Expelled Coast Guard cadet sues over policy banning parents

By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press

A former cadet who was expelled from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy after becoming a father is challenging the school’s policy that prohibits students from being parents in federal court. Isaak Olson was two months from graduating from the academy in 2014 with a degree in mechanical engineering and a commission as an officer when he disclosed that his fiancee had their first child several months earlier. The academy expelled Olson under a regulation that requires cadets to either resign or be “disenrolled” if they incur a “parental obligation” from a pregnancy over 14 weeks. Messages were left Wednesday seeking comment from the academy and the Coast Guard.