If you care about what happens to the Air Force Academy, contact the President, your U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators immediately!
“This is a suggested letter that you may want to use to contact your elected officials. You are certainly welcome to create your own individual response. “
Subject: Urgent Action Needed to Halt Imminent 40% Faculty Cuts at the Air Force Academy
Dear [Title, Last Name],
As an alumnus and concerned citizen, I am stunned by the Air Force Academy’s plan to terminate 40% or more of its long-term civilian faculty. The Superintendent says that he believes he can replace them with military personnel.
This “plan” is completely non-viable—why?
The superintendent’s plan would eliminate an additional 40 or more highly talented civilian faculty, the majority of them PhD-level educators in critical STEM disciplines. There is no pool of qualified military personnel capable of replacing them. These teaching roles require specific advanced degrees and deep expertise—particularly in STEM fields such as astrophysics—that few officers possess. Even the handful who might be qualified are fully mission essential and would have to be released by their commanders at a time when resources are already stretched thin. The result is the loss of proven academic talent with no realistic replacement pipeline.
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is currently reviewing its FIFTH formal complaint. The HLC is responsible for certifying over 950 universities and colleges to award academic degrees. Notre Dame, Michigan, and Ohio State fall under its purview—just as the Air Force Academy does. If this investigation results in sanctions, the Academy moves one giant step closer to loss of accreditation.
What that means is this:
** National security would also be negatively impacted, as the Air and Space Forces would no longer be receiving our graduates properly trained in critical engineering specialties.**
These drastic and crippling actions must not be executed without full and fair consideration. I request a direct order from the Secretary of the Air Force placing these cuts on immediate hold and approving a small, but necessary budget carve-out to retain the existing faculty. All relevant stakeholders—including the military and civilian faculty—must be included in future decision-making. Instead, the entire faculty has been excluded from these discussions from day one and remains silent out of fear of swift, career-ending reprisal.
This is not how transparent, responsible governance should function for any institution of higher learning, including our nation’s service academies. When Secretary Hegseth vowed to increase the lethality of our military, I’m quite sure he wasn’t planning on destroying the technical capabilities of the Air Force Academy.
I urge you to act swiftly… before it’s too late.
Respectfully,
[Name]
[Professional Credentials / Affiliation]
[City, State]