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Sexual Assault at Coast Guard; College Graduates React to Affirmative Action Decision; Sick Sea Animals in California. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 30, 2023 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[08:30:04]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a CNN exclusive. The Coast Guard has been hiding a damning investigation and report about sexual assault at its academy for years until CNN recently uncovered it.

Our chief investigate correspondent Pamela Brown joins us.

Pamela, good morning. What can you tell us?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, it's called Operation Fouled Anchor. And it was an investigation into sexual assault at the Coast Guard Academy which uncovered a history of substantiated rapes and assaults that were ignored or even covered up by high-ranking officials.

You've never heard of it because no one ever saw that report. It was buried. Even though it was completed a few years ago.

The findings were kept secret by Coast Guard's top leadership. And, get this, after all this time, the Coast Guard finally came forward and reported it to Congress this month only after CNN's investigative team asked about it.

The report found dozens of cases of alleged sexual assault at the Coast Guard Academy, even though they only looked at a limited time frame from 1988 to 2006. And here's some more details about what's in Operation Fouled Anchor. It said that, quote, there was a disturbing pattern of not treating reported sexual assaults as criminal matters even in cases where there was overwhelming evidence. Leadership was more concerned at that time about Coast Guard Academy reputation than about the victims of crimes who were members of our service. And that the suspects and sometimes the victims were simply disenrolled from the academy with no investigation at all.

Now, if there were punishments, some were laughable. Minor things, like extra homework or lower class standings. Those were the, quote/unquote, punishments. Even those pushed out of the academy were sometimes able to serve in the U.S. military. PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Now, Pamela, though the report talks about

the past, you talked to a woman who was a more recent cadet at the Coast Guard Academy, right?

BROWN: That's right. I just sat down with her this week. This is a young woman who just got her diploma last year. She says the culture has not changed. She was sexually assaulted as a cadet multiple times and she asked us to hide her identity.

Take a listen to what she had to say.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was sexually assaulted three times. The first by a superior. The second time by somebody I considered a dear friend. And the third by an international cadet.

It was completely toxic and devastating to my sense of self. And left lifelong damages to my physical, mental health.

The Coast Guard Academy employs, reinforces and cultivates a system that thrives on the traumatic and pain of women and minorities. It's designed for their failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And the Coast Guard investigated one of her assaults but said that there wasn't enough evidence.

HARLOW: Wow.

Pamela, I just wonder if the Coast Guard is saying anything about the larger investigation now, Operation Fouled Anchor.

BROWN: So, Poppy, CNN reached out repeatedly to the Coast Guard for answers to detailed questions but instead the Coast Guard reached out to Congress this week, this week before the holiday, to fess up about the report that it has been hiding for five years. And the Coast Guard sent CNN a statement saying in part they're dedicated to addressing the needs of survivors and holding offenders accountable.

We're going to have much more about this throughout the day and on cnn.com in a story by my incredible investigative colleagues working on this reporting for months, Melanie Hicken, Blake Ellis and Audrey Ash.

Back to you.

HARLOW: It really is remarkably important reporting.

Thank you for that.

MATTINGLY: Pamela Brown, thanks so much.

HARLOW: The Supreme Court gutting affirmative action, a move that will transform college admissions across the country. We're going to speak to students, right, what does this mean for them? What's the impact in real life, ahead.

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[08:35:55]

HARLOW: Harvard University seeking to reassure students today after the Supreme Court gutted affirmative action, declaring race cannot be an expressed factor in college admissions. In a letter to their students, Harvard administrator's write, quote, in the weeks and months ahead, drawing on the talent and expertise of our Harvard community, we'll determine how to preserve, consistent with the court's new precedent, our central values.

The key question, though, is, how will this actually play out on college campuses for students, right, for high school kids waiting to get into college.

We're going to talk to a few key people about this. Andrew Brennen, a 2019 UNC Chapel Hill grad who was heading to Columbia Law School this fall, perhaps the last affirmative action class. He's the son of two attorneys. And he told CNN last year that his parents taught him how affirmative action helped black families prosper. Brennen also testified in a lower court hearing on this case and then attended the Supreme Court's oral arguments.

Kyra Abrams graduated from UC Berkeley last spring, the first in her family to finish college. In California, race-conscious admissions had been banned at public universities for more than two decades. She told "The New York Times" about what she faced at Berkeley. Quote, black students, she said, refer to themselves as the 1.9 percent, their share of the student population, down from the low double digits years -- just a year before the ban. You feel isolated, she said.

