The VMI administration: cooperating with or influencing the media? – Part 2

Editor's note: This is Part 2 of The Cadet's own investigation of issues involving freedom of speech at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and alleged actions by the administration to discredit The Cadet, its staff and supporters in the media and elsewhere. This covers the Washington Post articles following Virginia Press Association awards to The Cadet and other areas, including VMI's refusal to disclose the results of the report by the Inspector General working for Maj. Gen. Wins. The staff thanks the alumni and fellow members of the media and VMI family who provided documents and facts they independently uncovered so The Cadet can factually report. Links to documents and videos referenced are available in the online version of The Cadet at www.cadetnewspaper.com. Actions by the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) administration challenged the Virginia Press Association (VPA) awards to The Cadet, and the continued existence of the newspaper itself began soon after The Cadet received the VPA Journalistic Integrity and Community Service Award and other recognitions. The Cadet previously covered the timeline of events, independent alumni investigations, the administration's involvement, Board of Visitors (BOV) actions and media reporting. This included the BOV President's unilateral decision to defer investigating the administration's actions to the Superintendent who was involved himself. The "fact-finding" report of the Inspector General (IG), who works for Maj. Gen. Wins, remains secret, even from the BOV. Part 1 of this series addressed VMI's involvement with Cardinal News in actions against The Cadet. Part 2 now investigates VMI's actions with the Washington Post. VMI's interaction with the Washington Post began May 24, 2023 soon after the Cardinal News reporter published her second story challenging The Cadet winning the VPA's Journalistic Integrity Award. As covered previously in The Cadet, the stories relied heavily on records VMI Director of Communications, Mr. Bill Wyatt, proactively disclosed with allegations against The Cadet, its staff and supporters. Cardinal News competed against, and lost to The Cadet in the competition for the VPA award. Its reporter previously worked as a freelancer for the Washington Post. In his first email to VMI's Communications Director, Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi stated he was following up on the Cardinal News' article covering the meeting by the VPA on the Journalistic Integrity and Community Service Award. According to the reporter's email, obtained by an alumnus under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and provided to The Cadet, that initial inquiry focused on VMI's relationship with The Cadet and the VPA award. It was, according to the email, a "[follow] up on reporting by the Cardinal about an award the Virginia Press Association presented to the Cadet newspaper earlier this month. I had several questions about the Cadet relative to its relationship with VMI that I was hoping you could answer." The questions the reporter submitted to the Communications Director were benign, non-accusatory, non-confrontational, and focused on VMI's relationship with The Cadet. They did not address, or even mention, alumni involvement in the paper, The Cadet's article on VMI's Cadet Counseling Center (CCC), or any of the issues and allegations contained in the final, highly negative, Washington Post articles. Records of the questions and the VMI responses appear to show the VMI Communications Director's replies fostered the controversy that followed. Washington Post Question: "Is the Cadet newspaper officially a part of VMI? That is, is it funded or in any way overseen by VMI administrators or staff? If not, what IS its status relative to VMI?" From VMI Communications Director's response: The Cadet newspaper is unaffiliated with VMI. Cadets approached VMI in the spring semester of 2021 about starting a journalism club that would publish a newspaper. Their club application was to be considered by the Cadet Activities Board at its next meeting at the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester. However, prior to the CAB's consideration of their application, an alumnus began publishing the newspaper in May 2021 and then created an independent 501(c)3 in the summer of 2021 to support its continued publication. VMI has respected their independence since that time. [emphasis added]. Maj. Gen. Wins, VMI's superintendent (president), has offered to recognize The Cadet newspaper as the official paper-of-record for VMI. The proposed memorandum of understanding that would provide such recognition requires the cadet editor-in-chief to attest that cadets have full editorial control of the paper and, in turn, Maj. Gen. Wins attests that the Institute would not interfere or otherwise seek editorial control of the paper. The proposed MOU would also require a faculty adviser (of the cadets' choosing) even if that adviser were to come from the Washington & Lee journalism department since VMI does not have a journalism program. The MOU has yet to be signed by The Cadet newspaper [emphasis added]. More likely than not, the subsequent negative reporting could have been avoided. VMI could have answered that The Cadet remains one of the oldest independent college newspapers in Virginia; VMI does not fund the paper; Cadets have editorial control; and are not "supervised" by VMI to ensure they enjoy their First Amendment freedoms. Also that the relationship with VMI