Full Integration

This year West Point appointed its first female commandant of cadets. Continuing the move to fully integrate women, the academy has now made boxing mandatory for all incoming students, male and female. The sport, academy officials say, teaches leadership by testing how cadets react while they are under attack. It is possible that men and women will be matched up against each other.

Boxing at West Point has been criticized particularly for women as several medical studies suggest that young women are significantly more likely to sustain concussions than men. Statistics released by West Point show that cadets have suffered 185 concussions in boxing class over the past five full school years, accounting for slightly more than half of all 355 concussions recorded in physical-education classes in that time frame.