Also with us, Janice Jackson, the former Chicago public schools chief. She is now the CEO of Hope Chicago, which pays for college for thousands of Chicago area students and their parents. In its first year, Hope Chicago says college enrollment for students at the schools they work with jumped 30 percent.

Here is what she told "60 Minutes."

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JANICE JACKSON, CEO, HOPE CHICAGO: We have to catch up. That's the bottom line. And I may be biased, but I do believe education is the single most powerful way to disrupt generational poverty. It is.

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HARLOW: Former President Obama, yesterday highlighted Hope Chicago's work in his statement after the Supreme Court ruling.

Andrew, Kyra, and Janice, all join me now.

Good morning and thank you all.

Andrew, let me begin with you.

What is striking and I think important is the way that you discuss affirmative action, the role it has had in your life, and you don't shy away from the fact that you have even said, you know, I may not have been at Columbia Law School but for this. But here is why it is so important. Can you speak to the decision, Andrew?

ANDREW BRENNEN, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL STUDENT: Absolutely. You know, yesterday's decision was disappointing. When I first came to UNC Chapel Hill, I was one of 11 percent of the campus that was African American in a state of North Carolina that was 22 percent African American. I had grown up in the south my entire life, but it wasn't until being on campus at UNC that I had witnessed my first confederate rally. And so it was in that context that this lawsuit was brought and it's why so many students of color like myself sought to intervene in the lawsuit so that our perspective could be included in the record.

HARLOW: Kyra, could you speak to your experience at Berkeley? I read a little bit of what you told "The New York Times" about, you know, being called the 1.9 percent. But also, people there questioning if you should be there or if it's just -- was just because of your race, which is, you know, not based on fact given race-conscious admissions have been banned there for more than two decades. Do you support what the court did here?

KYRA ABRAMS, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS GRAD STUDENT: No, absolutely not. It's already very difficult at UC Berkeley and all public schools in California who have been struggling to get the numbers back up since 1996. They have to do -- they have to circumvent the laws in a way like students have to put in so much work, students are so overworked at UC Berkeley, especially black students, because they have to put in extra recruitment efforts due to Prop 209 being passed banning affirmative action in 1996. And so it's -- it was very difficult to even get black students to attend.

And also, my first year, UC Berkeley was rated the lowest UC for black students as -- in, like, it was the worst through a USC study.

[08:40:06]

HARLOW: Wow.

ABRAMS: So that being my first year was a real shock to me and students were upset, and we had to put in even more work to make students even want to come to UC Berkeley. So, it was very difficult, and I do not agree with the ruling at all.

HARLOW: Justice Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion, while I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race, and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principle so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, that all men are created equal, are equal citizens and must be treated equally before the law.

Kyra, he sees this as finally treating black students equally. And you say?

ADAMS: The Declaration of Independence was written when black people were slaves. So, I wouldn't necessarily take something that was written when, you know, black people weren't even allowed to have education, and that goes to show how hard black people have had it versus others, especially in this country, especially African Americans in this country who have a legacy of being beaten down and having to, like, pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, for lack of better words, to even get where we are.

HARLOW: Yes.

ADAMS: And so we do need things like affirmative action to level the playing field for us.

HARLOW: And the whole case is centered around the 14th Amendment and what equal protection actually is.

Janice, to you.

The reason I really - I'm so glad you could join us this morning is because you work with the kids. The work that you do at Hope Chicago, I should note, obviously, something started by a friend of mine, Pete Kadens. But what you do there is send children to college for free and - and one of their parents. So, I'm interested in what this will mean for them one year, two years, ten years down the line.

JANICE JACKSON, CEO, HOPE CHICAGO: Yes. Well, like, make no mistake, the decision was definitely a setback for students, in particular black students and Latino students across this country. At Hope Chicago, we introduced this as a solution to make sure and remove more barriers for black and Latino students and first-generation students to have access to college.

This decision closes yet another door. And as Kyra pointed out in her remarks, you're going to see more and more students having to circumvent different processes, which again is yet another barrier towards the promise of education.

I think educators and decisionmakers across this country are upset by this, but my message to folks is that we really have to get out here and think creatively about how we don't lose the ground that we've made over the past generation. But make no mistake, there are no bright spots in what happened yesterday.

HARLOW: Do - well, do you - well, do you think you can do that? Does this ruling make your job harder getting those kids into the colleges?

JACKSON: Absolutely. Absolutely.