is that The Cadet remains an independent student-run publication. Instead, the Director of Communications questioned the integrity of the cadets and the legitimacy of their awards, including one for investigative reporting the reporter did not inquire about. Washington Post Question: "Does VMI endorse its current editorial positions, including its award-winning work about diversity, equity and inclusion at VMI?" [emphasis added] From VMI Communications Director's Response: "…VMI was especially surprised by the VPA award given in the "In-depth or Investigative Reporting (Non-Daily Group 1)" category. The article awarded first place was riddled with errors that were pointed out to The Cadet staff shortly after publication, yet they refused to issue any corrections. Even the article's author admitted it was full of errors and wondered why it was published in its draft state." [emphasis added] Similarly, the Communications Director could have responded to the remaining questions by simply stating the facts that The Cadet returned to publication with the graduation issue in 2021 as a joint initiative by cadets and alumni who revised it similar to how cadets revived it periodically after pauses in publications since its origin as a magazine in 1871. He could have stated VMI neither endorses nor disputes any editorial positions in The Cadet as they are those of the newspaper's editorial staff, that the administration respects that, and that VMI encourages students to work with all cadet activities at VMI. Alternatively for some, the Communications Director could have stated he did not have that information and referred the reporter to The Cadet Foundation and/or The Cadet staff itself. Instead, the responses raised further accusations, all shown to be baseless in subsequent reporting by The Cadet. Washington Post Question: "I understand the Cadet shut down in 2016. When did it reappear and how was it revived? Was there any involvement by VMI in its revival?" Excerpts from VMI Communications Director's Response: "The previous iteration of The Cadet ceased publication in 2016 due to a lack of interest on the part of the cadets…. Despite claims to the contrary, The Cadet newspaper that began publishing in May 2021 is in no way a continuation of the publication known as The VMI Cadet or The Cadet published by VMI between the 1870s and 2016. [emphasis added] "The publication of The Cadet that is currently published began in May 2021. It is published by The Cadet Foundation, a separate 501(c)3 created and controlled by Col. (ret.) Robert Morris. Col. Morris is a 1979 graduate of VMI. There has been no investment by VMI in the current iteration of The Cadet as the cadets involved have not signed the MOU proposed to them last year." [emphasis added] When subsequently asked by The Cadet if he believed the paper was restarted in response to the Northam investigation or alumni criticism, Mr. Wyatt's response differed, "I have no insight into why the newspaper was started." The Communications Directors' responses created controversy over the objectivity of reporting in The Cadet. They brought in the subject of controversy surrounding the CCC article, allegations of alumni control, which in turn brought an alumnus into the controversy. They raised the inference of wrong-doing in the cadets' refusal to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). An MOU that the Student Press Law Center, FIRE, and other journalism professionals found serious issues with. As detailed in subsequent reporting by The Cadet, statements by the Editor-in-Chief and faculty advisor to The Cadet in 2016, and official VMI records obtained show these official statements by the Communications Director were, and remain, false. After receiving VMI's initial responses, the reporter, continuing to focus only on the VPA Journalistic Integrity Award, inquired, "Which article are you referring to here (I understand there were 15 stories in its award submission) and what mistakes did you point out?" The Director of Communications responded by, again, focusing on the CCC article. "VMI was especially surprised," wrote Mr. Wyatt, "by the VPA award given in the 'In-depth or Investigative Reporting (Non-Daily Group 1)' category. The article awarded ﬁrst place was riddled with errors that were pointed out to The Cadet staﬀ shortly after publication, yet they refused to issue any corrections. Even the article's author admitted it was full of errors and wondered why it was published in its draf[t] state. [emphasis added]. The Communications Director then directed the reporter to The Cadet's submission for the VPA Investigative reporting award and raised additional allegations on the cadets' integrity and honor in that and other reporting."I'm attaching an email that was sent to all faculty, staﬀ, and cadets last May when it became apparent that The Cadet had no intention of correcting the article", wrote Mr. Wyatt. "Since they had made some pretty large (untrue) claims against the Cadet Counseling Center, VMI felt it necessary to respond in an eﬀort to restore conﬁdence in such a valuable cadet service. The links within the email will take you to supporting documentation. Additionally, I am including a letter Maj. Gen. Wins' sent to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in response to a letter received from that organization. The letter goes into more detail about the relationship with The Cadet. The following link provides access to documents cited in the footnotes of the letter. The ﬁrst two digits of each ﬁle name corresponds to the footnote number." [emphasis added] The link