ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 22, 1996 TAG: 9612240017
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
ON THE chance any military-school cadet anywhere is uncertain whether setting someone's clothes on fire - with the person still in them - goes beyond the acceptable limits of adversive discipline: It does.
Likewise, ordering someone to take off her pants, singing sexually explicit songs and forcing alcoholic beverages on women colleagues all violate the honor and mock the rectitude that military-style institutions pride themselves on instilling in malleable young adults.
This would go without saying, one would think - except that two of the four women attending The Citadel this year allege that they have been subjected to such abuse. The school - which, along with Virginia Military Institute, is being forced by the courts to end its all-male enrollment policy - has suspended two cadets and relieved five others of their commands as a result of the allegations.
The reports of misconduct are cautionary for VMI, which is planning to open its doors to its first coed class next fall. But there are reasons to hope, anyway, that the first women "rats" won't be similarly mistreated.
There are expected to be more than four of them, for one thing. VMI's superintendent predicts at least 30 women will enter as part of that historic class. In a class of 1,200-1,300, they still will be a tiny minority. But the school is prudent to be recruiting enough women to create a real presence, one less easy to isolate and vilify, and better able to provide a network of support.
Another reassuring sign is that Superintendent Josiah Bunting III has talked publicly about "a real willingness to attempt to salve and bind up the wounds" left by the emotional debate over admitting women. He has pledged the change will be made "nobly and honorably."
Granted, VMI has resisted presenting detailed plans to the government. But the details will count for little if male cadets, some of whom are likely to be hostile, do not understand with complete clarity that acts of misogyny will not be tolerated.
In the tightly controlled, top-down command structure of VMI, Bunting's attitude is greatly important. The danger that his proud, tradition-bound institution will be destroyed comes not from women, but from those who would act dishonorably toward them.
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB