Word: pelosi
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Dates: during 1973-1973
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Cadet James J. Pelosi seemed like any other West Point graduating student last week as he stepped up smartly to receive his diploma. But his 938 classmates knew differently. For Pelosi, the occasion marked not only the end of a college career but also the end of a Kafkaesque nightmare. In November of 1971, he had been accused of breaking the rules while taking a test. Supposedly he had gone on writing in his bluebook after the order to stop. He denied the charge before the cadet honor committee, but it found him guilty...
...case then went up to the West Point board of officers. It was ready to second the committee's decision until Pelosi's lawyer pointed out that an academy official had prejudiced the case. The board dismissed the charge, and the West Point superintendent ordered the cadet returned to good standing...
...cadet honor committee, however, had the last word. It sentenced Pelosi to "the silence," a severe form of ostracism meted out to those who refuse to resign when accused of cheating but against whom there is insufficient evidence for dismissal. Immediately, Pelosi became the Quasimodo of the Point. He ate alone at a table meant for ten, an easy target for the ice cubes that fellow cadets would lob at him during dinner. His mail was opened, his clothes were dragged through the latrine, his person threatened by anonymous callers. None of the cadets talked to him except on official...