The Cadet Chapel is arguably the most identifiable structure at the Air Force Academy, but if the institution was being built today for the first time, that probably wouldn’t be the case.

For years, AFA has been scrutinized on diversity issues — especially issues concerning religious discrimination — and it has been criticized far and wide. Some of the criticism has been overwrought, some has been deserved.

As recently as October 2010, an AFA survey of cadets showed that almost half of non-Christian cadets felt Christian cadets had a “low tolerance” for nonbelievers and that 39 percent of female cadets had experienced some sort of harassment or gender discrimination. A month later AFA hired Adis Vila as the academy’s first diversity officer.

It’s Vila’s job to make sure the AFA’s diversity plan is followed and that cadets and faculty are immersed in a new culture.

To Vila, it’s not just about “race gender and ethnicity, but about diversity of thought.” That broad notion of diversity will help, she said, because “the mission of the Air Force is changing. It is becoming more diverse.”

Rightly or wrongly, we are living in a world where the accidental burning of copies of the Koran by U.S. soldiers less than two weeks ago dominated the news. To function at its highest level in that world, the U.S. military is going to have to get better, become more aware.

For most of our history we held the military to a simple mission: protect us and when necessary, kill the enemy. We still want that, but we’ve made the military’s mission more complex by insisting that it be more sensitive to diversity, more responsive to issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

That’s as it should be, but it is hard for any huge institution to change instantly. AFA Chaplain (Col.) Robert Bruno observed that cadets are smart but they arrive “with baggage.” He said the goal is to transform the baggage into “luggage for the future.”

Under a constant barrage by the likes of Mikey Weinstein, the AFA grad who runs the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the academy has been under a microscope. Scrutiny isn’t bad, but Weinstein’s vitriol has been counterproductive.

“I find this institution shell-shocked at having any kind of discussion of religion,” Bruno said.

That shouldn’t be true at a college. The AFA’s Lt. Gen. John Rosa, Jr. said in 2005 that it would take six to eight years to fix the problems, and maybe that was optimistic. But a plan is in place and people at the top are working on it. It looks like a good-faith effort.

“We begin with a fundamental respect of people and who they are,” Bruno said. “We agree to disagree agreeably.”

—

Listen to Barry Noreen on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:35 a.m. on Fridays and follow him Twitter and Facebook.