HARLOW: Even with the window that Justice Roberts pointed out, saying you can still write about it in essays, et cetera, you just can't check a box?

JACKSON: Yes. Yes. Let's take a step back. Black and Latino first- generation students have always had to be twice as good and do much more to have equal access. That has been a vestige of our public education and higher ed system for centuries in this country.

When you continue to put laws in place that make it more difficult, not only is it more difficult for the students and the families, it's much more difficult for the colleges, who have made tremendous strides in trying to diversify their student body. This just makes it harder.

And you only have to look at California, look at what Prop 209 did. You see a complete reduction in black students in particular attending some of the most elite universities in California. We should expect to see the same thing across this country. But I would also challenge people to lift up their voices and do things like what we're doing at Hope Chicago to remove more barriers.

HARLOW: Andrew, final question you to.

Your family - I should -- just a little background for folks here. Your family's upper middle class. Your father was dean at the University of Kentucky Law School. I just bring that up because I think it relates to what Justice Robert said during oral arguments in this case. He said, let's say his -- talking about any student -- viewpoints tend to be very close with white applicants, had a great upbringing, comfortable, his parents went to Harvard, he's a legacy, and yet under your system, when he checks African American he gets a tip. That was the question that Justice Roberts raised.

What is your reaction to that?

BRENNEN: Well, I think, first of all, putting aside the fact - I'm sorry?

HARLOW: Go ahead, Andrew.

BRENNEN: Can you hear me?

HARLOW: Yes.

BRENNEN: Yes. OK.

Putting aside the fact that Justice Roberts' comments ignore the facts in this case and how UNC actually uses race in the admissions process, you know, I think it speaks to a fundamental fallacy here.

[08:45:03]

You can't have a race-blind admissions process when our country itself isn't race blind. So, the answer to the question is, yes, even the sons of law school deans experience racial harassment, racial hostility, and racial prejudice on a regular basis. The subject of my college admissions essay was about how all throughout high school I was called an Oreo. That meant that I was black on the outside and white on the inside because I got good grades in school. That's the kind of experiences that black students need to write about.

And as Justice Sotomayor pointed out in her dissent, because of today's decision, the police can consider my race when assessing my suspicion of a crime, but a college admissions officer can't consider my race when assessing my potential to contribute to a college campus. That is the tortured logic at play here. And everyone is hurt by that, not just black and brown students. Everyone benefits from diverse campuses, and they're under threat because of this decision.

HARLOW: Andrew, Kyra, Janice, thank you for your time. I hope you'll come back. Let's see how this actually plays out over the next few years. Appreciate it.

Phil.

JACKSON: All right. Thank you.

BRENNEN: Thank you.

HARLOW: Phil.

MATTINGLY: All right, a bloom of toxic algae is harming marine life along the California coast. CNN went along with rescuers who say this is unlike anything they've ever seen before.

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ADAM FOX, MARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTER RESCUE WORKER: Sorry, I just know from working in the colonies how incredible the animals are. So, they deserve respect.

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MATTINGLY: Well, this morning officials say they've received more than a thousand calls in recent weeks about hundreds of dead or sick sea mammals washing up on California shores. Experts believe the cause is a giant growing toxic algae bloom that's poisonous for sea birds and fish and can travel up the food chain to dolphins, sea lions and even humans.

CNN's David Culver went to the beach with animal rescuers.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 8:00 a.m. and they're already playing catchup. These marine wildlife rescuers inundated with calls for help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two animals, one's sicker than the other one. One's way up the beach and there's one by the tide line.

ADAM FOX, MARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTER RESCUE WORKER: The beach itself over here has been narrowing, so it's a little dicey sometimes.

CULVER: We go along with wildlife rescuer Adam Fox. He's been saving sea lions for nearly 15 years. What he's seen on southern California beaches since late May is unprecedented. FOX: Is there anyone there to potentially assist us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a lifeguard there.

FOX: OK. Great. Thank you.

CULVER: As we get closer, we spot one of the sea lions.

FOX: Looks like he's having a seizure right now.

What we'll do is just be very gentle with her. Can you get those flipper pits in. And I'm going to flip her to you. Three, two, one.

CULVER (on camera): They, obviously, were able to rescue one. But you can see behind us, another one that didn't survive. I mean it's just heartbreaking seeing this.

CULVER (voice over): The cause sits just off the coast in the Pacific Ocean. Out here, scientists say a massive bloom of toxic algae is growing, stretching some 200 miles from Santa Barbara south to San Diego and forecasted to get worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ocean temperature is projected to be its warmest over the next five years. That's the recipe for these blooms to become more intense.

