The 'new' VMI remains a work in progress

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 22, 1997

The Virginia Military Institute, or VMI, Board of Visitors voted last September for a plan to admit female cadets, but without major changes in the school's deliberately stressful adversative system. Implementation of the "minimal-changes" resolution will be difficult -- perhaps impossible. It must be understood that the unique, all-male school no longer exists. The objective now is to make VMI one of the best coed schools in the Old Dominion.

That will not be easy. In addition to normal scholastic and athletic concerns, VMI must deal with questions about the school's military methology, physical-strength differences between the sexes, social customs, dating and pregnancy, the "rat" class system, honor code and cultural values. And as the curtain goes up on what senior-class president Kevin Trujillo calls "show time " minor players as well as major ones are trying to rule the school.

Feminist and civil-liberties groups, for example, present themselves as parties with a major interest in VMI affairs. They are not. Most were offended by the very existence of the all-male school and never will be satisfied no matter what it does.

Instead of trying to placate implacable critics, VMI leaders should concentrate on balancing the needs of five major parties with a direct interest in the future of VMI: The male cadets, the female cadets, Virginia taxpayers, the alumni and (alas) the federal courts.

Even the most supportive and enthusiastic male cadets are sure to feel a sense of loss and perhaps resentment as the adversative system changes to accommodate women. They also may fear the female cadets who become dissatisfied with VMI's spartan atmosphere might run for help to outside activists and scandal-seeking reporters, who were all too obliging when the Citadel went coed. The young men of VMI deserve reassurance that their views will not be assigned secondary status, and that they will not be thrown to the media wolves when inevitable difficulties occur.

The female cadets will be spirited and ready to be challenged to the limit, but no one knows yet what that limit is. For them, the physical and emotional adjustment to VMI's humbling teaching methods, especially the fourth-class rat system, will be even more difficult. Some may be concerned about possible harassment or a perceived "silent treatment" that heightens feelings of loneliness and insecurity in the formerly all-male school.

The female cadets' opinions should be sought and accommodated to the greatest degree possible, but not to the exclusion of their male counterparts' opinions. And when inevitable adjustments are made in the rat line and other VMI traditions, the changes should be acknowledged, not denied. The young women of VMI must not become the targets of rancor and blame that feeds rumors, undermines morale or leads to inappropriate manifestations that hurt them and embarrass the school.

VMI administrators also must be mindful of state taxpayers who, over time, may question the need for another coed military school similar to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute's cadet corps. Competition for recruits will be fierce, and the smaller VMI no longer has the distinction of being all-male. All the more reason to guard institutional integrity, which is the hallmark of VMI.

As for the disappointed but loyal alumni, most are justifiably concerned about expected revisions in VMI's cherished all-male traditions. Some have placed their faith in the Board of Visitors minimal-changes resolution in the belief that federal authorities ultimately will support that view. But significant alterations had to be made at the service academies, even though the gender-intergration law forbade them. In the same way, "fairness" for the women of VMI will not be the same as "equality."

But federal authorities cannot force the school to be less than candid about the changes that will have to be made. Anything less than scrupulous honesty, consistent with the cadets' uncompromising code of honor, will invite cynicism and doubt in the VMI community.

During many years of litigation, VMI leaders insisted that emotional/physical challenges designed to heighten stress and mold character, including VMI's fabled rat line, fundamentally would be changed by gender integration. That remains true today and it is counterproductive to suggest otherwise. This does not mean, however, that the Virginia Military Institute cannot become a first-rate coed school.

For at least a decade, VMI will be a work in progress. School leaders mustn't panic when difficulties occur or when female cadets drop out in numbers comparable to losses of 30 percent or more at Marine Corps boot camp.

The young men and women of the class of 2001 all are pioneers. They are about to share an unusual experience that is sure to have awkward moments, disappointing turns and exhilarating triumphs. Adults who have the benefit of wisdom rooted in VMI's history should allow them to form a mutually supportive bond -- comparable to all-male classes in the past. If the concerns of VMI's primary constituencies are addressed with straightforward honesty, the media handwringers and the future will take care of themselves.