THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701130056
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C. LENGTH: 131 lines
Two female Citadel cadets who alleged they were sexually harassed and hazed last semester, including having their clothes set on fire, announced Sunday they will not return to the military college.
``The school's promises to me and my family that knob life would be rough but safe were critical to me,'' Jeanie Mentavlos of Charlotte said in a statement released by her attorney. ``Because The Citadel broke its promise, I cannot return.''
First year students, who take orders from upperclassmen, are called knobs because of their short haircuts.
``It is apparent to me . . . that while I might be physically safe on campus, I would not be welcome,'' Kim Messer of Clover, S.C., said in a statement released on the day she was due back on campus at 10:30 p.m. ``I never asked for special treatment at The Citadel,'' Messer said, but ``I received special treatment . . . of criminal assaults, sadistic illegal hazing and disgusting incidents of sexual harassment.''
Jeanie Mentavlos' older brother, Michael, a senior at the Citadel who is reportedly only three credits shy of graduation, also announced that he would not be returning because of ``current circumstances.''
Michael Mentavlos helped bring the hazing reports to the attention of authorities last month.
``It is my intention to complete my degree requirement elsewhere and be graduated from The Citadel with honors,'' he said. ``Current circumstances mandate my decision.''
The Citadel permits seniors who have fewer than 12 course hours to finish their work elsewhere, college spokesman Terry Leedom said.
``I am deeply saddened that . . . female cadets have felt compelled to withdraw,'' said Valorie Vojdik, an instructor at the New York University School of Law who represents women seeking admission to The Citadel. ``I am very concerned about the chilling effect this could have. There are many ways of excluding women. One is to keep the door closed. Another is to open it but by your conduct send the message that women are not welcome.''
The state and the FBI are investigating allegations that the young women were targeted by male cadets.
Those allegations include a death threat against one of the women. Among other allegations: the women's clothes were set on fire, cleanser was put in their mouths and they were sexually harassed.
Eleven Citadel cadets face school disciplinary action as a result of the hazing allegations.
Leedom said the school would have no comment on the departures until a news conference today.
The withdrawal of half of the women who enrolled in The Citadel last August was the latest development in a four-year battle over the opening of the nation's public military colleges to female cadets that has cost millions of dollars and been carried to the Supreme Court.
Both women said they believed the school administration knew about the rules violations that permitted the hazing.
The school's two other female cadets, Nancy Mace of Goose Creek, S.C., and Petra Lovetinska, a Czech national who lives in Washington, D.C., have not made any hazing allegations.
Both are returning, Mace said. She refused to comment on the other cadets' withdrawal.
Messer and Jeanie Mentavlos hope to enroll in other schools but details have not been worked out, attorneys Paul Gibson and Tim Kulp said.
Mentavlos's father, Nick, referred questions to the attorneys. Messages left at the Messer home were not immediately returned.
The four women were the first admitted to the college after it dropped its all-male admissions policy last summer. The school changed the policy after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a similar all-male policy at Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional.
The four entered The Citadel in August, a year after the school's first female cadet, Shannon Faulkner, was enrolled under a federal court order but dropped out after five days.
Messer, in an interview with the Charleston Post and Courier newspaper in August, called Faulkner ``unmotivated, undetermined and physically unfit.'' By contrast, Messer had spent six weeks at a Reserve Officers Training Corps camp to prepare for The Citadel. She planned a military career.
U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck met with the families of the female cadets Thursday, saying he was prepared to provide ``reasonable measures'' to protect the women's safety.
He did not say what the measures were, but the U.S. Justice Department had asked the judge to send U.S. marshals to the campus.
But ``no amount of security measures can now make hundreds of cadets, the alumni, the administration and Mr. Leedom accept me into the corps of cadets,'' Mentavlos said. ``Even as the daughter of a former Secret Service agent, I cannot imagine needing to have someone responsible for my safety on a 24-hour-a-day basis.''
Since the hazing reports, The Citadel put panic buttons in the women's rooms and, beginning Sunday, posted adults to sleep in all barracks.
The school also plans to launch its own investigation.
A State Law Enforcement Division report on an investigation into possible criminal violations is being prepared while the Federal Bureau of Investigation also is investigating the incidents for possible civil rights violations.
The women reported incidents of mistreatment to their superiors in the student chain of command soon after they enrolled, according to reporters and attorneys who have monitored the situation, but the situation did not improve.
Lawyers for the two female cadets say the women endured weeks of hazing because they feared that telling adults on the staff might only make life more difficult. Finally, the women attempted to document their treatment with a hidden tape recorder.
But male cadets ordered Mentavlos to drop her pants so they could recover the recorder, lawyers said. She was permitted to go behind a desk to do so.
As early as September, according to Vojdik of NYU, Mentavlos' mother complained about sexual harassment of her daughter, but nothing was done.
A senior cadet who was in a different company from Mentavlos' also had reported that he had witnessed her being subjected to improper physical contact - to no avail.
Eventually, Mentavlos told her older brother, who reported his sister's allegations on Dec. 13 to a family friend who was a member of the school's board of visitors, according to reports.
The incident became public two days later.
The Citadel immediately notified the FBI and state police.
The FBI began to examine possible civil rights violations, and police investigated whether hazing had occurred, because it is a crime under South Carolina law. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and
The Washington Post. ILLUSTRATION: ``Because The Citadel broke its promise, I cannot
return,'' said former first-year cadet Jeanie Mentavlos of
Charlotte.
``It is apparent to me . . . that while I might be physically safe
on campus, I would not be welcome,'' said Kim Messer of Clover, S.C.
KEYWORDS: CITADEL SEXUAL HARASSMENT HAZING