VMI provided gave the reporter access to the same false and/or misleading information, supporting VMI's allegations that the Institute previously furnished to Cardinal News and the VPA. These were irrelevant to the original focus of the Washington Post's article on the Journalistic Integrity and Community Service Award with its 15 DEI-related articles. Using the selective information VMI provided, the Washington Post raised additional questions generated by the accusations the Communications Director continued to advance and support: Washington Post Question: "The attachments below reference the role of Robert Morris in starting the Cadet. What's your understanding of his motivation and involvement? Did he start the paper to advance his opposition to VMI's DEI program? Was it in any way related to his lawsuits against the school? What's his role now? Any indication that he wrote any of the articles that won the VPA award?" VMI Communications Director's Response: "You'd have to ask him about his motivation. He began soliciting interest in starting a newspaper via social media in the spring of 2021. This was during the time of the state's investigation of VMI's diversity practices, policies, and procedures." [emphasis added] "I do not know what role he plays in the production of the newspaper, if any. Morris is listed on the masthead as "alumni mentor." I'm not exactly sure what that means. Virginia State Corporation Commission records show that he occupies two of the three director positions on The Cadet Foundation, the 501(c)3 listed as the publisher of The Cadet. I have ﬁelded many FOIA requests from The Cadet newspaper during the past semester. Those were all ﬁled by Debora Hansen who is listed as secretary and registered agent of The Cadet Foundation and a "core team" member for the Center for Applied Innovation, LLC (http://caihq.com/about-us/ [caihq.com]), a company that Mr. Morris is listed as the founder and president. [emphasis added] The only indication that Mr. Morris has written any articles for the paper comes from a quote in an Inside Higher Education article [insidehighered.com] that anonymously quotes a cadet involved with the paper as saying, "He has written some stories for the paper, too, but as to which ones, I have no idea, because we attribute a lot of stories to 'VMI Cadet Staﬀ,' which is what he publishes his stories as." The emails I've received from info@cadetnewspaper.org and editor@cadetnewspaper.org since October 2022 all originate from the same IP address as Bob Morris' personal emails. The contents of the emails from info@cadetnewspaper.org have sought information related to editorial content that was later published as stories. [emphasis added] The Communications Director also references the same Inside Education article he provided Cardinal News containing more of VMI's allegations while holding back numerous statements to VMI officials by cadets, previously reported on by The Cadet. These include the Communications Director's own acceptance of an assurance that cadets write the articles and have complete editorial control of the paper's contents. VMI did not provide this information to the reporter. When asked by The Cadet, "Is it VMI's position that the 2022 article by Inside Higher Ed, including its claims by an anonymous cadet, is it sufficiently substantive of your accusations against The Cadet?" The Communications Director claimed no knowledge of his making any accusations against The Cadet or in the Inside Education article otself by his response, "I'm unaware of the accusations you reference" Although not available to the reporter at the time, the documents VMI withheld from him and other facts subsequently reported in The Cadet refute the Institute's version of events. Giving the reporter the benefit of the doubt as a journalist, and that he initially acted in good faith for an article on the cadets winning a prestigious award, the effect of the VMI Director of Communications' actions appears to have, at a minimum, altered the trajectory of the Washington Post's reporting. The Cadet reported VMI's similar actions covering Cardinal News in Part 1 of this series. As previously reported in The Cadet, when the staff and its alumni mentors attempted to refrain from engaging in the Washington Post reporting the reporter stated, "I understand the limitations on the cadets as far as speaking to the news media. But VMI has certainly spoken with me about its issues/concerns about the Cadet, so you certainly should have the right to reply." [emphasis added] The reporter indicating VMI as the sourceof the allegations and statements. The Washington Post subsequently published its article; A VMI student newspaper won a major prize. But now there are questions. The subtitle, The Virginia Press Association is investigating whether the Cadet's award-winning work was tainted by the involvement of an alumnus who has sued the college over its diversity efforts [emphasis added] reflects the result of VMI Communications Director's success in placing the focus on questioning the honor of the cadets, challenging the awards, and bringing alumni into the controversy while furthering the VMI administrations attack on critics of its DEI program. As previously reported in The Cadet, the URL for the online version of the Washington Post story demonstrates the alumnus became the focus following the Director of Communications engagements with the reporter: "/vmi-newspaper-press-award-bob-morris-investigation/" [emphasis added] When asked directly by The Cadet if he knew, or suspected, the Washington Post reporter's article