ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702240049
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Blaming intimidation from Justice Department lawyers, The Citadel said Friday it has postponed disciplinary hearings into allegations that two female cadets were hazed and harassed.
The military college, which had planned to begin hearings today, said it delayed them until next month because federal lawyers began questioning cadets and prompted some to refuse to talk without their parents or lawyers.
The school said some of the questions by the Justice Department lawyers were irrelevant and probed what the cadets did before they entered the school.
``Clearly there is a feeling among the witnesses that they have been intimidated by the lawyers for the federal agencies,'' school spokesman Terry Leedom said. ``They were asking irrelevant questions, and people were getting the feeling they were searching for things.''
Lee Douglass, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said the agency did nothing unusual.
``The problems that exist at The Citadel were not brought on by the Department of Justice,'' she said.
The FBI and state police are investigating the allegations made by Jeanie Mentavlos and Kim Messer, who did not return to school after winter break. Among other things, the two said their clothes were set afire, cleanser was put on their heads, they were forced to stand in a closet while they were shoved and kicked, and they were forced to drink alcohol.
Eleven cadets face disciplinary action. Two others were implicated, but one resigned and one did not return for the spring semester.
On Thursday, the school's interim president, Clifton Poole, said the two women ``were disciplinary problems from the beginning.''
He cited only one disciplinary issue: when female cadets violated school policy by giving themselves extremely short haircuts.
Poole told The Greenville (S.C.) News that the two female cadets might have been drummed out of the corps earlier had officers at the school not continually urged them to stay.
Poole said he did not want to make any judgments about their claims of hazing.
``I think something happened, but I don't know exactly what or how,'' he said. The women's story ``sort of deteriorates and you're not really sure what happened.''
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