THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608180059
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ELIZABETH SIMPSON
LENGTH: 62 lines
It was a year ago today that Shannon Faulkner choked back tears and dreams as she left the marching grounds of The Citadel.
A year ago that the cadets whooped and hollered and cheered so joyfully at her departure.
A year since the cadets thought they'd won.
Think again, knobs.
Oh, what a difference a year makes. For those who thought Faulkner went down in defeat, take a look at what has happened since then:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that Virginia Military Institute's all-male admissions policy is unconstitutional.
Two days later, The Citadel dropped its all-male policy, and got down to the business of accommodating women.
And at last count, The Citadel has applications from seven women, four of whom are expected to enroll this Saturday.
Even if Faulkner is attending a private, co-educational university this fall, she played a part in all that's happened since she left The Citadel. She may not have been up to the emotional and physical strain of being the only woman on campus, but she did manage to shatter 153 years of tradition.
Certainly the movement to do so was bigger than she, and the steps to breaking down barriers incremental. But it takes people like Faulkner to reach inside themselves and go where no one has dared go before, if not for the benefit of themselves, then for those coming after them.
It takes the African-American woman demanding a seat on the front of the bus, the sailor daring to say he is gay when ``don't ask, don't tell'' is the rule, the woman who ignores the gender box on the application of an all-male school.
It takes people willing to put up with the scorn of others to improve the lot of those behind them. And that can be a lonely endeavor.
``I really hope that next year a whole group of women will be going in,'' Faulkner told reporters after she left The Citadel. ``Because maybe it would have been different if the other women would have been with me.''
Southern novelist Pat Conroy predicts the day when there's a statue on campus dedicated to Faulkner, paid for by the Association for Women Graduates of The Citadel. Conroy, who based his novel ``The Lords of Discipline'' on his days at The Citadel, wrote a letter to the Charleston Post-Courier last year, taking the cadets to task for their quadrangle revelry:
``During their passionate celebration of Shannon Faulkner's downfall, these same cadets recruited new battalions of young girls who are going to grow up and stick it in their faces by joining The Long Gray Line.''
While it will be a long time before there's a statue of Faulkner at The Citadel, a tribute of another sort will show up on campus later this week: Kim Messer and Nancy Mace.
The two women - the only two who have been identified by the press - are described by friends and family as determined, fit and smart. They are daughters of soldiers. And they have one more thing going for them: each other.
That will make all the difference.
Looking back, you'd think the cadets who cheered Faulkner's departure would have seen this day coming. It's the classic military story: the first soldier out of the trenches, charging the enemy, willing to give the last full measure so that the company could follow.
For Messer and Mace and all future female cadets, Faulkner has led the way. by CNB