval Academy and ordered that an expelled female midshipman be commissioned as an officer.

Jennifer Della Barba, 21, had been found guilty by an honor board of lying during an investigation. But Della Barba contended she didn't lie but was instead misunderstood.

The statement in question was made during an investigation into whether she had slept in her dormitory room with her boyfriend, which would violate academy rules.

Navy Secretary John Dalton said Friday the evidence supported Della Barba, who was headed for flight school to be a Navy pilot.

"I have concluded the evidence does not establish that Midshipman Della Barba intended to deceive," Dalton wrote in his memo announcing his decision.

"As midshipman, Della Barba has completed all requirements for graduation. I direct that she be graduated from the Naval Academy and commissioned an officer in the Navy."

Lie or misunderstanding?

The dispute stemmed from an incident in April 1996. Two classmates claimed they saw Della Barba in bed with her boyfriend in her dormitory room, a violation of academy rules. She was able to disprove the charge by showing that at the time she was on a field trip.

But in the course of the investigation, she said she had visited an academy clinic to have her knee checked. The clinic was not open on the day she said she went there.

Della Barba later explained that she went to the clinic, and found it closed. She insisted she never meant to give the impression she had been treated there.

An honor board of nine midshipmen decided she had lied and recommended her expulsion, a ruling upheld by Larson.

'They were doing their duty'

In a statement provided to CNN, Della Barba said "a simple unintentional miscommunication occurred," but said she does not believe the charges against her were malicious.

"I believe the individuals who brought the charges and the officers who reviewed them honorably believed they were doing their duty."

The case split the ranks of the academy and put Dalton in the awkward position of overruling Adm. Charles Larson, the academy superintendent who refused to back down in the face of evidence that the midshipman may have simply been misunderstood.

In the memo, Dalton said he did not find Larson's recommendation "reasonable and well-founded."

The question of punishment

Along with the controversy over whether Della Barba lied, there was talk that her punishment was too harsh and that that had something to do with her being a woman. Other males at the school, some argued, had committed more serious crimes and still received their commissions.

Had Della Barba's expulsion not been overturned, she would have been forced to repay the government $87,000 for the cost of her education at the academy.

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