In the incident, a female midshipman was handcuffed to a urinal by two male classmates.

According to a 1987 report, female midshipmen attain similar achievement in academics, athletics and military leadership.

Dating a female midshipman, for instance, is called "going over to the darkside," a phrase describing the forces of evil in the "Star Wars" movies.

The Academy's reputation suffered in 1989 when at least eight male midshipmen handcuffed a female midshipman to a urinal.

The case involved a female midshipman who was handcuffed to a urinal by a group of male midshipmen.

One of his greatest challenges as the academy's superintendent was to stanch the dropout rate for female midshipmen.

This was the 11th year the Academy had graduated female midshipmen.

The reputation was tarnished by a 1989 incident in which at least eight male midshipmen handcuffed a female midshipman to a urinal.

"I've been called so many names that sometimes it doesn't even register that they are inappropriate," one female midshipman at Annapolis, Md., said.

In 2004, of the total of 736 female midshipmen, 74 (10%) of them were of Hispanic descent.