The different service academies, as well as the military in general, has been very proactive in recent years to recruit a more diverse population. Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying to make the services more representative of the population demographic. But remember that the academies are still bound by law with many different requirements in their appointments. In other words, those who receive appointments, still must be qualified. And they all still require nominations. The academy can't just sort by race, color, and sex and hand out appointments. If you don't get a nomination, you're NOT getting an appointment. And if your representative has 10 names on his/her slate, and they are are white men and women, the academy can't substitute a black or hispanic for your representative's slot.
Now, to be honest, I'm not sure if 40% of the 2014 class are minorities. I think that would be a little hight. I could see a 40% INCREASE over last year, or the average. But that's different than 40% of total numbers. But as long as the individuals receiving appointments are qualified and capable, I have no problems. Just like all other military decisions, if they realize in the future that they aren't getting in the highly qualified, career minding, leaders that they're looking for, they'll raise the standards back up. Now I know I said the KEY WORD here: "STANDARDS". That is not to say that IF there are more minorities being accepted, that they don't meet the standards. I'm positive they do. But the fact is, the standards are much LOWER than the actual appointed class. I.e. The average gpa the last couple years of applicants have been 3.86. ACT scores have been 29-30. etc... These scores are much higher than the "Minimum Standards".
Anyway, we'll find out the actual demographics of the 2014 in a couple of months. They normally post it in the local CS paper around July. Then you'll know the actual numbers and can compare it to last year. Remember, an Academy appointment is NOT A RIGHT. It's also based on the "Total Person". Which means you can NEVER, EVER, say that you are more qualified than someone else. Especially if you didn't receive an appointment and they did. Because you don't know the "Total Person" package. The academy knows, but not you. And this is also NOT a communist country. It's not suppose to be 100% fair. It's suppose to be slightly subjective. The only thing FAIR about the appointment process is that each of the 50 states, and other nominating categories, are equally represented in the class profile. Inside of each of those nominating categories is room to be subjective.