CULVER: Smaller sea creatures feed on the toxic algae. They, in turn, are eaten by larger mammals, like dolphins and sea lions.

These algae (ph) blooms have happened before, but this year scientists warm that the concentration of toxins in this bloom, forecasted in red, is leading to potentially record deaths of marine life.

CULVER (on camera): Experts liken this to waves of a tsunami washing over local beaches with even more sea lions and dolphins showing symptoms.

CULVER (voice over): The dolphins, lifeless once they hit the shore. The sea lions, beached and suffering from seizures and paralysis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People who have called in because they've seen animals out on the beach. And they've described it as the ocean sort of coughing up death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here to report a sea lion that seems to be foaming at the mouth and it looks like it's in some distress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one is really, really on his way out. His eyes are closed and just shallow breathing. That's so sad.

CULVER: All of it weighs on rescuers, like Adam.

FOX: Sorry. I just know from working in the colonies how incredible the animals are, so they deserve respect.

CULVER: Respect this team shows through care, unloading the seizing sea lion for Dr. Lauren Palmer to begin treatment. Dr. Palmer has not had a day off in months. Her desperate patients, keeping her busy.

DR. LAUREN PALMER, MARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTER: Big breath. She seems a little bit more comfortable.

CULVER: There's no guaranteed cure. The meds and fluids can help flush the toxins out. But if the toxins take hold, the brain damage is irreversible, causing erratic and aggressive behavior, including towards people who get to close.

Off to the side, we notice this pup, fighting for survival, desperate for milk and nurturing that only his mother can provide. She's sedated as her body fights off the toxins.

PALMER: She might deliver a healthy, live pup, but doesn't nurse, doesn't lactate, doesn't pay attention to it.

CULVER: The Marine Mammal Care Center had 40 sea lions this time last year. Today, they're caring for three times that number.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ordered fish for the whole year based upon what we would normally see and have gone through the entire 150,000 pounds this month.

CULVER: So overwhelming they've had to accommodate overflow in the parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's put strains on our personnel. We have one veterinarian.

CULVER (on camera): Is it only going to get worse?

PALMER: They used to call it an unusual mortality event.

[08:55:00]

And, unfortunately, they're frequent enough now that they no longer call them unusual because they're not.

CULVER (voice over): Relentless and expected to intensify. Possibly devastating generation of sea lions, like this pup, just seven days old. He may not make it.

The hundreds of sea lions that are saved, unable to return home until the toxic algae clears.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Wow, David, thank you for joining us.

So many people are obviously going to go to the beach this weekend, right, witness some of this. What -- can they do anything?

CULVER: Yes. It's really, first of all, Poppy, tough to see this up close and personal. I didn't expect it to be that difficult to watch as you see one of these animals just in the middle of a seizure. As far as what the beaches are going to be like this weekend, you're

right, I mean you've got the Fourth of July, the holiday. They're going to be packed. You're going to have fireworks. Those are all things that are going to add to the struggle and the stress on these animals.

Of course, the biggest thing - the biggest takeaway is just to keep your space. I mean that's the thing. You hear so many reports of people actually going up, getting close to these animals and really irritating them further. That's a big issue. And then their strain on resources and donations is something that they're heavily relied on to continue this rescue effort. But it's overwhelming.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Yes, overwhelming. Heartbreaking as well.

David Culver, a great piece, great reporting. Thank you so much.

HARLOW: Yes, as always. Thank you.

Too often the people working hard to help improve the lives of others don't get the recognition that they appreciate - that they -- or appreciation they deserve. Here's where CNN Heroes comes in.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Since 2007, CNN Heroes has honored hundreds of everyday people making the world a better place. We sunshine a light on their causes and help them raise funds for their life-changing work, all while inspiring people with their incredible stories.

But the first step in the CNN Heroes journey is a nomination. And that's where you come in. It only takes a few minutes, and you can do it right now at cnnheroes.com. Just think about what makes this person special, and tell us about them in a paragraph or two. We want to know about their impact and what makes their work unique. You don't need to know your nominee personally. They can just be someone you admire from afar. And they can be from almost anywhere in the world.

This is your opportunity to help that amazing person you know reach more people and change more lives and maybe even become the next CNN Hero of the Year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: One of my favorite parts of CNN, CNN Heroes.

MATTINGLY: No question about it. No question about it.

A big news day ahead. Watch it all.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts after this break.

Have a great weekend, folks.

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