would exceed the scope of the VPA awards and focus on an investigation of the alumnus at the time, Mr. Wyatt responded, "No. I'm unaware of any current investigations into Bob Morris." [emphasis added] without directly addressing if he knew the direction of the Washington Post reporting at the time. Emails obtained and provided to The Cadet under a FOIA document an exchange between the Communications Director and BOV President Mr. Tom Watjen '76. Mr. Wyatt notified Mr. Watjen of the article in the Washington Post writing, "The Washington Post has just published a story about Bob Morris' involvement with The Cadet newspaper and the legitimacy of their Virginia Press Association awards". Mr. Watjen responded, "Ugh…I guess we always knew this was likely to be coming." [emphasis added] Mr. Wyatt did not disclose the level of his cooperation with the Washington Post article at that time and, as reported in The Cadet, minimized it before the BOV Executive Committee (ExCo) later. Although The Cadet previously reported on VMI's interaction with the Washington Post and other media, the articles published following the Director of Communications' actions, focused mostly on that which is directly traceable to Mr. Wyatt's exchanges with the reporter, his comments, and the selective records he provided to the reporter. The reporting was inaccurate in many areas. The reporter's allegation in his first article that one of the stories submitted for the VPA award "appears to have been partially plagiarized" [emphasis added] from a Press Release posted on the website ProtectHonor.com. The reporter subsequently changed the allegation to a conclusion it was plagiarized in his next article even though the VPA's independent investigator concluding the writing was original. This was adequately addressed in The Cadet's previous article on the subject, The plagiarism that wasn't. The inference The Cadet was revived to counter then-governor Northam's investigation of alleged racism at VMI as alluded to in the Director of Communications' responses to the Washington Post reporter's questions is adequately addressed in, Why The Cadet really closed in 2016 – It's not what you've been told! in The Cadet published covering how the VMI administration closed the paper in 2016 and its revival by a group of cadets in 2021. The Washington Post article cites an article by a cadet entitled, The case for preserving tradition – Why VMI may NOT be changing for the good as an example of "much of the newspaper's work was skeptical about, if not downright hostile to, the changes VMI has undertaken." The reporter neglects to note that the cadet who wrote the article was subsequently chosen by Maj. Gen. Wins and his administration for a senior position in the Corps' chain of command. The only other example provided to support a conclusion of hostility to changes at VMI provided by the reporter is an article in The Cadet by a professor who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation by the administration, entitled, A Professor's perception of DEI and its impact. The reporter did not cover that published next to that story, on the same page, under the title, A Cadet facilitator's perception of DEI and its impact was an article by a Cadet DEI facilitator, who also requested their name be withheld, that complimented the DEI program. Most conspicuous by its absence in the article was the statement by The Cadet editorial staff at the top of that same page entitled Editorial staff statement on DEI viewpoints, stated "The conflict surrounding the DEI office and the application of its program has become increasingly controversial yet remains of great importance. The two articles in this edition are from two individuals and written based on their own experiences with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program at VMI." The VPA judge praised this balanced reporting in his award narrative. The third story used as an example of bias against the VMI administration is an article the Washington Post states "casts an appreciative light on a civil suit that challenged VMI's procedures for hiring one of its DEI contractors". An article by the Poynter Institute, Questions remain after Virginia Press Association investigates the student winner of its top journalism award. After reviewing the article cited by the Washington Post, the Poynter reporter noted that "One of those stories [submitted by The Cadet for the competition] runs roughly 1,600 words, more than 1,200 [75%] of which come from reprinted documents." The Cadet confirmed the "reprinted documents" were the public documents VMI and CAI filed with the Court in the case the Post criticized as "lengthy and favorable account of a lawsuit". That being the case, any "favorable" view of CAI's position the reader would develop likely came from CAI's argument to the court and the accompanying pages of evidentiary exhibits filed in the case. The Post's report does not provide any link to the VPA's actual final report exonerating the cadets or to The Cadet articles on the lawsuit. The lawsuit articles themselves contain links to both VMI and CAI's Court filings so any reader can review them for themselves to, as the Post put it, "judge whether a news source is slanting the news to favor a vested interest." The Washington Post report was accurate in observing The Cadet should have noted the connection between one of its mentors to the lawsuit, an excusable mistake for young journalists, but the subsequent VPA independent investigation cleared them of any wrong-doing. The fourth story cited was the CCC article The Cadet covered