Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408110065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``I have said before I will have my head shaved,'' Faulkner said after the daylong hearing. She said she wouldn't like it, but ``I'm not planning on backing out. I have never ever thought of backing out.''
Faulkner is to enroll in the corps Monday, though the state military school has asked a federal appeals court to keep her out.
U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck, who also ordered U.S. marshals to monitor her enrollment, said that allowing Faulkner in the corps provided her equal protection under the law. There was no reason to prevent her from getting the same ``buzz cut'' given to other first-year cadets, he said.
``In making this request for a different haircut, the plaintiff is asking for unequal treatment,'' Houck ruled.
Houck made a similar ruling last week but lawyers for Faulkner and the U.S. Justice Department asked him to reconsider. They said she should be given a short bob like women in the military receive.
Faulkner said she challenged the haircut ``for the women who may want to follow me. I don't know how ready I am, but my head will be shaved.''
Faulkner attended day classes last semester under Houck's order, and last month he said she could join the corps. Houck ruled earlier that The Citadel's all-male admission policy was unconstitutional.
Houck said there was no evidence Faulkner was in danger of being harmed or sexually harassed. But he asked the marshals to make sure his order admitting her is carried out ``fully, fairly and peacefully.''
Monitoring should continue ``until the passage of time draws a clearer picture of the situation,'' he said.
by CNB