Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990 TAG: 9005180720
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAXTON DAVIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Women's liberation" is not invariably a happy term, but it and the word "feminism" convey truths that, though they often reflect poorly on how men treat women, we ignore at great damage to our common humanity. If it is true, as conservatives like to claim, that "you can't change human nature," it is also true that bad habits can be unlearned, and that is what many of us have had to do in our prejudices and our actions. And high time, too.
But not all American men have learned this; many nearby, alas. A classic instance has recently occurred at the United States Naval Academy. There, it was reported a few days ago, a female midshipman resigned in December after undergoing a round of hazing - from male upperclassmen, of course - that sounds more like the tortures of the Inquisition than it does ordinary roughhousing play.
Gwen Marie Dreyer's tale, while perhaps unusual, is not so unusual that any of us who've attended places like Annapolis won't readily recognize it.
Dreyer was dragged from her dormitory room, handcuffed to a urinal, photographed in that humiliating position and taunted repeatedly by her tormentors.
She subsequently resigned her appointment and now plans to study engineering instead at California State Polytechnic Institute in San Louis Obispo.
Her tormentors get off a lot more easily. The two ringleaders were punished with demerits and loss of leave time. Six others received lesser warnings for lesser roles in the affair.
Said Naval Academy Superintendent Virgil L. Hill Jr., "Admittedly the incident grew out of a good-natured exchange between friends. None of that takes away from the fact that they overstepped bounds, and her end feeling was humiliation. That's sexual harassment. We don't allow that."
But - the point is - they do.
By allowing her to quit Annapolis in a humiliated state from which she may never wholly recover, they automatically punished her. By punishing the chief culprits with nothing more than "demerits" and "loss of leave time," they automatically excused the perpetrators. "Demerits" are given if you have a spot on your cuff.
All of this is despicable enough to bring shame to any decent taxpayer, who may reflect ruefully that his own taxes are supporting, and supporting generously, the cruelty of adolescent males.
But it is ominous hereabouts in an even more direct way.
The Virginia Military Institute in Lexington is now facing federal challenge, as a tax-supported college, for limiting its admissions to males. No one can foretell how the case may turn out - it goes into court next month - but the betting here is that VMI's stubborn defense of its discriminatory history will fall flat on its face, and should.
What is ominous, however, is that if VMI loses it will permit the treatment of its first female cadets in a way similar to Dreyer's. Hazing at VMI has a history as old as the Institute itself, and it is as brutal as any elsewhere. VMI authorities, most of whom are VMI alumni, have traditionally turned a blind eye. Is this what so many VMI alumni mean when they hint, balefully, that "any girl who goes there will be sorry she does"?
by CNB