Lawmakers favor white candidates over minorities in service academy nominations: report 4 days ago Cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point march during the 57th Presidential Inauguration Parade in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2013. (Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade/Army) Nominations for admission to military service academies by members of Congress disproportionately favor white students, which in turn may hurt future leadership opportunities in the ranks for minority groups, according to a new analysis out today from the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center and the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School. From 1994 to 2019, roughly 74 percent of nominations from current members of Congress to the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy at West Point went to white students, even though they made up just 54 percent of the eligible student pool.