in previous reporting in Part 1 of this series. The Washington Post articles covered Mr. Wyatt's allegation he received emails from the generic Cadet newspaper email accounts citing Mr. Wyatt's statements VMI traced them to the same servers as the alumnus' company. Records available to date do not show that Mr. Wyatt ever disclosed to the Washington Post that FOIAs and emails submitted through those accounts were clearly marked as for and approved by the cadets on the newspaper staff. Mr. Wyatt also did not disclose that he repeatedly responded to inquiries from The Cadet staff through these emails by addressing them to the alumnus only to be told, by the staff,"Mr. Wyatt. Please, once and for all, stop addressing your emails and correspondence to Mr. Morris as it deliberately creates a false narrative. The questions submitted to you were sent on behalf of The Cadet staff and were from and approved by them. Your response will be forwarded to The Cadet staff for their consideration and action as they decide as they have editorial control of The Cadet. Thank you for your cooperation." The alumnus provides web hosting to The Cadet, The Cadet Foundation, and other charity work pro bono. His Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small business (SDVOB), The Center for Applied Innovation, LLC, operates a Virtual Private Server contracted capability under a third party that provides services to 22 different domains for the company itself and its customers. All domains on the system have their own segmented and secured areas (which include email servers) as well. This includes www.cadetnewspaper.org and www.thecadetfoundation.org. Information is not shared or exchanged across domains. Central hosting could give the impression they are "linked"; they are not. The online version of The Cadet is hosted by a separate, third party vendor. Mr. Wyatt's allegations to the Washington Post do raise an interesting issue. There is evidence that the VMI Communications Office is actively tracking visitors to VMI websites, identifying them by IP address then categorizing them as critics of the administration. This occurred in at least one documented instance available for the VMI IGs "fact-finding". As previously reported, the IG did not contact any of the known major sources of information on these issues and related events for her fact-finding and secret report of the results. In response to questions from The Cadet, Mr. Wyatt denied any involvement in the allegations of plagiarism, against the alumnus, the lawsuit, any connection by the alumnus with ProtectHonor.com, or other allegations covered in the Washington Post. The questions sent to the alumnus by the reporter after his interactions with Mr. Wyatt, appear to contradict this statement. As previously reported in The Cadet, and contained in the documents independently obtained by alumni under the FOIA, a number of the reporter's questions to the alumnus began, "VMI's spokesman, Col. Bill Wyatt, shared an email", "Wyatt further told me" or with similar wording. Subsequent articles in the Washington Post directly attributed other accusations as coming from the Communications Director or VMI. In an email to the VMI BOV President after reading the Washington Post article and reviewing the correspondence between Mr. Wyatt and the reporter, ExCo Member, Mr. Teddy Gottwald '83, concluded, "The Admin has cooperated with the Washington Post to publicly call into question the integrity of VMI cadets. I assume it's because they're so intent on attacking Bob Morris that they don't think about the impact on these cadets." Despite his previous email exchanges with Mr. Wyatt, BOV President Tom Watjen responded to Mr. Gottwald's June 1, 2023 email claimed to have no knowledge of any adverse actions by the administration against The Cadet, stating "I'm not aware that VMI 'was going after the Cadet' in any manner… through the press or on the Post." He also states his understanding is that VMI is "limiting our responses to what is required by FOIA and/or solely addressing blatant factual issues," adding "That's been my understanding but I will inquire further." VMI has not released any further records of the results from Mr. Watjen's promised inquiries and the facts reported in The Cadet and uncovered by independent alumni inquiries show VMI's engagement with the Washington Post, and other media, was not limited as the BOV President stated. One other significant misrepresentation by VMI merits coverage. In VMI's response to the warning letter it received from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) for serious violations of cadet first amendment rights and related actions against The Cadet, the Institute responded, in part, "The cadets submitted an application to the commandant's staff to create a journalism club that would have been affiliated with VMI." Records from the period challenge Maj. Gen. Wins' statements. [emphasis added] In March 2021, Cadet Michael Tempesta contacted the VMI Commandant's office concerning cadets re-starting the newspaper for the May 2021 graduation edition. He was immediately threatened. According to Tempesta, "I met with CSM Rubenstein [VMI Commandant's staff] and she told me that since this [the newspaper] is not officially a club yet, I cannot proceed with any meetings, writing, etc. Doing so and getting caught would result in me getting boned, heavily." [Emphasis added]. In regard to the permit Maj. Gen. Wins attested cadets submitted, Tempesta told The Cadet at the time, "I had been trying to get the newspaper established as a VMI-sponsored club (which