Air Force Academy U S

All 4,000 Air Force cadets will be confined to campus this weekend following a scandal in which 28 freshmen are suspected of cheating on a test, school officials said. The entire corps will remain on school grounds to reflect on the Air Force Academy's honor code, which forbids lying, cheating, stealing or tolerating those who violate it. The alleged cheating was reported Feb. 2 on a basic-knowledge test required for first-year cadets.

The Air Force Academy said that 24 freshman cadets had now admitted cheating on a test, and that 12 others were under investigation but denied wrongdoing. Two-thirds of the cases involve athletes, Air Force Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker told the Gazette of Colorado Springs. Cadets obtained answers to an upcoming test and forwarded them through an Internet social group and private computer messages.

Fifteen cadets were expelled from the Air Force Academy in a cheating scandal and three others resigned, school commanders said. Thirteen others were placed on probation. The cadets, all freshmen, either confessed or were found guilty by an honor board of sharing answers to a test of knowledge about the Air Force. Officials at the academy near Colorado Springs said the cadets forwarded answers through an Internet social group and private computer messages.

A federal judge in Albuquerque threw out a lawsuit against the Air Force that contended evangelical Christian values were being illegally pushed on Air Force Academy cadets. The case was brought by Mikey Weinstein of Albuquerque and other academy graduates who contended a military chaplain violated their rights by urging cadets to attend Christian services or face being burned "in the fires of hell."

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) has condemned a memo from the acting secretary of the Air Force to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld clearing senior Air Force officers of any responsibility for the sex assault scandal at the Air Force Academy. Peter B. Teets, acting secretary, sent the memo in late March, a few days after announcing his resignation. Teets said he reviewed the findings of the Defense Department's inspector general and a report of an independent commission.

The Air Force Academy, still recovering from rape and sexual harassment scandals, is facing charges that some Christian cadets have bullied and berated Jews and students of other religious backgrounds. School officials said Tuesday they had received 55 complaints over the last few months and were requiring students -- and eventually all employees -- to attend a course on religious tolerance. "Some complaints had to do with people ...

In a crowded room on the edge of the Air Force Academy, Chaplain Melinda Morton was doing her bit for culture change. She dimmed the lights and rolled the video. It was Mel Gibson in a scene from the film "We Were Soldiers" addressing his troops on the eve of battle. "We are moving into the valley of the shadow of death," he said solemnly. "Where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours, and you won't care what color he is, or by what name he calls his God."

Religious intolerance is systemic and pervasive at the U.S. Air Force Academy and, if nothing changes, it could result in "prolonged and costly" litigation, according to a report issued Thursday by a group advocating strict separation of church and state. The 14-page report listed incidents of mandatory prayers, proselytizing by teachers, insensitivity to religious minorities and allegations that evangelical Christianity is the preferred faith at the institution.

The U.S. Air Force, responding Tuesday to allegations of religious intolerance, announced the creation of a task force to investigate the spiritual climate at the Air Force Academy. The decision comes after complaints about proselytizing and harassment by evangelical Christian cadets and staffers of those of other faiths -- or those whose Christian beliefs do not mirror their own.

The Pentagon said Monday that it wanted to promote one of the top commanders at the Air Force Academy, a "born-again" Christian who has been the subject of complaints that he improperly mixed religion with education. The announcement came one day before the scheduled arrival of a task force investigating allegations that cadets were pressured to attend religious services, public prayers were held before official events and Jewish cadets were harassed. Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, the academy's No.