Perhaps anticipating what was to come, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan spent his opening remarks as chair of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Board of Visitors on Monday imploring members to ignore partisan issues.

Two hours later, though, and the Alaska Republican’s advice was out the window.

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, attempted to challenge the academy’s removal of nearly 400 books from its library, the result of a Trump administration directive targeting materials that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

Van Hollen’s motion to recommend putting the books back in circulation failed — but not before a heated debate roiled the board of the academy, which has found itself at forefront of Trump-influenced change in higher education.

President Donald Trump has purged previous presidential appointees to the board, replacing them with his own picks. The academy has also ended affirmative action in admissions decisions and uninvited a lecturer who was going to mention the book ban.

The books pulled off library shelves include “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to be an Antiracist.”

Van Hollen called the ban “a dangerous development” and questioned Academy Superintendent Yvette Davids on who carried it out.

The banned books, Davids said, are in a special room in the academy’s Nimitz Library under lock and key while the policy is discussed up the chain of command. Navy Secretary John Phelan and aides for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have visited the academy to discuss the ban, she said.

“I’m asking for just a little patience,” Davids said, adding that she “should be getting direction” from her superiors soon.

But Van Hollen wasn‘t willing to wait.

The action he proposed would have been unprecedented, he said, but necessary.

“The whole idea of an education at the Naval Academy is to prepare war fighters and make sure they are aware of the world around them and different ideas,” Van Hollen said in an interview after the meeting. “We shouldn‘t be scared of midshipmen checking out certain books from the Nimitz Library.”

Van Hollen said he had heard from a number of constituents who were deeply concerned about the ban. He read aloud some of the letters he received about the issue at the board meeting.

“People need to be aware of the fear that’s being generated at many institutions around the country by the Trump administration‘s assault,” he said. “We‘re seeing this play out at the Naval Academy and other colleges and universities across the country.”

Trump appointees Sean Spicer and Rep. Ronnie Jackson, a Texas Republican, pushed back on Van Hollen’s motion. Both Republicans are new to the board, and this was their first meeting. Neither of them had enough knowledge about the issue to vote on the motion, they argued.

“I don‘t know the content of the books,” Jackson said, while Spicer explained he didn‘t feel he had the “appropriate background” on the issue.

Board Chair Sullivan called the motion “premature.” Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, another new Trump appointee, questioned whether Van Hollen‘s objections to the ban were “an issue with the procedure or philosophical.”

Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy and the board‘s vice-chair Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia, both Republicans, questioned whether the board even had authority to pass a motion to recommend the books be restored to circulation.

U.S. Congress members Sarah Elfreth of Annapolis and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, both Democrats, supported the motion. They said they sent a letter to Davids earlier this year about the book ban but Davids never wrote them back. The superintendent said she didn‘t want to ignore her chain of command.

Instead, Davids will submit a briefing to board members on the issue in the next 30 days.

Because of the new DEI policies, Davids said, the academy canceled two courses on gender ideology and altered 18 others.

“It sounds like they‘re having to spend an awful lot of time and energy debating the book ban and DEI policies,” Van Hollen said. “They’d be better served focusing on preparing our cadets and midshipmen for our mission.”

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