would give the club access to VMI funds) but never ended up submitting the permit." [emphasis added] The memo says it was submitted "FROM: Cadet Michael Tempesta, VMI Alumni Mentors, and the VMI Alumni Association". According to the cadet, he never submitted a permit as Maj. Gen. Wins attested. The alumni mentors never knew of or submitted the request as it's header suggests. Documents available show that Mr. Tom Brashears, from the Alumni Association was working with the administration direectly. The permit Maj. Gen. Wins submitted to FIRE is also heavily copied from The Cadet newspaper and Cadet Foundation websites, copyrighted and trade secret marked documents. It also shows VMI designated, Mr. Tom Brashears, the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the VMI Alumni Association as the faculty advisor to The Cadet. This is consistent with that COOs email stating his plan, working with the VMI administration, to put the newspaper under the Alumni Association Communications' office. This appears to contradict VMI's continual protests of alleged "alumni control" of the newspaper. The records were available to the VMI IG who never requested them in her "fact-finding". Prior to appointing his IG to conduct the fact-finding, Maj. Gen. Wins repeatedly stated his position that the Communications Director acted properly and without fault. He continues to stand by all allegations made even in the face of the evidence to the contrary published by The Cadet and provided independently from a number of alumni.The Communications Director stands by his involvement with the Washington Post as well. The Cadet asked if Mr. Wyatt believed that he worked with the Washington Post in good faith hoping for fair, objective reporting? If he believed that fair and objective reporting has been mostly absent in Ian Shapira and other Washington Post articles, particularly since February 2022? And if so, why did he so freely respond to initial contact and exceed regular contact with The Washington Post reporter's articles on The Cadet awards? And why did he freely provide the records he did? Mr. Wyatt responded: I work with every media outlet I encounter in good faith advocating to the best of my ability on behalf of the Institute. I respond to every reporter who contacts me. I answer their questions with as much transparency as I am able while promoting, protecting, and defending the reputation of the Institute. In this situation, I was defending the Institute and its dedicated employees against a news article that threatened the reputation of a vital cadet service. The refusal of The Cadet editors to correct grave inaccuracies admitted by the author showed a fundamental lack of journalistic standards which continues to have a negative impact on the Institute. I provided the Washington Post only records that would be subject to disclosure under FOIA. The Communications Director's comments and willingness to work with the Washington Post for negative reporting about The Cadet appears to be a significant change from VMI's position in February 2023. In response to a request to interview, Mr. Wyatt emailed Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira, "Over the course of the past 18 months, we've worked with you [Ian Shapira and the Washington Post] in good faith hoping for fair, objective reporting. That has been mostly absent in your articles. As such, many folks here are not willing to entertain your interview requests." [emphasis added] Alumnus John Arthur '79 shared with The Cadet the extensive results of his own independent investigation into the the administration and Communications Director's actions he sent to every BOV member with a detailed summary and asking "Why would ANY VMI administration staff member intentionally and willfully discredit VMI cadets and alumni in any way, shape or form, in public forums???" Mr. Arthur's investigation concluded: "Bottom Line: It was done solely to support a narrative/disinformation campaign to discredit the VPA awards and thus, discredit The Cadet newspaper and the civilians, cadets and alumni affiliated with its operations." In Mr. Arthur's words to the BOV, "My reason for this undertaking stems from the words of John Stuart Mill: 'Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good man should look on and do nothing.' I choose to investigate this on my own to 'right a wrong' here, and identify the 'who, when, what and how' aspects associated with identifying the person(s) who generated/created this gross injustice within the alumni base and in public. The Board of Visitors…this is in your hands now. All need to be held accountable, for their actions." Maj. Gen. Win's IG never contacted Mr. Arthur during her "fact-finding" and it is unknown if his extensive documentation and analysis (available with the online version of this article) was ever used although by providing it to the BOV it is now public information. Maj. Gen. Wins continues to assert freedom of speech is alive and well at VMI. According to published reports of the event Maj. Gen. Wins, speaking at Governor Youngkin's recent Higher Education Summit on Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity, stated that at the Virginia Military cadets have an "obligation" to speak out about things, stressing "certainly when it comes to social issues." Maj. Gen. Wins also urged members of the VMI community to "be responsible in your speech. Speak truth to power." The contents of the IG's "fact-finding" remains secret, even from the BOV. The Cadet however emerged with greater resolve to remain independent and "speak truth to power".