Trenton, NJ – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill is facing renewed scrutiny over her time at the U.S. Naval Academy, where she was barred from walking at graduation in 1994 amid fallout from one of the school’s largest cheating scandals.
A commencement program dated May 25, 1994, reviewed by the New Jersey Globe, omits Sherrill’s name from the list of graduates. Sherrill confirmed she was disciplined for failing to report classmates who had obtained advance copies of an electrical engineering exam in 1992.
“I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk, but graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving for nearly ten years with the highest level of distinction and honor,” she said.
The cheating scandal implicated more than 130 midshipmen, with two dozen expelled and suspicions that hundreds more had been exposed to the test. At the time, the controversy drew national headlines and raised questions about the culture of discipline at the academy.
“Today’s admission by Congresswoman Sherrill that she was implicated in, and punished for, her involvement in the largest cheating and honor code scandal in the history of the United States Navy is both stunning and deeply disturbing,” said Erik Arpert, campaign consultant for Jack Ciattarelli. “For eight years, Mikie Sherrill has built her entire political brand around her time at the Naval Academy and in the Navy, all the while concealing her involvement in the scandal and her punishment. The people of New Jersey deserve complete and total transparency.”
Sherrill has made her Naval Academy background and subsequent career as a Navy helicopter pilot central to her political identity. Yet she has never publicly addressed her class’s connection to the scandal on the campaign trail. Her campaign has declined requests to release her disciplinary records, which remain sealed without her consent.
Speculation about her involvement first surfaced during her 2018 congressional campaign, but she was not tied to direct misconduct. Now, as she seeks to move from Congress to the governor’s office, her role in the aftermath of the scandal has re-emerged.
Key Points
- Mikie Sherrill did not walk at her Naval Academy graduation in 1994 after being disciplined in connection with a cheating scandal.
- The scandal involved over 130 midshipmen sharing answers to an electrical engineering exam, with dozens expelled.
- Sherrill has emphasized her Navy career in politics but has not previously addressed the scandal publicly.
