Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: STAUNTON LENGTH: Long
"Those," she said, fluffing out a pair of camouflage pants, "are our BDUs." That's military talk for "battledress uniform." You know - fatigues.
Service nomenclature arrived at exactly 0900 hours Tuesday at pastoral Mary Baldwin College, the private women's school where the state has set up the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership - its answer to admitting women to male-only Virginia Military Institute.
All eyes were on the program as it opened, four days after Shannon Faulkner called it quits after waging a 2 1/2-year battle to become the first female cadet at The Citadel in South Carolina, the nation's only other public, all-male military college.
A November trial is set to see if South Carolina can set up a similar, women-only leadership program at Converse College.
A federal appeals court in Richmond approved the Mary Baldwin program in January.
Even with the media swarm that attended their first day of college, many of the 42 freshmen gave very practical reasons for attending VWIL.
The wanted to go to a women's college. They were attracted to the $7,300 subsidy provided to Virginia students by the state to close the tuition gap between Mary Baldwin and VMI.
And for others, it was the feeling of being wanted.
Baylis considered Randolph-Macon Women's College.
"I spoke to them once," she said.
As for VWIL recruiter Lori Esch, "I talked to her almost every week."
The same went for Priscilla Rich of Dumfries.
"That's why I picked Mary Baldwin, because of the personal effort. Every place else, you're just a number," she said.
The personal touch certainly went over with parents.
"I'd call and say, `Hi, I'm Mike Bailey,' and they'd respond, `Yeah, you're Trimble's dad,''' said Mike Bailey of Roanoke, whose daughter is in the inaugural class.
And after Kimberly Bond of Radford settled on Mary Baldwin's new program more than a year ago, Esch personally drove more than two hours to present her with the program's first application, Bond said.
Bond attended coed Randolph-Macon Military Academy for part of her high school career. While she likes the discipline of a military school, she also knows what it's like to be just one of a few women. The male-female ratio at her old high school was one girl to four guys.
"The guys get paid attention to first. There's just still not the same equal balance there should be," she said.
As for matriculating at VWIL: "I'm not doing it to fight for the cause of women or VMI; I'm just doing it for myself."
Outside Bond's room, VMI sophomore Jonathan Charbonnet of King George cooled his heels with his family as his sister, Amalie, a VWIL student, went off for a few minutes. His school, he said, is preparing cadets for life if women don't come - and if they do.
The U.S. Supreme Court this fall is expected to say if it will hear the U.S. Justice Department's appeal of the divided federal court's decision that paved the way for VWIL's opening.
About 30 of his VMI classmates dropped out the first week - they couldn't take the "rat line," the in-your-face brand of training that goes on for freshmen, Charbonnet said. But he learned from the discipline, he said - and he's glad VWIL has arrived for women.
"We don't go camping," he said, referring to the four-day backpacking trip the women take starting today. "We do push-ups."
Said his father, Pierre:
"What's wrong with saying this is good for some women?''
But the question remains: If VMI were coed, would these women have gone? Not everyone. But Jennifer Atkins of King George said: "I probably would have applied.
"Probably, if they had a coed program; I wouldn't want to be the only girl."
Although VWIL has a military component, including mandatory ROTC that the women will take at VMI, the program offers a broad variety of leadership skills. Some skills will come from classes on leadership styles. Some will come from taking part in physical education, including team sports and an obstacle course. Some will come from three-to-a-room living and mandatory study halls. And some leadership skills will develop as students take part in required community service projects in their upperclass years.
As program director Brenda Bryant said Tuesday, the program is just now moving from theory to practice.
"It kind of begins to take on its own momentum," she said. "If the students perform like we think they will, it sells itself. Up to now, we haven't had anyone to point to."
But Mary Baldwin administrators have been saying for two years that they will continue the leadership program, regardless of the outcome of the court case. Fund-raising discussions have been held as administrators explore how to replace the state tuition subsidy and a $5.4 million endowment from the private VMI Foundation if the Supreme Court finds the program unconstitutional, Bryant said.
Tuesday also marked a watershed for Mary Baldwin administrators, who were clearly pleased to see the program finally open.
"Legal contexts will be solved," President Cynthia Tyson told parents.
"Political contexts will go away," she said - to great applause - "and we shall be left with a fine educational program" that could become a model for schools everywhere.
Back at the dorms an hour later, Bailey studied her schedule. She thought she had a couple of free hours coming up - but there was something at 1600 hours.
Catching on to that military talk?
"I'm learning," Bailey laughed. "I'm learning very quick."
by CNB