If anybody was the most effective choose to guide and prepare the subsequent era of Army officers at Ohio State College’s Reserve Officers’ Coaching Corps, or ROTC, it appeared that Lt. Col. Michael Kelvington was the one.
Kelvington, an infantry officer, has a thick fight resume with 14 deployments underneath his belt, together with one as an organization commander within the 82nd Airborne in 2012 when a number of troopers had been killed within the Zharay district of Afghanistan. All through his profession, a lot of it spent within the seventy fifth Ranger Regiment, he was awarded a Bronze Star with Valor and two Purple Hearts, amongst different accolades.
Nobody would query his fight bona fides — more and more uncommon expertise because the post-9/11 wars recede into the previous — that introduced him to the ROTC program at OSU. However all the pieces got here crashing down.
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A Navy.com investigation discovered that Kelvington was fired from his function in April and formally changed June 7 amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The misconduct allegedly concerned at the least three cadets, starting from touching them inappropriately, making overt sexual references and gestures to having at the least one extended sexual relationship. In some circumstances, these encounters or advances could have occurred on campus and typically concerned alcohol.
Highschool Junior Reserve Officers’ Coaching Corps applications have come underneath intense scrutiny over the previous couple of years as a consequence of studies of widespread sexual misconduct by instructors with underage cadets. In 2022, a congressional report discovered that 66 instructors had been accused of sexual misconduct with highschool college students over the previous 5 years. Congress handed laws in December that gives extra oversight of these applications for youthful cadets, in accordance with The New York Occasions.
The total scope of the Army’s misconduct investigation of Kelvington throughout his time heading the ROTC program at OSU was unclear.
With the investigation ongoing, the Army’s firing of Kelvington earlier than finishing it suggests the allegations are credible. Navy.com’s personal investigation included evaluations of emails, inner paperwork, textual content messages, police studies, photographs and video and interviews with practically two dozen cadets, college school and Army officers.
“West Level grad, Ranger, infantry. … Everybody needed to be mentored by him due to his wealth of expertise,” one feminine cadet instructed Navy.com on the situation of anonymity as a result of she was not licensed to talk to the media. “He actually appeared to have our greatest pursuits in thoughts.”
Kelvington declined to be interviewed for this story or to situation a remark. It was unclear whether or not he had employed an legal professional. He was changed by Lt. Col. Steven Spiker, a human assets officer, who most just lately led the ROTC program at Capital College in Columbus, Ohio.
A few of Kelvington’s credibility among the many ladies in this system got here from him disenrolling a male cadet amid allegations of sexual misconduct. For many cadets, Kelvington was their first publicity to the Army and was meant to set an instance for what a frontrunner is meant to be.
“This was a betrayal and actually shook us,” one other feminine cadet instructed Navy.com on the situation of anonymity as a result of she was not licensed to speak to the press.
U.S. Army Cadet Command grew to become conscious of Kelvington’s conduct in December, after some preliminary allegations had been made. However he continued pursuing a relationship with at the least one cadet, sources with direct information of the investigation instructed Navy.com.
It was unclear when different Ohio State ROTC workers grew to become conscious of the allegations, however some cadets allege workers had been conscious for weeks earlier than incidents involving sexual harassment and assault had been flagged to higher-ups within the Army.
Kelvington was finally given a “no-contact” order on Jan. 22, in accordance with an Army spokesperson, during which he was ordered to steer clear of cadets and stop communications. However he violated these campus police orders at the least twice in February and March, in accordance with legislation enforcement data reviewed by Navy.com, although the specifics of the violations had been unclear.
“[Kelvington] has regularly violated a no-contact order,” one police report famous.
Kelvington’s alleged misconduct, now made public, echoes different related points confronted by OSU’s cadets. Three ladies presently in this system allege they had been victims of sexual harassment or assault from male cadets, however have declined to report it.
“I simply … did not actually know the way that might be obtained,” stated a 3rd feminine cadet, who alleges she was assaulted by a male cadet.
“It was a complicated time, and who’re we going to report issues to? Everyone knows what was occurring on the time,” she added, referring to Kelvington’s investigation. Her alleged assault occurred at across the identical time as his investigation began.
Even after the investigation and his termination, Kelvington was inducted into the Ohio Navy Corridor of Fame in Might for valor in fight in Afghanistan throughout his time as a platoon chief. He was additionally given a neighborhood automobile dealership award for army valor.
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